Styler/2 is a program which enhances both the aesthetics and the functionality of the Warp operating system. If you are Windows user and uses WindowBlinds from Stardock, try Styler/2 on Warp.

OS/2 developer Alessandro Cantatore, from Italy, is announcing new release of Styler/2:

- I've been testing for a couple of days version 1.0.1.19 of Styler/2.
It works very well and looks like the most stable version I ever made. But my system is quite outdated since the last fixpak I installed was fixpak 6.
I plan to update soon to the latest levels of tcp-ip, java and fixpak 12 so to be sure everything works as expected in a more up to date system. - saids Cantatore

This version features:

• Menu focus bug fixed. When moving the mouse over a submenu or a contextual menu, the menu itself disappeared after few seconds because the focus was given back to the underlying window.

• Lotus Organizer no longer hangs the system when Styler/2 is enabled and running. This was due to a Lotus Organizer bug.

• The "Don't allow moving" feature of maximized windows has been improved. This feature no longer applies to windows (like the Font Palette or the command windows) whose dimensions, when maximized, are smaller than the default.

• Now it is possible to avoid to load SMARTWIN.DLL, when booting by keeping the Shift key pressed. This could be useful if you suspect that some new program you are testing doesn't work because of Styler/2.

• The "Exclude buttons" and "Exclude menu" suboptions of the "Pointer hiding" feature now work more efficiently, detecting most of non-standard (subclassed) buttons and menu as well.

• Now it is possible to define and use keyboard combinations to roll/unroll windows and hide/unhide the titlebar.

• Now it is possible to define and use keyboard combinations to copy, paste and copy all the content of command windows.

• Now it is possible to define and use mouse plus keyboard combinations to copy, paste and copy all the content of command windows.

- I forgot to enclose the bitmaps in the previous distribution, smw099.zip. Now I'll check everything more carefully.I still need a few days to update the documentation and arrange what is still needed for the registration, since the registration program will be enclosed in the distribution file. - saids the developer.

The first Styler/2 registrable version is now available!!!

Since 28 September 1999 you can download the first registrable version of Styler/2 (smw099.zip - 228 KB) from the incoming or the new directory of Hobbes or directly from this site.

The registration program, which will allow to get rid of the time limit, although is ready and fully tested, is not yet included in the program archive since I still have to work out some details.
It shall be available for download in few days!
In future it will be enclosed in the program archive, probably as a page of the preferences notebook.

This is still version 0.99. I plan to distribute version 1.0 before the end of October.
There is no new feature in this release although there are many hidden enhancements that should make the program more stable, run faster and use less memory.

About Styler/2

Styler/2, previously known as Smart Windows, is an user interface enhancer
for OS/2 warp 3 and 4. Both the aesthetics and the behaviour of various
OS/2 Presentation manager windows and controls can be easily modified to
meet your needs.
You will be able to use bitmaps or shades as titlebar background, choose
any bitmap (of appropriate size) for the window buttons and force all
dialog windows to use your favourite font.

Other features include window rolling, titlebar hiding, overriding the
default size and position of maximized windows, moving windows by dragging
their frame, pushing windows behind the other windows, selection of the
entry fields contents, autofocus, mouse pointer hiding, mouse button double
click emulation and automatically moving the mouse pointer to the focus
window.

This version is fully functional and will work for 60 days since the
installation. To get rid of the time limit you must register.
Full details about registration and the registration program will
soon be available.

What's new

There is no new feature in this version but most of the DLL code
has been rewritten and now should run faster and use less
memory than before. The statement "SET SMWENV=AAAAAAAA", in the
config.sys file, is no longer needed and you can safely delete
it.
Error messages are now written in the Styler2.log file.
See the file errors.txt for details about the error codes.
The file \OS2\SMWERROR.MSG is no longer needed so you can
delete it.
Various bugs in the autofocus feature have been corrected:
- moving the mouse over dialog windows, was causing an unneeded loop
  of various PM messages;
- autofocus was not working correctly with EPM or command windows
  after the WarpCenter had acquired the focus.
The desktop window is no longer shifted horizontaly 1 pixel when
the "smooth horizontal movements" featu

re is active.
In the preferences application, the features which have not yet been
implemented have been given a disabled look.

It is now possible to control the versions of SMARTWIN.DLL
through the OS/2 command BLDLEVEL. For instance:
BLDLEVEL D:\OS2\DLL\SMARTWIN.DLL
will show:
Build Level Display Facility Version 5.28.348 Jan 22 1998
(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 1993-1998
Signature:       @#AlessandroCantatore:0.99#@Styler/2 V.0.99.1 -
                 (c) 1998-1999 Alessandro Cantatore
Vendor:          AlessandroCantatore
Revision:        0.99
File Version:    0.99
Description:     Styler/2 V.0.99.1 - (c) 1998-1999 Alessandro Cantatore
This feature will soon be added to all the executables (EXE and DLL
files).
This is the first registrable version. A separate registration
program and full details about registration will soon be available.

Installation-uninstallation

The program can be installed over a previous installation of Smart Windows
V. 0.81 or superior without any need to disable the application or to
uninstall it. If you installed a version older than V.0.81 you must delete
the SMARTWIN.INI file from the installation path before installing this
version.

The archive smw099.zip must be unzipped in a temporary directory preserving
the paths of the archive content.
If you are using the free GNU Info-UNZIP this will be made by default: open
a an OS/2 command window, move to the temporary directory and type:

UNZIP SMW0099.ZIP

If you are using a different program read the program documentation for the
appropriate parameters.

Once unzipped the archive you must run INSTALL.EXE and click on the
Install button for a new installation or for updating your previous
installation.
To save users' download time smw099.zip doesn't contain all the bitmap
files included in the previous versions. If you are installing over a
previous installation, you will already have all the bitmap files in the
right places. If you are performing a new installation and still have
smw081.zip you can drag its \BITMAPS directory into the temporary directory
where you unpacked smw099.zip overwriting the folder with the same name.
Before doing that modify your system configuration (System object,
Confirmations page) checking to Confirm on copy, move, create shadow . So
you will be able to confirm file overwriting just once for all files
reather than many times for each individual file.

If you do not have smw081.zip, you can get smwb082.zip and install the
enclosed \BITMAPS tree as described above.
If you modified some bitmap files leaving their name unchanged, rename them
or backup them before installing to prevent them to be overwritten.
(In any case the installer will check for the file date stamps and will
ask you for confirmation before overwriting newer files).
The other program buttons have the following functions:

  1. The Refresh button works only if the program is currently installed
     and allow to re-create the Smart Windows folder and desktop objects.
  2. The Uninstall button completely removes all files from the
     installation path and other paths and clean the CONFIG.SYS and the
     OS2.INI files.
  3. The Help button displays this documentation in plain text format.
  4. The Exit button terminates the application.

As you move the mouse pointer around a short information message will be
shown in the application status bar.

Installation details

This is, step by step, what the happens when you click on the Install
button. Please refer to this section if you cannot properly install the
program on your system.

  1. The installation program first looks for the flag file SMARTWIN.@ to
     enable the Install button, then looks in the \OS2\DLL directory and
     the OS2.INI file for any item from a previous installation.
     If any trace of a previous installation is found (or if you run the
     Smart Windows Installer object later) the Refresh and Uninstall button
     will be enabled as well.
  2. During initialization the program checks if SMARTWIN.DLL is loaded in
     memory. If the DLL is found in the \OS2\DLL directory, a message
     box asks your confirmation for overwriting it. Click on Yes and go to
     the next step.
  3. A dialog box allows you to select the drive and path where to install
     the files. The default drive is your boot drive and the default path
     is \SMARTWIN unless you are upgrading a previous installation, in
     which case the previous installation path will be the default.
     Although, during uninstallation, once deleted the program files, a
     message box will ask your permission before removing the installation
     path and all its contents it is advisable not to install the program
     files in a directory which contains other files.
     If the selected path doesn't exist, the program will create all the
     necessary directories. For instance if you selected to install the
     program files in C:\APPS\TEST\SMW and none of the directories in the
     path exist the installation program will create all of them.
  4. The next step consists in updating the OS2.INI file:
        o a Smart Windows application is added to store the installation
          path and few other informations.
        o the SMARTWIN module name is added to the list of the DLLs to be
          loaded every time a new process is started (SYS_DLLS -
          LoadPerProcess )
  5. After that, if this is a new installation rather than an upgrade, the
     installer asks if you want that, the first time, Smart Windows be
     started with the default options (click on the "Yes" button) or with
     all the options disabled (click on the "No" button).
  6. The following files are then copied to the selected installation path:
        o SMARTWIN.TXT
        o 3DCTLS.DLL
        o EDITCOL.DLL
        o PROGRESS.DLL
        o SMWUTIL.DLL
        o INSTALL.EXE
        o SMARTWIN.EXE
        o SMW0_001.DLL
  7. Later the BITMAPS directory, all its subdirectories and their contents
     are copied in the same path.
  8. If a previous version of the program is installed and SMARTWIN.DLL is
     loaded in memory it is unlocked. In any case the new SMARTWIN.DLL is
     copied in \OS2\DLL. A future version of the installer will allow you
     to choose any directory mentioned in your CONFIG.SYS LIBPATH
     statement.
  9. A Smart Windows folder with the Smart Windows Properties ,Readme and
     Smart Windows Installer objects is created on the Desktop.
 10. All operations performed by the installation procedure will be
     reported in the SMWSETUP.LOG file in the installation path.
 11. After installation you must reboot in order to load the new
     SMARTWIN.DLL.

Uninstallation details

The uninstallation procedure undoes all the above described operations.
Besides that it will delete any new bitmap files you added in the \BITMAPS
subdirectories. Anyway a message box asks you to confirm the deletion of
the installation path and other files which can still be there
(SMARTWIN.INI which is created by the application or any other files you
put there).
At the end of the uninstallation procedure the SMWSETUP.LOG file will be
written in the root of the boot drive.

Features and settings

The program consists in a DLL which is loaded by the system every time a
new process is started and a preferences notebook is provided to let the
user choose his/her favourite settings.
The notebook pages share a common area with a statusbar which provide
contextual help and a five buttons toolbar. The preferences window is
resizeable! If you cannot read some help message because it doesn't fit the
statusbar control, you can resize the window making it wider.
The toolbar buttons have the following functions:

 [Enable/disable button]The first button enables/disables all Smart
                        Windows features.
 [Apply button]         This button is required to apply the settings of
                        the current page. Most pages do not need it since
                        the settings are effective as soon as they are
                        changed. When required, the button is enabled as
                        soon as a setting is modified.
 [Undo button]          The third button is an undo button. It will set
                        the settings of the current page to the values
                        they held when the Preferences application was
                        started.
 [Default button]       The forth button is the default button and it
                        resets the current page preferences to the default

                        values.
 [Help button]          The fifth button is the help button. There is no
                        SMARTWIN.HLP file yet so it doesn't work.

The window controls (i.e. buttons and checkboxes) corresponding to the
features which have not yet been implemented are always disabled.

The Smart Windows Preferences notebook consists of the following pages:

   * Smart Windows
        o Product information (just the logo and the version number)
        o General
        o Exceptions
   * Dialogs
        o General options
        o Exceptions
   * Titlebar
        o Active window
        o Inactive window
        o Titlebar hiding
        o Exceptions
   * Window rolling
        o General options
        o Exceptions
   * Maximized windows
        o General options
        o Exceptions
   * Sizing/moving
        o General options
        o Exceptions
   * Text controls
        o General options
        o Exceptions
   * VIO windows
        o General options
        o Exceptions
   * Mouse

        o General options
        o Exceptions
        o Mapping
   * Keyboard
        o Mapping

Other dialogs used by the application are:

   * The bitmap selection dialog
   * The mouse/keyboard funtions dialog

 Smart Windows - General
 The settings in this page affect the behaviour of the preferences
 notebook itself:

 Apply on exit
      All new settings will be automatically applied when the
      program window is closed.
 Save on exit
      if not checked the current settings are not saved in
      SMARTWIN.INI so when you reboot you'll get back the previous
      settings.
 Remeber last viewed page
      this option works when the program is started and brings to
      the the top the page which was the topmost page when the
      program was closed.
 Apply all
      simulates clicking on the Apply button in all pages which
      require that to make the current prefrences the active ones.
 Undo all
      simulates clicking on the Undo button in all pages where
      some settings have been modified.
 Default all
      simulates clicking on the Default button in all pages.

 Exceptions and Exceptions pages
 Although the program integrates seamlessly with the system,
 generally with no problem for all the other programs, there are
 still some applications which cannot properly cooperate with it
 and which won't work properly when some Smart Windows features
 have been set.
 In order to avoid this kind of problems each page grouping a
 category of features is followed by a an Exceptions page which
 will allow you to enter the name of the programs for which that
 particular group of options causes conflicts.
 In some cases you would find more confortable just to completely
 disable Smart Windows enhancements for a given program. For this
 purpose you should use the Exception page inserted under the
 Smart Windows main tab.
 To add a program to the exception list either type its full name
 (i.e. including the program path) in the entry field and click on
 the Add button or get it from the file dialog clicking on the
 Find button. The Remove button will delete a file name from the
 list.

 Note: currently it is not possible to specify the name of
 programs whose windows are executed as a PMSHELL process. These
 are: all text mode programs (DOS and OS/2), all Win-OS/2
 programs, all folders and all WPS applications (like the System
 clock, the color and font palettes, etc.).

 Dialogs
 Usually, when no other kind of font has been explicitly specified
 by the programmer, all dialog windows will use the ugly System
 Proportional font.
 Smart Windows allows to override this system behaviour and force
 all dialog windows to use your favourite font. Just check "Use
 Smart Windows font" to enable this function.
 This will work in all dialog windows which use the system default
 font. If you want to force all windows to use the font you
 selected then check "Override Presentation Parameters".
 The Font button brings to the top the Dialog font dialog.
 Note: dialog controls inherit the font attribute (presentation
 parameter) from the dialog unless they have been explicitly set
 to use a different font. In this latter case the Use Smart
 Windows font feature won't work.

 Titlebar - Active window/Inactive window
 Through this page it is possible to change completely the look of
 titlebars.

 You can use any bitmap for the titlebar background or the window
 controls with the following limitations:

    * all bitmaps must be in warp 2.x format not RLE packed.
    * the titlebar bitmap file size must be less than 8 KB.
    * the titlebar bitmap must be at least 22 pixels high for
      screen resolutions of 1024x768 pixels or better or 18 pixel
      for screen resolutions fo 800x600 pixels or less.
    * the window controls bitmaps must be 16 colors bitmaps, 22x22
      pixels for high resolution screens and 18x18 pixels for low
      resolution screens.

 The settings in this page must be applied through the Apply
 button to become active.

 Enable titlebar enhancements
      enables/disables all the controls in the page and the
      corresponding settings. When it is checked a titlebar sample
      will be displayed.
 Context menu
      a context menu event (right or left button click according
      to what you set in the system mouse preferences) on the
      titlebar will make the system menu popup next to the mouse
      pointer.
 Titlebar sample
      it is interactive! By clicking on the titlebar buttons you
      can modify the default buttons bitmaps or the close button
      position. By clicking on the titlebar you'll be able to
      select a different background color, shade direction or
      bitmap according to the selected background mode.

      Background group:
 Solid color
      replicates the default titlebar style. The Background button
      allows to select the background color. The titlebar sample
      can be used like the color selection button.
 Shade
      allow the use of a shade as titlebar background. When
      selected will display four buttons to select the two
      different colors, swap them or change the shade direction.
      The titlebar sample can be used like the shade direction
      button.
 Bitmap
      allow to use a bitmap as titlebar background. When selected
      a bitmap selection button will be displayed. The titlebar
      sample can be used like the bitmap selection button.
 Override Presentation Parameters
      when unchecked titlebars which do not use default colors for
      the active or inactive state, won't use the Smart Windows
      titlebar background settings.
 3D border group:
 This setting allows to surround the titlebar with a 3D border.
 The buttons allow to select and swap the colors.

 Text style group:
 3D text
      when checked gives a 3D effect to the text. By selecting the
      colors you can get a raised or depressed effect.
 Font
      the Font button allow to set the titlebar font. The same
      effect can be attained by dragging a font from the font
      palette and dropping it on the titlebar sample.

 Note:

   1. in titlebar buttons the same bitmap is used both for the
      button in ordinary state and for the button in depressed
      state. The bitmap is shifted one pixel left and down for
      user feedback when the button is depressed. In a future
      version I'll try to use icons i.e. transparent bitmaps so to
      extend the titlebar background on the buttons bottom and
      different images for the different states of the buttons.
   2. when moved to the left side the close buttons replicates the
      system menu icon if present. The problem will be solved in a
      future version.
   3. next version will allow more control on the titlebar
      settings:
         o 3 colors shades, with some dithering and settable to
           any direction (even oblique)
         o pattern overlay for titlebar background
         o text formatting (left, center, right)
         o opaque text background etc.

 The bitmap selection dialog
 This dialog will popup when you click on the titlebar sample
 buttons, in the titlebar background bitmap button or in the
 buttons in the Titlebar hiding and Window rolling pages.
 This dialog is resizeable and its last size and position is saved
 in SMARTWIN.INI.
 The dialogs used for selecting the bitmaps for the close button,
 window roll/unroll and titlebar hide/unhide has the Disable check
 box which allows to remove the button from the titlebar controls.

 Besides that, the Close button bitmap dialog has a combobox for
 selecting the button position.

 The Edit button opens the Icon editor with the bitmap currently
 selected.
 The Import... button copies the bitmap file selected through a
 file dialog into the appropriate path and refresh the bitmap
 listbox contents.
 The functions of the OK and Cancel buttons are usual, while the
 Help button doesn't work yet.

 Note:
 Currently it is necessary to dismiss the dialog in order to
 update the titlebar sample. In a future release the bitmap sample
 will be updated as soon as a new bitmap is selected.

 Titlebar - Titlebar hiding
 The options in this page allow to hide the titlebar and controls
 (optionally including the actionbar menu) of any window. The
 titlebar pops up again as soon as the mouse pointer moves on the
 upper window border and is hidden when the mouse pointer is moved
 away from the titlebar area downwards.

 Enable titlebar hiding
      enable/disable all the titlebar hiding options.
 Hide by:
      System menu
           add a "Titlebar hiding" item to the window system menu.
      Mouse
           select which mouse event, performed on the titlebar,
           toggles titlebar hiding on/off.
      Keyboard
           (not working yet) will allow to set a keyboard
           accelerator for toggling titlebar hiding on/off.
      Titlebar-hide/unhide button
           allows to use a titlebar button for toggling titlebar
           hiding on/off. Two different bitmaps are used for
           hiding/unhiding.
 Exclude dialog windows
      disable titlebar hiding for dialog windows. Dialog windows
      without a sizing border are treated as OS/2-DOS command
      windows: the titlebar is removed by reducing the size of the
      window.
 Include menu
      hide the actionbar menu alongside the titlebar and window
      controls.
 Pop up delay
      sets how long (hunredths of second) the mouse must stay on
      the upper window border to make the hidden titlebar be
      displayed.
 Hide delay
      sets how long the mouse pointer must stay away from the
      titlebar area before the titlebar is hidden again.

 Note:
 Titlebars in hidden state are hidden again only when the mouse
 pointer moves downwards inside the window!
 There is no reason to hide the titlebar of rolled windows so you
 get just a system warning sound if you try to do so.

 Window rolling

 Enable window rolling
      enable/disable all the window rolling options.
 Roll by:
      System menu
           add a "Roll/unroll" item to the window system menu.
      Mouse
           select which mouse event, performed on the
           titlebar,toggles window rolling on/off.
      Keyboard
           (not working yet) will allow to set a
           keyboardaccelerator for toggling window rolling on/off.
      Titlebar-roll/unroll button
           allow to use a titlebarbutton for toggling window
           rolling on/off. Two different bitmaps are used for
           rolling/unrolling.
 Auto-unroll when getting focus
      rolled windows are automatically unrolled when getting
      focus.
 Auto-roll when losing focus
      windows whose

rolled state has been previously set, are
      rolled as they lose focus.
 Allow vertical resizing of rolled windows
      disables window resizing for windows in rolled state.
 Auto-unroll windows vertically resized
      rolled windows are automatically unrolled if resized along
      the y-axis.
 Roll to the bottom
      makes window roll downwards: i.e. the left bottom corner of
      the window won't move.
 Auto-unroll when closing window
      Rolled windows are unrolled when they are closed or when the
      system is closed through the default shutdown dialog.

      Note:
      The Auto-roll when losing focus feature is a sub-option of
      Auto unroll when getting focus feature. When both of these
      features are enabled, the first roll command (through the
      titlebar, system menu or roll titlebar button) sets the
      window in an auto-roll state : windows in this state are
      rolled/unrolled as they get/lose focus.
      Untill the roll state is active, the titlebar button will
      use the unroll bitmap even if the window is currently
      unrolled (because it is the focus window).
      If a window in auto-roll state has got the focus it is
      automatically unrolled. At this point, if you want to roll
      it again, while it is still the focus window, (this is
      likely to happen only when you are dealing with maximized
      windows) two consecutive toggle-roll-state commands are
      required: the first will reset the auto-roll state, the
      second one will set again the window in auto-roll state
      rolling it.
      In order to avoid to repeat the roll command twice, you can
      keep the Shift key pressed while performing the roll
      command.

 Maximized windows
 These settings allow to change the behaviour of maximized
 windows.

 Override default size and position
      This option allows to set the position and size of windows
      when they are maximized. It doesn't work for OS/2 and DOS
      command windows.
      The window position can be a negative number.
 Don't allow moving
      This option prevents maximized windows to be moved from
      their default position.
 Don't allow sizing
      This options prevents maximized windows to be resized.

      Note:
      The options not mentioned here do not work yet.

 Sizing/moving
 These options control how windows are moved or resized.

 Smooth horizontal movements
 This option allows to move windows along the x-axis in steps of
 1 pixel rather than the default 8 pixels.
 This feature doesn't work with Command windows.
 When this feature is enabled a hidden "snap to edge" feature will
 be enabled.
 This new feature works by detecting mouse button 1 click (typically
 the left button) events on the window titlebars when the Shift key
 is down.
 The titlebar is divided in 9 regions of same size and, according to
 the region where the mouse click event is detected, the window is
 moved on the corresponding area of the screen: one of the four corners,
 at the center of one of the four screen edges or a the middle of the
 screen.
 In order to use this feature the "Smooth horizontal movements" feature
 must be enabled and no other feature must use the same event (mouse
 button 1 click plus Shift key down).
 Frame drag
 This option allows to move windows by moving the mouse pointer on
 the window border and dragging it holding down the mouse button
 and optionally some keys you can set according to your needs by
 the Drag by: button.
 Push behind all other windows
 This option allows to move windows along the z-axis, i.e. move
 the topmost windows behind all other windows. The Push by: button
 sets your favourite combination of mouse and keyboard event to
 start the operation.

 Note:
 The options not mentioned here do not work yet.

 Text controls
 The only working option, at the moment is the Entry field
 automatic text selection . This allows to select the whole
 contents of any entryfield at once.
 The Select by: button sets your favourite combination of mouse
 and keyboard event to perform the operation.
 Mouse copy/cut/paste
 At the moment works just for entry fields (apart the Append to
 clipboard feature). It will soon be extended to the other controls.

 VIO windows
 No options is working yet.

 Mouse
 The options of this page are related to the mouse events.

 Automatic focus
 the window (desktop child), under the mouse pointer is
 automatically made active. The Delay spinbox allows to set how
 long the mouse must stay on a window before it becomes the active
 window. This option work for seamless WinOS2 windows as well.
 Ignore desktop
 when checked the desktop window is not made active when the mouse
 pointer moves on it.
 Don't bring to top
 the activated window is not made the topmost window. This feature
 is disabled when moving to or from a seamless WinOS2 window.
 Ignore new windows
 the autofocus feature is suspendend when a new window is opened
 and is re-enabled only after the mouse has been moved on the new
 window.
 Pointer hiding
 the pointer is hidden when it stop moving. The Delay spinbox
 allow to set how long i

t must be still before it is hidden.
 Exclude buttons
 disables pointer hiding when it is over a button.
 Exclude menu
 disables pointer hiding when it is over a menu.
 Remap button 3 click as button 1 double click
 works with most PM windows and applications but still works
 randomly with seamless WinOS2 windows.
 Move the mouse pointer to the focus window
 This group of features allows to automatically move the mouse
 pointer to the window which gets the focus. It still doesn't
 always work correctly. The two sub-options: Only on window
 creation and Only on dialog windows work with an OR logic.

 The mouse/keyboard functions dialog
 This dialog is present both as a notebook page and as an
 independent dialog window which will popup every time you click
 on a button to select the keyboard or mouse event to perform a
 given feature (for instance the Mouse and Keyboard buttons of the
 Window rolling page).
 As an indipendent Dialog it has the ordinary OK , Cancel and Help
 buttons to dismiss the dialog.
 Its purpose is to give the user a sort of summary of all the
 mouse and keyboard event which have been selected.
 It is not yet so useful since most of the listed features have
 not yet been implemented.

 The Function: list box shows all the features (that will be)
 available.
 The statusbar shows the control which should detect the chosen
 mouse/keyboard event.
 The checkbox Enable is disabled when a given feature has another
 Enable checkbox in its own page.
 When the radiobuttons Click and Double click are not visible the
 selected mouse button event means which mouse button is held down
 (like in the Frame drag feature).
 Ctrl , Alt and Shift are additional keyboard keys which may be
 associated with a mouse event.

 The Keyboard Mappings page (and the Functions controlled by the
 keyboard dialog) allows to associate a function key (F1-F12) plus
 Insert , Delete and Backspace with one of the modifier keys (Ctrl
 , Alt and Shift ).
 Since the keyboard accelerators have not yet been implemented it
 is of no use at the moment.

Known problems

   * Some programs of the Lotus Smart Suite doesn't work correctly
     with Styler/2 unless Styler/2 itself is disabled.
     Putting the program in the exception list doesn't help.
     I'm aware of the problem and of a possible solution will
     be available very soon.
   * When you suspect that a particular program conflicts with Smart
     Windows add its name (including its full path) to the General
     exceptions page, close the program (if it is still open) and restart
     it. This usually works better than disabling Smart Windows.
   * Do not use conflicting options when using other PM enhancers like Xit,
     NPS WPS Enhancer, Program Commander/2, Object Desktop, etc.
   * The MPTS configuration program doesn't work properly with Smart
     Windows. The window controls (rolling, close, ecc) which are added by
     Smart Windows seem to be the cause of the problem.
     To solve this problem and let the program work properly add MPTN.EXE
     (including the full path) to the list of the general exceptions or to
     the list of the exceptions of the features which are the cause of the
     problem:
       1. titlebar exceptions (if you are using the titlebar enhancements)
       2. titlebar hiding exceptions (only if you added the hide-titlebar
          button to the window controls)
       3. window rolling (only if you added the roll-windows button).
   * Sometimes (it happened only a couple of times here) and for no
     appearent reason, one of the mouse pointer in the current set, (for
     instance the size NS pointer) get corrupted. To get rid of the
     corrupted bitmap, open the Mouse object in the System setup folder,
     select a different set of pointers and than restore the previous one
     through the Undo button.
   * The View caption (i.e. Icon view, Tree, etc) is missing from the
     folders titlebar.
   * The titlebar enhancements work only with real titlebars (FID_TITLEBAR
     windows) so you get the default titlebar look inside Pro-News.
   * PMview use its own procedure to paint the titlebar. I can anyway force
     the application to use Smart Windows painting procedure, just did not
     have time to try yet.
   * Some users reported that moving windows by dragging the titlebar not
     always worked when Smart Windows was installed along with object
     desktop. I modified the mouse events detection procedure and the
     problem should have been reduced if not completely eliminated. Another
     user suggested to eliminate an object desktop DLL from the list of the
     DLLs which are loaded during system startup.
     If you have Warp4 and installed fixpack 5 or a later one, you have in
     your \OS2\SYSTEM directory the program REGEDIT2.EXE, if you cannot
     find it you can find various free INI file editors in the hobbes
     server. You must edit your OS2.INI file often defined as user profile
     , or HINI_USER_PROFILE in REGEDIT2.EXE and look for the SYS_DLLS item
     and its LoadPerProcess sub-item.
     This sub-item contains a list of DLL names (not including the path and
     the DLL extensions) separated by a space. To remove the object desktop
     DLL from the list, delete the OBJDWCTL string, save the new INI file
     and reboot.
     If the system works better this way and you are not missing any of
     your favourite object desktop features just leave it this way. If you
     want to restore its previous state just add the OBJDWCTL string to the
     list. You could also try to change the order in the list by putting
     SMARTWIN before OBJDWCTL.
     I do not own any version of object desktop and am not planning to buy
     it just to make few tests, so I would be grateful if you let me know
     your experiences with the above described modifications. If it works I
     could make a small application (and/or add a setting in the
     SmartWindows preferences notebook) to automatically remove, restore or
     change the order of the Object Desktop DLL in the list in OS2.INI.
   * Window rolling does not work properly with some programs (AICQ, MED).
   * An user reported that in Warp 3 the color selection buttons do not
     work when the mouse

 is setup for left-handed use. I unsuccesfully
     tried to replicate the problem in a Warp 3 partition (refresh release
     - no fixpack) so I guess it is some bugs from one of the most recent
     fixpaks.
   * Window controls in Watch Cat do not work properly.
   * Various problems with Describe, OpenChat/2.

Planned features

I'm currently developing two different versions of the program:
version 1, which is the current release, and version 2 which has a
lot of new features and enhancements but is still at an early stage
and will be distribuited after the definitive release of version 1.

Planned features for this version are:

 titlebar features
 - update of the shade routines with code from version two which is
   much faster and will allow to create 3 colors shades but will
   use just 2 colors, for instance, starting from blue, fading to pink
   and then back to blue.
 - stretch bitmap option besides the default of bitmap tiling.
 - optionally hide titlebars in folders by reducing the window height
   rather than the expanding the window content.
window rolling
 - it will be possible to roll any window to the bottom when the Alt
   key is pressed. So it will be possible to have more rolled windows
   not overlapping each other.
text controls
 - the mouse cut/copy/paste features will be fully implemented for
   all controls. The Append to clipboard feature will be implemented
   only if not too complicated.

sizing/moving
 - full window drag and size
 - snap to desktop edge as a separate feature
 - option to push windows behind all other windows or just on position
mouse options
 - move pointer to focus window routines and options will be completely
   reviewed and more options will be added to allow a full control of
   the speed of mouse movement.

VIO windows options will be implemented only if not too complicated
(I think it won't probably be possible to let keyboard copy/cut/paste
work in all situations)

To have an idea of the features planned for version 2, a sort of demo
of its preferences notebook will soon be available.

Version 1 will be updated quite often until all the above mentioned
features will be working, then there will be only bug fixes.

Registration

The registration program and all details about cost and means of payment
will be available in few days.

CONTACT AUTHOR

Alessandro Cantatore

alexcant@tin.it
http://acsoft.ghostbbs.cx

@Macarlo, Inc.
@Macarlo's Shareware & Web
OS/2
Java Lobby Member
Java Site Accredited

[TOP] [HOME] [INDEX]