═══ 1. General Help ═══ Welcome to Change Controls, a utility that allows you to change the default controls (Minimize, Maximize, etc..) in OS/2 to whatever you want. I decided to write this utility after getting bored with the CUA91 controls that OS/2 currently has. Hopefully the next version of OS/2 will be better looking. If this program is useful to you, I would appreciate if you could send a Donation of whatever you think this program is worth to you to the following address: Matt Schellhaas 1204 Berkeley Dr. Falling Waters, WV 25419 USA Internet: c2mxsche@fre.fsu.umd.edu All Donations will go towards me finishing my CS degree, and if in the future I decide to make this shareware, you will be automatically registered. Please include a little note with your name, address, and e-mail address with all donations. Change Controls is Copyright (c) 1995, Matt Schellhaas All Rights Reserved. LEGAL STUFF While I don't see any reason why this could cause trouble, I take no responsibility for any adverse side effects. By running this utility, you agree to the following IN NO EVENT WILL Matt Schellhaas OR ANYONE RELATED TO THIS PRODUCT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT OR SIMILAR DAMAGES,INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS OR LOST DATA ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE OR ANY DATA SUPPLIED . ***Make Sure You Make a Backup of pmmerge.dll*** This will ONLY work with os/2 warp, so do not try and use it with 2.11 or earlier. This utility uses RESMGR which was written by Martin Lafaix.(The entire distribution of RESMGR is in resmgr.zip) ═══ 2. Installing Change Controls ═══ The first thing your should do is run install.cmd (This will copy all of the program files and set up a WPS folder for change controls) In order for Change Controls to work properly,you must have RC.exe (should be in the /OS2 directory) and REXX support installed. The Icon Editor should also have been installed. All of these should have been installed if you did a default install of os/2, but if for some reason, you did not install them, run the selective install program. RC.EXE will be installed if you choose (system utils/link object modules) and REXX is installed when the REXX support is checked. Also, you should have a temp variable set. Adding one of the following statements to your config.sys will accomplish this: set TEMP=Drive letter\TEMP -or- set TMP=Drive letter\TEMP (be sure to actually create these directories) Change controls should also be installed in its own directory (make sure this directory is not named "TEMP" or "TMP") Next, copy PMMERGE.DLL from your /os2/dll directory into the directory that you installed the utility into. (This is no longer necessary if you use the install program) Add the following line to your config.sys so that change controls will automatically copy your patched dll over the old one: CALL=PATH TO CHANGE CONTROLS\swap_dll.exe /cLOCATION OF YOUR CMD.EXE FILE /sCHANGE CONTROLS DIRECTORY /dDrive os/2 is installed in \os2\dll /wTIME TO WAIT (This should all be on one line) Press here to load e.exe with an example (for some reason, the os/2 help compiler will not allow me to use colons at all in help files (??). It seems to think they are the beginning of a tag, so I could not include the sample here! If anyone knows a workaround for this, please e-mail me! How to swap dll's without swap_dlls.exe ═══ 3. Using the Utility ═══ To use change controls, Run chg_pm.exe. Select /Actions/Change Controls Your pmmerge.dll file will then be patched. Reboot your system If you installed the swap_dlls program, your patched dll will automatically be copied over the original. Press here to load e.exe with an example of how to install the swap dll's utility How to swap dll's without swap_dlls.exe To change the bitmaps provided, see "Creating your own controls" ═══ 4. Creating your own controls ═══ To create your own controls, simply double click on the control you wish to change. The Icon Editor will be loaded and you can then change them to whatever you want. Then Select "/Actions/Change Controls" in chg_pm. Considerations when creating your own bitmaps o After drawing the desired control, be sure to select /file/save in the Icon Editor, *do not save it as another file name* o The Buttons.bmp and List.bmp files are saved in several formats Be sure to select /device/list/view in the icon editor to change all of the formats to the correct image. o In order for your new bitmaps to show up as icons in the chg_pm program, you will need to use pmview or another graphics utility that creates icons for bitmaps. o (The icons shown are the icon EA's for the bitmap, and I currently do not have any sample code as to how to create new icon EA's for a bitmap file) Some hints on drawing your bitmaps o To save yourself some time when drawing new buttons, you can quickly change the button from [UP] to [DOWN] by using fill to change the white borders to gray, and the gray borders to white o You should be able to see this relation here o The [Up] Button o The [Down] Button ═══ 5. Troubleshooting, History, Future, etc... ═══ Questions What are the source.zip,logos.zip,npswpscb.bmp,motif.zip, and resmgr.zip files for? o source.zip contains copies of the control bitmaps. I included them in a zip file in case you modify the buttons and need the originals for reference o logos.zip contains a new startup logo for OS/2 o npswpscb.bmp is a replacement for the X button that npswps uses. To use it, copy the file over the one contained in your npswps directory and re-start npswps. For versions prior to 1.81 of npswps, type the following from a command line in the nps directory "rc npswpsus.r" o motif.zip contains buttons that look like x-window's Motif scheme. This button set was drawn by Carsten Whimster (bcrwhims@uwaterloo.ca) o resmgr.zip contains the full archive of resmgr which this utility uses (with the permission of the Author: Martin Lafaix) Troubleshooting Problem- I get REXX error messages when attempting to patch pmmerge.dll o Did you set a TMP or TEMP variable? Is change controls installed in a directory named TMP or TEMP? (If so, move it to another directory) Problem- I get black buttons in the listbox and/or checkboxes after I use change controls or the buttons shown are not the ones that I drew o Did you draw versions for all of the device types? (device/list/view in icon editor) Problem- After drawing a new bitmap, change controls still shows the original one as the icon o This is normal. The icon is stored as an EA for each bitmap, and you will currently need to use a utility such as pmview to create new ones. (I hope to figure out how to do this on my own in the future) History 1-1-96 [version 2.1] o Now an os/2 PM program to make creating your own buttons a lot easier o Made the reame.1st into a .inf file o Fixed the blank listbox and checkbox button problem o Added a simple install program 12-8-95 [2nd Release] o Added the ability to change the checkboxes, radio buttons, and the listbox icon. o Modified several of the controls included o Significant speedup in patching pmmerge.dll (Thanks to Martin Lafaix) 11-18-95 [1st Release] Possible Future Additions (No Promises on any of these) o Automatic addition of the swap_dll utility to your config.sys o Ability to automatically create a new icon for changed bitmaps o Add a slightly better install program o Add the ability to change other controls in OS/2 (I have already figured out how to do this, but didn't include it in this release) o I might make this shareware instead of just requesting donations, anyone who does send donations would already be registered (college is expensive to pay for by yourself!) ═══ ═══ Matt Schellhaas is a Computer Science Major at Frostburg State University. I am currently looking to line up a programming job for after I graduate. ═══ ═══ To manually swap the dll's after running Change Controls, 1. shutdown 2. reboot 3. When █████OS/2 shows up on the top left of your screen, Hit ALT-F1 4. choose C for command line 5. when at command line copy pmmerge.dll from current directory to /os2/dll 6. reboot again, and your new controls will be used.