The WPS: Warp's Killer App- by Larry Bouthillier

OS/2 Warp offers many features and capabilities that set it apart from other PC operating systems. We read and hear much about Warp's multitasking and multithreading ability, its superb support for DOS and Windows 3.1 programs, and its underlying architecture that makes it a stable and robust operating system. Perhaps one of OS/2 Warp's most impressive and most misunderstood features is its powerful and elegant user interface. The power of the object-oriented Workplace Shell or WPS is not immediately apparent to a new user who's not sure of what to look for. Even experienced users often are unaware of the power and capability of Warp's user interface. But in fact, there is no better demo of Warp's advantages over its competition, and no better "killer application" than the WPS.

Fundamental to getting the most out of Warp's user interface is accepting the desktop metaphor as exactly that... an on-screen version of a physical work area. On your real desk, you might have a pile of paperwork for your expense reports, another one for mail you need to respond to, and perhaps a drawer in the desk with folders for each project you're involved with, for tax records and correspondence. Why not set up your Warp desktop the same way? One folder for e-mail messages, others for correspondence and records related to each project, another for your favorite Internet sites. When you're organized this way, you'll find that you won't miss that Windows "File Manager" type interface anymore. You'll have something that works the way you do, and makes adopting Warp's other unique features easier and more intuitive.

Drag and Drop

Let's start with an examination of the possibilities of drag and drop. Of course, the WPS will let you drag files from folder to folder to copy or move them, drag files to the Shredder to delete them, or drop a document icon on a program icon to open the document using that program. Need another copy of that newsletter you publish, or the job application form or the shopping list you created? You can print a document without having to open the application that created it by simply dropping its icon on the Printer object. That's all there is to it!

But it doesn't stop there. The basic object technology of the WPS, built on IBM's System Object Model (SOM), offers drag and drop capability to any program that derives its objects from the WPS. Applications built upon WPS objects let you drag stuff from nearly anywhere to anywhere. I can drag a document icon into my word processor window and it opens the file. I can drag a graphics file icon into that same word processing window and it imports the graphic into the document. I can open the File->Open dialog in PMView, a popular graphics viewer and editor, and see thumbnails of all my clipart images. Those thumbnails in the File->Open dialog can be dragged into the viewer window to open them, or they can actually be dragged out of PMView and dropped on the Shredder (to delete them) or even into my word processor, which then imports the image. And furthermore, the WPS icon for that graphic becomes a thumbnail itself!

One complaint about IBM's Web Explorer has been the lack of an elaborate hotlist. Many users never notice that the WPS integration of Web Explorer makes a hotlist redundant. I can drag a page from my Web Explorer into a desktop folder and it becomes a URL object. Set up a URLs folder hierarchy beside your Web Explorer window, and you've got your hotlist--and then some. I can have a folder for work stuff, a folder for fun stuff, etc. All my favorite sites are available at a double-click or a drag into the Web Explorer window. I can also drag the actual HTML document to a folder, or directly to my word processor or HTML editor. I can even drag a graphic off the page and drop it on a folder to save it for future reference. So now the URLs, related HTML documents' text and graphics are all together, arranged by topic; and they are sortable by type, date, size, name, etc. I can even add keywords and comments to them, as I can with any WPS object. More on that later.

The best way to learn about drag and drop is to try it! Some programs take better advantage of SOM and the power of drag and drop than others. Good WPS integration is rapidly becoming a standard for good OS/2 programs as more and more programs are making it an important part of their feature set. Examine your programs and try to drag and drop elements of their user interface. You may be surprised at what you can do with the apps you're already using!

Work Area Folders

Now let's expand on this URLs folder idea. I can make the URLs folder a Work Area folder (on the File page of the Settings notebook), and put my Web Explorer and my newsreader in it too. Now, when I open that folder, my Web Explorer and newsreader load automatically just to where I'd left them when I closed them last--that's right, one double click to launch my Internet tools and open my URLs folder beside my Web Explorer window.

Work areas can be used to group any applications and documents you often use together. Set up a financial Work Area folder to have it launch and arrange on-screen your financial program, your spreadsheet, and your tax program all at once. Close them all at once by closing the folder.

Extended Attributes

Oh yes, there's more. While other operating systems like DOS and its descendants have attributes like date and time for each file, Warp adds a few other tidbits. Warp notes the date and time "created", "last written" and "last accessed" for every file, which can be very helpful in searching and sorting files. The TYPE attribute allows Warp to keep track of which documents go with which applications independently of filename extension; and an application can have multiple associations. You can have your .JPG documents automatically associated with PMView, but also have any number of other applications associated with .JPG or file type JPEG. If you want PMView, just double-click. If you want any other app that can use a JPEG, just right-click on the file's object and choose the app you want from the "Open" menu. You'll never have to go hunting around for a program to load any file again, all the apps you need are right there in the object's context-menu. Similarly, double-clicking on a .CMD file runs it as an OS/2 REXX or batch file, but if I want to edit it, I can just right-click and choose my editor from the Open menu.

On the "File" page of every file and folder object's Settings notebook are entries for Comments, Keywords, and History fields. You can search these fields which gives you a very handy method of organizing files and making notes on them. You can set a folder to show you only objects with keywords or comments that contain or do not contain a certain word; or you can even search across directories and drives for the same criteria.

As an easy example, assume you have travel expense spreadsheets set up, one spreadsheet document for each month. As you get reimbursed by your company for a month's expenses, you just make note of it in the COMMENTS field of that month's spreadsheet document (very quickly I might add, since you don't have to open the program that created the document). Now, when you're wondering just how many months behind the accounting department is in paying you, just set your Expenses Folder to show you documents not marked "Paid". You'll get a nice display of only those months for which you're still waiting! Other uses for this feature include marking invoices "Paid", marking e-mail that you need to respond to, or making notes regarding various versions and revisions of documents.

It's easy to see that all this power and flexibility makes Warp's user interface among the most truly useful and accommodating environments in the PC arena. Anyone who tries to use Warp the way he or she used Windows is missing out on a large part of what makes Warp unique--and better. Doing it the "Windows way", you'd be doing Open, Save, Save As, Import, Export; in Warp it's as easy as drag and drop. Some of the techniques described here are not obvious at first, however once you've adapted to the new paradigm that Warp provides, you'll find it utterly logical and intuitive. It's important to explore your system. Try dragging from here to there, from application to application, from desktop to program window. As you explore further, you'll begin to see more and more possibilities provided by Warp's Workplace Shell and object-oriented interface. And you'll be able to wow your non-Warped friends with what you can do on your computer that they can't do on theirs!

Larry Bouthillier is an audio engineer and multimedia specialist whose work has quickly evolved from tweaking knobs to driving a mouse and writing code. He's a MacOS and OS/2 enthusiast, and an aspiring programmer for both platforms.

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