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

Text File | 1995-01-01 | 29KB | 547 lines

******************************************************************************
                            Frequently asked questions

                   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
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 1.) How can I configure PC/2 to popup the menu after a single-click instead
     of the default double-click with mouse button 1 on the Desktop?

     First, you may select the Configure Desktop dialog to select a default
     click which is written to the PC2.INI profile.
     Second, use the commandline option -SingleClick or /SingleClick to
     overwrite the default behaviour read from PC2.INI. If you run PC/2
     as a WPS replacement, you can't use any commandline option, because
     OS/2 seems to dislike commandline options on programs run as the WPS,
     but this doesn't prevent you from setting the default behaviour with the
     Configure Desktop dialog.

 2.) PC/2 assumes that OS/2 is installed on drive C:, but I use drive H:!

     Either start with a blank menu and add your programs, or use an editor
     e.g. EPM.EXE to replace all C: to H: in the profile.

 3.) How do I add DOS Settings correctly?

     First you should use the same spelling as in the settings of a DOS
     program. They have usually ON/OFF or numbers as possible selections.
     For ON/OFF you add =1 or =0 to the setting, e.g. HW_TIMER=1. For
     numbers add =xxxx, e.g. EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT=1024 or
     DOS_VERSION=DOSPROG.EXE,5,0,255.
     By much more easy is to use the standard DOS Settings dialog, which is
     displayed when you click on the DOS Settings pushbutton.

 4.) How can I add batch files?

     Batch files aren't executable files, they need a command processor to
     interpret them. Therefore you have to select a command processor and
     add /C filename.bat or /C filename.cmd to the parameters entryfield.
     You may whish to look at the command reference of CMD.EXE and COMMAND.COM
     for more details. If you use the standard file dialog to find the batch
     file you want to add, PC/2 automatically add this batch file as an
     argument of an command processor.

 5.) Is HPFS supported?

     Yes, PC/2 fully supports HPFS. However, if a filename contains spaces
     you have to place it in double-quotes, e.g. at a command prompt you
     would type DIR "D:\OS!2 2.0 Desktop\*" /s to list all files of the
     Desktop directory. The same is true for PC/2, e.g. you want to start
     a batchfile that conforms HPFS-filename convention, you may create
     an entry:
        Program Title:      HPFS-Test
        Path and Filename:  C:\OS!2 2.0 Desktop\Prompts\Command Processor.exe
        Working Directory:  C:\OS!2 User Applications
        Parameters:         /C ""C:\OS!2 2.0 Desktop\Run Me.cmd""
     Note: Passing HPFS-filenames to command processors may required two
     double-quotes (e.g. CMD.EXE does). Also take a look at the help pages
     for CMD.EXE to get more details.

 6.) How do I start a full-screen WIN-OS2 session?

     Create an entry that of a full-screen DOS command prompt that starts
     WINOS2.COM (e.g. C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2\WINOS2.COM). Then add the required
     DOS Settings (e.g. the following settings greatly improve performance
     on a 8514/A adapter: VIDEO_8514_XGA_IOTRAP=0, VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION=0,
     VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION=1, XMS=64, EMS=0, DPMI=4, IDLE_SECONDS=2,
     IDLE_SENSITIVITY=100, HW_ROM_TO_RAM=1. Thanks to Timothy Sipples for
     them!).

 7.) How do I start any windowed WIN-OS2 session type?

     Just enter the application's data and select the mode the seamless
     WIN-OS2 session should run. This includes real-mode, standard and
     enhanced 386 sessions, both in separate sessions or in a common VDM.

 8.) How do I start a VDM from an image?

     First create the image, then create an entry of a full-screen or windowed
     DOS session. Then add to the DOS settings:
        DOS_STARTUP_DRIVE=[path]DISK.IMG
     where [path]DISK.IMG is the path and filename of the image you wand to
     start. Caution! On a system (2.0 GA) it doesn't work, I don't know why.

 9.) How do I start a VDM that boots from drive A:?

     Same a item 8.) says, only adjust the DOS settings to:
        DOS_STARTUP_DRIVE=A:
     Caution! On a system (2.0 GA) the system traps, I don't know why.

10.) Why has PC/2 an option to shut down OS/2?

     Some people use PC/2 as a replacement for the WPS (that sames memory)
     and they can't click with button 2 to get the Popup Menu, from where
     shutdown can be selected.
     PC/2 requests OS/2 to clear all filebuffers. After all disk activity
     has been stopped it is safe to power off your system. PC/2 don't closes
     the programs, but after the disk activity has stopped, all processes are
     frozen (you can not switch to or select programs anymore).

11.) How do I add commandline parameters at run-time?

     E.g. assume you created an Menuentry that start the editor EPM.EXE.
     After you selected EPM, just before it is started, you can request
     a dialog box from PC/2, where you can enter any commandline parameter
     by adding a [...] construct in the parameters entryfield of the Program
     Installation dialog. This work similar to the same WPS feature.

12.) How do I install PC/2 as a replacement of the WPS?

     First, install PC/2 in the normal way. Second, edit your CONFIG.SYS to
     replace the statement (you may have to use another drive name instead
     of C:):
        SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
     by
        REM * SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
        SET RUNWORKPLACE=h:\path\PC2.EXE
     or
        REM * SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
        SET RUNWORKPLACE=\path\PC2.EXE
     where h:\path is the drive and path where you installed PC/2 into, e.g.
     C:\PMAPPS\PC2 and \path path on the boot drive where you installed PC/2.
     (The second method can be used to add PC/2 as the Workplace process of
     a maintenance partition, e.g. created by the BOOTOS2 package).
     Second, ensure that all PC/2 *.DLLs are in the direcotry PC/2 is
     running from or in a path pointed to by the LIBPATH environment variable
     in your CONFIG.SYS.
     The next time you boot, the WPS will not be loaded (you can verify this
     by a blank screen displayed instead of the normal Desktop with objects.
     Not using the WPS saves memory and reduces boot time lightly.
     Of course you may start the WPS later, either by starting PMSHELL.EXE
     from a command prompt or from an PMSHELL Menuitem of PC/2. You can
     follow the WPS initialization by heavy disk access and buildup of your
     Desktop with objects. To use the Popup-Menu on the newly started WPS
     just wait a few seconds until PC/2 knows about this new window.
     PC/2 display the Window List on PM too, as the WPS does by clicking mouse
     buttons 1 an 2 together.

13.) How do I add WPS Objects to start then via PC/2?

     The important thing is, that you have to know the WPS Object ID
     (Identifier) to be able to add them to PC/2. For preinstalled Objects,
     you can find the ID in the file C:\OS2\OS2_20.RC.
     Alternatively you may use WPS 2 PC/2 to extract the Object ID from
     WPS Objects not being Folders or Program Objects, when available.
     The ID of Objects, created as outlined above, may than be added in the
     entryfield Path and Filename in the Program Installation dialog, with
     the Program Type WPS Object.

14.) How do I use Drag & Drop?

     Additional to the standard file dialog, you may use Drag & Drop to add
     applications in the Program Installation dialog. E.g. you may use a drive
     object, select one (1 !) application drag it into the dialog and drop it
     onto any area that accepts it (any area that isn't covered by text,
     buttons, entryfields,...).
     You may also drag one WPS Folder Object into the first page of the
     Program Installation dialog, to open it when selecting it from the
     Popup-Menu.
     PC/2 will try to determine the type of the application you added
     automatically (programs or folders), but you may overwrite it.

15.) How can I add WPS Objects?

     The simpliest way is to use WPS 2 PC/2. Just drag the WPS Objects you
     want to add to PC/2's Popup-Menu onto the WPS icon of WPS 2 PC/2.
     Then open the WPS 2 PC/2 window by clicking on the icon mentioned before.
     Now drag the status bitmap from WPS 2 PC/2 onto the Setup dialog of PC/2,
     voila for each WPS Object extracted a new menuentry is created within
     PC/2's Popup-Menu.

16.) Does PC/2 change to the root of all drives except for the working dir?

     Yes, PC/2 changes to the root of all non-removable drives before the
     selected application is started.

17.) Which versions of OS/2 are supported?

     PC/2 was developed under OS/2 2.1 GA, but I know it works under OS/2 2.11
     (OS/2 2.1 GA w/ Service Pack installed) and WARP I Beta. Under WARP II
     Beta PC/2 won't work because of a bug in this Beta, but the time you are
     reading this, WARP has already been gone in GA where PC/2 works too.

18.) How do I enable the Virtual Desktop and/or Sliding Focus?

     Start PC/2, click on the Desktop and select SETUP Desktop. A dialog box
     will appear where you can enable these features. Just press help for
     further information.
     To temporarily suspend the Sliding just hold down the Shift key while
     moving the mouse.

19.) How does the sliding Focus work?

     OS/2 generates for all pointer movements messages, that contain the
     window where the message originated. PC/2 hooks into these messages
     and determines the active window. If the active window is not the
     window that originated the message, it makes the window active, where
     the message originated. Of course, PC/2's window, the Desktop and
     the window list are treated differently.
     To preserve the Z-order of the windows, also check its option.
     Caution! The sliding Focus does not work well, if you have open
     seamless WIN-OS2 sessions.
     To temporarily suspend the Sliding just hold down the Shift key while
     moving the mouse.

20.) How do I use the enabled Virtual Desktop?

     You may know that e.g. a VGA-display has usually 640 columns and 480
     rows (numbered from 0...639 and 0...479). If you position your mouse
     pointer over the surrounding rows and/or columns of your display
     (here columns 0 or 639 and/or rows 0 or 479) PC/2 shifts all windows
     that exist on your system (with some exceptions like window list) in
     the opposite direction. Some windows may slide out, some may slide in
     from the other direction.
     You may click on any virtual Desktop on the overview Window to
     immediately switch to this Desktop.

21.) How does the Virtual Desktop work?

     First, for all windows OS/2 tracks their coordinates in data structures.
     PC/2 queries, and adjusts them according to the mouse movements the
     user made. E.g. if the mouse pointer is over column 0 on the screen,
     PC/2 adds to the x-position of all windows for example 50 % of the
     x-dimension of the screen. The windows appear to move rightward (out
     of the display) because the display shift leftward within the Virtual
     Desktop. Because windows are usually aligned on byte-boundaries, they
     may not appear on their original place if you shift one unit in one
     direction and one unit in the opposite direction.

22.) How do I start applications on the Virtual Desktop?

     In the Program Installation dialog, you can define the size and
     position that the application should use. You can e.g. enter
     a position of -200 in X, which would position the application left
     out of your Desktop. PC/2 forces the window to the position you entered,
     however the application may determine its size self. To allow PC/2 to
     find the window, ensure that you enter the applications Window List entry
     or titlebar text to the Session Name entryfield on the Hotkey notebook
     page of the Program Installation dialog. You don't need to enter the
     complete Window List or titlebar text, just any substring that matches
     with the text.
     However you have to ensure that the substring matches only with the
     application you want.

23.) What's the name of the Desktop?

     OS/2 2.0 introduced the name "OS/2 2.0 Desktop" for the Desktop window,
     which normally is the WPS. OS/2 2.1 will use the name "Desktop" instead,
     if you install it over a newly formatted system. OS/2 2.1 may use a
     different name, if you install it over a previous OS/2 2.0 system, so
     please read the README file provided with OS/2 2.1 carefully.
     You may use the Notebook that appears after clicking mouse button 2 on
     the WPS at page Desktop-Settings to change the Desktop's name.
     Your Desktop may have a name translated to your national language.

24.) What's the name of the Window List?

     The Window List (known as Task List in OS/2 1.x) is just named
     "Window List". It may have a name translated to your national
     language.

25.) What about seamless WIN-OS2 support, without a corresponding WPS object?

     PC/2 allows you to start seamless WIN-OS2 sessions, as separate sessions
     ir in a common VDM. This means, if you start a Windows application in a
     separate session, a complete copy of the WIN-OS2 environment will come up.
     This wastes memory, so I suggest to start Windows applications into a
     common VDM whenever possible.
     This seamless WIN-OS2 support works also without the WPS installed,
     under OS/2 2.1 GA with no problems, but OS/2 2.0 GA hangs during load.
     So under OS/2 2.0 GA only start seamless WIN-OS2 sessions if the WPS is
     running.
     Under OS/2 2.0 GA you can only successfully start WIN-OS2 sessions in
     standard mode, 386 enhanced mode in not supported by OS/2 and real mode
     starts to load, but doesn't complete successfully for unknown reasons.
     Under OS/2 2.1 GA is real mode not supported, so you may only start
     standard and 386 enhanced sessions.

26.) How many applications can I start within a seamless WIN-OS2 session?

     For a separate session usually only 1, but you may start the Windows
     Program Manager as the first and any Windows applications as a
     commandline parameter, which the Program Manager will start for you.
     If you start the Program Manager you can of course start any Windows
     application from it, but make sure, that you have enough storage defined
     in the DOS Settings (usually DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT=16 or so).
     For separate sessions the limit is determined by your system
     configuration (e.g. memory).

27.) How do I define a program's priority?

     Just select the last notebook page from the Program Installation
     dialog. Warning - changing a program's priority may have severe
     impacts on your system's performance, giving nothing to the complete
     CPU time to an application.
     For example you may set a tape backup or image conversion program to
     a lower priority or a real-time data acquisition to a higher priority.
     For DOS sessions (and WIN-OS2 sessions are DOS sessions) the priority
     can't be changed, because this would lock PM for unknown reasons.
     Since OS/2 Warp you may adjust the priority of DOS sessions via the
     DOS Settings dialog.

28.) How do I define a Hotkey to switch to a session?

     Just select notebook page 4 from the Program Installation dialog.
     You may define any key from the pool keys 0 to 9 and A to Z with either
     combined with the CTRL or ALT key. Once a Hotkey is defined for an
     application it is no more available for other sessions. You may define
     Hotkeys for 72 different sessions as the maximum.
     If PC/2 detects that the user pressed a Hotkey and the application the
     Hotkey is defined for is not running, PC/2 launches the application.
     You may temporarily suspend the Hotkey feature, by pressing and holding
     the Shift key while pressiong the Hotkey. PC/2 will then ignore the
     Hotkey and pass it over to the application that currently has the focus.

29.) How does the Hotkey feature work?

     PC/2 knows which Hotkeys are used if you have defined some once. PC/2
     also need to know at least a part of the session's name to switch to.
     So you have to fill the entryfield "Session Name:" with the session's
     name. For the session's name either use part of the string that
     appears in the session's titlebar, or part of the string that appears
     in the Window List for this session.
     If you press the Hotkey for a session, PC/2 searches all titlebars
     and the Window List if the text from the entryfield "Session Name:"
     is part of and switches to the session if a match was found.
     PC/2 not only switches to the session the Hotkey is defined for, but
     also onto the Virtual Desktop the session resides on.
     If neither the session's name can be found on any window's titlebar nor
     in the Window List, PC/2 assumes the application is not running and
     launches it.

30.) Why should I use the Hotkey feature?

     Well, you don't need to use it, but it may show useful to quickly switch
     to a certain session, for example a host terminal emulator and than
     switch back to a compiling environment residing on different Virtual
     Desktops.

31.) I have defined some Hotkeys now these keys are not available on other
     sessions any more!

     Once you have defined a Hotkey, this Hotkey will be "eaten" from PC/2
     when it is pressed, because if the focus is changed it doesn't make
     sense to send this key to any other window. For example if you have
     defined ALT+5 to switch to you To-do list, you want to switch to
     the To-do list when pressing ALT+5 and don't want ALT+5 sent
     to the word processor (assuming you pressed ALT+5 when the word
     processor had the focus).
     If you need a key defined as a Hotkey for another application, for
     example your spreadsheet, you have to define a different Hotkey, because
     pressing the Hotkey while having the focus on your spreadsheet (or
     any other application) does not invoke the spreadsheet's mnemonic but
     switches to another session.
     See 29.) how to temporarliy deactivate a Hotkey to pass it to an
     application.

32.) I switched to another session now the Hotkey feature doesn't work
     anymore!

     You have probably switched to an OS/2 session. OS/2 windowed or
     fullscreen sessions eat up all keystrokes once they have the focus
     so PC/2 doesn't get keystrokes any more. You have to switch to another
     session, before PC/2 will get keystrokes again.

33.) I defined a Hotkey but the wrong session is activated!

     You have probably defined a Hotkey for a session and have started
     more than one instance of this session. PC/2 only switched to the
     first session, that has defined a Hotkey ignoring all other sessions
     that have defined the same hotkey.
     Be sure that you don't start more than one instance of a session
     a Hotkey is defined for:

34.) How to I define a Hotkey for a certain window (e.g. Drive C object)
     even if it wasn't started from PC/2?

     Assume that you have opened the Drive C - Tree View object from the
     OS/2 System->Drives object of the WPS and you want to define ALT+C
     as its Hotkey.
     Create a new menuentry and skip to the Hotkey notebook page of the
     Program Installation dialog. Enable the Hotkey feature and select
     ALT+C as the Hotkey.
     Then select the entry of the Drive C object from the Current Window
     List MLE and doubleclick on it. The selected entry will also be
     filled into the entryfield Session Name. Now save the changes and
     voila use the newly defined Hotkey.

35.) Do I need to completely fill in the Program Installation dialog to
     define a new Hotkey?

     No, you just need to fill in the Hotkey labeled notebook page. PC/2
     uses the text entered in the entryfield Session Name to compare with
     all windows titlebars and Window List entries. If the text matches
     with any of these entries, the window the entries are defined is
     activated.
     To use the Hotkey feature just ensure that the text entered in the
     entryfield Session Name is part of any window's titlebar or Window
     List entry.

36.) I have 2 OS/2 windows with the same name. Will the Hotkey work?

     Yes, if a Hotkey is defined the first window whose titlebar or
     Window List entry matches to Session Name is activated. You have to
     ensure a unique title for a window to allow PC/2 exactly identify
     a window.

37.) How do I access the Window List on PM?

     If you are over the PM with the mouse pointer, just press and hold
     down one mouse button and then click the other while not moving the
     mouse pointer. The Window List will appear with the mouse pointer
     in center (when the complete Window List can displayed then).
     You are over the PM, if either you don't run the WPS or you moved
     the WPS to an other Virtual Desktop.
     Of course pressing CTRL+ESC works too.

38.) What is the feature "Button 2 titlebar click to set window to
     bottom" useful for?

     Even if you don't use the Virtual Desktop feature, you may find that
     sometimes you like to switch to window which is behind the currently
     active one, but you don't wand to move or minimize the active one to
     get the other window to the top.
     If this option is enables just click mouse button 2 on the active
     window's titlebar to set this window to the bottom. The window
     previously behind the active window becomes now the topmost window.
     However, you can't activate window movement with mouse button 2 any-
     more, but you can do this with mouse button 1 too.
     Pressing the Ctrl key while clicking on the titlebar only moves the
     window to bottom, pressing the Alt key activates the default action
     of the titlebar (usually activating the tracking frame). The Ctrl
     and Alt key may be temporarily used to suspend the default PC/2
     behaviour.

39.) Can a Hotkey defined for PC/2 itself?

     Yes, just enter PC/2 as the string to match on the Hotkey notebook
     page in the Program Installation dialog and assign a Hotkey e.g.
     ALT+P.

40.) When switching to a Virtual Desktop with a Hotkey, how is the window
     aligned?

     PC/2 moves the Desktop on the Virtual Desktop at the rate you defined
     with the Virtual Desktop Scrolling scrollbar on Desktop Setup dialog.
     The movement stops either when the middle point of a window becomes
     visible on the screen the first time or a surrounding edge was hit.
     If you set the Virtual Desktop Scrolling to 100 % you probably get the
     best results.

41.) How do I activate and use the PC/2 Spooler Control Window?

     To be able to select the PC/2 Spooler, just add a the PC/2 Spooler via
     the Control Addition dialog to your Popup-Menu. Then select the newly
     created item to show the PC/2 Spooler.
     The PC/2 Spooler is a container where you can manipulate the printer
     queues and print jobs of your local machine by pressing mouse button 2
     on any row you want to apply an action. A Popup-Menu occurs, where you
     can select actions.
     When running PC/2 as a WPS replacement the PC/2 Spooler Control Window
     is the only possibility to control your queues and jobs.

42.) Why does the Overview Window sometimes not correspond the real Desktop?

     The Overview Window does its painting event triggered. This means, that
     an event (creating, destructing, sizing or moving a window) is the
     prerequisite that all windows available on the Desktop get enumerated
     and drawn on the Overview Window.
     Because many events are generated when a Window is e.g. created, PC/2
     ignores all events during working on the first event. So when PC/2 is
     enumerating windows as a result of a window creation, and another window
     is created (but doesn't trigger any action of PC/2 because PC/2 is
     already busy with the previous event) but doesn't get enumerated
     (because it was created a little bit too late) it will not be displayed
     on the Overview Window.
     To compensate this, PC/2 enumerates all windows again, when another
     event is triggered during its busy state by saving this fact. However
     even then there is a low possibility that a window doesn't get
     recognized by PC/2.
     When the system is idle, no event triggers PC/2 actions and PC/2 is
     therefor idle too.
     PC/2 versions previous to 1.80 took another approach. They permanently
     enumerated the windows available, loading to a permanent CPU
     requirement of about 15 % even when the system is idle.

43.) I have configured a Popup Menu, but always get the Setup dialog when
     clicking on the Desktop.

     To display the configured Popup Menu, the Menu MUST contain the entry
     "Configure Desktop", otherwise, the Setup dialog will be displayed.
     To add the menuentry "Configure Desktop" select the pushbutton
     "Add Control" from the Setup dialog. Then select "Configure Popup-Menu
     Settings" to add the entry "Configure Desktop" to your Popup Menu.
     Now you will get the Popup Menu when clicking mouse button 1 onto the
     Desktop.

44.) How can I change the default fonts used by PC/2?

     You can change the font of the Popup-Menu, the Spooler Window and the
     Overview window by simply dragging a front from the font palette:

     +) to change the Popup-Menu's font drop the font onto the Smarticonbar
        on PC/2's Overview Window
     +) to change the Spooler Window Container's font drop the font onto the
        container
     +) to change the Overview's Window font drop the font onto the Overview
        Window (all fonts will be accepted, though some fonts produce not
        exactly the requested result).

45.) What is the addon WPS 2 PC/2 used for?

     WPS 2 PC/2 is a WPS Object, residing in the WPS-DLL WPS2PC2.DLL. This
     DLL must reside in a directory that is accessible through the LIBPATH
     environment variable in your CONFIG.SYS.
     When WPS 2 PC/2 is installed and registered to the WPS, you can extract
     settings from WPS Program and Folder objects to be used within PC/2's
     Popup-Menu.
     To extract the data from WPS Objects, just select the and drag them
     over WPS 2 PC/2's icon on your Desktop, and drop them to let WPS 2 PC/2
     extract their contents.
     To add extracted WPS Object data to PC/2's Popup-Menu, open the
     WPS 2 PC/2 Object and PC/2's Setup dialog, and drag the Status bitmap
     from WPS 2 PC/2's window onto the Submenu/Program Configuration listbox
     on PC/2's Setup dialog.
     Menuitems corresponding to the settings of the WPS Objects you extracted
     will be added at the bottom of the current level of the Popup-Menu (you
     probably will notice that the listbox gets filled with the top-level
     WPS Objects converted to Popup-Menu entries.
     From now on you can use exactly the same settings of your WPS Objects
     from PC/2's Popup-Menu without entering them twice (even DOS settings
     will be extracted).

46.) How can I open WPS Folder Objects from PC/2's Popup-Menu?

     Just create a Program Menuitem by selecting Add Program from PC/2's
     Setup dialog. Then drag one WPS Folder Object on PC/2's Program
     Installation dialog (and replace the Program Title field for better
     readability) - that's all.

Please read also the help panels and enjoy! Roman Stangl