WPS tools (o)

The WPS (Workplace Shell) is the graphical desktop of OS/2 since OS/2 2.0 (1992). The WPS is much more than a simple icon view of files like the Windows desktop: Each WPS object has got an internal object identification and - in most cases - also a filename. Filenames can change, but the object id is always the same. There are also types of objects which have got only an object id and no physical filename: shadows and especially program objects. OS/2 places this information in the files \OS2\OS2.INI and \OS2\OS2SYS.INI. On elder OS/2 systems, you get problems if the OS2.INI file is bigger than 400 kB and it gets slower. There's always the risk of getting these files corrupted, but you can't simply save them.

There are some very useful Freeware tools for handling these virtual program objects.

The first program is "Assoedit". It's a small PM program with only one purpose: To manipulate the associations between programs and data files. Without Assoedit, you can only see the association of one program (program object settings notebook, page associations). Assoedit shows you a list of all associations, e.g.

*.BMP               pmVIEW
                    Iconedit

You can choose which program gets the default association (the program which starts when double clicking on the data icon).

Here you can download ASSOED212.ZIP (311 k).

If you use the WPS intensively and have made a lot of program objects, you should store your program objects to files by using Henk Kelders WPtools. WPtools is a package of a handful textual tools. In my opinion, two of them are very important: WPSBKP and WPSREST.

With WPSBKP you can save your program objects to a single text file; the icons are saved seperately. It's useful to take a look at this text file and to delete the entries you need not any more.

OBJECT "WPProgram" "Gnuplot" "<WP_OS2-PROG>"
             "EXENAME=D:\SOFTWARE\GR\GNUPLOS2\GNUPLOT.EXE;
              STARTUPDIR=D:\SOFTWARE\GR\GNUPLOS2;
              PROGTYPE=WINDOWABLEVIO;
              PARAMETERS=%*;
              ASSOCFILTER=*.GNU,,;
              TITLE=Gnuplot;
              NOPRINT=YES;
              HELPPANEL=4083;
              HIDEBUTTON=DEFAULT;
              MINWIN=DEFAULT;
              CCVIEW=DEFAULT;
              DEFAULTVIEW=DEFAULT;
              OBJECTID=<WP_GNUPLOT>;"

With WPSREST, you can restore your program objects.

Hints:

• In WPtools 2.0 and before, there's a bug concerning the filenames of the *.ICO files: The ICO files aren't found anymore and the objects are restored without the correct icons. You can avoid this problem by changing all ICO filenames to the full drive:\path name (use the search/replace functionality of your editor).
  
• Start WPSBKP with the -y option to omit the questions, if you want to restore all objects.
  
• Use the Association editor above after running WPSREST and check the default associations.
  

Another useful program worth to mention is Carsten Arnolds CLEANINI which deletes object information of data files in OS2SYS.INI which are not part of the desktop and its subfolders. It is recommended to run CLEANINI /c two or three times a year.