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| Exploiting the Power of the Workplace Shell | - by Jim Little |
OS/2's Workplace Shell, or WPS, is one of the operating system's greatest assets. It is powerful and flexible. In the hands of an experienced user, it is an extremely efficient way of using a computer. And when used to its fullest potential, it is simply a pleasure to use.
Unfortunately, since the WPS is so different from the Program Manager/File Manager approach of Windows, few people realize the shell's power. Instead, they treat the WPS as a fancy Program Manager, and the Drives object as a bizarre and hard to use File Manager. Even many experienced OS/2 users don't take full advantage of the WPS.
One of the most confusing features of the WPS is the Minimized Window Viewer. By default, when applications are minimized, their icons are displayed in this folder, rather than at the bottom of the screen like they are in Windows. Although this default action can be changed (from the "Window" tab of the System object), most people simply use the task list to access their minimized windows. This works, but has the drawback of displaying all the tasks that are currently running, even if they aren't minimized.
A more convenient way of accessing minimized windows is to use the Minimized Window Viewer but in its default location, buried in the OS/2 System folder, it's more trouble than it's worth. To restore a minimized window, you would have to open the OS/2 System folder, open the viewer, scroll through it to find the appropriate window, and double-click. A real pain. Luckily, the Minimized Window Viewer can be configured to be much more convenient.
Start by shadowing the Minimized Window Viewer object to the Startup folder, then open it. Move it (using Alt-F7) so that the title bar is just off the top of the screen--enough so that when you click, you click the background of the folder, not the title bar. The right border should similarly be off the right edge of the screen. Now, size the window so that it takes up about a third the screen vertically, and about an eighth of the screen horizontally. The result should be a fairly inconspicuous window in the upper-right corner of the screen. Since you've shadowed it to the Startup folder, it will always open when you start OS/2.
This window provides convenient access to minimized windows, but it's too small to display more than a few objects at a time. This can easily be resolved by taking advantage of folders' customizability. Open the Minimized Window Viewer's settings notebook and turn to the "View" page. Set the Icon view format to "Non-flowed" and the display to "Small size." Click the "Change font..." button and change the font to something small but readable. (I recommend two or four-point System VIO.) Finally, turn to the "Sort" tab and uncheck the "Always maintain sort order" button. This will result in new minimized windows appearing at the top of the list.
The result is a small, easily accessible list of minimized applications. You can adjust the size and location of the window based on your individual needs, for example, if you only use a few applications at a time, there's no need for the window to be very tall. Also, the default configuration for OS/2 is to hide folders instead of minimizing them. You can change this from the "Window" page of the System settings notebook, which is located in the System Setup folder. Change "Button appearance for windows" from "Hide button" to "Minimize button."
Another problem with the default configuration of the WPS is that the Drives object is buried in the OS/2 System folder. Sure, you can shadow or move that object somewhere more convenient, but it's still a hassle to use. For a better way, start by downloading newpad.zip (zip 15k). This free utility will create new launchpads for you. (It's also possible to simply copy the launchpad, but there's a bug that causes both launchpads to behave oddly when you do this.)
Use NewPad to create a new launchpad named "DrivePad" and open its settings notebook. Check the "small icons" box on the first page of the "Options" tab, and click the "Do not display action buttons" button on the second page. (To access the second page, click the arrow in the lower right corner.) Then open the Drives object and shadow all the drive objects that you use frequently to the DrivePad (by dragging them to it). Finish up by removing the corresponding objects from the normal launchpad, and you've got a nice, compact toolbar that gives you quick access to your disk drives. I put mine at the top of the screen to the left of the Minimized Window Viewer, adjusted so that the drawers are hidden off the top of the screen.
A few last details will make your new DrivePad even more convenient. First, drive objects are a lot easier to view in tree view if they're using small icons. To change the icon size, open the drive's settings notebook and turn to the second page of the "View" tab. Under "icon display," click "small size." Second, those same tree views are more convenient if they're sorted. Turn to the "Sort" page of the settings notebook and click the "Always maintain sort order" checkbox.
If you find yourself frequently using the various command prompts, you can make a CommandPad in the same way that you created the DrivePad. Of course, you could also create a PrinterPad or use any other group of objects that you need frequent access to. One that I find especially useful is a floating shredder. This is a launchpad with nothing but the shredder, configured to float on top with a small icon. I put this "ShredderPad" in the lower-right corner with the majority of it hidden off-screen. Since it floats on top, it's always accessible, but since most of it is off-screen, it doesn't get in the way.
The application-centric paradigm, as its name implies, resolves this problem by emphasizing the application. The desktop is organized in terms of applications: this folder for one company's applications, that one for another's, etc. The user works by loading the appropriate application, then selects "New," "Open," "Print," and so on. Documents are secondary, and are typically grouped by application. Since this paradigm focuses on the application, the user tends to think in terms of the current application, rather than the overall project.
The document-centric paradigm, on the other hand, emphasizes the document. Applications are secondary, and are typically not located on the desktop at all. Instead, the desktop is organized by project: each folder contains all the data related to a particular project. When the user wants to work on a project, he opens that project's folder and directly manipulates the documents within it. For example, to edit a document, the user would double-click it. To print a document, he would drag the document to a printer. To create a new document, he would drag a blank document from a template. The WPS makes sure that the appropriate application is started for each action.
The advantage of the document-centric paradigm lies in its focus on the document. Since all the documents for a single project are grouped together, the user can more easily grasp the big picture. It also allows the user to more easily switch between documents and tasks. Suppose you were working on a month-end progress report for your company, when somebody asked you to print out a copy of last week's budget analysis. Under the application-centric paradigm, you would find and open the appropriate application, find and load the document, and select print. After the document finished printing, you would go back to the application and close it. With the document-centric paradigm, you would just open the appropriate project folder, drag the document to the printer, close the folder, and go back to what you were doing.
If all OS/2 applications conformed to the document-centric model, simply organizing your data would be enough. You would be able to start using templates, dragging to the printer, and double-clicking documents right away. Unfortunately, not all OS/2 applications come with built-in WPS support. And many people still use DOS and Windows applications to get their work done. Fortunately, the WPS is flexible enough to allow you to integrate those legacy applications yourself (except for drag-and-drop printing).
The first thing to do is to give your legacy applications a "new document" template. Open the application in question and create a new document. Without making any changes, save it to the \DESKTOP directory. When you're done, close the application. The new document that you saved should be displayed on your desktop. Give it a meaningful name, such as "Letter.wpd" or "Document.wpd". Be careful to limit yourself to the 8.3 naming convention even if you're using HPFS if the documents were created by a DOS or Windows application. If the application doesn't create documents with unique extensions, give the documents a type, such as "WordPerfect 5.1 Document." To do this, open the document's settings notebook and turn to the "Type" tab. Create the new type by typing it into the "New type:" field and clicking the "<< New" button. Then give the document that type by selecting it from the list of available types and clicking "Add >>".
After you've created and named your empty documents, turn them into templates. Open their settings notebooks, turn to the "General" tab, and check the "Template" checkbox. Finish the process by moving the new templates into your templates folder. (To move a template, hold down the "Shift" button while you drag.) Now would also be a good time to shadow the new templates into any relevant project folders.
Once you've created these "new document" templates, you can create a new document by simply dragging and dropping. That's only half the battle, however. You still need to tell the WPS to start the associated application when you double-click one of these templates. You can do this by "associating" the application with its data files. Once a document is associated with an application, the application appears on the document's pop-up menu under "Open." The first application in that list is started when you double-click a document. (For an easy way to change which application is listed first, download an associations editor [zip 37k).)
To associate your applications with their data, find the program object for the application, open its settings notebook and turn to the "Association" page. If you've given your documents a unique type, locate that type (i.e., "WordPerfect 5.1 Document") in the "Available types" box and press the top "Add >> " button. Otherwise, specify a file mask that identifies your documents (such as ".WPD") in the "New name:" field. Add it by pressing the lower "Add >>" button. You can add as many types or names as you want.
As a simple example of how integrating legacy applications into a document-centric desktop can save you time, consider zip files. Although there's not much point in making a "New.zip" template (unless you have an advanced zip/unzip program), you can associate unzip.exe with .zip files. Once you do that, simply double-clicking a zip file will unzip its contents. With only a few mouse clicks, you've converted a time-consuming application-centric problem (open command prompt, change directories, type "unzip filename.zip") into a fast and easy document-centric solution (double-click zip file).
Although document-centric computing will make your life easier and more efficient, it isn't without its flaws. The biggest one is that your data tends to get scattered into separate projects. Occasionally, you want to look at all your URLs together, or all your word processing documents. There are two ways to resolve this problem. The first is to use the WPS' "Find" command. The find command is located on the launchpad and in every folder's pop-up menu.
Although the "Find" command is very powerful, there is one notable omission: you can't search based upon a file's type. In addition, the Find command is slow. An alternative to the Find command is to simply group your data as you create it. For example, you could have a URL folder as well as specific project folders. When you added a URL to a project folder, you would also shadow the URL to the URL folder. This method takes a little more effort on your part, but is only necessary for data that you feel you might want to view as a group.
One aspect of the WPS that few people take advantage of is the work area folder. A work area folder behaves like a normal folder, except that objects within it are closed or minimized if the folder is closed or minimized. When the folder is reopened or restored, the objects are reopened or restored. To see how this works, create a new folder and make it a work area folder: open the folder's settings notebook, turn to the first page of the "File" tab, and check the "Work area" box. Open the folder and drop another new folder inside of it. Open this second folder as well. You should have two open folders on your desktop. Now, close the parent folder--both folders will close. Reopen the parent folder and both folders will open.
There are a number of ways you can use work area folders. One good trick is to give each project folder its own custom toolbar. For this to work, the project folder must be a work area folder. You create a custom toolbar for the project folder by creating a new launchpad and giving it the appropriate objects. Customize it as you wish. After you have your launchpad (or toolbar rather) set up, open it and put it in the project folder. That's all there is to it. Since the project folder is a work area folder, when you close the folder, the toolbar will close as well. When you reopen the project folder, the toolbar will pop up where you left it.
You can use a variation of the above trick to give each project a specific, easily-accessible "temp" folder. Most of us have some sort of folder for temporary data. It's handy, but if you need to work on several projects at once, you can find yourself constantly trying to organize the contents of your temp folder. This problem is resolved by giving each project its own temp folder. To make the folder easily accessible, put it on a toolbar.
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