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Help to keep XWorkplace up-to-date

Some parts of XWorkplace haven't been updated for a while but time has moved on. As a result, the OS/2 Kernel object's driver page doesn't know about new drivers in CONFIG.SYS and won't list them. Also, the WPS class list isn't able to display descriptions for new classes.

This is a part of XWorkplace that end-users are able to help with! Please donate a few minutes and help to keep XWorkplace up-to-date. It's really easy!

Do the following:

• Download the latest descriptions.

• Extract the files into the help subdirectory of your XWorkplace installation.

Driver page

To help with the drivers pages, do the following:

1. Open a command line and switch to the help subdirectory of your XWorkplace installation.

2. Run the REXX script drvrs_new.cmd. This will compare the content of your CONFIG.SYS with the information in drvrs001.txt and create a new file drvrs_new.txt with entries for driver or program statements, henceforth called items, that don't have corresponding entries in drvrs001.txt.

3. Open the resulting file drvrs_new.txt and replace "unknown" with a meaningful description for each item. If you want to help even more, adjust the rest of the statements accordingly:

   1. If the OS/2 command reference (CMDREF.INF) includes a help page for an item, replace the 0 (zero) with DRVF_CMDREF.

   2. If an item does not accept any parameters, replace the 0 (zero) with DRVF_NOPARAMS. If you have already replaced it with DRVF_CMDREF in the previous step, add | DRVF_NOPARAMS instead, so the statement reads DRVF_CMDREF | DRVF_NOPARAMS.

   3. If the item requires another driver or program to be loaded, add a line

      REQUIRES=item_tag
      

      for each required driver or program. For item_tag, enter a short descriptive name. Lines have to be seperated by commas.

      Now go to the statements for each required item and add a

      TAG=item_tag
      

      line where item_tag is the same description you used in the corresponding REQUIRES line.

   4. A resulting statement could look like this:

      DRIVER ( "BASEDEV=", "OS2LVM.DMD",
               "Logical Volume Manager",
               DRVF_CMDREF,
               TAG=LVM,
               REQUIRES=LVMALERT,
               REQUIRES=EXTENDFS,
               REQUIRES=KRNLUNICODE),
      

      This rather complicated statement for the LVM driver OS2LVM.DMD indicates that there is a help page in the OS/2 command references, that another driver requires this driver and refers to it as LVM, and that this driver requires the three drivers with the tags LVMALERT, EXTENDFS, and KRNLUNICODE.

4. Send that file to me along with the following information for each driver or program:

   • The category it should appear in on the drivers page of the OS/2 Kernel object.

   • Does it take any parameters?

   • Does the OS/2 command reference include a description?

   • Does it require other drivers or programs to be loaded? And if so, which ones?

   If you don't know about one of the last three, or you have already adapted the drvrs_new.txt file accordingly, skip them.

Corrections to existing file entries are also much appreciated, of course.

WPS class list

To help with the WPS class descriptions, do the following:

1. Open the XWorkplace setup object, go to the XWorkplace status page, and change the language to US English.

2. Open the WPS class list.

3. Browse the class tree and look for classes that don't have a corresponding description in the upper right part of the window. Instead, the following default message is displayed:

   "No information available for this class. If you know what this class is about, please post a description to xworkplace-user@netlabs.org so a class description can be added."

4. If you find any, either add a corresponding statement to the end of xfcls001.txt yourself (the really easy syntax is explained at the beginning of the file) and send the updated file to me or drop me a note with the following details for each class:

   • Name: This is displayed as Class: in the upper right of the window. The name is case-sensitive!

   • Description: What software package does the class belong to? Does the class replace any other class? What does this particular class do/implement?

   • Should deregistering of this class be allowed?

   • Should undoing replacement of another class with this class be allowed?

   • Should creating an object of this class be allowed?

   If you don't know about one of the last three, skip them.

   If you don't know the software package the class belongs to, try the following:
   The WPS class list displays the path and filename of the DLL that the class has been registered with. Look at the information displayed to the right of DLL: to find out.
   If a fully qualified path is displayed, it should point to the installation directory of the package the class belongs to. If just the DLL file name is displayed, try searching your drives with the command:

   DIR filename /S
   

   If the command finds the file and it does not reside in a standard OS/2 system directory, it should point to the installation directory of the package the class belongs to.

Corrections to existing file entries are also much appreciated, of course.

References: XWorkplace: http://www.xworkplace.org

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