OS/2 Shareware BBS: 25 Icons/25-Icons.zip/amptr101.zip/readme.inf

OS/2 Help File | 1997-10-27 | 17KB | 430 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Introduction ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Welcome to
Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2 - V1.01
by Christian Langanke, 1996,1997 - All rights reserved

This file is only available in English.

Thank you for your interest in Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2.

You can also visit the homepage of Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2 at:

      http://www.online-club.de/m1/clanganke

 Author
 Christian Langanke
 COS2E & CWSE
 Team OS/2 Germany / Team OS/2 Ruhr e.V.
 email: [e-mail]


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. installation - National Language Support ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Install the program by executing install.cmd.

For information on where to install the program files and the animation
resources, read this entire file carefully.

The main program package supports English and German. The language to be used
is detected automatically.

You can install the English version on versions of OS/2 in unsupported
languages, but be aware that the Pointers page of the mouse object and the help
for that page will change to English text, and will no longer correspond to
your OS/2 documentation where this page is referenced.

The following languages are supported by external modules, which should be
available at the same location where you downloaded the main package:

 language       NLS zip file name

 dutch          amp_h101.zip

 In order to use an NLS package, unzip the NLS zip file for your language to
 the directory where you unzipped the files of the main package before you run
 the installation program.

 You can also visit the homepage of Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2 at:

      http://www.online-club.de/m1/clanganke

 where you can get the latest information about supported language versions
 which may become available after the release of this program.

 If your language is not supported, and you want Animated Mouse Pointer for
 OS/2 to support your language, you can help by translating the NLS source
 files.  If you want to do this, please send an e-mail to the author (see
 section Introduction).


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Deinstallation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The program can be uninstalled by running INSTALL\REMOVE.CMD in the directory
where you installed Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2.

VERY IMPORTANT:
Once you have installed the program, do not delete any program files unless you
have run the deinstallation program successfully.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Where to put the animation resources and program files ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The installation program will ask you where you want to install the animation
resources and program files. There are several possibilities, each of which has
advantages and disadvantages. These are the factors that may influence your
decision:

     whether you want to use the system-provided pointer sets (which are not
      animated) together with the animation resources.
      This affects the usability of the program: animation resources are
      generally loaded via a Find dialog; the system-provided static
      (non-animated) pointer set directories take up space in this dialog, and
      you may not use them any more because they are not animated (and thus
      seem boring after a while).

     whether you want to put the animation resources onto the boot partition.
      If you use different OS/2 partitions, you might want to put both the
      animation resources and the program files on a partition other than the
      boot partition, because then it is much easier to delete an OS/2 version
      and install a new one (no, I never install a new version over an old one
      ...).  By the way, I recommend this for all program files which are not
      part of the operating system.
      This makes even more sense when you have several OS/2 partitions on your
      PC. Then you should have one partition containing all the programs, and
      that is where you should place both the program files and animation
      resources for Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2. You install the program
      for the first partition, and for each of the other partitions, you just
      call install\install.cmd within the installed file base to register the
      WPS enhancement class.

 There are three options for the location of the animation resources:

     ?:\OS2\POINTERS
      This is the default target directory for the animation resources. This
      directory is part of the OS/2 boot partition.

      Advantages

        -  You can use the system provided static (non-animated) pointer set
           directories together with the animation resources provided by
           Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2.

      Disadvantages

        -  The Find dialog is crowded with system-provided static pointer set
           directories which have really long names, and thus use a lot of
           space. These directories may seem useless after a while, because the
           contained pointer sets are not animated; they only serve to make use
           of the program unwieldy.
        -  You have placed the animation resources onto the OS/2 boot
           partition. When you format this partition, you have to back up the
           animation resources, if you have modified them.

     ?:\OS2\POINTERS\<subdiretory>
      I recommend putting the files into a subdirectory of ?:\OS2\POINTERS if
      you want to put the files on the boot partition and do not want to use
      the system-provided pointer set directories.

      Advantages

        -  You see only the animation resources in the Find dialog. The
           non-animated pointer set directories do not get in the way.

      Disadvantages

        -  It is more difficult to use the system-provided pointer set
           directories. You won't see them in the Find dialog any more.
           One way to use the system-provided pointers would be: open the
           directory ?:\OS2\POINTERS via the drives folder and drag the desired
           sources onto the container of the Pointers page.
        -  You have placed the animation resources onto the OS/2 boot
           partition. When you  format this partition, you have to back up the
           animation resources first, if you have modified them.

     a directory on a partition other than the boot partition
      This is highly recommended if you have to reinstall OS/2 a lot, or if you
      have different versions of OS/2 installed on your system.  Then you
      should also install the program files on the same partition.

      Advantages

        -  You see only the animation resources in the Find dialog. The
           non-animated pointer set directories do not get in the way.
        -  You can format OS/2 partitions without loss of the program files or
           animation resources.  This is especially useful if you have modified
           the animation resources.

      Disadvantages

        -  It is more difficult to use the system-provided pointer set
           directories. You won't see them in the Find dialog any more.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Long Filename Considerations ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

You can install both the program files and parts of the animation resource
files in directories with long pathnames.

For the program files, no restrictions exist. They can be installed on both FAT
and HPFS partitions.

For the animation resources, there are two restrictions:

     If the target directory for the animation resources does not support long
      filenames (if you install them onto a FAT partition), the OS/2 pointer
      set version of the animations supplied with Animated Mouse Pointer for
      OS/2 cannot be unpacked to that directory. This is because files included
      in these pointer set directories have long filenames, which are not 8.3
      (FAT) compliant.
      The animations are also available as AniMouse resource DLL files. If you
      don't want to modify the supplied animations, you can just install the
      AniMouse resource DLL files.
      Even on FAT partitions, you can create your own animation with the OS/2
      Icon Editor.  You cannot use this animation directly in a pointer set
      directory, which would be nice for testing the animation, but you can
      create your own AniMouse resource DLL file, even on a FAT drive.  So
      creating your own animations is more work than when using a HPFS
      partition.

      Refer to

           How can I create an AniMouse resource DLL ? in the online help.

     If you want to create your own animations, the name target directory for
      the animation resources and the pointer set directory of your own
      animation may not contain space characters.  You have to pay particular
      attention when you create or rename pointer set directories within the
      WPS. This is a restriction of the OS/2 resource compiler, which cannot
      handle spaces in filenames. Note that long filenames without spaces can
      be used here.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. What the install program does ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

     Unpacks mouse pointer animations to a user-specified directory on your
      harddisk.  If the directory does not exist, it will be created. The
      default target directory is ?:\OS2\POINTERS, where ?: is the OS/2 startup
      drive.  As Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2 supports loading of animation
      resources from other directories, you may want to keep the animation
      resources away from the OS/2 boot partition for several reasons.  If you
      specify a different target directory, this directory will be set up as
      the default "Animation File Path" automatically: this is the directory
      where "Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2" will search for animation
      resources. You can change this later via the Animation
      Settings/Properties dialog.

     Copies the program files to a user-specified directory on your hard disk.
      If the directory does not exist, it will be created.  The target program
      directory will contain the language-specific files for your language or
      the English version.

      Note:  If any files in the target directory are locked because a previous
      program version is already installed, the install program offers to
      handle the locked files via a system reboot.  To avoid a system reboot,
      you can also deinstall the old version using the WPS reset option (use
      REMOVE.CMD of the new version for deinstall !) and then install the new
      version also using this WPS reset option.

     Registers a WPS enhancement class for WPMouse.  This class "only"
      replaces, and thus enhances, the pointers page of the mouse object's
      settings notebook, while other pages are not affected.

     Sets up a program object for Online Help in the "Information" folder and
      a shadow of this program object on the Desktop. This will bring up the
      HLP file (converted to INF by the installation program) of Animated Mouse
      Pointer for OS/2 when double-clicked. The objects are created during the
      next WPS startup, which is initiated by either a WPS reset or a system
      reboot.

      Please have a closer look at the online help. The concept of this program
      is simple, but it is hard to figure out if you don't know what you can do
      with it.  And believe me, you can do a lot! Also, Animated Mouse Pointer
      for OS/2 is not perfect.  It still has some limitations, which are also
      stated in the online help.  Something that appears to be a bug may only
      be a limitation which I could not find a technical solution for up to
      now...

     Patches SYSLEVEL.AMP in the program directory to reflect the language
      version of the program that you installed.  To view the contents of this
      file, execute the syslevel command. The title of the syslevel file should
      be in the installed language, and the third letter of the current CSD
      level Id should match the third letter of the CSD level Id of the OS/2
      syslevel file for the base system (?:\OS2\INSTALL\SYSLEVEL.OS2). The only
      exceptions to that rule are:

        -  if your OS/2 version is in your language, but your language is not
           yet supported by the program.  Then the SYSLEVEL title is in English
           and the third letter of the CSD level Id is a zero, because the
           English version is installed.
        -  if the third letter of the CSD level Id of the OS/2 syslevel file
           for the base system (?:\OS2\INSTALL\SYSLEVEL.OS2) is a zero,
           although your OS/2 version is not English.

     If no locked files have to be handled by the installation program, you
      will be prompted for an optional Workplace Shell reset or a system
      reboot. The WPS restart shortens the installation process, as you can
      avoid a system reboot in order to use the program.  If files are locked,
      a system reboot is required and the WPS reset option is not available.
      This option is quite useful, because initialization of a WPS replacement
      class only requires a WPS reset rather than a complete system reboot, and
      this takes less time.

      If you choose to do a WPS reset, the WPS will close all open WPS views of
      folders, object settings, etc., while all other programs (such as OS/2 or
      DOS windows, fullscreen sessions, or PM programs) will continue to run.
      After the WPS is up again, "Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2" is ready for
      use.

      If you feel more comfortable doing a complete system shutdown and reboot,
      you can select not to reset the WPS.  Then you need to reboot OS/2 to use
      the program.

      Note:  If you use the "WPS reset" option, the WPS will be locked if you
      use the "Lock on startup" option within the Desktop "Lockup"
      Settings/Properties.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. What the uninstall program does ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

VERY IMPORTANT:
If you have installed the program, do not delete any program files until you
have run the deinstallation program successfully.

     Deregisters the enhancement WPS class for WPMouse.

     Destroys the program object for Online Help in the "information" folder
      and the shadow on the desktop.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. important notes about installation/deinstallation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Note:

     Neither the install nor the uninstall program makes permanent changes to
      your CONFIG.SYS.  The install program only changes CONFIG.SYS temporarily
      in order to handle locked files, if necessary.

      All parts of the program are designed so that a permanent modification is
      not necessary, because I believe that modifying CONFIG.SYS for anything
      other than inserting a DEVICE statement is not good practice.  This would
      not be user-friendly and can be easily avoided.

     You can reinstall the animation resources at any time. Just unpack the
      package zip file to a temporary directory and run install.cmd in the
      directory where you unzipped the package. Select unpacking the animation
      resources.  After that, the installation program will install the program
      over the installed version. Select not to go on with the installation.

     The uninstall program does not remove any files from your hard disk.

     The "Animation File Path" and the program path, which you can specify in
      the install program or via command line parameters, are stored within
      OS2.INI (application name is "WPAMPTR") and used as default values when
      executing the install program again.  You can delete this information, if
      desired, but it is recommended that you do so only if you have done the
      following (in this order!)

        1. run the deinstallation program install\remove.cmd successfully
        2. and deleted the program files and do not want to use the program any
      longer.  Otherwise the information in OS2.INI will make a future
      reinstallation easier, because then you won't have to specify these
      values again.

     After both install and uninstall, you will be prompted for a reboot or a
      WPS reset for the changes to take effect.  This is necessary for WPS
      replacement classes. The only exception to that rule is: If you perform
      an installation and then, without rebooting or resetting the WPS,
      uninstall, you need not reboot or reset the WPS, because you never used
      the WPS replacement class.

     If you execute INSTALL.CMD from the program directory of an installed
      version, the unpacking of animation resources and the xcopy of program
      files is skipped, because everything is (or rather, should be) already
      there.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. Unattended installation/deinstallation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

For unattended installation and deinstallation you can use the parameter
/Batch.

For the installation program, you can specify the install target directories
for both the program and the animation resource files with other parameters.

Call install\install.cmd or install\remove.cmd with parameter /? to display
help for all supported installation and deinstallation parameters.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. Startup Problems with Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

 This section applies to

     users of Object Desktop from Stardock Systems
     users experiencing WPS hangs with "Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2" V1.0

 This version of Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2 implements a workaround for
 WPS initialization problems which may occur when using the program either
 together with Object Desktop or on a system with heavy CPU load and disk I/O
 during WPS startup (many programs started via startup.cmd or Startup folder).

 On these systems the WPS may hang when Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2 loads
 the animation and starts to animate the arrow pointer while Object Desktop
 loads.

 Normally WPS objects should not interfere each other on WPS initialization,
 but such effects can also be observed using other pieces of software. I tried
 to find the error and/or to avoid the hang by numerous program modifications
 (modifying animation priority, different synchronisation schemes for the
 animation thread), but that did not work.

 Now you can delay the animation initialization for a user-specified amount of
 time so that your system can finish the startup before initializing the
 pointer animation.
 Because there is no way of automatically detecting whether all startup
 programs are up already, this delay has to be manually determined by the user.

 If your WPS hangs on startup with Animated Mouse Pointer for OS/2 installed
 and with mouse pointer animations active before the last shutdown, then
 perform the following steps

     do a <CTRL>-<ALT>-<Delete> to restart your system
     boot to the command line by pressing <ALT>-<F1>, when "ΓûêΓûêΓûêΓûê OS/2" appears
      in the left upper corner on your screen, then press "C" to boot to the
      command line when the Recovery Choices screen appears.
     edit your CONFIG.SYS (you can use TEDIT.EXE for this)

      add the following line at the end of CONFIG.SYS
      SET WPAMPTR.ANIMINITDELAY=n
      where n is the needed delay in seconds.
      It is recommended that you set n to a high value at first (e.g. 120 for a
      delay of 2 minutes). Later, you can decrease the value you have set with
      the environment variable so that the animation will start right after the
      WPS startup has finished. Alternatively, you can open the "Animation
      Settings/Properties" dialog and modify the setting for "Animation
      Initialization Delay" to the appropriate value.

      Note:
        -  The environment variable WPAMPTR.ANIMINITDELAY is always used as a
           default value for the setting "Animation Initialization Delay". If
           you store a different value within the "Animation
           Settings/Properties" dialog than specified in the environment
           variable, the value of the animation setting will be used.
        -  To explicitly delete the animation setting so that the value of the
           environment variable is used, set the value of the animation setting
           to the default value.
        -  When the mouse object awaits the delayed initialization of the
           animation, all controls on the "Pointers" page are disabled until
           the initialization is finished.  This is done to prevent the user
           from modifying settings that are later overwritten by the delayed
           initialization.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. your feedback ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

For comments/questions/suggestions, if you want your new animation to be
integrated in a new version of this program, or if you want to help me support
a new language in the next version, feel free to e-mail the author. (see
section Introduction).  And now: have fun!