Mega Top 1/os2_top1.zip/os2_top1/APPS/FILEMAN/PC2_180/PC2.DOC

Text File | 1995-01-01 | 26KB | 413 lines

******************************************************************************
                                  Announcing

                   PC/2 - Programm Commander/2 Version 1.80 for
                      IBM OS/2 2.x, 3.x Presentation Manager
                      Copyright (C) by Stangl Roman 01, 1995

                               Version 1.80 Draft
******************************************************************************

Dear User!

If you know the Launchpad of OS/2 Warp, then imagine PC/2 as a similar program
for OS/2 Presentation Manager (but not requiring the WPS running), with many
powerful features more. PC/2 was available in the first version almost 2
years before the launchpad, too!

PC/2 is an addon or replacement (!) for the WPS (Work Place Shell) that adds a
feature, that OS/2 definitely is missing! After PC/2 is loaded you may click
mouse button 1 anywhere on the Desktop to display a user-configurable
Popup-Menu, where you can select an application to start. You may
alternatively define a Hotkey for an application. Once the Hotkey is pressed
PC/2 switches to the application, the Hotkey is defined for, or even launches
the application if it isn't running already. This greatly simplifies
starting any application very much - you don't have to click on folders/icons
anymore to launch it - no more messed up Desktop full of folders/icons. You
even don't need to install the memory consuming WPS (which saves up to 4
Meg)!

Even more, PC/2 allows you to expand your Desktop 81-fold. Just move the mouse
pointer over the surrounding rows and/or columns of your screen, and you will
be able to scroll your Desktop up to 1 screen-width and 1 screen-height in
all directions. Just imagine the virtual Desktop as a further screen available
left, left and below, below,... to your physical display. Of course the Hotkey
feature switches to the virtual Desktop the application is running the Hotkey
is defined for. You may also switch to any Desktop by doubleclicking with
mouse button 1 on the overview window of PC/2.

PC/2 also allows you to switch into a sliding focus mode, similar to
X-Windows.

PC/2 has also seamless WIN-OS2 support, even without the WPS running.

PC/2 also provides a Spooler Control Window which lets you manipulate your
printer queues and/or print jobs. When running PC/2 as a WPS replacement,
the Spooler Control Window is the only interface for the OS/2 spooler.

Running PC/2 on a 4 MB machine as the WPS replacement gives you more
performance boost than running OS/2 Warp (due to the much smaller memory
requirements compared with the WPS). Of course the WPS can be started
when required, just by typing START PMSHELL in a OS/2 command window.


For every application you start, a configuration file contains:
    *) Program Data: Title, Path and Filename, working directory and
            parameters. For DOS programs you can enter the required DOS
            Settings in an entryfield or just use the standard OS/2 DOS
            settings dialog. You may also configure PC/2 to request
            commandline parameters before an application is started. You can
            also add WPS Program or Folder Objects to be started.
            You may add a program by dragging a program or folder from your
            Drives object or favourite file manager onto the dialog and
            dropping it.
    *) Program Style: Default, Maximized, Minimized, Invisible, no autoclose
            background execution and autostart (which works like the OS/2
            startup folder).
    *) Program Size & Position: User selectable size and position. You may
            even start an application on an virtual Desktop, if the
            application doesn't overwrite  your choices. The position is
            always adjusted by PC/2.
    *) Program Type: WPS default, OS/2 and DOS Window or FullScreen,
            Presentation Manager, WPS Object and seamless WIN-OS2.
            Seamless WIN-OS2 without a WPS Object that corresponds to this
            seamless WIN-OS2 session is fully supported. Seamless WIN-OS2
            sessions may be common or separate sessions.
    *) Hotkey: You may define an hotkey to quickly start or switch to a
            certain session.
    *) Program Priority: You may adjust the priority of programs. Warning
            changing the default priority may induce serious performance
            problems, because you easily can give a program nothing to the
            complete CPU time.

Full help is implemented, so I would suggest to read the help panels to get a
impression on how you can customize PC/2 to your needs.

Installation:
    *) First unpack the archive with UNZIP.
    *) If you upgrade from a previous version of PC/2, save your Popup-Menu
       configuration files (usually PC2.CFG), and stop PC/2 from running in
       order to allow the files to be updated.
       Warning! PC/2 Version 1.80 PC2HOOK.DLL is n o t compatible with any
       previous versions.
       When using an existing configuration file the first time you click for
       the Popup-Menu, the Configuration dialog is displayed, because you have
       to add the Control Menuitem "Configure Popup-Menu Settings" first.
    *) Then use the REXX installation script to install PC/2:
       Syntax:  INSTALL
            PC/2's files will be copied into the drive, path and filename
            entered during installation. An object is then created on the
            Desktop and PC/2 is then started displaying the help panels.
    *) PC/2 should be started upon bootup. You can either click on the PC/2
            icon and OS/2 will start PC/2 for you the next time you boot. This
            holds not true if you have used the statement SET RESTARTOBJECTS=
            STARTUPFOLDERSONLY in your CONFIG.SYS, then you must create an
            PC/2 object/shadow in the startup folder.
    *) PC/2 may be used instead of the WPS. PC/2 looks for its *.DLL files in
            the directory PC2.EXE was started from. So PC/2's *.DLL must either
            be in PC/2's directory or in a path pointed by LIBPATH environment
            variable in CONFIG.SYS.
            PC2.HLP may either be in a path pointed to by HELP or in the
            directory PC/2 is installed and running from.
            Then edit your CONFIG.SYS to SET RUNWORKPLACE=[path]PC2.EXE. The
            next time you boot, PC/2 has replaced your WPS. (Of course you can
            then start the WPS from a OS/2 command prompt by typing START
            PMSHELL or creating an entry in PC/2's Popup-Menu..
    *) The syntax of PC/2 is:
            PC2 [-Profile Filename.ext] [-[Double|Single]Click] or
            PC2 [/Profile Filename.ext] [/[Double|Single]Click]
            where Filename.ext may be any filename for FAT or HPFS filename
            convention.
            If you omit the optional profile name, the default profile
            PC2.CFG is selected.
            Specifying the option DoubleClick selects that the Popup-Menu
            appears after a double-click on the Desktop instead of a single
            click. If you don't specify any click option the option from
            the PC/2 configuration file is taken.
            The commandline options overwrite the settings read from PC2.INI.
            Warning! when using PC/2 as a WPS replacement don't add command-
            line parameters to the SET RUNWORKPLACE statement, because this
            prevents OS/2 from working.

Version 1.xx Hints:
    *) PC/2 is currently under test, so there will be some misspells/
            inconsistencies/bugs. PC/2 will NOT destroy any data under no
            circumstances!
    *) PC/2 was developed and tested on two different PS/2s under OS/2 2.1 GA
            (internal release 6.514) and OS/2 2.0 GA (internal release 6.307).
            PC/2 was also tested to work with OS/2 2.11 (Service Pack for
            OS/2 2.1 GA).
    *) PC/2 will not run under the WARP II Beta, because of a bug in this beta.
            With WARP I Beta and WARP GA there should be no problems.

You may contact me via (E-)Mail, if you have problems/suggestions/questions at:
    *) Internet: [e-mail]
    *) FidoNet: Roman Stangl @ LA BAMBA BBS 2:310/[e-mail]
       Tel.: (Int. Code +43 +1 +6083621)
    *) FidoNet: Roman Stangl @ IBM Austria National Support BBS
       Tel.: (Int. Code +43 +1 [phone])
    *) IBM VNET: 61821799 at VIEVMA
    *) Roman Stangl
       Strebersdorferstr. 46
       A-2103 Langenzersdorf, Austria

If you find this utility useful and want to honor many weeks of work, you are
welcome to send me 50 to 150 Austrian Schilling (about 5 to 15 US Dollar) to
my home address. Please send any donations in CASH, because its much easier
for me to exchange foreign currency, than money orders, checks,...
Of course, you don't need to pay again, if a new release comes out.

Because of the Freeware status of PC/2 I am n o t going to send new versions
of PC/2 or anything else by mail (which is likely to become a never ending
story), however I try my best to do support via E-Mail!

History:
Version 1.00ß:  *) First public release
Version 1.10:   *) Installation improved
                *) IDLE_SECONDS=10 and IDLE_SENSITIVITY=100 added for DOS
                   sessions
                *) Source code now included
Version 1.20:   *) All DOS Settings now configurable
                *) Standard file dialog can be used to find the application
                   you want to install to PC/2
                *) PC/2 may now be used with or without the WPS - it may even
                   replace the WPS.
                *) I know the bug occurring occasionally when deleting entries
                   is not removed, but other things have a higher priority.
Version 1.30:   *) CR, LF added to DOS Settings, if missing.
                *) DoubleClick command line option added, installation prompts
                   the user, if he wants to install this option into the PC/2
                   object. PC/2 now pops up after a double-click, if no click
                   option or the option [-|/]DoubleClick is specified.
                *) ShutDown OS/2 entry and dialog box added.
                *) PC2.HLP may also be in the directory of PC/2 instead in a
                   directory pointed by the HELP environment variable. The
                   same applies for PC2HOOK.HLP and the LIBPATH environment
                   variable. PC/2 first attempts to find these files, where
                   it is started from, then in the paths included in the
                   environment variables.
                *) Popup-Menu now don't select an entry, if button 1 is
                   clicked at the bottom of the screen.
                *) PC2.c V1.20: 257, 564: File close of unopened files removed.
                   Utility.c V1.20: 399, 457: Free of unallocated memory
                   removed.
                *) DOS and OS/2 batch files automatically added as parameters
                   to their command processors (HPFS names with spaces under
                   two double-quotes).
                *) FAQ list added.
                *) Entry-removing bug solved.
                *) Directory changed to root if only drive is entered as the
                   working directory.
                *) User enterable commandline-parameter at run-time added.
                   Now you may enter commandline-parameters immediately before
                   an application is launched.
Version 1.40:   *) WPS Objects may now be started too by PC/2, even if they are
                   seamless WIN-OS2 session.
                *) PC/2 changes to the root of each non-removable media
                   attached to your system, except for the defined working
                   directory.
                *) Drag & Drop is now supported.
                *) PC/2 checks every 2.5s if the Desktop window handle changes,
                   so if you run PC/2 as a WPS replacement you can start
                   PMSHELL without needing to close PC/2 once after PMSHELL
                   is ready.
                *) You can now resort (Sub)menus manually.
Version 1.50:   *) PC/2 configuration file completely rewritten. Should avoid
                   redundant storage and increase fault tolerance. Downwards
                   compatible, so old files can be read, but will be written
                   in the improved format. Some more useful demos, that you
                   may incorporate in your configuration by using an editor,
                   added.
                *) Optional sliding focus a-la X-Windows added (thanks to
                   Markus Hof and Roman Fischer for providing their source
                   code of XFEEL as a valuable basis).
                *) Optional virtual Desktop added, that expands your physical
                   Desktop to a 9-fold virtual Desktop (thanks to Carrick von
                   Schoultz for giving me the tip to use the flag
                   SWP_NOADJUST).
                *) Code that handled priority settings completely removed,
                   because applications can't be started as parent process/
                   child process which would be required to change the
                   priority of processes.
                *) PC/2 now traces clicks both on the WPS and/or PM, so
                   you can move the WPS into the virtual Desktop and click
                   on the PM.
                *) PC/2 now maps the coordinates on the window, where you
                   clicked, to the coordinates of the display. This should
                   avoid bad positioning of the Popup-Menu (PC/2 now
                   works together with 9LIVES).
                *) Code that changed to the root directories now should also
                   work, if a removable media is inserted, but not a valid
                   file system (f.e. a CD-ROM with a music-CD inserted)
                   (thanks to Mario Semo for his assistance with DosDevIOCtl).
Version 1.60:   *) Seamless WIN-OS2 support added, only separate sessions
                   and under 2.0 GA with WPS installed though. Thanks to
                   Alex Stewart for pointing me out how to do this.
                *) Fixed not moving minimized windows (icons) when Desktop
                   is moved.
                *) For sliding Focus added a flag to preserve Z-order of
                   the windows.
                *) ShutDown message now changes if ShutDown completed.
                *) Enhanced MakeObj utility, thanks to Ingo Pflanz for his
                   work on this.
                *) Now PC/2 should also work with networked drives, at least
                   it works with NFS-mounted drived with IBM's TCPIP 1.2.1.
Version 1.70:   *) First release of a "IBM internal use only" version on
                   OS2TOOLS.
                *) PC/2s popup menu now completely configurable, even PC/2s
                   Setup, Config, About, Help, Exit and ShutDown options.
                *) The Program Installation dialog is now a notebook.
                *) Separators and Break separators are now supported to
                   improve the clarity of the Popup-Menu.
                *) Exit PC/2 and ShutDown OS/2 message boxes now default
                   to OK, to just press Enter to perform action.
                *) PC/2 now supports user defined Hotkeys to be used to
                   switch to sessions, even on another virtual Desktop,
                   directly. 72 different keys are available. If the
                   application, the Hotkey is defined for, is not running
                   PC/2 launches it.
                *) PC/2 supports to specify the priority of a program to
                   launch.
                *) Window List support on PM background. This is useful
                   if you are not running OS/2 with the WPS (which saves
                   up to 4 MB memory).
                *) PC/2 now saves it's size & position along with the
                   default click flag.
                *) Overview window improved, you may directly switch to any
                   virtual Desktop just by doubleclicking with mouse button
                   1 on the overview window.
                *) Bug fixed, that dismissed the ShutDown dialog by pressing
                   the ESC-Key.
                *) SMALLFNT.CMD supplied that replaces the standard system
                   font (10pt. proportional Systemfont) by a smaller 8pt.
                   Helv font. Applying this batch file and rebooting reduces
                   the size of most dialogs to about 2/3 of the previous
                   size, giving you more "workspace" on your Desktop.
                *) Smarticons added to improve control of windows on PC/2's
                   overview window. Thanks to Michael Wakunda for helping me
                   designing the icons.
                *) Support for EMX C/C++ added upon a suggestion from Rolf
                   Knebel.
                *) The user defined position now works, even if the
                   application decides to use its own position.
                *) PC2HOOK.DLL is now statically linked, and PC/2 is now a
                   multithreaded application.
                *) The overview window now displays a scaled image of the
                   Virtual Desktop. The windows are named and can be
                   manipulated by applying the currently active smarticon
                   with mouse button 2.
                *) PC/2's configuration file was enhanced to support the new
                   features. You may use the configuration file from a
                   previous version of PC/2, it will be upgraded the first
                   time you make modifications (and you need to add the
                   Configure Popup-Menu Setting when upgrading).
                *) You may enable mouse button 2 clicks on a window's title-
                   bar to set this window to the bottom (lowering its
                   Z-Order). Thanks to Rolf Knebel for sending me this
                   suggestion coded into PC/2, although I changed it little
                   bit.
Version 1.80:   *) Added support for PM background bitmaps.
                *) Notebooks now size themselfs to ensure that all notebook
                   pages are visible, regardless of the video resolution and
                   display used.
                *) Clicking mouse button 2 on a window's titlebar not only
                   sets this window to the bottom, but also activates the
                   next window below the mouse pointer. Pressing the Ctrl
                   key while clicking on the titlebar only moves the window
                   to bottom, pressing the Alt key activates the default
                   actions of titlebars (usually activating the tracking
                   frame).
                *) Holding down the Shift key while using the Sliding Focus
                   or a Hotkey will temporarily deactivate these two
                   features.
                *) Installation now finds the CONFIG.SYS used during boot,
                   not just the one on drive C:.Thanks to Stefan Hora for
                   sending me a sample REXX code.
                *) Fixed that Window List is not partly destroyed by Popup-
                   Menu when SingleClick is selected.
                *) Fixed that PC/2 sometimes locked up during closing (e.g.
                   closing it from Window List).
                *) Enables you to expand the WPS to the Virtual Desktop.
                *) The number of vertical and horizontal Virtual Desktops is
                   now configurable in range of 1 to 9 giving up to 81
                   Virtual Desktops.
                *) Now first menuitem of Popup-Menu can be configured not to
                   be selected automatically.
                *) Within the Popup-Menu you can now define mnemonics to
                   navigate (the tilde ~ to define a mnemonic is not
                   displayed on the window's titlebar when started).
                *) For DOS sessions you can now use the standard OS/2 DOS
                   settings dialog, special thanks to Monte Copeland for
                   sharing his knowledge of this undocumented OS/2 call.
                *) WIN-OS2 sessions now can be started into a common VDM and
                   not only to separate sessions, thanks to Monte Copeland.
                *) PC/2 now provides a interface to the OS/2 spooler,
                   allowing you to manipulate printer queues and printer jobs
                   even on system running PC/2 as a WPS replacement. Again
                   thanks to Monte Copeland to make the source of MSHELL
                   available.
                *) PC/2 is now event triggered when tracking all windows on
                   the Desktop instead of permanently polling OS/2. This
                   greatly reduces CPU load (which averaged 15 % even on
                   an idle system for 1.70) giving 0 load when no windows
                   are created, sized, moved or destroyed (PC/2 idle).
                   The cost of this event triggering is that sometimes the
                   overview window gets painted more than once for an event,
                   simply because OS/2 creates many events on window
                   manipulation where PC/2 can't differentiate between
                   "important" and "unimportant" ones and sometimes the
                   Overview Window contains not exactly the state of windows
                   on the Virtual Desktops immediately.
                *) PC/2 now opens folders when selected from the Popup-Menu
                   after adding them with Drag & Drop to the Program
                   Installation dialog.
                *) To avoid delaying to movements on the Virtual Desktop
                   movements are no longer queued. That means that as long
                   PC/2 is moving windows on the Virtual Desktop, another
                   moving request is ignored and not queued. Therefor when
                   PC/2 is busy, movement requests are ignored, until PC/2 is
                   ready again.
                *) You can now hide the titlebar and smarticonbar of PC/2's
                   oveview window, which increases the space available to
                   paint the reduced image of the Virtual Desktop.
                *) The sliding focus has been largely redesigned and now
                   works much better. Warning! Personal experiences show
                   that using a sliding focus on development machines
                   may lock the machine when using the IBM debugger IPMD.
                *) The Break Separator now is implemented as a special
                   style of a menu entry (working now exactly like in any
                   OS/2 menu). Therefor a menu entry must be available to
                   add this style afterwards, and the Break Separator style
                   must be removed first before removing the menu entry it
                   was defined on. Also resorting of a (sub)menu causes that
                   the Break Separator is resorted together with the menu
                   entry it is defined on.
                *) Hide button added to smarticonbar.
                *) In listboxes you can doubleclick on an entry to perform
                   the default action, e.g. doubleclicking on an entry
                   in the Setup dialog automatically opens the Program
                   Installation dialog for this entry.
                *) Updated sample configuration files. These *.CFG files
                   can be tested by starting PC/2 for example by typing:
                   start PC2 -profile Prompts.cfg
                *) Menus are disabled during the operation of the last
                   selection of a menu until this operation finished. E.g.
                   you can't click on the Exit icon again, when you have not
                   answered the message box initiated by the previous click
                   on the Exit icon.
                *) You can change the font used by the Popup-Menu, the Spooler
                   Window and the Overview Window by just dragging a font from
                   the font palette onto PC/2's Smarticonbar, the Spooler
                   Container or the Overview Window itself.
                *) The PC/2 package now contains the WPS applications
                   WPS 2 PC/2, that allows you, to extract settings of WPS
                   Program and Folder Objects, or any other Object that has a
                   Object ID defined, for use within PC/2's Popup-Menu.
                   To extract these settings a simle Drag'n Drop interface is
                   provided.
                *) Installation now also allows to recreate WPS icons and to
                   deinstall PC/2.

Please read the help panels and enjoy! Roman Stangl