Chip: Extra/Image.bin/os2/merlin/npswps.doc

Text File | 1995-10-12 | 22.7 KB | 646 lines

        NPS WPS Enhancer version 1.81 Manual


[Outline]

  NPS WPS Enhancer improves usability and customizability of OS/2,
version 2.1 or later.  Since this software is a freeware, there is
no warranty.

  With NPS WPS Enhancer installed on your desktop, you can...

 1. sort objects in a folder by file extensions.
 2. move folder windows or the system clock window by dragging with
    mouse button 2.
 3. remove the menu items "Sort" and "Arrange" from the desktop popup
    menu.
 4. use the popup menu on OS/2 or DOS command windows,
    and open files or copy filenames from a file dialog in OS/2 windows.
 5. show the Window List by clicking both buttons in almost all windows.
 6. select objects in a folder by their names.  (wildcards available)
 7. remap keys in PM windows or OS/2 command windows.  (temporary macro
    available)
 8. move a window by dragging its frame with mouse button 2.
 9. make the mouse pointer "wrap" at the edge of the screen.
10. draw lines on the screen.
11. arrange objects in a folder in a matrix.
12. automatically move the mouse pointer to the focused window.
13. decorate the desktop with window shadows.
14. add a "close" button to windows.
15. automatically activate the window under the mouse pointer.
    (optionally leave Z-order the same)
16. change z-order of folders when you drag objects.
17. use "full window" window drag instead of frame drag.
18. mark and copy command window text with the mouse.
19. paste the clipboard text to command windows with the mouse.
20. drag files which are listed in the list box of a file dialog.
21. change an icon for standard files.  (not available on Warp)
22. enjoy new window open/close animations.
23. scroll folder windows smoothly with their scroll bars.
24. automatically select the menu item under the mouse pointer.
25. change window z-order without changing the focus.
26. use the popup menu on the Entry Fields to copy, cut, and paste.

  Each function can be individually enabled, so you can use only the
functions you want to.

  NPS WPS Enhancer hides its window when it starts.  Use the Window
List to bring up its settings notebook.



[Installation]

  Copy all files to the directory you wish to keep NPS WPS Enhancer.
All files in the archive must be kept in the same directory.  Then,
run NPSWPSIN.CMD to install NPS WPS Enhancer into the Startup
folder.  The LIBPATH statement in your CONFIG.SYS must also contain
a "." path, the current directory.  NPS WPS Enhancer will not modify
CONFIG.SYS or OS2.INI.

  If you wish to use the Japanese version, please type the following
commands from an OS/2 command prompt:

  rc npswpsjp.rc npswps.dll
  copy npswpsjp.lst npswps.lst

  The German resource files NPSWPSDE.RC and NPSWPSDE.LST are also
included, but they are not completely defined. Please modify
NPSWPSDE.RC and type the following commands:

  rc npswpsde.rc npswps.dll
  copy npswpsde.lst npswps.lst

  NPSWPSJP.RC, NPSWPSJP.LST, NPSWPSDE.RC, and NPSWPSDE.LST are not
necessary if you do not use these foreign versions.

  Once NPS WPS Enhancer has been installed it will start
automatically when you boot OS/2.  If you do not wish it to do so
you can move the NPS WPS Enhancer program object out of the Startup
folder.

  To uninstall NPS WPS Enhancer, delete all NPS WPS Enhancer files
and delete its program object.



[Feature Reference]

[Select/Sort - Extension Sort]

  This item adds "Extension" to the "Sort" submenu of the system
menu or the popup menu of folders, allowing you to sort objects in
the folder by their file extension.



[Select/Sort - Selection by Object Name]

  This feature allows you to select objects in a folder according to
their name.  It adds a "Name..." item in the "Select" submenu of the
system menu or popup menu of folders.
  Case is ignored.  There are the following special characters.

'*' matches any number of any character.
'*.txt' matches 'a.txt', 'bc.txt', etc.

'?' matches any 1 characer except period.
'a.t?t' matches 'a.txt', but not 'a.tt' or 'a.t.t'.

'!' means negation if it is the first character of the search string.
So '!*.txt' will select the object whose name does not match '*.txt'.

',' means a separator of multiple keys.  Objects are selected if their
names match any one of the multiple keys.

'\' nullifies the next character.  But '\n' means a carriage return.

Example:

*.txt     : Select the objects whose extension is 'txt'.
!*\n*,a*  : Select the objects whose name does not contain a carriage
            return, and the objects whose name starts with 'a'.



[Select/Sort - Disable Sort and Arrange of Desktop]

  When this is selected the "Sort" and "Arrange" menu items are
removed from the desktop popup menu, preventing accidental
rearrangement of your desktop.



[Select/Sort - Arrange Icons on Matrix]

  This setting arranges objects in a folder in a matrix, or grid.
It will work only if the folder shows objects with normal icons, and
if "Non-Grid" is selected for the View format in the settings
notebook.

  "x Origin" and "y Origin" indicate the coordinate of the first
object, (0, 0) being the top-left of the folder.  "x Distance" and
"y Distance" indicate the distance between objects.



[Drag - Frame Drag]

  This option allows you to drag a window by clicking and dragging
on its frame (border) with mouse button 2.  Changing the size of the
window is still done with button 1.  This function only works with
PM windows.



[Drag - Folder Drag]

  This option allows you to move a folder by clicking and dragging
it with mouse button 2 within the folder's empty space.



[Drag - System Clock Drag]

  This option allows you to move the system clock by dragging its
window with mouse button 2.



[Drag - Show Other Folders when Drag]

  This option moves a folder with selected objects under any
overlapping folders when the selected objects in that folder are
dragged.  If the checkbox "Only when Shift is pressed" is turned on,
the program ignores whether or not objects are selected and moves
the folder only when the shift key is held down.



[Drag - Full Window Drag]

  With this option enabled, the entire window will be moved and
redrawn when you drag the window with the title bar or with mouse
button 2 instead of using a "drag frame".  ESC cannot be used to
recover the previous position in this case.  Note that slower
machines and machines with slow video cards will not be able to
redraw the screen frequently.  Also, this function works only with
PM windows.



[Pointer 1 - Move Pointer to Focus]

  When this item is enabled, the mouse pointer will automatically
move to the window which gets the focus.  If "Always Move Pointer"
is on, the pointer will be moved every time the focus window
changes.  If it is off, the pointer will move in the following
cases:

  1. A dialog box or message box is created.
  2. The focus is changed by a double-click (i.e., opening a window).

  To prevent the pointer from moving, move the mouse quickly during
automatic mouse move.

  The "Step" field determines how quickly the pointer moves to the
new window.  One step equals 20 milliseconds.  "Randomness" defines
the randomness of the pointer movement.  If it is 0, the pointer
moves directly to the new focus window.  Higher numbers are
increasingly random.

  If "Ignore Buttonless Dialogs" is checked, the pointer will not be
moved to a focus window that has no buttons.

  If "Ignore LaunchPad" is checked, the program ignores the
LaunchPad and its drawers.

  It is a good idea to use Comet Cursor with this function.



[Pointer 1 - Wrap Pointer on Screen Border]

  When this option is checked the pointer will "wrap" from one side
of the screen to the opposite side.  "Effective Area" determines how
big the area is on each screen border where jumping will occur,
starting from the center of the screen border.  50% means that the
area from the center halfway to each corner will be effective, 75%
means the area from the center of the border three fourths of the
way to the corners will be effective, etc.



[Pointer 2 - Activate Window at Pointer]

  This feature automatically sets focus to the window underneath the
mouse pointer.  It is disabled when popup menus are displayed or
when a mouse button is pressed, and ignores Win-OS/2 seamless
windows.

  If the Window List is shown, this feature is suspended until the
mouse pointer moves over the Window List.

  "Waiting Time" determines how long the delay is before the window
underneath the mouse pointer is activated.  If 0, the window is
activated instantly.  A value of 50-60 is suggested to avoid
activating windows accidentally.

  If "Keep Window Z-Orders" is checked, the window will not bring
the new focus window in front of all other windows.

  If "Ignore Desktop" is checked, the Desktop will not get the focus
when the mouse is over it.

  A newly created window will soon lose its focus if the mouse pointer is
not moved to it.  "Only when Pointer is moved" prevents newly
created windows from losing focus if the user doesn't move the mouse
pointer.  If "Move pointer to focus" is enabled this option is not
effective.



[Pointer 2 - Automatic Menu Selection]

  When this option is checked, the menu item at the mouse pointer is
shown as if the mouse button is pressed.  You must still click the
mouse button to select the menu item.  Conditional cascade menus are
pressed only when the pointer moves over the right half of the menu
item, and in that case its submenu is automatically opened.
This feature makes menu navigation faster and more accurate.



[Screen View - Screen Drawing]

  This allows you to draw lines anywhere on the screen by using the
specific key-mouse combination.  To change the combination to draw
the line, click the words under the checkbox of this function that
show the current combination with the combination to be assigned.
Valid keys are Shift, Ctrl, and Alt.  You must press at least one of
these keys.  The default combination is Shift + Ctrl + Button 1.

  Change the color by selecting a color from the value set.  Clicking
"Refresh Screen" erases all lines.



[Screen View - Window Shadows on Desktop]

  This option causes windows to cast shadows on the desktop.
"Shadow x" and "Shadow y" determine the size of the shadows.
"Shadow Darkness" determines the density of the shadow.  0 is the
lightest, and 8 is the darkest.  Press "Refresh Screen" to update
the screen after making changes to these parameters.

  The vertical black line will remain on the screen on systems with
some video cards, such as S3 864/964 or Matrox video card, because
their video drivers seem to have a bug in the API GpiBox.  If you
experience problems with this setting, check "Adaptation to Video
Driver Bugs" to avoid it.



[Screen View - Random Icons]

  NOTE - This function will not work on Warp.

  This function changes the icon for standard files.  Icons in
NPSWPSRI.DLL are randomly selected for each standard file.
To customize icons, modify NPSWPSRI.RC to include your icons.
The format is:

  ICON n PRELOAD IMPURE "filename"

n must be 2 or greater, and sequential.  Then enter the following
command in an OS/2 command window:

  rc npswpsri.rc npswpsri.dll

This will enable the new random icons.

  Do not change NPSWPSRI.DLL's icon from its settings notebook.  NPS
WPS Enhancer expects NPSWPSRI.DLL to have a standard icon.



[Animation - Window Animation for Open / Close]

  This feature improves the animations used when a window is opened
or closed.  There are 5 different types of animations available.
Win-OS/2 seamless windows are not animated.

  DLLs for window animations are loaded when the program starts
according to the file NPSWPS.LST.  The fifth and sixth strings in
each line of NPSWPS.LST, which stand for the words to be displayed
in the dialog box, can be modified by the user.  Lines which start
with a semicolon are comments and are ignored by the program.

  The option "Number of Afterimages" sets the number of frames
displayed at the same time.  In general, this value should be set
higher for faster machines and higher resolutions.

  If "Animation Sounds" is checked, a sound file will be played
according to the Sound settings notebook.  The names of wave files
are read only when NPS WPS Enhancer starts, so when you change the wave
files, restart this program.

  "Waveaudio Index" determines which sound card is used for the animation
sounds.  The index 1 means Waveaudio01, 2 means Waveaudio02, etc.

  If "Animations for All Frame Windows" is checked, all frame
windows are animated, not just those with the animation attribute.

  Click "Detail Settings..." to configure each animation type and
whether or not it is enabled.  Select the animation name to customize
each animation type.
  If "Enable" is checked, appropriate animation will take effect.
The enabled animation types are randomly selected every time a window
animates.

  "Step" sets the number of steps in the animation.  A higher number
means more steps, and the animation will take longer.  Take care when
setting this number on slow machines - a high Step value may take a
very long time to draw.
  "Angle" determines how many degrees of rotation the animation will
rotate through.  "Divisor" determines how many quadrants will be
used.  On a 486DX2/66Mhz, numbers above 4 are too slow unless the
Step is less than 25

  If you can write a dynamic link library, please try to make your own
window animations.  NPSWPSWA.DOC contains instructions.  NPSWPSWA.CPP
is the source code for NPSWPSWA.DLL, the standard window animation
module for NPS WPS Enhancer.



[Command Window - Popup Menu]

  NOTE - The file dialog called from this option is different from
         the one in version 1.73a.

  When enabled this option opens a popup menu for OS/2 and DOS
command windows when mouse button 2 is pressed anywhere in the
window.  If the menu item "Filename..." is selected from this menu
a File dialog will appear.

  The file dialog brought up by this menu item allows you to
directly open files by selecting them and then pressing the "Open"
button.  The "Names" button in the file dialog allows you to copy
the filenames to the clipboard.  The filenames are separated by
white space, and filenames which contain white space are enclosed by
double quotation marks.  To open a folder you must specify the name
of the folder, because folders are not listed in the listbox.



[Command Window - Extended Marking]

  This option allows you to enter mark mode in OS/2 and DOS windows
by dragging the specified mouse button within the window.
The selected text is automatically copied to the clipboard when the
mouse button is released.  The last carriage return of the copied
text is removed.
  To change the key-mouse combination for extended marking, click the
words under the checkbox of this function, which show the current
combination, with the new combination to be assigned.  Valid keys are
Shift, Ctrl, and Alt. The default combination is Button 1 without
a key.



[Command Window - Quick Paste]

  This option causes clipboard text to be pasted to an OS/2 or DOS
command window when the specified key-mouse combination is clicked
on it.
  To change the combination for quick paste, click the words under
the checkbox of this function, which show the current combination,
with the new combination to be assigned.  Valid keys are Shift,
Ctrl, and Alt, and a click and a double click are treated as
different actions.  The default combination is Button 1 double
click without a key.



[Others - Key Translation]

  The program will translate keys.  To my regret, this function is
not perfect; some applications ignore translated keys.
  The file NPSWPS.DAT describes the key translations.  This file is
read only when NPS WPS Enhancer starts.  The format of the key
translation table is:

[C+|C-][S+|S-][A+|A-]key [C+|C-][S+|S-][A+|A-]key

The first string is the input, and the second string is the output.
Case is ignored.  '[]' means that the contents are optional.  '|'
means you may specify only one of the two options.  'C', 'S', and
'A' are Ctrl, Shift, and Alt.  '+' means the key is pressed, '-'
means it is released.  'key' is either a character or a virtual key
name.
  Lines which start with ';' are comments.  If you want to
translate semicolons, specify either "S+;" or "S-;" according to
your keyboard.


Example:

c+x s+c-delete

The input is Ctrl + 'X'.  Shift and Alt are ignored because there is
no S+, S-, A+, or A-.  The output is Shift + DEL.  The Ctrl state
will be changed to off.  The Alt state will not be changed.


Virtual Keys:

BREAK (Alt + Pause)
BACKSPACE
TAB
BACKTAB (Shift + Tab)
NEWLINE (Enter or Return)
PAUSE
ESC
SPACE
PAGEUP
PAGEDOWN
END
HOME
LEFT
UP
RIGHT
DOWN
PRINTSCRN
INSERT
DELETE
SCRLLOCK
ENTER (This is numeric-keypad Enter or shift + Enter)
SYSRQ
F1, F2, ..., F24



[Keyboard Macro]

  There are 3 special virtual key names listed below.

STARTRECORD
ENDRECORD
PLAYBACK

The key STARTRECORD will start memorizing keyboard inputs.  The key
ENDRECORD will stop memorizing, and the key PLAYBACK sends the
memorized keyboard input to the window.  In the default NPSWPS.DAT,
Ctrl + '8' is assigned to STARTRECORD, Ctrl + '9' is assigned to
ENDRECORD, and Ctrl + '0' is assigned to PLAYBACK.



[Others - Window List]

  This option shows the Window List when both mouse buttons are
pressed over most windows, not just when over the Desktop.



[Others - Close Buttons]

  This option adds a Close button to the title bar of the window,
which closes the window when pressed.  Close buttons for the system
windows, such as OS/2 windows, are made in the NPS WPS Enhancer
thread, so Close buttons are sometimes drawn before the title bar
redraws.  I don't think it's a severe problem.

  NPSWPSCB.BMP is the bitmap file for close buttons.  This file must be
placed in the directory where NPSWPS.EXE is installed.  To customize
Close buttons, please modify NPSWPSCB.BMP and restart NPS WPS Enhancer.
  The bitmap for Close buttons was included in NPSWPS.DLL as a resource
in NPS WPS Enhancer version 1.80 or before, so a resource compiler was
necessary.

  Close buttons are not properly drawn on systems with some video cards,
such as a Power9000 video card, because its video driver seems to have
a bug in the API named GpiDrawBits.  If you experience problems with
this setting, check "Adaptation to Video Driver Bugs" to avoid it.
The bitmap is streched by 1 pixel in its height (y size) in this case.

  Please press the "Refresh Screen" button in the "Screen View" page
when you change this bug adaptation option.



[Others - Extended File Dialogs]

  This option lets you drag the files selected in the listbox of the
standard file dialog of any application.  The dragged files can be
moved by dropping them on a folder or deleted by dropping them on
the shredder.

  In addition, the menu item "Filename..." is added to the popup
menu of the Desktop.  This is the same file dialog described in
"Command Window - Popup Menu".



[Others - Smooth Scroll of Folders]

  When this option is enabled, the scroll bars of a folder scroll
the contents smoothly.  If the folder has a background bitmap, it
will redraw the background each time the scrollbar is moved, causing
the folder to flicker.



[Others - Change Window Z-Order]

  This option allows you to change the window z-order with the
specified key-mouse combination.  "Up:" is the combination used to
bring the window up by 1 level z-order, and "Down:" is the
combination used to move the window down 1 level z-order.  To change
these combinations, click these statements with the combination to
be assigned.



[Others - Entry Field Menu]

  When enabled this option opens a popup menu for Entry Fields
when mouse button 2 is pressed.  The menu items are copy, cut,
and paste.  These 3 items mean Ctrl + Ins, Shift + Del, and
Shift + Ins respectively.



[Customize messages]

  You can customize all the words used in NPS WPS Enhancer very
easily.  Modify the strings with double quotation marks in
NPSWPSUS.RC, and enter the following command in an OS/2 window:

  rc npswpsus.rc npswps.dll

  I'll be glad if you would kindly send the resource file written in
any other language besides English and Japanese. I can add such
resource files to the later version of NPS WPS Enhancer.



[Known problems]

  First of all, if you notice your system sometimes hangs up or
freezes, please disable all the options.  If the problem disappears
in that case, probably only one option is the cause of your problem.

  In some systems, activating NPS WPS Enhancer on system boot causes
Workplace Shell to freeze.  Please move the program object of this
program out of the Startup folder to another folder in this case.
This problem doesn't occur on OS/2 2.x, and doesn't occur after
Workplace Shell completes its initialization.  So I think it might be
caused by Warp itself.

  If the option "Activate Window at Pointer" is on and the option
"Waiting Time" is set to 0, too frequent opening and closing of
seamless WIN-OS/2 windows sometimes hangs the system. If this
problem occurs, please set the waiting time to a non-0 value.
  These settings described above also cause a severe decrease of the
system performance if you are using a screen saver.  Setting the waiting
time to a non-0 value may probably solve this problem.

  In some systems, The option "Arrange Icons on Matrix" prevents
MVDM from executing.  It is a very rare problem, so I cannot find
the reason.
  Some users have reported that "Arrange Icons on Matrix" also make
the title bar font to be changed to the system default font.

  Folders cannot save their position if opened again before the
window animation for closing is finished.

  If "Close Buttons" are checked, MINSTALL.EXE, installer of MMPM/2,
cannot show its window in some systems.
  Some users have reported that this option also causes some OS/2
Full Screen applications to hung.



[Distribution]

  You can distribute this software as long as all the files are in the
same package such as ZIP, LZH, a floppy disk, or a CD-ROM directory.
Only language translation is allowed to modify files.  In that case,
you must add the sentences which mention when and who modify the package
at the head of README.



[Other]

  Please send me email if you like this software.  Your ideas to
improve Workplace Shell are also welcome.  About 10 functions of
this program are from the ideas of users.


            Shinji 'N.P.S.' Takasugi     Team OS/2 Japan
            [e-mail]
            [e-mail] (for Japanese users)