Author Topic: More moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons  (Read 6014 times)

Pete

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More moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons
« on: May 28, 2020, 07:02:05 pm »
Hi All

Moving Desktop icons is a problem that I have only encountered briefly once before on a laptop where it seemed to cure itself... or I do not remember taking any action to resolve the problem...

However, developed this problem a couple of days ago  on a desktop system: ArcaOS 5.0.4 installed, using WarpCenter at top of screen, XWP1.0.13 installed. As the problem does not look like it will "cure itself" I have been trying to investigate the cause.

Having found some old os2world discussions about this I tried running RmDesktopFolderPos.cmd which generated this output and left the Desktop as it was:-


[J:\PROGRAMS\UTILS\MOVINGDESKTOPOBJECTS]RmDesktopFolderPos.cmd run
Error: 218466@10 was not found in PM_Workplace:FolderPos.


Does not look like that will help then... though I have not checked some of the uses suggested so far.


Tried toggling the XWP Shutdown a few times with reboots.
No change.


With Desktop icons back in their "start" position, ie no vertical scrollbar anymore, I ran the WPTools checkini app.

No problems reported but on Desktop restart the icons have all moved down, the vertical scrollbar is back.
So, checkini does not help.

Moved the icons back by scrolling which got rid of the scrollbar.

I then ran cleanini - from http://www.ca-arnold.de/download/cleanini55.zip - and on Desktop restart the icons have *not* moved.

I then powered off the system and made a coffee.

On rebooting the system the icons have moved down again!

I suspect IFX running during boot has reinstated this behaviour.

I edited config.sys and put REM at the start of the ifx line.

I then scrolled the Desktop back into position and ran cleanini again - no Desktop icon "creep" on restart.

I then powered off the system, counted to 20, powered the system on.

No problem with the Desktop icons - so I guess IFX was reinstating the moving icons bit.

To test I rebooted - after using Text Editor to make these notes.

No moving Desktop icons.

I used the XWP Restart Desktop a few times with no "icon creep".


I edited config.sys and deleted the REM at the start of the IFX line then rebooted - and the moving icons problem is back.

I scrolled the Desktop back into position, ran cleanini, put REM at the start of the IFX line in config.sys and rebooted - no moving Desktop icons.

I can only guess that IFX is finding something in the existing os2*.ini files that is causing this problem but it seems strange that the moving icons do not happen when IFX is not run during boot. I had a read of the ifx.txt file and tried this command to test the ini files:-

   ifx /fvr


The output informed me:-

   Info:  removed invalid entry that causes Desktop icon-creep


As ifx /fvr runs in read only mode that entry still exists and, it seems, does not affect anything unless ifx is run during boot in which case the moving icons problem appears. Strange that running ifx during boot does not remove that invalid entry - or does it?

I had a look through some of the ifx*.log files generated during boot and see:-

   Info:  removed invalid entry that causes Desktop icon-creep

Has ifx failed to remove that entry as the "creep" happens if ifx is run during boot - but, strangely, not when ifx is *not* run during boot.

For now ifx is not called during boot as it seems to be introducing the problem - maybe the above "invalid entry" is removed but, maybe, that entry is what prevents the "icon creep"?


Any thoughts on this "moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons" problem variant?


Regards

Pete


ivan

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Re: More moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2020, 08:52:33 pm »
Hi Pete,

I had the moving icons problem with a new install some time ago (replaced an old hard disk that was running hot with a new one).

After checking that everything was back where it should be and programs and data restored from backup I then removed the IFX line from the config.sys as normal because I tend to use cleanini for cleaning up the ini files and once started this box is on 24/7.

On restart I see the same as you - no icon creep.  Maybe a dig through the ini files with ini editor, from Goran Ivankovic, might find the problem.

Andreas Schnellbacher

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Re: More moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2020, 09:10:07 pm »
Having found some old os2world discussions about this I tried running RmDesktopFolderPos.cmd which generated this output and left the Desktop as it was:-

[J:\PROGRAMS\UTILS\MOVINGDESKTOPOBJECTS]RmDesktopFolderPos.cmd run
Error: 218466@10 was not found in PM_Workplace:FolderPos.

Does not look like that will help then...
Probably wrong, it works here well. The "Error" message is just a bit misleading. Background:

The entry is written by the desktop not in every session. Therefore the cmd won't find it always, which is a good sign, and gives that error message. I already have a version here, which behaves better in the output, but I also wanted to add installation for that script before releasing the next version. Let's see.

Doug's idea was it to place that script in an XWP shutdown folder. That works well for me since years and sooner or later the problem occurs on systems without that script.

BTW: In the future, IFX might make that utility superfluous, by doing the same.

Andreas Schnellbacher

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Re: More moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2020, 09:16:52 pm »
I had many situations where cleanini forces the write of the ini entry, which leads to that bug.

In fact, checkini and cleanini won't help with that. You can use Rich's FPos for that, but have to do it manually.

Andreas Schnellbacher

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Re: More moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons
« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2020, 09:39:13 pm »
Here's the version that fixes the misleading output. I had to zip the .cmd file, because of the extension restrictions here.

Code: [Select]
* 2019-10-13  -  Changed error message and reset RC if key was already
*                deleted.
*             -  Fixed typos in the header.

Rich Walsh

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Re: More moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons
« Reply #5 on: May 28, 2020, 10:58:25 pm »
I suspect IFX running during boot has reinstated this behaviour.
[...]
Any thoughts on this "moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons" problem variant?

Quick Fix: on the IFX commandline in 'config.sys', add '/i' - e.g. "CALL=C:\SYS\APPS\IFX\IFX.EXE /i"

Underlying Cause: the problem arises when the WPS crashes on a system that has XCenter's "Reduce Desktop workarea" option enabled. Unlike a normal shutdown, XCenter doesn't get a chance to restore the Desktop to its original size. Later, when the WPS sees its size is not the default value, it generates a FolderPos entry for it with the reduced size. At the next startup, the Desktop gets configured with the wrong height, then has its size reduced further by XCenter yielding icon creep.

On a system that uses XWP Shutdown (rather than Styler's shutdown) and doesn't use WarpCenter, IFX's fix is precisely what's needed: remove a FolderPos entry that shouldn't exist and causes the problem. This is exactly the same as what Andreas's script does.

Problems arise with this solution when using Styler shutdown, WarpCenter, and possibly other addons. In these cases, that FolderPos is needed to restore things properly, so IFX's fix is no fix at all. The '/I' (letter "eye") switch turns it off.

FWIW... I spent a lot of time researching this but I wouldn't claim to have uncovered every last detail - plus it's been a while so my memory is a bit fuzzy. Still, I'm pretty sure that the IFX fix is the appropriate one for most ArcaOS installations.

FWIW2... I never see this problem for two reasons: (1) I don't use "Reduce Desktop workarea". Instead, I use XWP's screen borders feature to open/surface XCenter whenever I move the mouse to the bottom right corner of the screen; (2) I use "Always maintain sort order" for the Desktop (I have other things to do than artfully arrange the 51 icons currently on my Desktop).

Doug Bissett

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Re: More moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2020, 05:45:34 pm »
I have had that problem, for years. As Rich says, it is caused by using the Reduce Desktop workarea setting (which I prefer to use, for various reasons). There is a script in: https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/wps/movingdesktopobjects100.zip, that can be run at shutdown. That will PREVENT (not fix) the problem, about 98% of the time. Of course, if the script doesn't run at shutdown (hard crash, reset, forced power off), you may still see the problem (but not always). There is a short description of the problem in the docs too. All it really does, is remove the information for the desktop, so the desktop always comes up in the default position, not where it happened to be the last time it got saved.

It would be nice, if IFX would do that, so the desktop information is removed, just before the desktop starts up. If it did that, the problem would be prevented 100% of the time. I have never seen any down side to removing the desktop stuff (ONLY the desktop information, NOT all of the desktop sub folder information).

Pete

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Re: More moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2020, 06:50:04 pm »
Hi All

@Andreas
Just to confirm that when the key exists RmDesktopFolderPos.cmd run does remove that key.

@Doug
I gather this is usually the right answer but  the problem was not the usual - see Richs response.

@Rich
Thanks for the explanation.
Currently using the IFX /I parameter and Desktop no longer has icon creep.


Thanks to all for input on this problem.

Pete

Dariusz Piatkowski

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Re: More moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons
« Reply #8 on: May 29, 2020, 06:51:22 pm »
Doug,

...There is a script in: https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/wps/movingdesktopobjects100.zip, that can be run at shutdown....

This is the same script Andreas already posted the most recent (and therefore updated) version in this very thread.

For anyone that's looking for the backup info (INF) the package Doug pointed to certainly has that. But I would advise against using the CMD file that's included there as opposed to the updated one that's provided by Andreas here.

Andreas Schnellbacher

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Re: More moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons
« Reply #9 on: May 29, 2020, 08:44:33 pm »
CALL=C:\SYS\APPS\IFX\IFX.EXE /i"
Good to know.

I'm testing this now instead of the script and will report the result.

Rich Walsh

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Re: More moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons
« Reply #10 on: May 30, 2020, 03:42:14 am »
CALL=C:\SYS\APPS\IFX\IFX.EXE /i"
I'm testing this now instead of the script and will report the result.

Hmmm... You may have misunderstood: this disables deletion of the Desktop FolderPos entry. Unless you're running WarpCenter or Styler Shutdown, you do not want to use this option.

Andreas Schnellbacher

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Re: More moving/creeping/downward sliding Desktop icons
« Reply #11 on: June 02, 2020, 01:46:11 pm »
Rich, thanks for the explanation.

I consider my testing as completed. I just rebooted and all desktop objects move down. (I have my top XCenter object configured to reduce the workarea.)

The IFX line in CONFIG.SYS: CALL=C:\sys\apps\ifx\ifx.exe
I'm using IFX 1.23 of ArcaOS 5.0.4.

The system crashed hard before that on trying to start VirtualPC (vpc.exe). It's not working stable here, but it had no impact on the reduce-desktop-workarea problem before, when I simply always deleted it.

I have added the object for "rmdesktopfolderpos.cmd run" to my XWP shutdown folder again. I don't have WarpCenter running and don't use Styler Shutdown.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2020, 04:05:09 pm by Andreas Schnellbacher »