| WPS Enhancers | - by Chris Wenham |
The Workplace Shell embodies a very cool technology called the System Object Model, or SOM for short. SOM is a way of thinking about the components on your computer--files, directories, physical hardware like hard drives and printers, and more abstract objects like programs. SOM treats everything as an object or an entity that shares certain common features with other objects. SOM gives programmers the ability to take an existing object, create a new one that inherits all the features of the first (copying it) and modify those features needed to make it fit a new task.
A good real-world example would be fixing a plow to the front of pickup truck to make it shovel snow. You don't have to learn a new way of driving or a new set of controls, it's still the same as any other pickup--it's just that it now has a new feature.
Admittedly, not all of the enhancements described here use SOM specifically (and for that reason some can be used with other shells like FileBar or MDesk), but as you'll see when you try them out, many of them do. It is one of OS/2's most powerful features and advantages over other operating systems.
Xit 2.1
This is a very useful gadget that deserves a spot on everyone's desktop. It's not WPS specific, so it may even be used with FileBar or MDesk as a replacement shell. What Xit does is to take of a portion of screen-real estate not normally used for anything much--the title bar--and it give you tremendous power. Xit's first incarnation, version 1.0, simply put an "X" button on the titlebar for one-click-to-close capability. Version 2.0 and higher became almost like a whole new program, exploding with features, quite literally left, right and center. Left: you can now put pre-programmed buttons on the left side of the toolbar. Right: same here too, including some very neat ones like the "roll up" button that rolls up the window until it's just a floating titlebar (very much like the roll-ups in Corel Draw). And Center: it makes remarkable use of the center, or middle mouse button. Clicking it can equal a double-click of the first mouse button (the way I have mine set up), the right button, a "chord" (left and right buttons), or it can do innumerable other programmable tasks.
Get it for the roll-up button though, that thing is cooooool!
DragText
If you've ever found yourself annoyed at creating program objects, wishing there was a way you could just drag the .EXE file from the directory folder onto the program template and be done with it, this utility gives you all that and a bag of chips too. DragText treats any marked area of text in an editor (such as the Enhanced or System Editor) as a right-drag-able object. Plus, you can drag any folder or file object onto an entryfield/editor box and it'll paste the full path and filename into it--ah hah! Adding programs is now as easy as opening the drive object, opening the correct folder, right-dragging a program template onto the desktop, then right-dragging the .EXE file into the "Path and file name:" entrybox on the first page of the program settings notebook.
DragText isn't limited to this function of course, it works for any highlighted text, folder or file to any entryfield or editor box. It even works on list boxes too--drag a piece of text into a list box and it highlights the first item that matches the text dragged.
Another example of where I use it is in GTIRC. GTIRC is a PM Internet Relay Chat client that has a few nifty features but isn't as embellished as the popular Windows counterpart, mIRC. Particularly, sending a file via DCC (Direct Client to Client) involves typing out the full path and filename. But not any more. I use DragText to just drag and drop the file into the entry box.
Tasker
I do not personally use this tool, but I'm including it here because it's very cool. Tasker gives you a specialized program object that has an extra page in the settings notebook for entering a time for that program to be automatically run. For automated maintenance, this one is hard to beat. For example, you can run NISTIME regularly at midnight to keep your clock synched perfectly over the Internet--and even run your Internet dialer automatically 5 minutes earlier in case you're not already logged in! Defrag your hard drives in the wee hours of the morning when nobody is around, check them for viruses, download new mail, change the desktop wallpaper, turn on the houselights and brew coffee. The power of this software is limited only by the other programs you run with it. (No, it doesn't have features for brewing coffee! But imagine if you had the computer-module for those neat X-10 modules sold in housewares catalogs? Hmm?)
New File New Folder
New File New Folder, or NFNF, is dynamite with Zip files. Right click on a .ZIP file for the pop-up menu, select "unzip", and the file is unpacked into its own subdirectory under the "NFNFUZIP" folder which is conveniently shadowed on your desktop. To me this is much more useful than some of the other glorified .ZIP front ends, since it's all very fast and very transparent. Plus there's an added bonus; if I like the program and decide to permanently install it, I keep the folder view open, drag the folder icon to whichever drive object I want it stored on, then drag a program template onto the desktop and right-drag the .EXE to it as described above for DragText (or just run the install program if there is one). It's the fastest and easiest way to install downloaded shareware I have found.
But NFNF doesn't just do Zips, it also has a few nice touches that earn its keep. It's main claims to fame: in the titlebar of each folder object it displays the number of files, the bytes used, and the number of subdirectories present in the folder; in the pop-up menus of objects are options for examining the sizes of objects or entire trees of objects.
WPClsExt
This is a set of replacement classes for the Workplace Shell which add several extras to both the desktop class and folder class. A folder opened in details view will display how much free space is available and the size of all selected objects. A "style" page is also added to settings notebooks with which you can give objects extra properties like "No Copy", "No Delete" "No Link", etc. A "Change to" option is added to a folder's pop-up menu which lets you quickly flip between details, icon and tree view without having 3 windows open at once. And, most useful if you've been trying to get rid of those bland default icons for folders and unassigned data-files, this software has a feature for changing them to the icons of your choice (it even works for animated folder icons).
The program adds a notebook to your System Setup folder from which you can change many global features like default icons and passwords for protecting folders (the password can be set globally or on a per-folder basis.)
WPFldExt and WPPrgExt
These two are very simple, they supply an extended folder and program class which can close its parent folder when opened. It's similar to the option you can set in the System settings notebook to automatically close a folder when opening objects within, but here you can narrow it down to specific programs and folders rather than system-wide. They both add an extra page to programs' and folders' settings notebooks to let you switch on/off the feature as you please.
When you double-click on a program object it closes the folder it belonged to as it runs. Or for folders, the parent folder is closed as the selected folder is being opened. It's a handy utility for keeping your desktop uncluttered during a busy day.
NPS WPS
This little freeware beauty is the granddaddy of the new breed of multitalented WPS enhancers but it still holds its own. Among it's many talents are the ability to throw 3D shadows behind windows onto the desktop, a one-click exit button in open windows' title bars (this smooth button was hip long before Xit or even Object Desktop came on the scene), removing some options from the desktop's pop-up menu and fancy window opening and closing animations (try having your windows "explode" open!). It is small, adds nothing to your system files and it's free! Definitely worth a look even to use in conjunction with other WPS enhancers.
Security Details
Maple Valley Software's excellent utilization of SOM enables OS/2 users to "lock" any object on the desktop, including the desktop itself (see the review in this issue). By simply opening any object's settings menu and entering a password, users can then select "lock" from that object's pop-up menu. Locked items can be modified in a variety of ways for those who have sensitive files, folders or programs.
Taking out the Trash
Did you ever get stuck with an object on your desktop that you just couldn't get rid of? There are some desktop objects that the shredder chokes on and that can be frustrating. Enter Black Hole. Black Hole doesn't just delete objects, it destroys them. This utility is very useful but not to be taken lightly (no pun intended). Dropping something into a point of infinite density isn't a nice thing to do! If you routinely play with strange new applications or if unexplained things happen to your objects, having Black Hole handy can save you some frustration.
Or for the more Mac-minded there is the Workplace Shell TrashCan v2.3 by Kai Sommerfeld. Like Black Hole, this wonderful utility also handles troublesome objects that don't want to get deleted. It also does double duty as a type of undeletion utility. While files aren't actually deleted from your hard drive when you drag them to the TrashCan as they are when you drop them on the shredder or Black Hole, they're conveniently out of the way and when you decide you definitely no longer need them, you simply select "Empty" from TrashCan's pop-up menu and the files are gone. If you decide you mistakenly put them in the trash, you can just open it up and drag them back to the desktop.
Some Screen Savers
How can anyone consider their desktop "enhanced" if they don't have a good screen saver? Ok, today's colour monitors don't really need to be blanked or have moving pictures on them to avoid the "burn in" that was common on old monochrome monitors, but hey, they're fun! A couple good options are Screen Saver v2.4 by Siegfried Hanisch and Blanker v6.0 by Peter Wansch. Both programs come with a large assortment of screen saver modules and there are many third party add-ons for them.
So many gadgets...
When trying out each of these be sure to keep the install program and files handy in a temporary directory for a while in case you find you don't need them. With utilities that replace or add WPS classes, simply deleting the files and directory is not enough to uninstall them, references in the .INI files must be dealt with too. These utilities will usually come with an uninstall program that safely removes all references, deregisters the classes and deletes the files.
This is not a comprehensive list of enhancement utilities either, but just a coverage of the major ones out there. All the applications mentioned above are free or shareware, and can be downloaded from hobbes or other FTP sites. So what are you waiting for? Is your desktop so good that it doesn't need enhancing?
Download them now!
Chris Wenham is a Team OS/2er in Binghamton, NY with a catchy-titled company--Wenham's Web Works. He has been writing all sorts of strange things from comedy to sci-fi to this.
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