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Messages - Rich Walsh

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61
Programming / Re: Bigicons
« on: November 29, 2023, 03:56:40 pm »
I tried this and everything worked OK - except for SET BIGICONS=<path>. The reason is simple: it's WRONG! It should be SET BIGICONSPATH=<path>. Give that a try...
Does it means that  "SET BIGICONS=" is always wrong, or that it is also possible to use "SET BIGICONSPATH=" ?
Is there a difference between both that you know about?

The difference between the two is that "SET BIGICONSPATH=" is correct (i.e. that's what the code looks for) while "SET BIGICONS=" is incorrect (i.e. the code doesn't look for this). The fact that AN has been putting the wrong entry in config.sys for the last 6 years doesn't change things. My only question is why it took someone 6 years to notice the error.

FWIW... I was the one who transformed "Sunny Icons" into "Dynamic Icons", so maybe I was the one who gave them the wrong info. If so, I apologize for the error.

62
Programming / Re: Bigicons
« on: November 28, 2023, 05:25:11 pm »
I have attached some of the icons including an update bigicons.txt which corrects a lot of the mistakes I made.

I tried this and everything worked OK - except for SET BIGICONS=<path>. The reason is simple: it's WRONG! It should be SET BIGICONSPATH=<path>. Give that a try...

63
Programming / Re: Bigicons
« on: November 27, 2023, 06:12:36 pm »
I then selected Use custom icons and and Dynamic setting it to 56, closed and rebooted.
Nothing changed. The text was still named bigicons.txt.

The filename must not be changed.

Quote
I was wonder if this feature was ever tested.

Yes, both at the time of its inclusion in AOS 5.0, and within the last week in response to your postings. WFM.

I replaced my copy of 'bigicons.txt' with yours, then restarted the WPS. Entries that you hadn't changed, such as folders, font palette, and color palette, all came up with the appropriate PNG icon.

It occurs to me that you had previously been replacing icons manually on an object-by-object basis. Doing so would override any changes you've made to the defaults. Have you tried pressing the "Reset icon" button that's displayed when 'png' is selected? Also, the "Browse" button should bring up a file selection dialog that points at the currently active 'bigicons' directory. Does it point at the correct directory?

If problems persist, perhaps you could post a representative sample of your icons (10-20) for objects I'm likely to have, such as stuff in System Setup. This would let me do more comprehensive testing.

64
a) If I click on Quattro Pro's icon, it starts up normally in a full-screen DOS session.  But trying to open the "Icon" page in its Properties still freezes the system and it's CAD Time.

While there may be an issue with QP's icon, I'd suggest trying something else first.

In 'c:\os2\install' you'll find a file named 'database.txt'. Rename it. This is a listing of known DOS & Win3 apps along with the specialized DOS/WinOS2 session settings for each. When you create a new program object for one of these apps, the system automatically imports the associated settings (or at least, it used to). In the past this was known to cause problems sometimes, so it's best to eliminate it as a suspect (you can always open it in Text Editor and manually apply these settings - both WS and QP are listed).

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Trash Can's Properties do not seem to offer any way to change the icon.  Is this a Sinister Indicator?

Unlike other folders, Trash Can's icons show Empty/Full rather than Closed/Open. I guess the original author didn't want you screwing up his handiwork.

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d)  How do I configure the Drives to open in icon mode by clicking on them, not on the "Open As..." menu option?  Believe me, I have searched for a setting that stays put.

In addition to the Menu page in its notebook (which has been there since 1992), there's also what may be XWP's single-best enhancement: Select 'Open as', then shift-click on the view you want as the default. Drive objects can be "difficult" and may require you to do this twice.

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And Drive names also seem immune to the normal name-changing procedures (such as that page in Properties).

Drive objects are recreated at each restart and assigned a name formulaically. You can select a different "formula" by opening the Drives' notebook to the misnamed 'Drive icons' page and selecting one of the alternatives. All changes are live, so have the Drives folder open to see the effects.

65
The question is: is it UEFI capable, and is it enabled properly?

FWIW... the easiest / fastest way to determine if you're in UEFI or CSM mode is to go to the System Setup->Screen object. At the top of the first page (possibly out of sight unless you make the window taller), a UEFI boot will show:

Card name:  UEFI VESA Emulator v1.0
Card vendor: Arca Noae, LLC

66
Making entries in the script for system objects that were not included along with new PNGs..  Still working on the text structure to something more easier to work with.  Renaming icons so a person can know what icon it affects.
[...]I was wondering, if problems occur after testing, can I boot up and replace with an earlier WPShell backup before testing with another script? Can one add comments to the text like one does with rexx scripts?

First, a terminology thing: if you're referring to 'bigicons.txt', then we're talking about a type of text-based INI file and *not* a script (i.e. it doesn't do anything on its own). AFAIK, there's nothing you could do to it to blow up the system, so don't worry about system backups and the like. The worst that could happen is that you won't get the PNG you wanted.

Next... the basic structure of the file ([application] entries followed by "key / value" pairs) must be preserved. And, the names of the applications (e.g. "CLASS", "TYPE") must remain unchanged because they're hard-coded. Beyond that, you can rearrange the applications and reorder the individual key/value pairs.

The file gets read once at WPS startup, so if you make changes to it, restart the Desktop to put them into effect. To enter a comment or comment-out a line, put a semicolon at the very beginning of the line.

67
I noticed all the icons listed are not in the bigicons folder.

That figures - it was always a mess. (Don't blame me :) I worked on the code, someone else handled the icons). I see it has been cleaned up a bit but still needs work.

Basically, don't worry about what's in the BIGICONS folder or in 'bigicons.txt'. Consider it a blank slate you can use to do whatever you want. Make a copy then delete stuff you don't want to support and add stuff you do - not just programs but WPS classes and file types too. It's your choice, not "theirs"...

To make things easier, open 'config.sys' and locate "SET BIGICONS=", then change the path to point at your icons folder. While your folder can be anywhere, the final product (say, 'DGicons') should probably go in 'x:\sys\icons' for consistency.

68
PNGs can be used if Dynamic icons are selected in the folder properties menu. There is no default PNG for each folder and icon.  You have to manually select a PNG for a PNG to be used for each program object or folder..

David, it's far simpler and "automated" than that. In x\SYS\ICONS\BIGICONS there are over 200 png icons. Their use is controlled by 'bigicons.txt' (also in that directory). It's broken down into categories like WPS class, file type, object ID, etc. Make a backup copy then have at it (you may want to deliver a customized version with your png icon sets).

To get custom icons enabled, goto 'System Setup->Workplace Shell->Icon Size' (it's the very last tab) and check "Use custom icons". On that page, you can also make Dynamic icons the default and set the default size. You have to restart for custom icons to kick in. The other settings are live and happen immediately.

Note: the "default" default size produces icons whose physical size is the same as they would be if you were running your display at 1024*768. For example, at 1920*1080 you need a 56*56 pixel icon to get the same physical size you'd get at 1024*768 using a 40 pixel icon. At UHD (3840*2160), icons have to be 112 pixels to be that size.

69
Programming / Re: Copying text strings to AOS-5.1 clipboard in 'C'
« on: November 15, 2023, 11:20:00 pm »
With all due respect to others who have responded, I have to say that the only way you'll really know how things work is if you RTFM (a term, BTW, that had a long history on Usenet and was NEVER taken to be offensive).

To that end, I've attached the complete "Presentation Manager Programming Guide and Reference". Unzip it somewhere convenient then create a program object for it like so:

File name:     VIEW.EXE
Parameters:  pm1.inf+pm2.inf+pm3.inf+pm4.inf+pm5.inf
Working dir:  <directory containing these files>

70
Programming / Re: OPenchat
« on: November 14, 2023, 11:38:14 pm »
The attached is DSPRES recompiled with all the new fonts removed. This should make it functionally the same as what was included in 5.0.

That works - thank you.

If it were possible to offload the new sizes to a '\psfonts\sysvio.fon', that would be best. But, if that's not possible, more users would be better served by having those larger sizes available than not - particularly when there's now a viable workaround.

71
Programming / Re: OPenchat
« on: November 14, 2023, 08:56:36 pm »
There were some updates made to DSPRES.DLL in 5.1, yes.

I did a lot of testing on this and have come to believe that the problem arises from a "design flaw" in OpenChat.

Once I switched to the DSPRES from 5.0.x, I was able to open it and discovered that it only uses System VIO fonts for its display. In 5.0.x, there are 17 sizes available; in 5.1.x, there are now 20. It _appears_ that any DSPRES version with more than the original 17 cause the crash.

This is likely due to bad programming. My guess is that when the app asks for a list of VIO fonts, it only allocates enough buffer space for the 17 sizes known to be available when it was written. When it gets 20 entries, the buffer overflows and causes who-knows-what kind of damage.

I tried to confirm this by removing the new fonts, but because I don't know how to edit the "font directory" resource that identifies each font, the system locked up when I tried to start the app. Interestingly, when I looked at the available VIO fonts in EPM, it handled my defective DLL gracefully and displayed a font sample at a smaller size (and didn't lock up the system). Alex, if you could reconstruct the dll correctly, we can confirm/refute my conclusion.

FWIW... rolling DSPRES.DLL back to the 5.0.x version has no effect on XWP's new 'TextSize' feature (which is why I pursued this in the first place). All the fonts it needs are contained in 'syspro.fon' and 'warpsans.fon', both in \PSFONTS. However, you will lose 3 large VIO fonts that are targeted at very high resolution displays.

72
Programming / Re: OPenchat
« on: November 12, 2023, 07:53:55 pm »
Openchat pre-dates exceptq by at least a decade....

Not quite. The version of OpenChat being discussed dates to 2015. I released Exceptq v7.1 in March 2011, and v7.0 sometime in 2010. Prior to that nobody used Exceptq - not because it wasn't available but because v6.x was such a POS.

73
Applications / Re: XWP v1.0.16
« on: November 12, 2023, 06:02:35 pm »
Playing with the new Text Size - was on Standard - I selected Medium size, clicked Test and was a bit surprised to see the Properties notebook shrink in size. Is that supposed to happen?

Absolutely!

The size of dialog windows and their contents is proportional to the size of the default system font. IOW, a bigger font produces bigger dialogs. This worked great back in the days when all dialogs used the default font (System Proportional) for their text. As the font size increased, the dialogs automatically grew to accommodate. Then along came WarpSans...

To ensure that the system used the new font, eCS and AOS added entries to 'os2.ini' to force the use of 9pt WarpSans rather than the system default.. However, no one ever added an entry to lock down the default. I guess they assumed this was invariant and would always be 10pt System Proportional. But that isn't the case: at resolutions of 1280x1024 and above, the default system font changes to 12pt System Proportional. The result on higher res displays is overly-large dialogs that have been scaled to use 12pt while their content hasn't been scaled up and remains at 9pt.

'Text Size' addresses this by *always* setting the default system font to a size that will comfortably handle whatever size of WarpSans you choose. For the "Small" and "Medium" (9 and 10pt WarpSans) sizes, that's 10pt System Proportional. The result is dialogs that are the "correct" size - in this case, smaller.

74
Programming / Re: shared memory value - Odin win32k or DosQuerySysInfo???
« on: November 11, 2023, 06:40:28 pm »
Was wondering if your widget made it into xwps 1.0.16?

No, it wasn't ready so it will probably show up in v1.0.17 which I hope to have out sooner rather than later.

75
Programming / Re: shared memory value - Odin win32k or DosQuerySysInfo???
« on: November 09, 2023, 07:35:58 am »
1) QSV_TOTAVAILMEM

Apples...

Quote
2) QSV_MAXPRMEM

Oranges...

You are conflating two separate concepts: 'physical/virtual memory'  and 'linear address space'. Here's a simplistic analogy.

You have a store with inventory (RAM) and shelving to put it on (address space). Periodically, you'll face one of two problems:

A) you want to add more shelf space but you have nothing to put on it because your entire inventory is already on the other shelves. You could put empty boxes on the shelves (i.e. swap space) to make it look like you have more inventory than you really do but eventually you'll run out of that too. In the real world, you're out of 'physical/virtual memory'.

B) you have plenty of inventory but can't put it out because the shelves where it should go are already full. In the real world, you're out of 'linear address space'.

These days 'A' isn't the problem it used to be - most of us have far more than we can use. And for many of us, we can't even find a use for all the physical RAM we _could_ use, so we never run out and *never swap*. Those of us who know their needs are modest (don't build QT6, don't keep 40-50 browser tabs open, etc.) have no reason to give physical memory a second thought.

In contrast, 'B' (linear address space) will always be an issue because OS/2 will always be limited to 512mb of low/16-bit compatible memory. It isn't as bad as it used to be with the advent of high memory (i.e linear address space whose addresses start at 512mb). Still, it's worth monitoring - which is why I wrote a little widget to do so (shameless plug).

With the possible exception of PUMon when it uses 'Win32K.sys' (which I've never seen), every monitor that attempts to show available private and shared memory suffers from the same problem: GIGO. The values returned for QSV_MAXPRMEM and QSV_MAXSHMEM are misleading and substantially useless because the same stretch of memory is included in both. To illustrate this, I've copied the screen shot of my 'memmap' widget from an earlier posting. Take a look at it.

QSV_MAXPRMEM includes both the areas in red and those in gray. QSV_MAXSHMEM includes the areas in gray and in green. What good is that? I labelled the area in gray as "Free" due to space constraints but it's more correctly labelled "Unassigned". It's available for use as either private or shared memory, whichever claims it first.

When I took the screenshot, Dooble had been open and had claimed 46mb of the unassigned memory for private use (in addition to the 64mb of private memory every app is guaranteed). Even after closing Dooble, that 46mb would remain assigned to "private" until the system was forced to reclaim it. If you were to look at a typical mem monitor, you'd get the mistaken impression that Dooble had allocated but not freed 46mb of shared memory. But that wouldn't be correct because that memory was _never_ shared, it was "unassigned".

FYI... "real" shared memory starts at the lowest address that's actually being used. If that allocation is freed, it goes back into the unassigned pool. Any memory above that which gets freed is stuck behind the dividing line and will remain shared memory - whence the figure for "Shared - unused".

FYI2... unassigned memory claimed for private use, then freed, is not reclaimed until the system has run out of shared and unassigned mem. It will then survey all running apps to see how much private memory they're actually using. If <= 64mb, it will return the excess to the pool, then use what it needs to fill the request for shared mem that triggered the review.

Correction: high mem starts at 512mb, not 1gb as originally written

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