OS/2 2.x Frequently Asked Questions, Programmer's Edition v3.4

By Andreas Almroth

Introduction and Credits
OS/2 2.x Frequently Asked Questions, Programmer's Edition


 * Version 3.4, June 4, 1995. Compiled by Andreas Almroth


 * Pre-3.x versions by Jeff M. Garzik
 * Pre-2.x versions by Barry Jaspan

Release Notes
Text which has been revised or updated since the last release will appear in the same color as this paragraph.

Updated some answers and added some answers.
 * Version 3.4:

Updated some answers and added some answers.
 * Version 3.3:

Updated some answers and added some answers. Added a lot of books
 * Version 3.2:

Added index search facility (but only to some extent, sorry) As usual, questions and answers have been added or changed.
 * Version 3.1:

Some answers changed or added.
 * Version 3.0: A new maintainer of the OS/2 Programming FAQ: Andreas Almroth


 * Version 2.3: This release does not include very many new sections, but the information has been reorganized for greater readability and easier maintenence (for me). Major changes include title re-wording for brevity, revision coloring, and updated information.

What programming languages come with OS/2?
The original BASIC and BASICA (for systems with BASIC in ROM, mainly IBM systems), DOS' QBASIC, and OS/2's REXX comes with OS/2 2.x.

REXX is basically the official command language of OS/2.

Programming language availability
Virtually all of them: Assembler, C, C++, COBOL, Pascal, Fortran, Smalltalk, Modula-2, LISP, Forth, Perl, and more. The OS/2 Tools Guide (tinf34.zip) contains information on these and more. Also check the User's Edition for information on IBM's Development Tools Guide. It's a free catalog from IBM.

All prices listed are "list price," as listed in Fall/Winter Programmer's Paradise catalog. All entries marked "Freely Available" can be obtained from cdrom.com unless otherwise noted.


 * Ada
 * GNU Ada 2.04 for OS/2; freely available; under development; cs.nyu.edu in the pub/gnat directory
 * Alsys AdaWorld OS/2


 * Assembler
 * IBM Macro Assembler, $288
 * GNU assembler v2.3, included in emx 0.9a package
 * GNU assembler v1.38, included in GCC/2 v2.5.4 package
 * Turbo Assembler v3.21, included in Borland C++ for OS/2 package


 * BASIC
 * CA-REALIZER, $100
 * ObjectView PM Basic, $899


 * C/C++
 * Borland C++ for OS/2 v1.00, $495
 * CA-C++ for OS/2, $449
 * emx/gcc 0.9a (v2.6.3), freely available
 * GCC/2 v2.4.5, freely available
 * IBM C-Set++ 2.x FirstStep (without optimization) $85 (CD-ROM)
 * IBM C-Set++ 2.x, $595
 * IBM VisualAge C++ 3.0, price: ???.
 * Objective C, $249 (not to be confused with the Objective-C language included free with emx/gcc and GCC/2)
 * TopSpeed C Pro, $297
 * TopSpeed C Standard, $198
 * WATCOM C/C++ 16 9.5, $495
 * WATCOM C/C++ 32 9.5, $599
 * Metaware High C/C++


 * CSP
 * IBM CSP/2, $???


 * COBOL
 * MicroFocus Workbench with COBOL, tools and editor, $1,250. Call 1 800-872-6265 for more information


 * Fortran
 * GNU Fortran (g77-0.5.14). Freely available
 * f2c [Fortran to C translator], freely available
 * IBM Fortran/2 OS/2, $761
 * WATCOM FORTRAN 77 16 9.5, $495
 * WATCOM FORTRAN 77 32 9.5, $599


 * LISP
 * CLISP, freely available (clisp.zip)
 * XLisp, freely available


 * Pascal
 * Borland Pascal v7.0, $495 (requires patch)
 * MicroWay, $???
 * Power Pascal/2, freely available, req. MASM 6.00
 * p2c [Pascal to C translator], freely available
 * pasos2, freely available, supports EMX/GCC (ftp.eb.ele.tue.nl)
 * SpeedSoft Speed-Pascal/2 for OS/2 GAMMA (March 95), (speed2.zip)
 * TopSpeed, $???


 * PERL
 * GNU PERL v4.0pl36, freely available


 * PL/I
 * IBM PL/I for OS/2


 * Prolog
 * SWI Prolog for OS/2, available at plbin.zip


 * Modula-2
 * TopSpeed, $???
 * Stonybrook, $???


 * Scheme
 * XScheme for OS/2, freely available
 * MIT Scheme for OS/2, freely available (swiss-ftp.ai.mit.edu:/pub/scheme-os2/)


 * SmallTalk
 * SmallTalk/V PM, $995
 * Parc Place Smalltalk, $???

The two GNU C/C++/ObjC packages
The two versions of GNU C that are available were ported to OS/2 with different goals and philosophies in mind and therefore have different characteristics. However, both systems include a fairly complete C library and can be used to compile useful programs, although their support of Unix-specific semantics differs. Furthermore, both systems are being actively developed and are constantly improving.

The goal of GCC/2 is to create a pure, freely redistributable OS/2 2.x development environment. It is based on GNU C 2.5.4, supports C, C++, and Objective C, and can create PM programs. It produces "native" 32 bit .OBJ files that are linked with OS/2's LINK386.EXE, and can be linked together with .OBJ files produced by IBM C-Set++ and other compatible compilers. The mailing list os2gcc@netcom.com exists for discussion of this port; send mail to os2gcc-request@netcom.com for subscription information.

emx/gcc 0.9a, based on the GNU compiler 2.x.x, supports C, C++, and Objective C and can create PM programs. emx's goal is to make porting Unix programs easier by emulating Unix semantics as closely as possible. It produces programs that can run under OS/2 using EMX.DLL, it produces programs that can run under OS/2 without any DLL requirements (linked with OS/2's LINK386), and it can produce MS-DOS 32-bit executables (emx.exe DOS extender required for MS-DOS executables). emx/gcc uses standard Unix development tools like ld and nm, and fully supports Unix-isms like select and fork. A version of gdb exists that can debug emx/gcc programs. An emx-related mailing list exists; send mail to LISTSERV@eb.ele.tue.nl with a message body of "help" for subscription information.

Which of these compilers can be used to generate PM apps?
Basically, all the compilers except the following can generate PM applications:
 * CLISP
 * XLisp
 * PERL
 * XScheme

What is REXX? How do I write and run a REXX program?
REXX is the IBM SAA (Systems Application Architecture) standard, user-friendly programming language. It is available for IBM mainframes, Unix, the Amiga, DOS (Quercus' Personal REXX), Windows, and other platforms. It has been a part of standard OS/2 since Version 1.3. Programs written in REXX that do not use system-specific libraries are fully portable.

OS/2 2.x comes with an online REXX reference, and printed REXX documentation is available (Mike Cowlishaw's REXX book, IBM's twin guides). The Usenet group comp.lang.rexx discusses REXX programming.

It should be stressed, however, that OS/2's online REXX reference is a reference, not really a tutor. Paul Prescod is working on a free REXX tutor, which will be available on rexxtut.zip.

Watcom also makes VX-REXX and Hockware makes VisPro/REXX. Both of these products allow quick and easy development of REXX PM programs.

What debuggers are available for OS/2?
IPMD, a PM-based debugger, ships with C-Set++. It is capable of source- and assembly-level debugging multithreaded 16-bit and 32-bit OS/2 applications.

emx/gcc comes with gdb 4.11, the GNU debugger.

Borland C++/2 comes with a PM-based debugger called Turbo Debugger GX which has the same basic functionality as IPMD.

There are also several commercial debuggers on the market. WATCOM C and FORTRAN come with WVIDEO, a full-screen source or assembly level debugger that handles multithreaded 16 and 32 bit OS/2 programs. Multiscope (no longer available for 32-bit OS/2) and Periscope are others. CodeView is still applicable for 16-bit OS/2 apps, but it is not recommended for 32-bit apps.

Which assemblers can produce OS/2 32-bit code?

 * Masm 5.2 and 6.0B can produce 32 bit, 2.x compatible code.
 * Masm 6.1 no longer supports OS/2.
 * Tasm 1.0 (OS/2) generates 2.x code, when proper options are given.
 * Tasm 3.2.1 (DOS) can produce OS/2 compatible .OBJ files with the /oi option.
 * Turbo Assembler 4.1 for OS/2 (in Borland C++ for OS/2)
 * GAS (GNU Assembler) 1.38.1
 * GAS (GNU Assembler) 2.3
 * IBM has an assembler for 2.x, but they won't release it to the public.

CSD levels for IBM C Set++?
Following CSD's are current Be careful with CTL0009 and CTM0009. Do NOT install wrong CSD. Check with the OS/2 command SYSLEVEL the version level of the class libraries. IBM C/C++ packages bought later than November 1993 should be 2.01 or higher.
 * CTC0011 - IBM C/C++ Tools (Compiler) 2.0 and 2.01
 * CTU0003 - IBM C/C++ Tools (Utilities) 2.0 and 2.01
 * CTL0009 - IBM C/C++ Tools (Class Libraries) 2.0
 * CTM0009 - IBM C/C++ Tools (Class Libraries) 2.01

Tools, Toolkits, Accessories
This section covers tools, toolkits, and accessories available to OS/2 programmers.

How do I use PATCH, maybe with my own programs?
The file format is actually quite simple - you just need a text file which consists of lines each starting with one of the following commands: FILE        e.g. FILE test.exe specifies the file to which the following instructions are to be applied. A patch file may contain multiple FILE directives. VER Couple of gotchas. There is a bug in the MAXPROCESS handling of the copy I use. Set it to 1, and you get a typical make, i.e. one at a time. Set it to 2, and the thing launches 3 processes. I.e. with more than 1, you actually get n+1 processes running.

Another caveat xxx.yy: aaa.bbb command1 command2 command3 The above structure does not work. The reason is that all 3 commands will be spawned together in parallel sessions. To serialize them you must make up dependencies in the makefile. I ran into this because I have one makefile that completes every link stage by copying the result onto a network drive. I had to take all the links that previously had 2 commands, and break them into 2 blocks with the second being a dependency of the remote file on the local file, and the copy command.

One more word of warning, dmake is not to pleased with those convoluted things that workframe spits out in the name of makefiles. You may have to do a significant amount of makefile editing, depending on how you makefile look now.

Provided that 3 simultaneous copies of your compiler doesn't push your machine into excessive swapping, the improvements in build speed are amazing. Before dmake I'd never seen a build actually top the cpu meter here, the process was always waiting for disk as it loaded compilers/headers etc. Now the compiler sits in ram and just gets re-used, and the headers are coming directly from cache all the time. Build time cut in half, and my cpu gauge is pegged at 100% when a build is running.

What is an RC of 87 (invalid param) from the API?
You are (most likely) not including the prototype. Use the following flags to get a good balance of warning messages: /Kbperc For C Set++, I use these flags as the approximate equivalent /Wall /Wext- /Wgnr- /Wgot- /Wpor- /Wppt- /Wtrd /Wuni- /Wvft- I have these set as part of my ICC string in CONFIG.SYS, so I don't have to add them to each compile. I have found that these settings give me a good combination of thorough warning messages without too many warnings.

GCC/2 crashes with a trap when I try to compile a program. Why?
Because you didn't read the README or INSTALL files, probably. There are three general reasons GCC/2 will crash:
 * You did not set up the environment variables in CONFIG.SYS properly. Read doc/INSTALL for instructions.
 * Some program that gcc expects to be in the PATH is not; unfortunately, gcc crashes instead of just printing an error message. You may have forgotten to install something, or your PATH may be wrong; see above. Giving gcc the -v option will cause it to print each command line as it executes it; this will tell you which program is missing.
 * You are trying to get gcc to link your program for you. It cannot because ld does not exist, and so it crashes (see item 2). You must specify -c, -E, or -S on every invocation of gcc, and then use LINK386.EXE to create an executable. See the sample makefiles for an example of how to do this.

[Colin Jensen, the current maintainer of GCC/2, also adds the following...]

Not true as of gcc/2 2.3.3. Gcc will invoke a small stub program called ld.exe that in turn will invoke link386 for you. If the command line is too long for the ever-pathetic link386 to handle, ld will properly create a response file.

It is easier to use gcc/2 to call link386 than to do it yourself since gcc/2 will also arrange to call a subprogram called "collect" that is required before linking a C++ program.

Also, gcc/2 is just plain easier to use than link386, for example: gcc -o foobar.exe mydef.def foobar.cpp mylib.lib will compile foobar.cpp, link with mylib.lib, and pass the linker definition file mydef.def to link386 in the correct order. Link386 demands that you know which types of files can be put between which sets of commas on the command line.

How do I recompile EPM (easily)?
I have a small CMD file to automatically compile all needed macros. It is from Larry Margolis (IBM), one of the authors of EPM.

You need to have at least minimum knowledge of EPM. The online manual describes most things. Concerning the E macros (.E) the best thing to do is, to look in the online documentation for general questions (like: What does 'getpminfo' do?) and then look into the supplied standard E macros for detailed reference on hwo to use the EPM functions exactly.

Online documentation files are: EPMTECH.INF and EPMUSERS.INF

Here is MAKEEPM.CMD:

How to I get BC++ for DOS/Windows to run?
Open up the Settings folder for the executable, and under "DOS Settings" set DPMI_DOS_API to ENABLED.

Documentation, Help
This section covers documentation and help available for OS/2 programming.

Where can I get information on OS/2 APIs and programming?
The IBM Programmer's Toolkit, included in Workset/2, includes a complete on-line syscall reference.

You can FTP the documentation for the 16-bit calls (IBM does not supply them), such as Vio*, Kbd*, Mou*, from inf16bit.zip.

You can order the seventeen volume IBM OS/2 Technical Library (possibly at a discount, see question 1.2) and/or order various volumes individually.

Most of these volumes are now published by Que books also, and can be found in many bookstores.

All this information is also on the OS/2 Online Library Omnibus Edition: OS/2 Collection CD-ROM (SK2T-2176), and the Professional Developer's Kit CD-ROMs have this information as well.

Where can I get sample code?
There is a lot of sample code included in the IBM Toolkit, and four sample programs (with source) included with C-Set++. GNU C/C++, from cdrom.com, includes a sample C, C++, and C++ PM program. The OS/2 Redbooks also have some sample code. cdrom.com also has little bits of OS/2 and PM source code lying around in the os2/2_x/program directory.

Are there any OS/2 programming classes or seminars?
Yes. Call IBM at either 1-800-3-IBM-OS2 in U.S. (or the PS/2 Help Center). Local IBM branches frequently hold OS/2 classes and seminars.

See os2/2_x/info/ivleague.txt on cdrom.com or the User's Edition for a list of third-party support organizations.

Make sure to check your local software companies. Many of them offer OS/2 specific classes also.

What are good ref. books for programming in OS/2 and PM?
Van Nostrand Reinhold publishes a number of books on OS/2 2.x. Those that relate to programming are:  INTEGRATING APPLICATIONS WITH OS/2 2.0 By William H. Zack 0-422-01234-9
 * Reference Books

CLIENT/SERVER PROGRAMMING WITH OS/2 2.0, 2nd Edition By Robert Orfali and Daniel Harkey, IBM Corporation 0-422-01219-5

WRITING OS/2 2.0 DEVICE DRIVERS IN C By Steven J. Mastrianni; Foreword by John Soyring, IBM Corporation 0-442-01141-5

OS/2 2.0 PRESENTATION MANAGER GPI: A Programming Guide to Text, Graphics, And Printing By Graham C.E. Winn, IBM Corporation 0-442-00739-6

THE COBOL PRESENTATION MANAGER PROGRAMMING GUIDE By David M. Dill, Consultant 0-442-01293-4

LEARNING TO PROGRAM OS/2 2.0 PRESENTATION MANAGER BY EXAMPLE: Putting the Pieces Together By Stephen Knight, IBM Corportaion 0-442-01292-6

THE ART OF OS/2 2.1 C PROGRAMMING By Panov, Salomon, and Panov 620p, $39.95 US (suggested) includes disk with samples ISBN 0-89435-446-9

OS/2 PRESENTATION MANAGER PROGRAMMING By Charles Petzold Ziff-Davis Press ISBN 1-56276-123-4

DESIGN OF OS/2, SECOND EDITION By Kogan & Deitel Addison-Wesley 0-201-52886-X

ULTIMATE OS/2 PROGRAMMER's MANUAL Mueller McGraw-Hill Professional Computing 0-07-043972-9

EFFECTIVE MULTITHREADING IN OS/2 By Dorfman & Neuberger, McGraw-Hill Professional Computing 0-07-017841-0,

OS/2 REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS: Async to sync By Stonecipher Van Nostrand Reinhold 0-0442-01814-2,

OS/2 V2 C++ CLASS LIBRARY: Power GUI Programming using C Set++ By Kevin Leong, William Law, Robert Love, Hiroshi Tsuji and Bruce Olson Van Nostrand Reinhold $36.95 0-442-01795-2

OBJECTS FOR OS/2 2.1 By S. Danforth, P Koenen and Tate et al Van Nostrand Reinhold ISBN 0-442-01738-3

OS/2 AND NETWARE PROGRAMMING: Netware Client API By Gauthier Van Nostrand Reinhold ISBN 0-442-01815-0

OS/2 PROGRAMMING: Your Fast-Track Guide to OS/2 By Herbert Schildt & Robert Goosey 306p, $29.95 ISBN 0-07-881910-5

ADVANCED ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE Steven Holzner and Peter Norton Computing Inc. Brady Books, A division of Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, USA 1991 ISBN 0-13-633014-6

OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING WITH SOM AND DSOM Christina Lau Van Nostrand Reinhold ISBN 0-442-01948-3

REAL WORLD PROGRAMMING FOR OS/2 2.1 By Blain, Delimon and English SAMS ISBN 0-673-30300-0

RUNNING WINDOWS APPLICATIONS IN OS/2 Ayo Anise, Teresa Beck and Jean Shortley

DYNAMIC DATA EXCHANGE FOR OS/2 PROGGRAMMERS By Glenn T. Puchtel Disk included.

LOTUS NOTES RELEASE 3 IN THE OS/2 ENVIROMENT By Tony Walsh 

Books announced to be released Dec '94 and early '95.  THE OS/2 SURVIVAL KIT By Proffit Addison-Wesley

STEPPING UP TO OS/2 WARP Abacus

THE OS/2 WARP BIBLE Abacus

THE PHOTO CD BOOK (with OS/2 Warp applications disk) Abacus

OS/2 FOR DUMMIES (2nd Edition) By Rathbone IDG Books ISBN 1-56884-205-8

YOUR OS/2 CONSULTANT (Warp Edition) By Tyson Sams

OS/2 Unleashed (Warp Edition) Moskowitz & Kerr Sams

MASTERING OS/2 WARP By Dyson Sybex

USING OS/2 WARP By Clifford et al QUE

TEACH YOURSELF OS/2 PROGRAMMING Sams

Quick Reference Library for OS/2 Functions: Vol 3 - Workplace Shell By Scholin VNR ISBN 0-442-01899-1

Developing Multimedia Applications Under OS/2 By Lopez VNR ISBN 0-442-01929-7

OS/2 Warp Advanced Graphics GPI By Knight and Ryan John Wiley & Sons

OS/2 Remote CommunicationsT Stonecipher VNR ISBN 0-442-01814-2

Quick Reference Library for OS/2 Functions: Vol 4 - GPI Functions By Scholin VNR ISBN 0-442-01900-9

Quick Reference Library for OS/2 Functions: Vol 5 - DOS Functions By Scholin VNR ISBN 0-442-01901-7

OS/2 Warp Presentation Manager Programming for Power Programmers By Stern and Morrow Wiley-QED ISBN 0-471-05839-4

OS/2 Warp Control Program API By Stock Wiley-QED ISBN 0-471-03887-3

Secrets of the OS/2 Masters By Sullivan VNR ISBN 0-442-01991-2

OS/2 Presentation Manager By Drapkin VNR ISBN 0-442-01989-0

REXX Reference Summary Handbook Dick Goran ISBN 0-9639854-2-6

OS/2 Warp for Dummies ISBN 1-56884-205-8, $19.95 (US) Andy Rathbone IDG Books

Programming the OS/2 Warp Version 3 GPI ISBN 0-471-10718-2, $39.95 (US) Stephen Knight and Jeffrey Ryan John Wiley & Sons  Books mentioned below was scheduled to be released April'95, maybe they are out in the bookstores now.  The REXX Cookbook ISBN 0-9632773-4-0, $27.95 (US) Optional companion disk (ISBN # 0-9632773-5-9, $14.95 (US) ) Merrill Callaway Whitestone

Quick Reference Library for OS/2 Functions Scholin VNR ISBN 0-442-01902-5

Making OS/2 Work for You Using OS/2 Warp Azzarito & Green ISBN 0-471-06083-6, Wiley-QED,

The Art of OS/2 Warp C Programming Panov et al ISBN 0-471-08633-9 Wiley-QED,

OS/2 Warp Presentation Manager API Stock ISBN 0-471-03873-3 Wiley-QED  IBM has a .INF file where all IBM OS/2 related books are listed.

What are good OS/2 programming magazines?
For new orders and customer service, call (800) WANT-OS2 (800-926-8672) or (708) 647-5960. IBM employees and branch office customers can subscribe to OS/2 Developer through IBM Mechanicsburg's Systems Library Services (SLSS) using OS/2 Developer's order number G362-0001. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to OS/2 Developer, P.O. Box 1079, Skokie, IL, 60076-8079.
 * OS/2 Developer

Excellent electronic magazine for OS/2 developers. Available somewhat monthly from edmi*.zip.
 * Electronic Developers' Magazine/2

While this is not by any means a dedicated OS/2 programming magazine, it includes several gems from Charles Petzold, most notably a nice series on font handling.
 * PC Magazine

What are the OS/2 redbooks, and how do I get them?
(see end note for FTP information)

IBM publishes so-called "redbooks" on many products, including OS/2 2.x. They seem to be a combination of power-user's guides and design information that may be of use to both users and programmers [I haven't received my copies yet, so I cannot say for sure.]  These are usually intended only for special IBM customers and contain documentation that is generally unavailable anywhere else. You can order these books directly from IBM (see below). All of the following names are implicitly preceeded by "OS/2 Version 2.0."  Volume 1: Control Program: GG24-3730, $4.15 Technical information on Memory Management, Task Mangement, Support, Installation Considerations, Hardware Considerations, Boot Manager, National Language Considerations, Intel 386 architecture, Channel Architecture and SCSI. Documents config.sys.

Volume 2: DOS and Windows Environment, GG24-3731, $6.20 MVDM,8086 Emulation,MVDM DOS emulation, Device Drivers, Memory Extender Support, Installing and Migrating Applications, Windows Applications, DPMI, Running DOS apps,DOS settings, VMB.

Volume 3: PM and Workplace Shell GG24-3732, $3.65 Available now, but I don't know precisely what's in it.

Volume 4: Application Development GG24-3774, $5.25 Technical programming info (includes list in C) Overview, Object-Oriented Apps, PM application model, flat memory model, building PM app, Workplace AOAShell and System Object Model, Direct Manipulation (Drag/drop), PM resources, Multitasking Considerations, SAA CUA considerations, App Migration, Mixing 16 and 32 bit application modules, compiling and link editing (SOM), Adding Online Help, Problem Determination, Managing Development, Naming conventions.

Volume 5: Print Subsystem, GG24-3775, $5.20 Information on programming the print subsystem. 

The special part number GBOF-2254 is for all currently available volumes (presently 1-5).

The OS/2 2.x Redbooks are available from IBM's TeleServices customer support number. The number is 1-800-7654-IBM (1-800-765-4426). You can pay by credit card or mail in a check after calling. The order will take about 2 weeks but can be sped up by paying for faster shipping.
 * ORDERING INFORMATION

You can also order the redbooks from your local IBM Branch Office library. Some possibly useful phone numbers are included here.

IBM Central Library, Los Angeles CA: (213) 621-6710 P.O. Box 60737 Los Angeles, CA 90060 Canada: (800) 465-1234, ext 4205 ($33.52) UK: (0256) 478166, (#36.51, credit cards accepted) Australia (Victoria): 698-1234 ($46.80 A)               IBM Australia The Library 211 Sturt Street South Melbourne, 3205 Att: Kate Seeley Denmark: 33 32 40 55 (dkk 310)

The redbooks are also FTP'able from cdrom.com as the redbk*.zip. The source code that accompanies the first three redbooks can FTP'able from rb37*.zip.

Various OS/2 technical programming books can be found on the Developers Connection CDROM.

The entire OS/2 Library can be found on the "OS/2 Online Book Collection CDROM", Order Number S53G-2166-00.

How can I view the GNU C documentation?
GNU C/C++ comes with documentation from the Free Software Foundation in texinfo (.texi) format. This documentation is about gcc in general, and has no OS/2-specific information.

All utilities needed to compile/view/tex the texinfo files are readily available for OS/2. The GNU texinfo package, available on gnuinfo.zip, includes makeinfo.exe for compiling texinfo, info.exe for viewing them, and texinfo.tex and texindex.exe for TeXing them.

An ASCII text version of the gcc documentation is also available on cdrom.com, in the file gcc_inf.zip.

An INF hypertext version of the gcc (and related programs) documentation was uploaded recently to cdrom.com.

emx/gcc includes its own hypertext style reader and texinfo files for all the GNU tools that come with it.

GCC/2 includes the hypertext manuals for gcc, gas, and gnumake as well as a PM reader for the manuals.

GNU Emacs for OS/2 reads GNU info files in their native format, with no conversion necessary on the user's part.

Where can I get documentation on the OBJ/LIB/EXE format used by OS/2 2.x?

 * The .EXE format was described briefly in PC Magazine, Vol 11 No. 12 (June 30, 1992?); it was also described in a 1988 issue.
 * The glib source code contains a full description of the 32 bit OBJ and LIB formats. It is found at cdrom.com:/os2/2_x/unix/gnu/gcc2_233/glibs115.zip.
 * It is available in text form from cdrom.com as os2/2_x/program/lxexe.doc.
 * OMF.INF from IBM (the IBM BBS) comes highly recommended.

Where can I find information on HPFS?
There is a Microsoft Systems Journal article about it (64k ZIPped, so it has a lot of information) in hpfs.zip

Presentation Manager programming
This section covers Presentation Manager programming.

Printing
This section covers Presentation Manager printing.

Are there any SIMPLE examples of printing?
Here is some sample code, but also check out PRINTQ14.ZIP. PRINTQ14.ZIP contains a DLL that encapsulates a lot of the messy details.

Here is the working code for allowing the user to change the printer setup. I've also included the code that I use to start and end printing, so you can see how it all works.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to write.

PrinterSetup is the routine that gets the printer setup information from the user.

GetPrinterHPS is the routine that gets the DC and PS for the printer, and starts the document.

EndPrint is the routine that ends the document, and closes the DC.

First, here's a little sample of how to use PrinterSetup, GetPrinterHPS, and EndPrint:  {  HPS          hPrinterPS; HDC         hPrinterDC; DEVOPENSTRUC dops;

...

dops->pszLogAddress = NULL; // in case PrinterSetup fails, this will tell // GetPrinterHPS to use default printer info

PrinterSetup(&dops);

hPrinterPS = GetPrinterHPS(&dops, &hPrinterDC,                             "Document Name", 0L, 0L); if (hPrinterPS != GPI_ERROR) { // do your printing here

EndPrint(hPrinterPS, hPrinterDC, "Document Name"); }

. . . }

/* BOOL PrinterSetup(DEVOPENSTRUC FAR *lpdos) {  PDRIVDATA     pDriveData;      /*  The drive data  */ unsigned long ulSize;         /*  The buffer size required  */ char         szPrinter[32];   /*  The printer name  */ PSZ          pszDriver;       /*  The driver name  */ PSZ          pszLogicalPort;  /*  The logical port  */ char         szDeviceName[32];/*  The printer's name */
 * FUNCTION: PrinterSetup
 * PURPOSE :  This function allows the user to change printer settings.
 * PARAMS :   lpdos - the printer info
 * RETURN :   BOOL   (TRUE = success)
 * DATE   :   11-Dec-1992
 * AUTHOR :   Carl Samos
 * Modified: Date:    Description of changes
 * CNS    :   11-Dec-1992 Initial version
 * AUTHOR :   Carl Samos
 * Modified: Date:    Description of changes
 * CNS    :   11-Dec-1992 Initial version
 * CNS    :   11-Dec-1992 Initial version

// get the printer driver, name and logical port // GetPrinterInformation allocates space for pszDriver and pszLogicalPort if (!GetPrinterInformation(szPrinter, &pszDriver, szDeviceName,&pszLogicalPort)) return(FALSE); // get the size needed for the DRIVDATA struct ulSize = DevPostDeviceModes(habMain, NULL, pszDriver, NULL, szPrinter, 0L); if (ulSize != DPDM_NONE && ulSize != DPDM_ERROR) { pDriveData = (PDRIVDATA) _fmalloc(ulSize); pDriveData->cb = ulSize; // bring up the dialog boxes, and fill the DRIVDATA struct ulSize = DevPostDeviceModes(habMain, pDriveData, pszDriver, NULL,                                 szPrinter, 0L); if (ulSize == DEV_OK) { // if there is a printer name, copy it into the DRIVDATA if (szDeviceName[0] != '\0') strcpy(pDriveData->szDeviceName, szDeviceName); // remove the old information if (lpdos->pszLogAddress != NULL) { _ffree(lpdos->pszLogAddress); }         if (lpdos->pszDriverName != NULL) { _ffree(lpdos->pszDriverName); }         if (lpdos->pdriv != NULL) _ffree(lpdos->pdriv); /* Setup the DEVOPENSTRUC  */ lpdos->pszLogAddress = pszLogicalPort; lpdos->pszDriverName = pszDriver; lpdos->pszDataType  = NULL; lpdos->pdriv        = pDriveData; }     else { _ffree(pszDriver); _ffree(pszLogicalPort); _ffree(pDriveData); }  }   else { _ffree(pszDriver); _ffree(pszLogicalPort); }  return(TRUE); }

/* BOOL GetPrinterInformation(PSZ pszPrinter, PSZ FAR *lpszDriver,                          PSZ pszDeviceName, PSZ FAR *lpszLogicalPort) {  int  cb; char szDetails[256]; PSZ pszBegin; PSZ pszTemp; char szPort[64]; char szDriver[64]; char szLogPort[64]; /* Get the printer name  */ cb = WinQueryProfileString(habMain, "PM_SPOOLER",                             "PRINTER", "", pszPrinter,32); pszPrinter[cb-2] = 0; /* Get the other details  */ WinQueryProfileString(habMain, "PM_SPOOLER_PRINTER", pszPrinter, "",                        szDetails, 256); // the profile string has the following format: // PORT;DRIVER;LOGICAL PORT;NETWORK INFO; // fields can have more than one entry, separated by a comma // the printer's name will follow the driver, separated by a period. pszBegin = szDetails; // get the printer port pszTemp = strchr(pszBegin, ';'); if (pszTemp != NULL) { *pszTemp = '\0'; strcpy(szPort, pszBegin); *pszTemp = ';'; pszBegin = pszTemp + 1; // check for a comma in the string pszTemp = strchr(szPort, ','); if (pszTemp != NULL) *pszTemp = '\0'; }  else { return(FALSE); }  // now get the driver and printer name pszTemp = strchr(pszBegin, ';'); if (pszTemp != NULL) { *pszTemp = '\0'; strcpy(szDriver, pszBegin); *pszTemp = ';'; pszBegin = pszTemp + 1; // check for a period (printer name follows it) pszTemp = strchr(szDriver, '.'); if (pszTemp != NULL) { strcpy(pszDeviceName, pszTemp+1); *pszTemp = '\0'; }     else { pszDeviceName[0] = '\0'; }     // check for a comma in the string pszTemp = strchr(szDriver, ','); if (pszTemp != NULL) *pszTemp = '\0'; }  else { return(FALSE); }  // now get the logical port pszTemp = strchr(pszBegin, ';'); if (pszTemp != NULL) { *pszTemp = '\0'; strcpy(szLogPort, pszBegin); *pszTemp = ';'; pszBegin = pszTemp + 1; // check for a comma in the string pszTemp = strchr(szLogPort, ','); if (pszTemp != NULL) *pszTemp = '\0'; }  else { return(FALSE); }  *lpszDriver = _fmalloc(sizeof(char) * (strlen(szDriver)+1)); strcpy(*lpszDriver, szDriver); *lpszLogicalPort = _fmalloc(sizeof(char) * (strlen(szLogPort)+1)); strcpy(*lpszLogicalPort, szLogPort);
 * FUNCTION:  GetPrinterInformation
 * PURPOSE :  This function gets the current printer information from the
 * os2.ini file.
 * PARAMS :   PSZ pszPrinter
 * PSZ pszDriver
 * PSZ pszDeviceName
 * PSZ pszLogicalPort
 * RETURN :   void
 * DATE   :   11-Dec-1992
 * AUTHOR :   Carl Samos
 * Modified: Date:    Description of changes
 * CNS    :   11-Dec-1992 Initial version
 * DATE   :   11-Dec-1992
 * AUTHOR :   Carl Samos
 * Modified: Date:    Description of changes
 * CNS    :   11-Dec-1992 Initial version
 * CNS    :   11-Dec-1992 Initial version

return(TRUE); }

/* HPS GetPrinterHPS(DEVOPENSTRUC FAR *lpdos, HDC FAR* lphDC, PSZ pszDocName,		 LONG lWidth, LONG lHeight) {  LONG  lReturn; SIZEL sizl; HPS  hPS; if (lpdops->pszLogAddress == NULL) { // get the default settings char szPrinter[32];  /*  The printer name	*/ PSZ pszDriver;       /*  The driver name  */ PSZ pszLogicalPort;  /*  The logical port	*/ char szDeviceName[32];/* The printer's name */ // GetPrinterInformation allocates space for pszDriver and pszLogicalPort if (!GetPrinterInformation(szPrinter, &pszDriver, szDeviceName, &pszLogicalPort)) return(GPI_ERROR); lpdops->pszLogAddress = pszLogicalPort; lpdops->pszDriverName = pszDriver; lpdops->pszDataType  = NULL; lpdops->pdriv        = NULL; }  // open the printer DC   *lphDC = DevOpenDC (habMain, OD_QUEUED, "*", 4L, lpdops, (HDC) NULL); if (*lphDC == DEV_ERROR) { return(GPI_ERROR); }  // start the document lReturn = DevEscape(*lphDC, DEVESC_STARTDOC, strlen(pszDocName),                       pszDocName,NULL, NULL);
 * FUNCTION: GetPrinterHPS
 * PURPOSE :  Gets the presentation space for a printer, and starts the doc
 * PARAMS :   lpdos
 * :  lphDC           - the printer's hdc
 * :  pszDocName      - the name of the document
 * :  lWidth          - the width of the document
 * :  lHeight         - the height of the document
 * RETURN : hPS
 * DATE   :   11-Dec-1992
 * AUTHOR :   Carl Samos
 * Modified: Date:    Description of changes
 * CNS    :   11-Dec-1992 Initial version
 * Modified: Date:    Description of changes
 * CNS    :   11-Dec-1992 Initial version

// get the PS for the printer if (lReturn == DEV_OK) { sizl.cx = lWidth; sizl.cy = lHeight; if (lWidth == 0) { hPS = GpiCreatePS (habMain, *lphDC, &sizl,                              PU_LOENGLISH | GPIF_DEFAULT |                               GPIT_NORMAL | GPIA_ASSOC); return(hPS); }      else { hPS = GpiCreatePS (habMain, *lphDC, &sizl,                             PU_ARBITRARY | PU_LOENGLISH |                               GPIF_DEFAULT | GPIT_NORMAL |                              GPIA_ASSOC); return(hPS); }  }   return(GPI_ERROR); }

/* void EndPrint(HPS hpsPrinter, HDC hdcPrinter, PSZ pszDocName) { DevEscape(hdcPrinter, DEVESC_ENDDOC, strlen(pszDocName), pszDocName, NULL,NULL); GpiAssociate(hpsPrinter, (HDC) NULL); DevCloseDC(hdcPrinter); GpiDestroyPS(hpsPrinter); }  Credit: Carl Samos
 * FUNCTION: EndPrint
 * PURPOSE : To close the hdc and end the document
 * PARAMS : hpsPrinter - the printer's presentation space
 * : hdcPrinter - the printer's device context
 * : pszDocName - the name of the document
 * RETURN : nothing
 * DATE   :   11-Dec-1992
 * AUTHOR :   Carl Samos
 * Modified: Date:    Description of changes
 * CNS    :   11-Dec-1992 Initial version
 * Modified: Date:    Description of changes
 * CNS    :   11-Dec-1992 Initial version

Is there an easy way to get printer output (another opinion)?
A reader who desires to remain anonymous writes:

Generally: My understanding was that OS/2 would handle printing for me. That is to say that I wouldn't have to create separate printer drivers for every printer under the sun (or any for that matter). Since I am creating an image on the screen that is device independent (well, mostly anyway), is there an easy way to get printer output?

PM achieves a level of device independence by defining a logical output space. This logical output space is then bound to a physical output space, which creates a mapping of logical characteristics to their physical counterparts. The logical and physical output spaces are referred to as the presentation space and the device context (HPS and HDC) and are bound to one another by using either the GpiAssociate function or by specifying GPIA_ASSOC to the GpiCreatePS function.

The easiest way to accomplish what you desire is to organize your drawing code into one or more functions with a single entry point that accepts an HPS as a parameter. Then, when you want to draw to the screen, you can call WinGetPS/WinBeginPaint to get an HPS and call the function. When you want hardcopy, you call DevOpenDC to get an HDC and GpiCreatePS to get an HPS and call the function.

Note that to get hardcopy, you need to perform some additional setup to get things to work properly. The two most important things are that you initialize the DEVOPENSTRUC structure properly before calling DevOpenDC and that you send the following escape codes (via DevEscape) at the following times:  hdcPrn=DevOpenDC(...); hpsPrn=GpiCreatePS(...);

DevEscape(...,DEVESC_STARTDOC,...);

if (!doDraw(hpsPrn)) { DevEscape(...,DEVESC_ABORTDOC,...); } /* endif */

DevEscape(...,DEVESC_ENDDOC,...);

GpiDestroyPS(hpsPrn); DevCloseDC(hdcPrn);  I'm not sure because I can't seem to find my copy anywhere, but I believe that the book by Graham Winn (entitled something to the effect of "Building applications using the OS/2 Presentation Manager") dedicates a chapter to the nuances of printing.

(Quoted almost directly from EDMI/2 Edition 1)

How do I print a bitmap?
Here's my code for sending a bitmap to the printer I'm leaving out the part where I maintain an aspect ratio between the screen and the printer page.  SIZEL sizl = {0,0}; // Get DC/PS for printer hdcPrinter = GetPrinterDC( hab, PM_Q_STD ); hpsPrinter = GpiCreatePS( hab, hdcPrinter, &sizl,                             PU_PELS | GPIF_DEFAULT |                              GPIT_NORMAL | GPIA_ASSOC);

// Get DC/PS for memory DC compatible with printer hdcPrtMem = DevOpenDC( hab, OD_MEMORY, "*", 0, NULL, hdcPrinter ); hpsPrtMem = GpiCreatePS( hab, hdcPrtMem, &sizl,                            PU_PELS | GPIF_DEFAULT |                             GPIT_MICRO | GPIA_ASSOC );

// Get DC/PS for memory DC compatible with display hdcMemory = DevOpenDC( hab, OD_MEMORY, "*", 0, NULL, NULLHANDLE ); hpsMemory = GpiCreatePS( hab, hdcMemory, &sizl,                            PU_PELS | GPIF_DEFAULT |                             GPIT_MICRO | GPIA_ASSOC );

// Get PS for a window to be printed hpsToPrint = WinGetPS( hwndToPrint );

// Set up memory BitBlt BITMAPINFOHEADER2 bmih; LONG alBitmapStuff[ 2 ]; WinQueryWindowPos( hwndToPrint, &swp ); bmih.cbFix = sizeof( BITMAPINFOHEADER2 ); bmih.cx = swp.cx; bmih.cy = swp.cy; GpiQueryDeviceBitmapFormats( hpsToPrint, 2L, alBitmapStuff ); bmih.cPlanes = (USHORT) alBitmapStuff[ 0 ]; bmih.cBitCount = (USHORT) alBitmapStuff[ 1 ];

// .... Set up aptl[0],[1],[2],[3] for the memory BitBlt

// Do BitBlt from Display memory PS to Printer memory PS   hbmToPrint = GpiCreateBitmap( hpsMemory, &bmih, 0, NULL, NULL ); GpiSetBitmap( hpsMemory, hbmToPrint ); GpiBitBlt( hpsMemory, hpsToPrint, 3L, aptl, ROP_SRCCOPY, BBO_IGNORE ); GpiSetBitmap( hpsMemory, NULLHANDLE );

GpiSetBitmap( hpsPrtMem, hbmToPrint );

// .... Set up aptl[0],[1],[2],[3] for the printer BitBlt

// BitBlt to printer PS from Printer memory PS   DevEscape( hdcPrinter, DEVESC_STARTDOC,strlen( szDocName ), szDocName,               &lBytes, NULL ); GpiBitBlt( hpsPrinter, hpsPrtMem, 4L, aptl, ROP_SRCCOPY,BBO_IGNORE ); DevEscape( hdcPrinter, DEVESC_ENDDOC, 0, NULL, &lBytes, NULL ); GpiSetBitmap( hpsPrtMem, NULLHANDLE ); GpiDeleteBitmap( hbmToPrint );

// Release all hdc's and hps's  Credit: Rick Fishman

How do I do my own Print Screen?
The following code segments are drawn from a much larger system that I manage at work. The intent is to show how to provide a graphical print screen capability in a PM program. We install a hook to watch for the print screen key and then take a bit map snapshot of the screen. This bit map is then sent to the printer. Forgive me if I don't go into all the details about the non-related data structures - it's late and my mind is a bit foggy.

Feel free to use anything here. Please add some kind of acknowledgement, if you use them as is, like: "Print routines (c) 1990, 1991 Applied Signal Technology, Inc." Comment, questions, ridicule should be directed to:
 * Jeff Hitchcock

or U.S. Mail to
 * Applied Signal Technology, Inc.
 * 470 Spring Park Place, Suite 700
 * Herndon, VA 22070


 * 1. During the WM_CREATE message processing, add the following:

// Set the print screen hook

WinSetHook (hab, HMQ_CURRENT, HK_INPUT, (PFN) PrintScreenHook,              (HMODULE) NULL);

 BOOL CALLBACK PrintScreenHook (HAB hab, PQMSG pQmsg, USHORT fs) {  if ( pQmsg->msg == WM_CHAR ) if ( ( SHORT1FROMMP(pQmsg->mp1) & KC_KEYUP) &&          ( SHORT1FROMMP(pQmsg->mp1) & KC_VIRTUALKEY ) &&           ( SHORT2FROMMP(pQmsg->mp2) == VK_PRINTSCRN) ) PrintScreen (hab); return FALSE; } 
 * 2. Somewhere, have this function:

 VOID EXPENTRY PrintScreen (HAB hab) {   HBITMAP	 hbm;
 * 3. Here's the "driver:"

hbm = ScreenToBitmap (hab); PrintBitMap(hbm); } </PRE>

4. Here's a general print-related structure we use. We often have many print threads running concurrently, but we only allow one to "run" at a time. We use a semaphore to show availability of the printer (so to speak), and only one thread at a time gets it. If we didn't do this, and more than a few print threads are running (especially graphical prints), even a 486/33 with 16 MB of RAM begins to C-R-A-W-L. So, for what it's worth, these are the structures that we use:

 /**************************************************************
 * PRINTTHREADPARAMS structure                              *
 * Parameters that are used to manage separate print threads *
 * Item            Contents/Use                             *
 * sJobNumber      Print job number, used for cancelling    *
 * aiThreadStack   Thread's stack                           *
 * hwndNotify      Window to which notif. msgs are sent     *
 * tidPrint        System task id                           *
 * hssmPrinter. . .   Semaphore for printer available          *
 * fSemSet         TRUE if semaphore was made and cleared   *
 * szSummary       Print summary (e.g., fax printout)       *
 * fStart          Can't start until TRUE (default FALSE)   *
 * fContinue       Quit if FALSE (default is TRUE)          *
 * fHold           Hold if TRUE (default is FALSE)          *
 * sStartingPage   For multipage, start here                *
 * sEndingPage     For multipage, end here                  *
 * usParam         Module-dependent USHORT                  *
 * ulParam         Module-dependent ULONG                   *
 * pPrintData      PVOID to the print data                  *
 * PAGESETUP structure                                      *
 * Parameters used to describe the appearance               *
 * Item            Contents/Use                             *
 * szFont          The name of the font to use              *
 * sLinesPerPage   Used to scale font                       *
 * sCharsPerLine   Used to scale font                       *
 * sLeft           Used to position on page, in chars       *
 * sRight          Used to position on page, in char        *
 * sTop            Used to position on page, in lines       *
 * sBottom         Used to position on page, in lines       *
 * szHeader        Text to place on top of each page        *
 * fIncludeSummary If TRUE, include SRI summary on page 1   *
 * fHeaderEveryPage TRUE for every page, false for pg 1     *
 * fHeaderUnderline TRUE for underline                      *
 * szFooter        Text to place at bottom of each page     *
 * fFooterEveryPage TRUE for every page, false for pg 1     *
 * fOverlineFooter TRUE for overline                        *
 * HEADER AND FOOTER OPTIONS:                               *
 * Special Flags that should be supported in each module:   *
 * &l Left justify                                  *
 * &c Center                                        *
 * &r Right justify                                 *
 * &d Date                                          *
 * &t Time                                          *
 * &p Page number                                   *
 * fFooterEveryPage TRUE for every page, false for pg 1     *
 * fOverlineFooter TRUE for overline                        *
 * HEADER AND FOOTER OPTIONS:                               *
 * Special Flags that should be supported in each module:   *
 * &l Left justify                                  *
 * &c Center                                        *
 * &r Right justify                                 *
 * &d Date                                          *
 * &t Time                                          *
 * &p Page number                                   *
 * &d Date                                          *
 * &t Time                                          *
 * &p Page number                                   *

typedef struct {   CHAR       szFont[FACESIZE] ; SHORT     sLinesPerPage ; SHORT     sCharsPerLine ; SHORT     sLeft ; SHORT     sRight ; SHORT     sTop ; SHORT     sBottom ; BOOL      fIncludeSummary ; CHAR      szHeader[HEADERFOOTERLENGTH] ; BOOL      fHeaderEveryPage ; BOOL      fUnderlineHeader ; CHAR      szFooter[HEADERFOOTERLENGTH] ; BOOL      fFooterEveryPage ; BOOL      fOverlineFooter ; }   PAGESETUP ;

typedef PAGESETUP FAR *PPAGESETUP ;

typedef struct {   SHORT        sJobNumber ; int         aiThreadStack[STACKSIZE / sizeof (int)] ; HWND        hwndNotify ; HSYSSEM     hssmPrinterAvailable ; BOOL        fSemSet ; CHAR        szSummary[HEADERFOOTERLENGTH] ; BOOL        fStart ; BOOL        fRunning ; BOOL        fContinue ; BOOL        fHold ; SHORT       sStartingPage ; SHORT       sEndingPage ; PAGESETUP   page ; USHORT      usParam ; ULONG       ulParam ; VOID huge   *pPrintData ; }   PRINTTHREADPARAMS ;

typedef PRINTTHREADPARAMS FAR *PPRINTTHREADPARAMS ; </PRE>

 HBITMAP ScreenToBitmap (HAB hab) {    BITMAPINFOHEADER bmp ; HBITMAP         hbm ; HDC             hdcMemory ; HPS             hpsScreen, hpsMemory ; LONG            alBitmapFormats [2] ; POINTL          aptl[3] ; SIZEL           sizl ; SHORT           cxScreen; SHORT           cyScreen; BOOL            fMonochrome = FALSE; // Create memory DC and PS
 * 5. This function saves the screen display to a bitmap.

cxScreen = (SHORT) WinQuerySysValue (HWND_DESKTOP, SV_CXSCREEN); cyScreen = (SHORT) WinQuerySysValue (HWND_DESKTOP, SV_CYSCREEN);

hdcMemory = DevOpenDC (hab, OD_MEMORY, "*", 0L, NULL, NULL) ;

sizl.cx = sizl.cy = 0 ; hpsMemory = GpiCreatePS (hab, hdcMemory, &sizl,                             PU_PELS | GPIF_DEFAULT |                              GPIT_MICRO | GPIA_ASSOC) ;

// Create bitmap for destination

bmp.cbFix = sizeof bmp ;

if (fMonochrome) {       bmp.cPlanes = 1 ; bmp.cBitCount = 1 ; }    else {       GpiQueryDeviceBitmapFormats (hpsMemory, 2L, alBitmapFormats) ;

bmp.cPlanes = (USHORT) alBitmapFormats[0] ; bmp.cBitCount = (USHORT) alBitmapFormats[1] ; }

bmp.cx = cxScreen ; bmp.cy = cyScreen ;

hbm = GpiCreateBitmap (hpsMemory, &bmp, 0L, NULL, NULL) ;

// Copy from screen to bitmap

if (hbm != NULL) {       GpiSetBitmap (hpsMemory, hbm) ; hpsScreen = WinGetScreenPS (HWND_DESKTOP) ;

aptl[0].x = 0 ; aptl[0].y = 0 ; aptl[1].x = cxScreen ; aptl[1].y = cyScreen ; aptl[2].x = 0 ; aptl[2].y = 0 ;

WinLockVisRegions (HWND_DESKTOP, TRUE) ;

GpiBitBlt (hpsMemory, hpsScreen, 3L, aptl,                  fMonochrome ? ROP_NOTSRCCOPY : ROP_SRCCOPY, BBO_IGNORE) ;

WinLockVisRegions (HWND_DESKTOP, FALSE) ;

WinReleasePS (hpsScreen) ; GpiDestroyPS (hpsMemory) ; DevCloseDC (hdcMemory) ; }

return hbm ; }

</PRE>
 * 6. The "core" function:

This function prints a bitmap to the printer. The bitmap is scaled according to the size of the printer. No distortion is allowed of the bitmap image.
 * Returns False : if an error occurrs
 * Returns True : no Error occurred

Known bug(s):

Areas on the screen that have a black foreground and a gray background are completely black when printed. For example, when a window does not have the focus, it's title bar becomes black lettering on a gray background. When this window is printed, the entire title bar is black and no title can be read. This is using the Hewlett Packard LaserJet Series II printer.

According to Microsoft online help this is a known bug with the printer device driver.To fix the bug you must go to the control panel and change the colors of the inactive window.  SHORT sBitmapToPrinter(PPRINTTHREADPARAMS pptp, HPS   hpsPrinter, HDC   hdcPrinter, HAB   habPrinter, SIZEL *psizlPage, SIZEL *psizlChar) {   HDC    hdcPrinterMemory; HPS   hpsPrinterMemory; POINTL ptl; SHORT sPage = 1; RECTL rcl;     // Coordinates of region

long lCapsHRes; long lCapsVRes; float fYAspectRatio; float fXAspectRatio; SIZEL sizl;

HBITMAP hbm; POINTL aptl [4] ; SHORT  cxScreen; SHORT  cyScreen; float  fltScale;

// Skip down top margin,. ..

ptl.x = pptp->page.sLeft * psizlChar->cx ; ptl.y = psizlPage->cy - (pptp->page.sTop * psizlChar->cy) ;

// Print header, if requested

if (pptp->page.szHeader[0] != '\0') {      PrintHeaderFooter (hpsPrinter, &ptl, pptp,                          psizlPage, psizlChar,                          pptp->page.szHeader,                          sPage, PRINT_HEADER) ; }

hbm = pptp->pPrintData;

// Find the aspect ratio of the printer

DevQueryCaps(hdcPrinter,CAPS_HORIZONTAL_RESOLUTION,1L,&lCapsHRes); DevQueryCaps(hdcPrinter,CAPS_VERTICAL_RESOLUTION,1L,&lCapsVRes);

if ( (lCapsVRes == 0) || (lCapsHRes == 0) ) { fXAspectRatio = (float) 1; fYAspectRatio = (float) 1; }   else { fXAspectRatio = (float) ((float) lCapsVRes / (float) lCapsHRes); fYAspectRatio = (float) ((float) lCapsHRes / (float) lCapsVRes); }

// determine coordinates to print on printer

rcl.xLeft = pptp->page.sLeft * psizlChar->cx; // Printer left

rcl.xRight = psizlPage->cx - (pptp->page.sRight * psizlChar->cx); // Printer right

rcl.yBottom = (pptp->page.sBottom + 1) * psizlChar->cy; // Printer bottom

rcl.yTop = psizlPage->cy - ( (pptp->page.sTop + 1) * psizlChar->cy);    // Printer top

cxScreen = (SHORT) WinQuerySysValue (HWND_DESKTOP, SV_CXSCREEN); cyScreen = (SHORT) WinQuerySysValue (HWND_DESKTOP, SV_CYSCREEN);

ScaleToWindowSize ((SHORT) (rcl.xRight - rcl.xLeft),  // sXtarget                       (SHORT) (rcl.yTop - rcl.yBottom),   // sYTarget                       cxScreen,                           // sXSource                       cyScreen,                           // sYSource                       &fltScale) ;

// Create a memory device context // Memory device contexts are used to contain bitmaps

hdcPrinterMemory = DevOpenDC (habPrinter, OD_MEMORY, "*", 0L,                                 NULL, hdcPrinter);

if ( hdcPrinterMemory == DEV_ERROR ) return FALSE;

sizl.cx = 0; sizl.cy = 0;

// Create a presentation space and associate it the memory device context

hpsPrinterMemory = GpiCreatePS (habPrinter, hdcPrinterMemory, &sizl,                                   PU_PELS | GPIF_DEFAULT |                                    GPIT_NORMAL | GPIA_ASSOC);

if( ! hpsPrinterMemory) { DevCloseDC (hdcPrinterMemory); return FALSE; }

GpiSetBitmap(hpsPrinterMemory,hbm);

aptl [0].x = rcl.xRight - (long) ((float) cxScreen * fltScale); aptl [0].y = rcl.yTop - (long) ((float) cyScreen * fltScale *                fYAspectRatio); aptl [1].x = rcl.xRight; aptl [1].y = rcl.yTop; aptl [2].x = 0; aptl [2].y = 0; aptl [3].x = cxScreen; aptl [3].y = cyScreen;

GpiBitBlt(hpsPrinter,hpsPrinterMemory,4L,aptl,ROP_SRCCOPY,BBO_IGNORE);

GpiAssociate  (hpsPrinterMemory, NULL) ; GpiDestroyPS  (hpsPrinterMemory); DevCloseDC    (hdcPrinterMemory);

// If a footer is defined,. ..

if (pptp->page.szFooter[0] != '\0') {      // . . .  compute its position. ..

ptl.x = pptp->page.sLeft * psizlChar->cx ; ptl.y = pptp->page.sBottom * psizlChar->cy ;

// . . . and print it.

PrintHeaderFooter (hpsPrinter, &ptl, pptp,                         psizlPage, psizlChar,                          pptp->page.szFooter,                         sPage, PRINT_FOOTER) ; }  return( TRUE); } </PRE>

Menus
This section covers Presentation Manager menus.

How do I add a menu to a dialog box?
Do a WinLoadMenu and then WM_UPDATEFRAME.

How do I make a dynamically changing menu?
Create the menu with all the items that it will ever contain, then dynamically remove and insert the items as required. After loading menu, Query and maintain a copy of the menuitem(s) that will be removed.  // Obtain and keep a copy of the convert submenuitem if (!WinSendMsg (pwd->hwndAB, MM_QUERYITEM, MPFROM2SHORT (IDM_KanCnvMnu, TRUE), MPFROMP (&pwd->miCnvMnu))) {

// And the convert submenu text if (!WinSendMsg (pwd->hwndAB, MM_QUERYITEMTEXT, MPFROM2SHORT (IDM_KanCnvMnu, sizeof (pwd->szCnvMnuTxt)), MPFROMP (&pwd->szCnvMnuTxt)) ){ </PRE> When menu is to updated, insert/remove as necessary  // This is layout, is the submenu already in place? if (!pwd->fCnvMenu) {

// The submenu is not installed, so insert the submenu WinSendMsg (pwd->hwndAction, MM_INSERTITEM,                 MPFROMP (&pwd->miCnvMnu), MPFROMP (pwd->szCnvMnuTxt));

// And remove the convert menuitem WinSendMsg (pwd->hwndAB, MM_REMOVEITEM,                 MPFROM2SHORT (IDM_KanCnv, TRUE), 0L);

// Set the submenu flag pwd->fCnvMenu = TRUE; } </PRE> Credit: Matthew S. Osborn

How do I create a conditional cascade menu?
The following works for me to set a submenu as a conditional-cascade menu, then set it's default id (hwndMenu is the hwnd of the top-level menu):  MENUITEM mi;

WinSendMsg( hwndMenu, MM_QUERYITEM,              MPFROM2SHORT( idSubMenu, TRUE ), &mi );

// Set the MS_CONDITIONALCASCADE bit for the submenu.

WinSetWindowBits( mi.hwndSubMenu, QWL_STYLE, MS_CONDITIONALCASCADE,                    MS_CONDITIONALCASCADE );

// Set cascade menu default

WinSendMsg( mi.hwndSubMenu, MM_SETDEFAULTITEMID,              MPFROMSHORT( idDefaultItem ), NULL ); </PRE> Then I do this to query the default item:  MENUITEM mi;

WinSendMsg( hwndMenu, MM_QUERYITEM, MPFROM2SHORT( idSubMenu, TRUE ),            &mi );

id = (USHORT) WinSendMsg( mi.hwndSubMenu,                          MM_QUERYDEFAULTITEMID, NULL, NULL ); </PRE>

Credit: Rick Fishman

How do I remove a separator from a menu?
Here are two methods of doing that. The first is from the PMHINTS file, and the second is from Gpf. PMHINTS takes the approach of removing SC_CLOSE and the nearby separator. The Gpf solution takes the approach of deleting everything that it doesn't explicitly want. I've extended it to, among other things, conditionally delete the "Window List" menu item as well.

The deletion problems get messier in application menus when there are multiple separaters in different pull-downs. That is when assigning the separators an id really pays off.

Both examples are 16-bit OS/2 1.x code.  PMHINTS:

VOID DelClose(HWND hwnd) {  HWND        hSysMenu, hSysSubMenu; MENUITEM   SysMenu; SHORT      idItem, idSep, idSysMenu;

hSysMenu = WinWindowFromID(WinQueryWindow(hwnd, QW_PARENT, FALSE),                             FID_SYSMENU);

idSysMenu = SHORT1FROMMR(WinSendMsg(hSysMenu, MM_ITEMIDFROMPOSITION, NULL, NULL));

WinSendMsg(hSysMenu, MM_QUERYITEM, MPFROM2SHORT(idSysMenu, FALSE),             MPFROMP(&SysMenu));

hSysSubMenu = SysMenu.hwndSubMenu;

idItem = SHORT1FROMMR(WinSendMsg(hSysSubMenu, MM_ITEMPOSITIONFROMID, MPFROM2SHORT(SC_CLOSE, FALSE), NULL)); if (idItem != MIT_ERROR) {    idSep = idItem + 1;  // Get separator ID

idSep = SHORT1FROMMR(WinSendMsg(hSysSubMenu, MM_ITEMIDFROMPOSITION, MPFROMSHORT(idSep), NULL));

WinSendMsg(hSysMenu, MM_DELETEITEM, MPFROM2SHORT(SC_CLOSE, TRUE),               MPFROMSHORT(NULL));

WinSendMsg(hSysSubMenu, MM_DELETEITEM, MPFROM2SHORT(idSep, FALSE), NULL); } } </PRE> Derived from Gpf, adapted for a client, with some of my changes expurgated (so it won't compile as is):  /***** *  *  UtilDlgSysMenu * *      Remove unavailable items from system menu of dialog box. * *  History: *     8/31/92  gts  Adapted from Gpf's GpfSetDialogBoxSysMenu *              with slight modifications. * *****/

void _export UtilDlgSysMenu (	     /* Remove unwanted system menu items */ HWND hwndFrame)                      /* I - Handle to dialog window */ {   HWND     hwndSubMenu;             /* sys menu pull-down handle  */ MENUITEM miTemp;                 /* menu item template         */ SHORT   sItemId;                 /* system menu item ID        */ SHORT   sItemIndex;              /* system menu item index     */ MRESULT mresult;

/********************************************************************/   /* Get the handle of the system menu pull-down. */   /********************************************************************/    hwndSubMenu = WinWindowFromID( hwndFrame, FID_SYSMENU ); WinSendMsg( hwndSubMenu,               MM_QUERYITEM,                MPFROM2SHORT( SC_SYSMENU, FALSE ),                MPFROMP( (PSZ)&miTemp ) ); hwndSubMenu = miTemp.hwndSubMenu;

/********************************************************************/   /* Remove all items from the system menu pull-down that are no	*/ /* longer wanted. */   /********************************************************************/    mresult = WinSendMsg( hwndSubMenu,                         MM_QUERYITEMCOUNT,                         MPFROMSHORT(0),                         MPFROMSHORT(0) ); sItemIndex = SHORT1FROMMR(mresult); for (sItemId = 0; sItemIndex != -1; sItemIndex--) {      mresult = WinSendMsg( hwndSubMenu,                             MM_ITEMIDFROMPOSITION,                             MPFROMSHORT(sItemIndex),                             MPFROMSHORT(0) ); sItemId = SHORT1FROMMR(mresult); if ( sItemId != MIT_ERROR            &&sItemId != SC_MOVE             &&sItemId != SC_CLOSE             &&(sItemId != SC_TASKMANAGER || (flFlags & MAXONLY)) )  // <- application controls {         WinSendMsg( hwndSubMenu,                      MM_DELETEITEM,                      MPFROM2SHORT(sItemId,FALSE),                      MPFROMSHORT(0) ); }   } } </PRE>

Credit: Guy Scharf

Container Controls
This section covers Presentation Manager container controls.

How do I stop a container from flashing every time I add a record?
Disable/Enable the container window before and after the insertion/deletion.

How do I get my containers to use Mini-icons?

Here is some sample code that displays mini icons. First, supply a missing
 * 1) define:

#define CCS_MINIICONS 0x0800 Use CCS_MINIICONS as part of your container style (when you create the container). Now, fill in the RECORDCORE structure pointed to by 'pRecordCore'; 'pUserRecord' also points to 'pRecordCore', which is part of a "user data" structure:  // Fill in fields of container record. pRecordCore->cb = sizeof (MINIRECORDCORE) ; pRecordCore->cb = sizeof (RECORDCORE) ; pRecordCore->flRecordAttr = 0 ; // CRA_DROPONABLE ; // pRecordCore->ptlIcon is left to zeros. pRecordCore->pszIcon = pUserRecord->szName ; if (*DDirRecord.szIconName) LoadIcon (pUserRecord) ; // pRecordCore->hptrMiniIcon is left to zeros. // pRecordCore->hbmBitmap is left to zeros. // pRecordCore->hbmMiniBitmap is left to zeros. // pRecordCore->pTreeItemDesc is left to zeros.
 * 1) ifndef CCS_MINIICONS
 * 1) endif // not CCS_MINIICONS
 * 1) ifdef USE_MINIRECORDCORE
 * 1) else
 * 1) endif // USE_MINIRECORDCORE

pRecordCore->pszText = pUserRecord->szName ; pRecordCore->pszName = pUserRecord->szName ; pRecordCore->pszTree = pUserRecord->szName ; </PRE> Now, if your user asks for mini-icons (via a popup menu, presumably), you send a CM_SETCNRINFO message to your container, after ORing in the CV_MINI style to CnrInfo.flWindowAttr, or removing it to restore full-size icons. Hope this helps.
 * 1) ifndef USE_MINIRECORDCORE
 * 1) endif // not USE_MINIRECORDCORE

Credit: Wayne Kovsky

How do I sort a container control?
 /* * Note that PSESSION is my own instance data structure. * I use it here to retrieve the type of field comparison I should do. */

static SHORT APIENTRY Compare (PMINIRECORDCORE pmrc1,                               PMINIRECORDCORE pmrc2,                                PVOID pvStorage) {   PSESSION pSession = (PSESSION) pvStorage ; PFIELDINFO pFieldInfo = pSession->pFieldInfoSort ; PPVOID pField1 = (PPVOID) ((PBYTE) pmrc1 +      pFieldInfo->offStruct) ; PPVOID pField2 = (PPVOID) ((PBYTE) pmrc2 +      pFieldInfo->offStruct) ; SHORT sResult = 0 ;

if (pFieldInfo->flData & CFA_STRING) { sResult = strcmp ((PCHAR) *pField1, (PCHAR) *pField2) ; }   else if (pFieldInfo->flData & CFA_ULONG) { if ((ULONG) *pField1 < (ULONG) *pField2) sResult = -1 ; else if ((ULONG) *pField1 > (ULONG) *pField2) sResult = 1 ; else sResult = 0 ; }   else if (pFieldInfo->flData & CFA_DATE) { sResult = CompareDate ((PCDATE) (PVOID) pField1,                             (PCDATE) (PVOID) pField2) ; }   else if (pFieldInfo->flData & CFA_TIME) { sResult = CompareTime ((PCTIME) (PVOID) pField1,                             (PCTIME) (PVOID) pField2) ; }

// Any other data type gets treated as equal; // no sorting can be done. Now handle reverse sequence. if (pSession->fSortReverse && sResult) sResult = -sResult ; return sResult ; }  Here is how I invoke the sort:  // Send container a sort message. ulRC = LONGFROMMR (WinSendMsg ( pSession->hwndContainer, CM_SORTRECORD, MPFROMP (Compare), MPFROMP (pSession))) ; if (!ulRC) { // Report error. } </PRE> Credit: Wayne Kovsky

How do I query all records in a container - tree view?
The following code works for querying all records in a tree structure but  USHORT usParentCmd = CMA_FIRST, usChildCmd; PUSERREC purParent = NULL, purChild;

for {   purParent = (PUSERREC) WinSendMsg( hwndCnr, CM_QUERYRECORD,                                       MPFROMP( purParent ),                                       MPFROM2SHORT( usParentCmd, CMA_ITEMORDER ) ); if( !purParent ) break;

DoWhatever( purParent );

usChildCmd = CMA_FIRSTCHILD; purChild = NULL; for {      purChild = (PUSERREC) WinSendMsg( hwndCnr, CM_QUERYRECORD,                                         MPFROMP( purChild ),                                         MPFROM2SHORT( usChildCmd, CMA_ITEMORDER )); if( !purChild ) break;

DoWhatever( purChild ); usChildCmd = CMA_NEXT; }

usCmdParent = CMA_NEXT; } </PRE> Credit: Rick Fishman

I can't get different colors in text control windows
I've finally got static text control windows (WS_STATIC, SS_TEXT) working with a different color pres. parameter set ! Thanks, Rick, Dan and Wayne. Code as follows:  RGB2 rgb2 ;  // RGB2 structure HWND hwnd ;  // window handle

// Set RGB values for a SYSCLR_BACKGROUND (light gray) color rgb2.bred = 204 ;    // Found these in 'WinSetSysColors' API rgb2.bgreen = 204 ; rgb2.bblue = 204 ; rgb2.fcOptions = 0 ; // Set background color WinSetPresParam (hwnd, PP_BACKGROUNDCOLOR, (ULONG) sizeof (RGB2),                 &rgb2) ; // Set RGB values for black rgb2.bred = 0 ; rgb2.bgreen = 0 ; rgb2.bblue = 0 ; rgb2.fcOptions = 0 ; // Set text foreground color WinSetPresParam (hwnd, PP_FOREGROUNDCOLOR, (ULONG) sizeof (RGB2),                 &rgb2) ; // Set text border color (important for outline fonts) WinSetPresParam (hwnd, PP_BORDERCOLOR, (ULONG) sizeof (RGB2), &rgb2) ; </PRE>

Three big caveats here: text string. Thus, the PP_*INDEX presentation parameter values will *not* work.
 * The OS/2 internal code for static text control windows is *definitely* using RGB colors, not index colors when it draws the
 * You *must* use a set of colors that are already loaded in the color table. If the RGB color is not found, the background will be dithered affecting the text appearance (washed out). If you are not sure the RGB color is loaded do a GpiQueryNearestColor to get the nearest color.
 * You *must* use the RGB2 structure and *not* the RGB structure. This is *NOT* documented, but it appears in general that all OS/2 2.0 APIs should use RGB2 *instead* of RGB.

Credit: Bill Kenning

How can I toggle my titlebar on and off?
Basically, move frame window controls from being children of the frame to being children of the background HWND_OBJECT. You can then reverse the process to bring them back into view. Following function implements this code. <PRE> /* -- -- Function: ToggleFrame -- -- Description: Toggles frame control visible/invisible -- -- Notes: Code stolen from someone who stole it from an MS sample - */ void ToggleFrame(HWND hwndFrame) {

if (! Hidden) {    /* hide contorls */ hwndTitle = WinWindowFromID( hwndFrame, FID_TITLEBAR ); hwndSys  = WinWindowFromID( hwndFrame, FID_SYSMENU ); ... repeat for FID_MINMAX, etc ... WinSetParent(hwndTitle, HWND_OBJECT, FALSE ); WinSetParent(hwndSys,  HWND_OBJECT, FALSE ); ... repeat for FID_MINMAX, etc ... } else { /* restore controls */ WinSetParent( hwndTitle, hwndFrame, FALSE ); WinSetParent( hwndSys, hwndFrame, FALSE ); ... basically reverse of above ... } WinSendMsg( hwndFrame, WM_UPDATEFRAME,     (MPARAM)(FCF_TITLEBAR | FCF_SYSMENU | ...), NULL); SizeTheWindow( hwndFrame ); Hidden = ! Hidden; return; } </PRE> Credit: Mike Thompson

How can I get transparent regions in bitmaps?
Currently, you can get the same effect with PM if you use the method used with icons:


 * Use a monochrome mask to prep the destination area. The mask would define which areas would be transparent and which would show the bitmap. The bits would be defined as 1=transparent,0=bitmap. You would blit the mask to the destination using ROP_SRCAND. This would blacken out the area that would display the non-transparent bits of the bitmap.
 * Now blit the bitmap to the destination using ROP_SRCPAINT. Note that the "transparent" areas of the bitmap must have the color black (i.e. bits=0). This ORs the bitmap onto the prep area. Viola - "transparent" bitmap.

Credit: John Webb

How do I create a status bar at the bottom of my window?
You need to intercept several frame messages:

The message gives you an array of SWP's. Call your frame superclass and modify the result (in your case, I would expect only FID_CLIENT and your status line).
 * WM_CALCFRAMERECT: to calculate the new location of the client. You should send it to the frame superclass then modify the result. This message is invoked during frame formatting and whenever WinCalcFrameRect is called against your frame window handle.
 * WM_FRAMECTLCOUNT: to tell the frame superclass the number of frame controls you expect to format. If you're adding a status line as a child of the frame (below the client, I suspect), you would add 1 to the result returned by your frame superclass.
 * WM_FORMATFRAME: is where you actually position/size the frame controls.

Sample follows... <PRE> /*    * FYI, WinDefFrameProc is just a macro I defined to     * call my superclass frame window procedure, ie, *   (*vpfnFrameWndProc) (h,m,p1,p2). *    * This example splits the client area space 1/3 * and 2/3 horizontally with the old client area * and a new sibling. */

case WM_CALCFRAMERECT: mr = WinDefFrameProc(hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2);

/*      * Calculate the position of the client rectangle * Otherwise, we'll see a lot of redraw when we move the * client during WM_FORMATFRAME. */

if (mr && mp2) {        prectl = (PRECTL) mp1; prectl->xLeft += ((prectl->xRight - prectl->xLeft) / 3); }     break;

case WM_FORMATFRAME: sCount = (SHORT) WinDefFrameProc(hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2);

/*      * Reformat the frame to move the client * over and make room for the his/her sibling. */

pswp = (PSWP) mp1; pswpClient = pswp + sCount - 1; pswpNew = pswpClient + 1;

*pswpNew = *pswpClient; swpClient = *pswpClient;

pswpNew->hwnd = WinWindowFromID(hwnd, ID_SIBLING); pswpNew->cx = pswpClient->cx / 3;

pswpClient->x = pswpNew->x + pswpNew->cx - 1; pswpClient->cx = swpClient.cx - pswpNew->cx + 1;

sCount++; mr = MRFROMSHORT(sCount); break;

case WM_QUERYFRAMECTLCOUNT: sCount = (SHORT) WinDefFrameProc(hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2); sCount++; mr = MRFROMSHORT(sCount); break; </PRE> Credit: Dan Kehn

How to have a frame/client and still have a std window?
<PRE> FRAMECDATA fcdata;

fcdata.cb	     = sizeof( FRAMECDATA ); fcdata.flCreateFlags = FCF_TASKLIST | FCF_MENU, etc.; fcdata.hmodResources = 0; // or the hmod of the DLL containing the resources fcdata.idResources  = ID_RESOURCES;  // ID of the resources, as usual

hwndFrame = WinCreateWindow( HWND_DESKTOP, WC_FRAME, NULL, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,                             NULLHANDLE, HWND_TOP, ID_RESOURCES,                              &fcdata, NULL);

hwndClient = WinCreateWindow( hwndFrame, szClientClass, NULL, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,                              NULLHANDLE, HWND_TOP, FID_CLIENT, NULL, NULL );

WinSetWindowPos( hwndFrame, HWND_TOP, x, y, cx, cy,                 SWP_ZORDER | SWP_SIZE | SWP_MOVE |                  SWP_SHOW | SWP_ACTIVATE ); </PRE> If you want to then add new controls, like the system menu, you would do this: fcdata.flCreateFlags = FCF_SYSMENU; WinCreateFrameControls( hwndFrame, &fcdata, NULL ); WinSendMsg( hwndFrame, WM_UPDATEFRAME,            MPFROMLONG( FCF_SYSMENU ), NULL ); The same thing applies to all the other controls like FCF_SIZEBORDER, FCF_TITLEBAR, FCF_HORZSCROLL, FCF_MINMAX, etc. You could also OR more than one together if you wanted to add more than one frame control in the same shot. On the titlebar, you need to also send this message: WinSendMsg( WinWindowFromID( hwndFrame, FID_TITLEBAR ),            TBM_SETHILITE, MPFROMSHORT( TRUE ), NULL ); If you want to delete frame controls, you would do this (assuming system menu): WinDestroyWindow( WinWindowFromID( hwndFrame, FID_SYSMENU ) ); WinSendMsg( hwndFrame, WM_UPDATEFRAME,            MPFROMLONG( FCF_SYSMENU ), NULL ); Unfortunately this doesn't fit completely well with OOP, since the controls really are not themselves objects independent of the frame window. One of the problems here is that in order to make them independent objects, you need to know the internals of the frame window proc. For instance, you would think that the MIN and MAX are two WC_BUTTON controls, but they are really one menu with two bitmap menuitems (at least in 1.x they were). So if you were to do a WinCreateWindow for either, you'd have to know where to get the bitmaps, and hope that doesn't change.

Similarly you'd have to be able to construct the system menu after creating a WC_MENU window. This isn't a tough feat, but if a later version of OS/2 adds a new menu item to the system menu, you'd have to become aware of it.

The titlebar and the scrollbars aren't a problem since they have their own public window classes - WC_TITLEBAR and WC_SCROLLBAR respectively. You can, for instance, do a WinCreateWindow(..., WC_SCROLLBAR,... , FID_HORZSCROLL,.. ), then send the frame a WM_UPDATEFRAME message for FCF_HORZSCROLL and this would work. But there is no WC_SIZEBORDER so you couldn't use this method to add the sizing border later. So for the sizing border you need to use the method I first posted above.

I spoke too soon about the sizing border. If you want to add or remove it from a frame window, you need to add or remove the FS_SIZEBORDER style from the frame, then send the frame an UPDATEFRAME message for FCF_SIZEBORDER.

To change the style, here is a technique that John Webb just turned me on to. To add the style: WinSetWindowBits( hwndFrame, QWL_STYLE, FS_SIZEBORDER, FS_SIZEBORDER ); To remove it: WinSetWindowBits( hwndFrame QWL_STYLE, 0, FS_SIZEBORDER ); Also, if you want to add or remove just one of the MIN or the MAX, you basically need to get the window handle of the MINMAX menu, then do a MM_REMOVEITEM for the one you want to remove. I did this in 1.x but haven't yet in 2.0.

Credit: Rick Fishman

How do I use printf in a PM program?
Use PMPRINTF, or redirect stdout and stderr to files. // Redirect 'stderr'. (void) freopen ("stderr.txt", "w", stderr) ;

// Redirect 'stdout'. (void) freopen ("stdout.txt", "w", stdout) ;

I have a SOM DLL. How do I register it?
Here's an example I use for registering. It checks if the DLL is valid before continuing: <PRE>
 * 1) define INCL_WPCLASS
 * 2) define INCL_WIN
 * 3) define INCL_DOS
 * 4) include <os2.h>
 * 5) include <string.h>
 * 6) include <stdio.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { HMQ hmq; HAB hab; CHAR szText[256]; USHORT usResponse; CHAR szLoadError[128]; HMODULE hmod; APIRET rc;

if (argc != 3) return 0;

hab = WinInitialize(0); hmq = WinCreateMsgQueue(hab, 0);

WinDeregisterObjectClass(argv[1]);

sprintf(szText, "Register %s DLL '%s'?", argv[1], argv[2]); usResponse = WinMessageBox(HWND_DESKTOP, HWND_DESKTOP, szText,     "Register WPS Class", 0, MB_YESNO | MB_MOVEABLE | MB_ICONQUESTION);

if (usResponse != MBID_YES) return 0;

rc = DosLoadModule(szLoadError, sizeof(szLoadError), argv[2], &hmod);

if (rc != 0) {    sprintf(szText, "Return code = %u, error module = '%s'.",             rc, szLoadError); WinMessageBox(HWND_DESKTOP, HWND_DESKTOP, szText,                  "DosLoadModule Failed", 0,                   MB_ENTER | MB_MOVEABLE | MB_ERROR);

return 0; }

if (WinRegisterObjectClass(argv[1], argv[2])) {   if (WinCreateObject(argv[1], argv[1], " ", "<WP_DESKTOP>", CO_REPLACEIFEXISTS)) WinMessageBox(HWND_DESKTOP, HWND_DESKTOP, "Created.",argv[1],                   0, MB_ENTER | MB_MOVEABLE | MB_INFORMATION); else {     DosFreeModule(hmod); WinMessageBox(HWND_DESKTOP, HWND_DESKTOP, "Failed.",argv[1],                   0,MB_ENTER | MB_MOVEABLE | MB_ERROR); } }  else {   DosFreeModule(hmod); WinMessageBox(HWND_DESKTOP, HWND_DESKTOP, "Registration failed.",                 argv[1], 0,MB_ENTER | MB_MOVEABLE | MB_ERROR); } return 0; } </PRE> FYI, when WPS registers your DLL with SOM, SOM checks if your DLL has a module entry point called SOMInitModule. If it does, it is called (most use SOMInitModule for registering DLLs that have more than one class). Otherwise, it checks for YourClassNewClass, and tries to call it (where 'YourClass' is the parameter you specified on the WinRegisterObjectClass). SOM generates 'YourClassNewClass' in the .IH file; if you're still stuck, verify it is being called and that it doesn't fail (eg, because of version number check).

I suggest registering with a full DLL filespec, eg, C:\MYSTUFF\MYCAR.DLL. Saves on the length of the LIBPATH.

Credit: Dan Kehn

How do I save and restore my window size and position?
Here is code I use to restore a saved window position, which includes checks to make sure the user hasn't saved a window position at one screen resolution and then restored it at a different screen resolution (which might cause the window's frame controls to be completely off the display - we've all seen that, right?): <PRE> BOOL SetWindowPosition (const HAB hab, const HWND hwndFrame,                        const SWP swpConfig) {    SWP swp ; APIRET ulRC ;

// Initialize the window positioning flags. swp.fl = SWP_ACTIVATE | SWP_MOVE | SWP_SIZE | SWP_SHOW ;

/* Check for saved user preferences for screen width/height in     * config file. Did user want to start maximized? */    if (swpConfig.fl & SWP_MAXIMIZE) {        // Get maximized frame window position and size. ulRC = WinGetMaxPosition (hwndFrame, &swp) ; if (!ulRC) {            // Report error, and then. . .             return TRUE ; }        swp.fl |= SWP_MAXIMIZE ; }

// Did user want to start minimized? else if (swpConfig.fl & SWP_MINIMIZE) {        // Get minimized frame window position and size. ulRC = WinGetMinPosition (hwndFrame, &swp, (PPOINTL) NULL) ; if (!ulRC) {            // Report error, and then. . .             return TRUE ; }        swp.fl |= SWP_MINIMIZE ; }

// Did user have a saved starting position and size? else if (swpConfig.cy || swpConfig.cx || swpConfig.x || swpConfig.y)    { LONG cxClientMax ; LONG cyClientMax ; LONG cyTitleBar ; LONG cxSizeBorder ; LONG cySizeBorder ;

// Get maximum client window size. cxClientMax = WinQuerySysValue (HWND_DESKTOP, SV_CXFULLSCREEN) ; cyClientMax = WinQuerySysValue (HWND_DESKTOP, SV_CYFULLSCREEN) ; cyTitleBar = WinQuerySysValue (HWND_DESKTOP, SV_CYTITLEBAR) ; cxSizeBorder = WinQuerySysValue (HWND_DESKTOP, SV_CXSIZEBORDER) ; cySizeBorder = WinQuerySysValue (HWND_DESKTOP, SV_CYSIZEBORDER) ;

// Maximum client window size excludes title bar. cyClientMax += cyTitleBar ;

// Make sure x origin is within display boundaries. swp.x = swpConfig.x ; if (swp.x < -cxSizeBorder) swp.x = 0 ;

// Make sure window isn't too wide, or negative value. swp.cx = swpConfig.cx ; if (swp.cx >= cxClientMax || swp.cx < 0) {            swp.cx = cxClientMax ; swp.x = 0 ; }

if ((swp.x + swp.cx) > (cxClientMax + cxSizeBorder)) swp.x = cxClientMax + cxSizeBorder - swp.cx ;

// Make sure y origin is within display boundaries. swp.y = swpConfig.y ; if (swp.y < -cySizeBorder) swp.y = 0 ;

// Make sure window isn't too high, or negative value. swp.cy = swpConfig.cy ; if (swp.cy > cyClientMax || swp.cy < 0) {            swp.cy = cyClientMax ; swp.y = 0 ; }

if ((swp.y + swp.cy) > (cyClientMax + cySizeBorder)) swp.y = cyClientMax + cySizeBorder - swp.cy ; }

// No saved position -- move window to FCF_SHELLPOSITION location. else {        // Get default window size and position. ulRC = WinQueryTaskSizePos (hab, 0, &swp) ; if (ulRC) {            // Report error, and then. . .             return TRUE ; }        swp.fl = SWP_ACTIVATE | SWP_MOVE | SWP_SIZE | SWP_SHOW ; }

// Position and size this frame window. ulRC = WinSetWindowPos (hwndFrame, HWND_TOP,      swp.x, swp.y, swp.cx, swp.cy, swp.fl) ; if (!ulRC) {        // Report error, and then. . .         return TRUE ; }

return FALSE ; } </PRE> Credit: Wayne Kovsky

How do you make a window float above all others?
Here's a sample program showing floating windows (derived from dvipm). The advantages over the WM_TIMER approach [which was presented in v2.2 -ed] are: The excessive repainting caused by other solutions was quite annoying with dvipm as recomputing the dvipm status window is slow.
 * there's no delay
 * repainting is minimized
 * avoids timing problems
 * the floating windows are not unconditionally moved to the very top (that is, when moving the base window B (with floating window F) behind a window W, the order of the windows is this: BFW, not BWF!)

Credit: Eberhard Mattes <PRE> /* floatwin.c */

/* This program shows how to implement floating windows. The source code works with both 16-bit and 32-bit C compilers.

If the Z-order of the base window is changed, the floating window will be moved on top of the base window.

Generalizing this approach to many windows floating on many windows (floating on many windows ...) is left as exercise. */


 * 1) define INCL_WIN
 * 2) define INCL_GPI
 * 3) include <os2.h>

/* Syntactic sugar for supporting both 16-bit and 32-bit compilers. */


 * 1) ifdef __32BIT__
 * 2) define MSG ULONG
 * 3) define FLAGS fl
 * 4) else
 * 5) define MSG USHORT
 * 6) define FLAGS fs
 * 7) endif
 * 8) ifndef NULLHANDLE
 * 9) define NULLHANDLE NULL
 * 10) endif

/* The original frame window procedure. */ static PFNWP pfOldBaseFrameProc = NULL;

/* The handle of the floating window. */ static HWND hwndFloat = NULLHANDLE;

/* This frame window procedure is used for subclassing base windows. When changing the Z-order of the frame window, the floating window is moved instead of the base window and the hwndInsertBehind field is modified to move the base window behind the floating window. */

MRESULT EXPENTRY BaseFrameProc (HWND hwnd, MSG msg, MPARAM mp1, MPARAM mp2) { PSWP pswp;

switch (msg) {   case WM_ADJUSTWINDOWPOS      pswp = PVOIDFROMMP (mp1); if ((pswp->FLAGS & SWP_ZORDER) && hwndFloat != NULLHANDLE          && WinIsWindowVisible (hwndFloat)) {         WinSetWindowPos (hwndFloat, pswp->hwndInsertBehind,                           0, 0, 0, 0, SWP_ZORDER); /* This is the trick! */         pswp->hwndInsertBehind = hwndFloat; }     break; } return pfOldBaseFrameProc (hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2); }

/* Common client window procedure for base windows and floating windows. Display TXT and use CLR for filling the background. */

MRESULT CommonClientWndProc (HWND hwnd, MSG msg, MPARAM mp1, MPARAM mp2,                            PCH txt, COLOR clr) { HPS hps; RECTL rcl;

switch (msg) {   case WM_PAINT      hps = WinBeginPaint (hwnd, 0L, 0L); WinQueryWindowRect (hwnd, &rcl); GpiSetColor (hps, CLR_DARKCYAN); GpiSetBackColor (hps, clr); WinDrawText (hps, -1, txt, &rcl, 0, 0,                  DT_TEXTATTRS | DT_CENTER | DT_VCENTER | DT_ERASERECT); WinEndPaint (hps); return 0; } return WinDefWindowProc (hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2); }

/* Client window procedure for floating windows. */

MRESULT EXPENTRY FloatClientWndProc (HWND hwnd, MSG msg, MPARAM mp1, MPARAM mp2) { return CommonClientWndProc (hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2, "Floating Window", CLR_RED); }

/* Client window procedure for base windows. */

MRESULT EXPENTRY BaseClientWndProc (HWND hwnd, MSG msg, MPARAM mp1, MPARAM mp2) { return CommonClientWndProc (hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2, "Base Window", CLR_YELLOW); }

/* Start here. */

int main (void) { static char szBaseClientClass[] = "floatwin.base"; static char szFloatClientClass[] = "floatwin.float"; ULONG flFrameFlags; HAB hab; HMQ hmq; QMSG qmsg; HWND hwndBase;

/* Initialize Presentation Manager. */

hab = WinInitialize (0); hmq = WinCreateMsgQueue (hab, 0);

/* Create client window classes. */

WinRegisterClass (hab, szBaseClientClass, BaseClientWndProc,                   CS_SIZEREDRAW, 0); WinRegisterClass (hab, szFloatClientClass, FloatClientWndProc,                   CS_SIZEREDRAW, 0);

/* Create the base window and the floating window. Note    windows are initially invisible. */

flFrameFlags = (FCF_TITLEBAR     | FCF_SYSMENU |                  FCF_SIZEBORDER    | FCF_MINMAX  |                  FCF_TASKLIST);

/* Create and subclass the base window. */

hwndBase = WinCreateStdWindow (HWND_DESKTOP, 0,                                &flFrameFlags, szBaseClientClass,                                 "floatwin - Base Window",                                 0L, 0, 1, NULL); pfOldBaseFrameProc = WinSubclassWindow (hwndBase, BaseFrameProc);

/* Create the floating window. */

hwndFloat = WinCreateStdWindow (HWND_DESKTOP, 0,                                 &flFrameFlags, szFloatClientClass,                                  "floatwin - Floating Window",                                  0L, 0, 1, NULL);

/* Set the position, size and Z-order of the windows and make them visible. It's important to use SWP_ZORDER for the base window. */

WinSetWindowPos (hwndFloat, HWND_TOP, 10, 10, 300, 80,                  SWP_SHOW | SWP_MOVE | SWP_SIZE | SWP_ZORDER); WinSetWindowPos (hwndBase, HWND_TOP, 100, 50, 300, 80,                  SWP_SHOW | SWP_MOVE | SWP_SIZE | SWP_ZORDER | SWP_ACTIVATE);

/* The message loop. */

while (WinGetMsg (hab, &qmsg, 0L, 0, 0)) WinDispatchMsg (hab, &qmsg);

/* Clean up. */

WinDestroyWindow (hwndBase); WinDestroyWindow (hwndFloat); WinDestroyMsgQueue (hmq); WinTerminate (hab);

return 0; } </PRE>

How to ensure the sizing's correct so the dlg "fits" in the notebook...?
Override wpclsQuerySettingsPageSize (or some such verbage, I don't have docs at home). I don't know if this API made it into the on-line docs, but it is definitely public (see \TOOLKT20\C\OS2H\WPOBJECT.H). There you are given the opportunity to adjust the size up to accomodate your dialog, if necessary.

The PAGEINFO structure is used by the Settings page code to delay the loading of the dialog required for a page until the user turns to it for the first time. It has the resource ID, module handle (which is incorrectly named in the structure, 'resid' or some nonsense, grr-r), dialog procedure, and pointer of your choice to receive on WM_INITDLG (most choose the object pointer, somSelf). When the user selects the notebook tab, WPS calls WinLoadDlg based on the parameters in PAGEINFO.

How do I prevent Shutdown from stopping my app?
In our application, the WM_CLOSE message processor determines the state of the application, issues all the "Are you sure?" questions, etc. If the close is to be continued, a WM_QUIT message is posted and a value of FALSE is returned. Otherwise a value of TRUE is returned.

The window receiving the WMU_EndTask message handles it by posting a WM_CLOSE message to itself, and letting the WM_CLOSE processing handle it. The only reason it is not translated to a WM_CLOSE within the message loop is allow future use. This message requires no special handling.

The window receiving the WMU_ShutDown message handles it by sending (not posting) a WM_CLOSE message to itself. If the WM_CLOSE message returns TRUE, then a WinCancelShutdown (hmq, FALSE) call is issued to cancel this instance of the shutdown.

If you issue a WinCancelShutdown (hmq, TRUE), a WM_QUIT message will never be sent to your message queue, so will not have an opportunity to stop the shutdown. This is intended for secondary message queues that do not have a message loop. <PRE> while (1) {

HWND hwndClient;

// Get next message from queue if (!WinGetMsg (hab, &qmsg, NULLHANDLE, 0, 0)) {

// The WM_QUIT message has three sources: //  1. The task manager 'End task' pulldown //  2. System shutdown from desktop manager //  3. Posted by the application

// This is a WM_QUIT message. Check the window handle, if the // handle matches mp2, it is from switch list close if (qmsg.hwnd == HWNDFROMMP (qmsg.mp2)) {

// This is from close on the task list, convert to our message qmsg.msg = WMU_EndTask;

// Get the intended client's window handle if (!(hwndClient = WinWindowFromID (qmsg.hwnd, FID_CLIENT))) {

// Failed to find client. No idea who this belongs to, // give it to default window for processing hwndClient = hwndDefault }

// Otherwise, readdress the message to the appropriate client qmsg.hwnd = hwndClient;

// We can use mp1 and mp2 for anything we want. // Currently, just clear both qmsg.mp1 = qmsg.mp2 = 0L;

} else if (qmsg.hwnd == NULLHANDLE) {

// This message is from shutdown, // Address it to default window for processing qmsg.hwnd = hwndDefault;

// And set the message to our shutdown message, qmsg.msg = WMU_SysShutdown;

} else {

// If here, we posted the WM_QUIT message, so break out of       // the message loop break; }   }

// This is not a WM_QUIT message, intercept all other // messages intended for the NULL window if (qmsg.hwnd == NULLHANDLE) {

// Pass all NULL window messages to the NULL window handler NullMsg (qmsg.hwnd, qmsg.msg, qmsg.mp1, qmsg.mp2);

} else {

// This is not a WM_QUIT message, nor is it intended for the NULL // window. Pass this message to the message filter hook for // processing. if (!WinCallMsgFilter (hab, (PQMSG) &qmsg, 0)) {

// Filter hook has not cancelled the message, so dispatch // the message to the proper window WinDispatchMsg (hab, &qmsg); }   }  } </PRE> Credit: Matt Osborn

When I pass a structure to WinCreateWindow, sometimes it doesn't work!
Put the size of the structure as the first word.

How do I use type filtering in 2.0's open dlg?
It's broken in 2.0GA, fixed in 2.0's service pak.

When minimizing, my dialog box is overwriting my icon!
In the WM_MINMAXFRAME message hide the offending control. <PRE> case WM_MINMAXFRAME: {       PSWP pswp; /* pos change structure */

/* hide list box when minimized so it doesn't overwrite icon */ pswp = PVOIDFROMMP( mp1 ); WinShowWindow(         WinWindowFromID( hwnd, IDD_FILES ),          !(pswp->fs & SWP_MINIMIZE)        ); }     break; </PRE>

How do I make a multi-column listbox?
Use the container in details view. If you just have to use a list box:

Here is an extract from my dialog box procedure that produces a two-column list box.

In this example there is only one list box, so I don't have to worry about which control is involved. In this example, a blank is used to separate the first and second column. You could use tabs or any other sort of separator character. You could also draw anything you wanted in the list box item, including bit maps, colors, other fonts, etc.

This is not a complete program, of course, but does show the details of handling a multi-column list box. <PRE> /******************** Dialog Box Procedure ******************************/

MRESULT EXPENTRY SelectDlgProc (HWND hwnd, USHORT msg, MPARAM mp1, MPARAM mp2) {   HPS     hPS;                 /* Handle to the presentation space */ FONTMETRICS FontMetrics;    /* Metrics of default font */ CHAR   pszItemText[MAX_ITEM_TEXT_LENGTH]; CHAR   *s; OWNERITEM FAR *poi;         /* Pointer to owner item structure */ RECTL  rcl;                 /* Rectangle for writing */ COLOR  clrForeGround; COLOR  clrBackGround;

switch (msg) {       case WM_INITDLG:   /* Initialize the list box */

FillCfgListBox (hwnd);    /* Fill the list box */

return (FALSE);

case WM_MEASUREITEM:    /* Measure text height */

hPS = WinGetPS (hwnd);    /* Get handle to presentation space */ GpiQueryFontMetrics (hPS, (LONG) sizeof (FONTMETRICS),                                &FontMetrics); WinReleasePS (hPS);       /* Release the presentation space */

return (FontMetrics.lMaxBaselineExt);

case WM_DRAWITEM:     /* Draw a list box entry */

poi = mp2;              /* Get address of owner item */

if (poi->fsState == TRUE) /* Is this cell to be highlighted? */           {                          /* Yes, use highlight attributes */ clrForeGround = SYSCLR_HILITEFOREGROUND; clrBackGround = SYSCLR_HILITEBACKGROUND; }           else                       /* No, use normal attributes */ {               clrForeGround = CLR_NEUTRAL; clrBackGround = CLR_BACKGROUND; }

WinSendMsg (poi->hwnd,    /* Get item text */                        LM_QUERYITEMTEXT,                        (MPARAM) MAKEULONG (poi->idItem, MAX_ITEM_TEXT_LENGTH),                       (MPARAM) pszItemText);

rcl.xLeft	= poi->rclItem.xLeft; /* Set co-ordinates */ rcl.xRight	= poi->rclItem.xRight; /* of rectangle */ rcl.yTop	= poi->rclItem.yTop; rcl.yBottom = poi->rclItem.yBottom;

s = strchr (pszItemText, ' '); /* Find first blank */ if (s) *s = '\0';              /* Terminate first column here */

WinDrawText (poi->hps,    /* Draw the first column */                         -1,           /* Null-terminated string */                         pszItemText,  /* File name is here */                         &rcl,     /* Rectangle to draw in */                         clrForeGround,/* Foreground color */                         clrBackGround,/* Background color */                         DT_LEFT | DT_VCENTER | DT_ERASERECT);

if (s)		      /* If there is a second column */ {             rcl.xLeft = 100;         /* It starts out here */ /* Spacing calculations could be */ /* much cleverer than this very */ /* crude use of an absolute position */ /* (which is not transportable */                                      /* to different display types, as */                                       /* between 8514 and VGA) */ s++;                  /* Point to beginning of text */ WinDrawText (poi->hps, /* Draw the second column */                            -1,       /* Also a null-terminated string */                             s,        /* File Description */                             &rcl, /* Rectangle to draw in */                             clrForeGround,  /* Colors are same as */                             clrBackGround,  /* before */                             DT_LEFT | DT_VCENTER); }

/* If fsState || fsStateOld and return TRUE, then */ /* control will invert the rectangle -- not what */ /* we want. Tell control not do do anything like that! */

poi->fsState = poi->fsStateOld = FALSE;

return (TRUE); /* Say we did it */

... case statements for rest of program ... </PRE>

Credit: Guy Scharf

How do I create my own Master Help Index?
I talked with the owner of the Master Index, and she said there is no problem with using a like index to view online documentation for your application. There are just a few catches:


 * The documentation must be compiled as an .HLP file and not an .INF file. Note that this is the default for IPFC.
 * The tagged indexed entries must have the "global" attribute. For example:
 * :i1 global.giving examples
 * or:
 * :i1 id=examp global.giving examples


 * The Index executable is a WPS object, not a standalone application. You will need to create your own copy of the object (instance) of class Mindex, either by using a REXX script  (e.g. SysCreateObject) or within your app (e.g. WinCreateObject).

For a REXX example: CALL  SysCreateObject  "Mindex", "Title", "<WP_DESKTOP>", "INDEX=MYFILE;OBJECTID=<MY_INDEX>" where MYFILE can be an environmental variable set to the path or filespec of your .HLP files, or it can be the actual filespec itself (e.g. INDEX=c:\myapp\myfile.hlp ). Note too that files can be concatenated (e.g. INDEX=c:\myapp\myfile.hlp+c:\yourapp\yourfile.hlp). o Objects of Mindex class CAN NOT be subclassed. There are no public methods in this class and it must be used as is.

Credit: John Webb

How do I change the font in an MLE?
How do I change the font in an MLE? WinSetPresParms doesn't work.

This is a function I used in 1.x to set the font for an MLE (haven't ported it yet but it should be the same). I pass it the parent hwnd of the MLE, the MLE's id, a facename, a pointsize, the maximum height for an outline font, and fsSelection (FATTR_SEL_BOLD, etc). It first tries to match on pointsize and facename. If it can't it uses an outline font with the height requested. <PRE> VOID EXPENTRY UtlSetMleFont( HWND hwndParent, USHORT usMleId, PSZ szFacename,                             USHORT usPointSize, LONG lMaxHeight,                              USHORT fsSelection ) {    PFONTMETRICS pfm; HDC         hdc; HPS         hps; HWND        hwndMle; LONG        lHorzRes, lVertRes, lRequestFonts = 0, lNumberFonts; FATTRS      fat; SHORT       sOutlineIndex = -1; INT         i;

(void) memset( &fat, 0, sizeof( FATTRS ) ); fat.usRecordLength = sizeof( FATTRS ); fat.fsSelection	 = fsSelection; strcpy( fat.szFacename, szFacename ); hwndMle = WinWindowFromID( hwndParent, usMleId ); hps = WinGetPS( hwndMle ); hdc = GpiQueryDevice( hps ); DevQueryCaps( hdc, CAPS_HORIZONTAL_FONT_RES, 1L, &lHorzRes ); DevQueryCaps( hdc, CAPS_VERTICAL_FONT_RES,  1L, &lVertRes ); lNumberFonts = GpiQueryFonts( hps, QF_PUBLIC, szFacename,                                  &lRequestFonts, 0L, NULL); pfm = malloc( (SHORT) lNumberFonts * sizeof( FONTMETRICS ) ); GpiQueryFonts( hps, QF_PUBLIC, szFacename,                   &lNumberFonts, (LONG) sizeof( FONTMETRICS ), pfm ); for( i = 0; i < (USHORT) lNumberFonts; i++ ) {        if( pfm[ i ].fsDefn & 1 ) {            sOutlineIndex = (SHORT) i;             continue; }

if (pfm[ i ].sXDeviceRes == (SHORT) lHorzRes &&            pfm[ i ].sYDeviceRes == (SHORT) lVertRes &&             pfm[ i ].sNominalPointSize == (SHORT) (usPointSize * 10) ) {            fat.lMatch          = pfm[ i ].lMatch; fat.lMaxBaselineExt = pfm[ i ].lMaxBaselineExt; fat.lAveCharWidth  = pfm[ i ].lAveCharWidth; break; }    }

if( i >= (USHORT) lNumberFonts ) if( sOutlineIndex >= 0 ) if( lMaxHeight ) {                fat.fsFontUse = FATTR_FONTUSE_OUTLINE; if( !(fat.usCodePage = pfm[ sOutlineIndex ].usCodePage) ) fat.usCodePage = 850; fat.lMaxBaselineExt = lMaxHeight; WinSendMsg( hwndMle, MLM_SETFONT, MPFROMP( &fat ), 0 ); }    WinSendMsg( hwndMle, MLM_SETFONT, MPFROMP( &fat ), 0 ); WinReleasePS( hps ); free( pfm ); } </PRE> Credit: Rick Fishman

Why can't I import files larger than 64KB into my MLE?
A MLE can not import or export text in bigger chunks than 64K. The below code shows how to solve this. <PRE> void Editor::impTxt(const char *filename) { FILE *ptr; long dummy=-1; long result;

ptr = fopen(filename,"rb"); fseek(ptr,0,SEEK_END); unsigned long size = ftell(ptr);

fseek(ptr,0,SEEK_SET); void *buf = malloc(0xF000); mle->sendEvent(MLM_SETIMPORTEXPORT, buf, (unsigned long) 0xF000);

mle->sendEvent(MLM_FORMAT, MLFIE_CFTEXT, NULL); while (feof(ptr) == 0) { result = fread(buf, 1, 0xE000, ptr); mle->sendEvent(MLM_IMPORT, &dummy, result); }  fclose(ptr); free(buf); } </PRE> The same applies to export. If the MLE contains >64K text you have to export the text in chunks like this <PRE> void Editor::saveFile(void) { IString filename; IEventData rc; IFileDialog::Settings settings; settings.setTitle("Save textfile"); settings.setFileName(fname); settings.setOKButtonText("Save file"); settings.setSaveAsDialog;

IFileDialog file(desktopWindow,this,settings,                  IFileDialog::defaultStyle                    | IFileDialog::selectableListbox); if (file.pressedOK == false) return ; filename = file.fileName; if (filename.size == 0) return; mle->exportToFile(filename);

void *buf = malloc(0xF000); long ppt=0;

mle->sendEvent(MLM_SETIMPORTEXPORT, buf, (unsigned long) 0xF000);

mle->sendEvent(MLM_FORMAT, MLFIE_NOTRANS, NULL); ofstream fil(filename);

do    { long amount = 0xE000; rc = mle->sendEvent(MLM_EXPORT, &ppt, &amount); fil.write((char *) buf, rc.asUnsignedLong); } while (rc.asUnsignedLong > 0); } </PRE> Credit: Ivar E. Hosteng

How do I get PM screen size?
By calling the function WinQuerySysValue with the tags; SV_CYSCREEN and SV_CXSCREEN. One should always check screen size before creating windows in PM, and size to the right it width and height. PM does not guarantee that your window will be dimensioned right.

Below is an example <PRE> .       .        .    lHeight = WinQuerySysValue(HWND_DESKTOP,SV_CYSCREEN); lWidth = WinQuerySysValue(HWND_DESKTOP,SV_CXSCREEN); .       .        . </PRE> With these values you size and position your window with WinSetWindowPos.

Credit: Andreas Almroth

How do I attach Instance data to window created with WinCreateStdWindow?
I always use the two call to WinCreateWindow method,instead of the WinCreateStdWindow method, because the latter does not allow you to set instance data before your winproc is called for the first time.

Here's a C Set/2 program (icc /Ss+ /W3 /Se /B"/pm:pm" foo.c): <PRE>
 * 1) define INCL_PM
 * 2) include <os2.h>

typedef struct _mydata { HWND hwndFrame; HWND hwndClient; char whatever[100]; }MYDATA;

static MRESULT EXPENTRY WinProc(HWND hwnd, ULONG msg, MPARAM mp1, MPARAM mp2) {    MYDATA *mine;

mine = (MYDATA *)WinQueryWindowPtr(hwnd, 0); // will be null for WM_CREATE switch(msg){ case WM_CREATE: mine = (MYDATA *)mp1; WinSetWindowPtr(hwnd, 0, mine); break; case WM_ERASEBACKGROUND: return (MRESULT)TRUE; default: return WinDefWindowProc(hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2); }    return 0; }

void main(void) {    HAB hab; HMQ hmq; QMSG qmsg; char *class = "foo"; FRAMECDATA fcdata; /* frame creation data */ MYDATA mydat;

hab = WinInitialize(0); hmq = WinCreateMsgQueue(hab, hmq);

WinRegisterClass(hab, class, WinProc, 0, sizeof(MYDATA *));

/* create frame window (WC_FRAME) */ fcdata.cb = sizeof(FRAMECDATA); fcdata.flCreateFlags = FCF_TITLEBAR | FCF_SYSMENU | FCF_SHELLPOSITION | FCF_TASKLIST | FCF_SIZEBORDER | FCF_MINMAX ;

fcdata.hmodResources = 0; fcdata.idResources  = 1;	     /* resource id */ mydat.hwndFrame = WinCreateWindow(HWND_DESKTOP, WC_FRAME, "Title",                                      0, 0, 0, 0, 0,                                       0,  /* no owner */                                       HWND_TOP,fcdata.idResources,&fcdata,NULL);

if(!mydat.hwndFrame) exit(3);

/* WinProc has not been called yet */

/* Create Client window: */ mydat.hwndClient = WinCreateWindow(mydat.hwndFrame, class, "text",                        0, 0, 0, 0, 0,                         mydat.hwndFrame,    /* frame is owner */                         HWND_TOP, FID_CLIENT,                         &mydat, /* passed as mp1 to wm_create */                         NULL);

WinShowWindow(mydat.hwndFrame, TRUE);

while(WinGetMsg(hab, &qmsg, (HWND) NULL, 0, 0)) WinDispatchMsg(hab, &qmsg);

} </PRE> Credit: Peter Fitzsimmons

How do I get a list of fonts?
Shown is code for For v1.3. Petzold has had a nice series on fonts in PC MAG from about Nov 92-June 93. <PRE>
 * 1) define INCL_DEV
 * 2) define INCL_DOSMEMMGR
 * 3) define INCL_GPILCIDS
 * 4) define INCL_WINWINDOWMGR
 * 5) define INCL_WINLISTBOXES
 * 6) include <os2.h>
 * 7) include <stdio.h>

VOID EXPENTRY FntQueryList(hwnd) HWND hwnd; // listbox handle { PFONTMETRICS pfm; HDC         hdc; HPS         hps; LONG        alDevInfo[2]; LONG        lFonts; LONG        lFontCnt = 0L; CHAR        pch[64]; SEL         sel; USHORT      i;

hdc = WinOpenWindowDC(hwnd); DevQueryCaps(hdc, CAPS_HORIZONTAL_FONT_RES, 2L, alDevInfo); hps = WinGetPS(hwnd); lFonts = GpiQueryFonts(hps, QF_PUBLIC, (PSZ)0, &lFontCnt,                        (LONG)sizeof(FONTMETRICS), (PFONTMETRICS)0 ); DosAllocSeg((USHORT)lFonts * sizeof(FONTMETRICS), &sel, SEG_NONSHARED); pfm = (PFONTMETRICS)MAKEP(sel, 0); GpiQueryFonts(hps, QF_PUBLIC, (PSZ)0, &lFonts,               (LONG)sizeof(FONTMETRICS), pfm ); for (i = 0; i < (USHORT)lFonts; i++) { if (!(pfm[i].fsDefn & FM_DEFN_OUTLINE)) { if ((pfm[i].sXDeviceRes == (SHORT)alDevInfo[0]) &&         (pfm[i].sYDeviceRes == (SHORT)alDevInfo[1]) ) { sprintf(pch, "%2d.%s",                   pfm[i].sNominalPointSize / 10,                    pfm[i].szFacename ); WinSendMsg(hwnd, LM_INSERTITEM,                  MPFROMSHORT(LIT_END), MPFROMP(pch) ); }     }    }  DosFreeSeg(sel); WinReleasePS(hps); return; } </PRE>

How do I create a folder in C and put my pgm in it?
<PRE> /* Create our folder on the desktop */

HOBJECT hFolder, hObject;

hFolder = WinCreateObject ("wpFolder", "My Folder",                          "OBJECTID=<MY_FOLDER>", "<WP_DESKTOP>",                           CO_REPLACEIFEXISTS);

/* Now, put our object into the folder. */

hObject = WinCreateObject ("wpProgram", "My Online Book",                          "EXENAME=VIEW.EXE;PARAMETERS=MYBOOK.INF;\                           OBJECTID=<MY_BOOK>", "<MY_FOLDER>",                           CO_REPLACEIFEXISTS); </PRE> What that little code snippet does is create a folder called "My Folder" on the desktop, and puts a program object for an online book in it. Check out the documentation on the following functions for more information:

WinCreateObject wpSetup (for information on the setup string parameter to WinCreateObj) WPFolder (for information on the setup strings of folders) WPProgram programs etc.

How do I do it in REXX?
You may have seen the Paradox 4.0 install script, which uses SysCreateObject to make a WPS object

Hope they don't mind me posting a fragment of the script by: <PRE> /* Rob Gordon Borland International 6/8/92  */

title = "Paradox 4.0" classname = 'WPProgram' location = '<WP_DESKTOP>' setup = 'PROGTYPE=WINDOWEDVDM;EXENAME='pdoxpath'paradox.exe; STARTUPDIR='pdoxpath';SET DPMI_DOS_API=ENABLED; SET DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT=4;ICONFILE 'pdoxpath'pdoxos2.ico;'

BldObj: call charout, 'Building : 'title result = SysCreateObject(classname, title, location, setup) </PRE>

How do I use the Font dialog (WinFontDlg)?
FIRST: make your stack huge (>32K) It is sparsely allocated and you only use what you need. Here's some code: <PRE> FONTDLG fontdlg ; FONTMETRICS fm ; CHAR           szBuf [200] ; CHAR           szFamily [CCHMAXPATH] ; static CHAR    szTitle [] = "Fonts Dialog" ; static CHAR    szMsgBoxTitle [] = "Result from 'WinFontDlg '" ; static CHAR    szPreview [] = "We hold these truths to be self-evident ..." ;

// Here, get an HPS and then do a WinQueryFontMetrics. // Continuing. ..

memset ((void *) &fontdlg, 0, sizeof (FONTDLG)) ; fontdlg.cbSize = sizeof (FONTDLG) ; fontdlg.hpsScreen = WinGetScreenPS (HWND_DESKTOP) ; fontdlg.hpsPrinter = NULLHANDLE ; fontdlg.pszTitle = szTitle ; fontdlg.pszPreview = szPreview ; fontdlg.pfnDlgProc = NULL ; strcpy (szFamily, fm.szFamilyname) ; fontdlg.pszFamilyname = szFamily ; fontdlg.usFamilyBufLen = sizeof (szFamily) ; fontdlg.fxPointSize = MAKEFIXED (fm.sNominalPointSize / 10, 0) ; fontdlg.fl = FNTS_CENTER | FNTS_HELPBUTTON | FNTS_INITFROMFATTRS | FNTS_NOSYNTHESIZEDFONTS | FNTS_RESETBUTTON ; fontdlg.sNominalPointSize = fm.sNominalPointSize ; fontdlg.flType = (LONG) fm.fsType ; fontdlg.clrFore = CLR_NEUTRAL ; fontdlg.clrBack = CLR_BACKGROUND ; fontdlg.usWeight = fm.usWeightClass ; fontdlg.usWidth = fm.usWidthClass ;

hwndDlg = WinFontDlg (HWND_DESKTOP, hwnd, &fontdlg) ; </PRE> Credit: Wayne Kovsky

How do I take control of frame sizing?
I want to "subclass" the Window Frame Class to allow me to control the size of my main window when it's resized by the mouse. I want to control the steps it take to resize too, (ie: by 8x8 steps).

.H file <PRE> HWND APIENTRY WinCreateMBWindow(

HWND hwndParent, ULONG flStyle, PULONG pflCreateFlags, PSZ pszClientClass, PSZ pszTitle, ULONG styleClient, HMODULE hmod, USHORT idResources, PHWND phwndClient);


 * 1) define HMODFROMMP(mp) ((USHORT)(ULONG)(mp))

//Sent from child to frame indicating the new //requested size of the child area. (high&width in MP1) //If ChildMax is shrinking below current size, // frame is redused, and evt scroll bars is hidden. //If Child is growing //  MP2=True -> grows frame to contain maximized child //  MP2=False-> enables scroll bars, keeps size.
 * 1) define MB_CHILD_SIZE WM_USER+204


 * 1) define MB_FIX_N      0x1 //Fix north border when sizing
 * 2) define MB_FIX_E      0x2 //Fix east  border when sizing


 * 1) define MB_FIX_NE      0x3 //Fix north east corner when sizing
 * 2) define MB_FIX_SE      0x2 //Fix south east corner when sizing
 * 3) define MB_FIX_NW      0x1 //Fix north west corner when sizing
 * 4) define MB_FIX_SW      0x0 //Fix south west corner when sizing

//Sent from frame to child to queryw //max size of the child area. (h&w in MR) //Used when sizing to determin if scroll bars are ness.
 * 1) define MB_QCHILD_SIZE_MAX    WM_USER+205

//Sent from frame to child before tracking //Child supposed to return x&y granularity in MR
 * 1) define MB_QCHILD_GRID    WM_USER+206


 * 1) define MB_CREATE         WM_USER+207  //Internally shipped command.

typedef struct _FRM_DTA { /* Fram data */ PFNWP   oldProc; SHORT   nTrkCnr,nYSclHor,nXSclVer,nTitle; SHORT   xMax,yMax;    //Max size of Client in PIX SHORT   ScrMaxX,ScrMaxY; POINTL  ptlBdr; HWND    hVert,hHori; SHORT   xCur,yCur;    //Current size of Client in PIX SHORT   nCorner;      //Which corner is to be stable } FRM_DTA; typedef FRM_DTA FAR * PFRM_DTA; </PRE> .C file <PRE> HWND	APIENTRY WinCreateMBWindow(HWND hParent, ULONG flStyle,                                  PULONG pflCreate, PSZ pszClientClass,                                   PSZ pszTitle, ULONG styleClient,                                   HMODULE hmod,                                   USHORT idResources, PHWND phClient) { HWND         hFrame; PFRM_DTA    pFrm;

hFrame = WinCreateStdWindow(hParent,flStyle,pflCreate,pszClientClass,                             pszTitle,styleClient,hmod,idResources,phClient);

//Allocate some storage for local parameters, and initialize it pFrm=malloc(sizeof( FRM_DTA)); memset(pFrm,0,sizeof( FRM_DTA));

WinSetWindowPtr(hFrame,QWL_USER,(PVOID) pFrm);

pFrm->oldProc= WinSubclassWindow(hFrame,newFrameProc);

//Now window is setup:

WinSendMsg(hFrame,MB_CREATE,MP0,MP0);   //My own WM_CREATE

WinShowWindow(hFrame,TRUE);

WinUpdateWindow(hFrame); return hFrame; }

VOID GetChildMax(HWND hFrame, PFRM_DTA	pFrm) { MRESULT mr; mr = WinSendMsg(WinWindowFromID(hFrame,FID_CLIENT),                 MB_QCHILD_SIZE_MAX,MP0,MP0); pFrm->xMax=SHORT1FROMMR(mr); pFrm->yMax=SHORT2FROMMR(mr); }


 * 1) define CLIENT_PROVIDED FALSE
 * 2) define FRAME_PROVIDED	 TRUE

BOOL WinCalcFrameSWP(HWND hwnd, PSWP pSWP, BOOL bFrame) { //   TRUE       Frame rectangle provided //   FALSE      Client-area rectangle provided. RECTL rcl; BOOL bSuccess;

rcl.xLeft  = pSWP->x; rcl.yBottom = pSWP->y; rcl.xRight = pSWP->x+pSWP->cx; rcl.yTop   = pSWP->y+pSWP->cy;

bSuccess = WinCalcFrameRect(hwnd, &rcl, bFrame );

pSWP->x =(SHORT) rcl.xLeft; pSWP->y =(SHORT) rcl.yBottom; pSWP->cx =(SHORT) (rcl.xRight-rcl.xLeft); pSWP->cy =(SHORT) (rcl.yTop -rcl.yBottom);

return(bSuccess); }

VOID SclBarEnable(HWND hwnd, PSWP pSWP, PFRM_DTA pFrm) { .....

Your routines to determine and en/disable scroll bars ..... /*   Part of my code */ swpClient = *(pSWP); WinCalcFrameSWP(hwnd, &swpClient, FRAME_PROVIDED); if (swpClient.cx >= pFrm->xMax-1) { //Turn off horisontal scroll bar WinSetParent(pFrm->hHori,HWND_OBJECT ,FALSE); nUpdt = FCF_HORZSCROLL; } /* code for enabling left out..... */

if (nUpdt != 0) {   WinSendMsg (hwnd, WM_UPDATEFRAME, MPFROMSHORT(nUpdt), MP0); } }

/***************** Start of frame subclass procedure *****************/

MRESULT EXPENTRY newFrameProc( HWND hwnd, USHORT msg, MPARAM mp1, MPARAM mp2 )

{ PSWP	   pSWP; PFNWP    oldProc; PFRM_DTA pFrm;

pFrm=(PFRM_DTA)WinQueryWindowPtr(hwnd,QWL_USER); oldProc=pFrm->oldProc;

switch(msg) {   case MB_CREATE: //Start hiding scroll bars pFrm->hVert = WinWindowFromID(hwnd,FID_VERTSCROLL); WinSetParent(pFrm->hVert,HWND_OBJECT ,FALSE); pFrm->nYSclHor = 0; break;

case WM_MINMAXFRAME: { SWP swpClient; pSWP=(PSWP) PVOIDFROMMP(mp1); pSWP->fs |= SWP_SIZE;

GetChildMax(hwnd, pFrm);

if (pSWP->fs & SWP_MAXIMIZE) //MaxiMizeing Operation {       //tprintf("WM_MINMAXFRAME SWP_MAXIMIZE FS: %Xÿ",pSWP->fs); if ((0!=pFrm->xMax) && (0!=pFrm->yMax)) { //I have no data for all of screen, so act as Windowed OS/2

memset(&swpClient,0,sizeof(swpClient)); swpClient.cx=pFrm->xMax; swpClient.cy=pFrm->yMax; WinCalcFrameSWP(hwnd, &swpClient,CLIENT_PROVIDED);

pSWP->cx = swpClient.cx; pSWP->cy = swpClient.cy;

pSWP->y = pFrm->ScrMaxY - swpClient.cy + (SHORT)pFrm->ptlBdr.y;

SclBarEnable(hwnd, pSWP, pFrm);

return MRFROMSHORT(FALSE); }     }

if (pSWP->fs & SWP_RESTORE) //Minimizing Operation

??? (restore i guess)

{       //tprintf("WM_MINMAXFRAME SWP_RESTORE FS: %Xÿ",pSWP->fs); if ((0!=pFrm->xMax) && (0!=pFrm->yMax)) //Why do I need this? {         return MRFROMSHORT(FALSE); }     }    }    return (MRESULT)(*oldProc)(hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2);

case WM_QUERYTRACKINFO: {     PTRACKINFO pTI; LONG i;

if (TF_MOVE <= SHORT1FROMMP(mp1)) {       pFrm->nTrkCnr= 0; return (MRESULT)(*oldProc)(hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2); }

pTI = (PTRACKINFO) PVOIDFROMMP (mp2); //Get structure pointer; //tprintf("@+WM_QUERYTRACKINFO FS: %Xÿ",pTI->fs); if ((*oldProc)(hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2)==0) return MRFROMSHORT(FALSE);

GetChildMax(hwnd, pFrm); if ((0!=pFrm->xMax) && (0!=pFrm->yMax)) { //Setup track info structure pTI->ptlMaxTrackSize.x = (LONG) pFrm->xMax; pTI->ptlMaxTrackSize.y = (LONG) pFrm->yMax;

WinCalcFrameRect(hwnd, &(pTI->rclTrack), FRAME_PROVIDED );

{ MRESULT mr; mr = WinSendMsg(WinWindowFromID(hwnd,FID_CLIENT),                         MB_QCHILD_GRID,MP0,MP0); if (NULL!=mr) {           pTI->cxGrid  = SHORT1FROMMR(mr); pTI->cyGrid = SHORT2FROMMR(mr);

//Setting height of client to integral cyGrid i = (pTI->rclTrack.yTop - pTI->rclTrack.yBottom)/pTI->cyGrid; pTI->rclTrack.yTop = i * pTI->cyGrid + pTI->rclTrack.yBottom;

pTI->fs	|= TF_GRID; pFrm->nTrkCnr= WM_QUERYTRACKINFO; //Used in WM_ADJUSTWINODWPOS }       }      }      return MRFROMSHORT(TRUE); }   break;

case WM_ADJUSTWINDOWPOS: { RECTL rcl; pSWP=(PSWP) PVOIDFROMMP(mp1);

if (pSWP->fs & (SWP_SIZE | SWP_MOVE | SWP_MAXIMIZE)) {       GetChildMax(hwnd, pFrm); if (WM_QUERYTRACKINFO==pFrm->nTrkCnr) //As a result of tracking {         //Go from client to frame values WinCalcFrameSWP(hwnd, pSWP, CLIENT_PROVIDED); }

pFrm->nTrkCnr	 = 0;

SclBarEnable(hwnd, pSWP, pFrm); }     return (MRESULT)(*oldProc)(hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2); }   break;

case MB_CHILD_SIZE:     //xCur,yCur { SWP swp;

............. do your actions as responce to client resize request (Change of fontsize for instance)

return (MRESULT)TRUE; }   break;

default: break; } return (MRESULT)(*oldProc)(hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2); } </PRE> A lot is deleted (Som is very application specific), but I hope you get the general picture.

Credit: Henrik Wahlberg

How do I use the 16-bit EPM toolkit?
Since there were a few requests, here are the changes I made to get the ESIMPLE example from the EPM Toolkit to work with the C-Set++ compiler. The ETK DLLs are 16-bit and need to be thunked to be called from a 32-bit app. Since I was playing around, some of the changes were not necessary to get the program to run. Changes are in DIFF format. <PRE> 254a255 > #pragma pack(2) 259,263c260,264 <   PSWP   pswp;         // positioning of edit window <   PSZ    filename;     // file to be edited (with wildcard) <   PVOID  hEditPtr;     // handle to editor pointer icon. <   PVOID  hMarkPtr;     // handle to mark pointer icon. <   PVOID  hEditorIcon;  // editor ICON. >   PSWP _Seg16   pswp;         // positioning of edit window >   PSZ _Seg16    filename;     // file to be edited (with wildcard) >   HPOINTER  hEditPtr;  // handle to editor pointer icon. >   HPOINTER  hMarkPtr;  // handle to mark pointer icon. >   PVOID _Seg16  hEditorIcon;  // editor ICON. 267,269c268,270 <   PSZ    exfile;       // pre-compiled macro code file (EPM.EX) <   PSZ    topmkr;       // top and bottom of file marker <   PSZ    botmkr;       // --- >   PSZ _Seg16    exfile;       // pre-compiled macro code file (EPM.EX) >   PSZ _Seg16    topmkr;       // top and bottom of file marker >   PSZ _Seg16    botmkr;       // 271,272c272,273 <   PSZ    exsearchpath; // a set of paths to search for ex's files <   PSZ    exe_path;     // path where the application started --- >   PSZ _Seg16    exsearchpath; // a set of paths to search for ex's files >   PSZ _Seg16    exe_path;     // path where the application started 275c276,277 < typedef EDITORINFO far *PEDITORINFO; --- > typedef EDITORINFO * PEDITORINFO; > #pragma pack 280c282 < #define ETKENTRY _loadds --- > #define ETKENTRY CDECL16 285,286c287,288 < PSZ	 ETKENTRY EtkRegister( HAB hab, ULONG class_style ); < USHORT ETKENTRY EtkCreate( PEDITORINFO epm_p, PHWND hEwnd_p); --- > PSZ _Seg16   ETKENTRY EtkRegister( HAB hab, ULONG class_style ); > USHORT ETKENTRY EtkCreate( PEDITORINFO _Seg16 epm_p, PHWND _Seg16 hEwnd_p); 304c306,307 < SHORT ETKENTRY EtkSetSelection( HWND  hwndClient, LINE_INDEX_G  firstline, --- > SHORT  ETKENTRY EtkSetSelection( HWND  hwndClient, LINE_INDEX_G  firstline, >   FIDType fileid); </PRE>
 * Changes to EDLL.H ****

<PRE> 28a29,30 > > #include "thunk.h" 47a50 >   HWND hwndEditFrame; 52c55 < --- >   swp.fl = SWP_MOVE | SWP_SIZE; 58c61 <   epm.filename    = (PSZ)Fname;      // file to be edited (with wildca --- >    epm.filename    = Fname;           // file to be > edited (with wildca 64,65c67,70 <   epm.editorstyle = EDIT_STYLE_ACTIVATEFOCUS | EDIT_STYLE_DISABLEOWNERAFFECT <                     EDIT_STYLE_CURSORON; --- >   epm.editorstyle = EDIT_STYLE_ACTIVATEFOCUS | >                     EDIT_STYLE_CURSORON | >                     EDIT_STYLE_STATUSLINE | >                     EDIT_STYLE_MESSAGELINE; 67,68c72,73 <   epm.pmstyle     = FCF_TITLEBAR | FCF_SIZEBORDER | FCF_VERTSCROLL; < --- >   epm.pmstyle     = FCF_TITLEBAR | FCF_SIZEBORDER | > FCF_VERTSCROLL | FCF_MIN >   epm.font = TRUE;  // large font 70,71c75,76 <   epm.topmkr      =                        // top and bottom file indicator <   epm.botmkr      = (PSZ)" ÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷"; --- >   epm.topmkr      = (PSZ)"<Top>"; > // top and bottom fi >   epm.botmkr      = (PSZ)"<Bottom>"; 75c80 < --- >   epm.hini = NULLHANDLE; 77,79c82,86 <   EtkCreate( (EDITORINFO far *)&epm, (PHWND)&hwndEdit ); < <   return( (HWND)hwndEdit ); --- >   EtkCreate( &epm, &hwndEdit ); >      hwndEditFrame = WinQueryWindow(hwndEdit, QW_PARENT); >      WinSetWindowPos(hwndEditFrame, NULLHANDLE, swp.x, swp.y, >           swp.cx, swp.cy, SWP_MOVE | SWP_SIZE); >   return( hwndEdit ); 95c102 < MRESULT FAR PASCAL TestWndProc( HWND hwnd, USHORT msg, MPARAM mp1, MPARAM mp2 --- > MRESULT EXPENTRY TestWndProc( HWND hwnd, USHORT msg, > MPARAM mp1, MPARAM mp2 ) 144,146c151,155 <  case EPM_EDIT_ACTIVEHWND: <      WinSetActiveWindow(HWND_DESKTOP,(HWND)mp1 ); <      break; --- > case EPM_EDIT_ACTIVEHWND: >   { >      WinSetActiveWindow(HWND_DESKTOP,(HWND)mp1 ); >   } >   break; 160c169 <                     (PSZ)mp1, --- >                     (PSZ)_DosSelToFlat(mp1), 162c171 <                     NULL, --- >                     NULLHANDLE, 235c244 <     hab = WinInitialize(NULL);              // Initialize app as a PM app --- >     hab = WinInitialize(NULLHANDLE);        // Initialize app as a PM app 247c256 < </PRE> Credit:  Mat Kramer
 * Changes to ESIMPLE.C ****

How do I get error info after using WinGetLastError?
One should only use WinGetLastError after a bad return value, ERRORID is not always zeroed after a successful call to PM API.

ShowError Function: <PRE> /* * ShowError -- for debugging *   to use this, redirect the output of this program to a file and *   check the results in that file. *   Updated to display the error text in a MESSAGE BOX; ID_MSGBOX must be *    defined. */ void ShowError(void) {   PERRINFO p;    char *cp; extern HAB hab;  /* kinda kludgy, should be a parameter */

printf("ShowError   if((p = WinGetErrorInfo(hab)) == NULL)       printf("NO ERROR\n");    else    {       printf("idError = %#X\n", p->idError);       cp = (char *)((ULONG)p + *(ULONG *)((ULONG)p + p->offaoffszMsg));       printf("\"%s\"\n", cp);       WinMessageBox(HWND_DESKTOP, HWND_DESKTOP, (PSZ)cp, (PSZ)"Show Error",                     ID_MSGBOX, MB_OK | MB_ICONEXCLAMATION);       WinFreeErrorInfo(p);    } } </PRE> Credit:  Justin V Frank

Do you have code to save/restore the clipboard?
<PRE> typedef struct _CLPBRDDATA // INFORMATION ABOUT A CLIPBOARD FORMAT {   ULONG ulFormat; // The format type PVOID pvData;  // Pointer to the data for this format } CLPBRDDATA, *PCLPBRDDATA;

//*************** // Save formats //*************** INT SaveClipboardData( HAB hab, PCLPBRDDATA *ppcd ) {   INT iFmtCount = 0;

if( WinOpenClipbrd( hab ) ) {      ULONG ulNextFmt, ulPrevFmt = 0;

ulNextFmt = WinEnumClipbrdFmts( hab, ulPrevFmt ); while( ulNextFmt ) {         iFmtCount++; ulPrevFmt = ulNextFmt; ulNextFmt = WinEnumClipbrdFmts( hab, ulPrevFmt ); }

if( iFmtCount ) {         *ppcd = (PCLPBRDDATA) malloc( sizeof( CLPBRDDATA ) * iFmtCount ); if( *ppcd ) {            memset( *ppcd, 0, sizeof( CLPBRDDATA ) * iFmtCount ); if( !GetClipboardFmts( hab, *ppcd ) ) iFmtCount = 0; }         else {            iFmtCount = 0; Msg( "Out of memory in SaveClipboardData" ); }      }       WinCloseClipbrd( hab ); }   else Msg( "SaveClipboardData could not open the clipboard" );

return iFmtCount; }

BOOL GetClipboardFmts( HAB hab, PCLPBRDDATA pcd ) {   BOOL  fSuccess = TRUE; ULONG ulNextFmt, ulPrevFmt = 0;

ulNextFmt = WinEnumClipbrdFmts( hab, ulPrevFmt ); while( ulNextFmt ) {      pcd->ulFormat = ulNextFmt; switch( ulNextFmt ) {         case CF_TEXT: StoreClipboardText( hab, pcd ); break; case CF_BITMAP: StoreClipboardBmp( hab, pcd ); break; case CF_METAFILE: StoreClipboardMeta( hab, pcd ); break; default: break; }

pcd++; ulPrevFmt = ulNextFmt; ulNextFmt = WinEnumClipbrdFmts( hab, ulPrevFmt ); }   return fSuccess; }

VOID StoreClipboardText( HAB hab, PCLPBRDDATA pcd ) {   PSZ szClipText = (PSZ) WinQueryClipbrdData( hab, CF_TEXT ); if( szClipText ) {      pcd->pvData = malloc( strlen( szClipText ) + 1 ); if( pcd->pvData ) strcpy( pcd->pvData, szClipText ); else Msg( "Out of memory in StoreClipboardText" ); }   else Msg( "StoreClipboardText found no TEXT in the clipboard" ); }

VOID StoreClipboardBmp( HAB hab, PCLPBRDDATA pcd ) {   HBITMAP hbmClip = WinQueryClipbrdData( hab, CF_BITMAP ); if( hbmClip ) pcd->pvData = (PVOID) CopyBitmap( hab, hbmClip ); else Msg( "StoreClipboardBmp found no BITMAP in the clipboard" ); }

VOID StoreClipboardMeta( HAB hab, PCLPBRDDATA pcd ) {   HMF hmfClip = WinQueryClipbrdData( hab, CF_METAFILE ); if( hmfClip ) {      HMF hmfNew = GpiCopyMetaFile( hmfClip ); if( hmfNew == GPI_ERROR ) Msg( "StoreClipboardMeta GpiCopyMetaFile RC = %x",         (USHORT) WinGetLastError( hab ) ); else pcd->pvData = (PVOID) hmfNew; }   else Msg( "StoreClipboardMeta found no METAFILE in the clipboard" ); }

//****************** // Restore formats //****************** VOID RestClipboardData( HAB hab, INT iFmtCount, PCLPBRDDATA pcd ) {   PCLPBRDDATA pcdSave = pcd; INT i;    BOOL fFormatsExist = FALSE;

for( i = 0; i < iFmtCount; i++, pcd++ ) {      if( pcd->ulFormat && pcd->pvData ) {         fFormatsExist = TRUE; break; }   }

pcd = pcdSave; if( fFormatsExist ) if( WinOpenClipbrd( hab ) ) {         WinEmptyClipbrd( hab ); for( i = 0; i < iFmtCount; i++, pcd++ ) {            switch( pcd->ulFormat ) {               case 0: break; case CF_TEXT: if( pcd->pvData ) {                     RestClipboardText( hab, pcd->pvData ); free( pcd->pvData ); }                  break; case CF_BITMAP: if( pcd->pvData ) RestClipboardBmp( hab, (HBITMAP) pcd->pvData ); break; case CF_METAFILE: if( pcd->pvData ) RestClipboardMeta( hab, (HMF) pcd->pvData ); break; default: break; }         }          WinCloseClipbrd( hab ); }      else Msg( "RestClipboardData could not open the clipboard" ); free( pcdSave ); }

VOID RestClipboardText( HAB hab, PSZ szTextIn ) {   PSZ szTextOut = NULL; ULONG ulRC = DosAllocSharedMem( (PVOID) &szTextOut, NULL,                      strlen( szTextIn ) + 1,                       PAG_WRITE | PAG_COMMIT | OBJ_GIVEABLE ); if( !ulRC ) {      strcpy( szTextOut, szTextIn ); if( !WinSetClipbrdData( hab, (ULONG) szTextOut, CF_TEXT, CFI_POINTER ) ) Msg( "RestClipboardText WinSetClipbrdData failed" ); }   else Msg( "RestClipboardText DosAllocSharedMem RC: %u", ulRC ); }

VOID RestClipboardBmp( HAB hab, HBITMAP hbm ) { if( !WinSetClipbrdData( hab, (ULONG) hbm, CF_BITMAP, CFI_HANDLE ) ) Msg( "RestClipboardBmp WinSetClipbrdData failed" ); }

VOID RestClipboardMeta( HAB hab, HMF hmf ) { if( !WinSetClipbrdData( hab, (ULONG) hmf, CF_METAFILE, CFI_HANDLE ) ) Msg( "RestClipboardMeta WinSetClipbrdData failed" ); }

HBITMAP CopyBitmap( HAB hab, HBITMAP hbmIn ) {   BITMAPINFOHEADER2 bmih; HBITMAP          hbmOut = NULLHANDLE; HDC              hdcIn = NULLHANDLE, hdcOut = NULLHANDLE; HPS              hpsIn = NULLHANDLE, hpsOut = NULLHANDLE; POINTL           aptl[ 3 ]; SIZEL            sizel = {0,0};

hdcIn = DevOpenDC( hab, OD_MEMORY, "*", 0, NULL, NULLHANDLE ); if( !hdcIn ) {      Msg( "CopyBitmap DevOpenDC for hdcIn RC = %x",            (USHORT) WinGetLastError( hab ) ); goto BYEBYE; }

hdcOut = DevOpenDC( hab, OD_MEMORY, "*", 0, NULL, NULLHANDLE ); if( !hdcOut ) {      Msg( "CopyBitmap DevOpenDC for hdcOut RC = %x",            (USHORT) WinGetLastError( hab ) ); goto BYEBYE; }

hpsIn = GpiCreatePS( hab, hdcIn, &sizel,PU_PELS |                          GPIF_DEFAULT | GPIT_MICRO | GPIA_ASSOC ); if( !hpsIn ) {      Msg( "CopyBitmap GpiCreatePS for hpsIn RC = %x",            (USHORT) WinGetLastError( hab ) ); goto BYEBYE; }

hpsOut = GpiCreatePS( hab, hdcOut, &sizel,PU_PELS |                         GPIF_DEFAULT | GPIT_MICRO | GPIA_ASSOC ); if( !hpsOut ) {      Msg( "CopyBitmap GpiCreatePS for hpsOut RC = %x",            (USHORT) WinGetLastError( hab ) ); goto BYEBYE; }

bmih.cbFix = sizeof( BITMAPINFOHEADER2 ); if( !GpiQueryBitmapInfoHeader( hbmIn, &bmih ) ) {      Msg( "CopyBitmap GpiQueryBitmapInfoHeader for hbmIn RC = %x",            (USHORT) WinGetLastError( hab ) ); goto BYEBYE; }

hbmOut = GpiCreateBitmap( hpsOut, &bmih, 0, NULL, NULL ); if( hbmOut ) {      if( HBM_ERROR == GpiSetBitmap( hpsIn, hbmIn ) ) {         Msg( "CopyBitmap GpiSetBitmap for hpsIn RC = %x",               (USHORT) WinGetLastError( hab ) ); hbmOut = NULLHANDLE; goto BYEBYE; }

if( HBM_ERROR == GpiSetBitmap( hpsOut, hbmOut ) ) {         Msg( "CopyBitmap GpiSetBitmap for hpsOut RC = %x",               (USHORT) WinGetLastError( hab ) ); hbmOut = NULLHANDLE; goto BYEBYE; }

aptl[ 0 ].x = 0; aptl[ 0 ].y = 0; aptl[ 1 ].x = bmih.cx; aptl[ 1 ].y = bmih.cy; aptl[ 2 ].x = 0; aptl[ 2 ].y = 0;

if( GPI_ERROR == GpiBitBlt( hpsOut, hpsIn, 3, aptl, ROP_SRCCOPY, BBO_IGNORE ) ) {         Msg( "CopyBitmap GpiBitBlt for hpsOut RC = %x",               (USHORT) WinGetLastError( hab ) ); hbmOut = NULLHANDLE; }   }    else Msg( "CopyBitmap GpiCreateBitmap for hbmOut RC = %x",           (USHORT) WinGetLastError( hab ) );

BYEBYE:

if( hpsIn ) GpiDestroyPS( hpsIn ); if( hpsOut ) GpiDestroyPS( hpsOut ); if( hdcIn ) DevCloseDC( hdcIn ); if( hdcOut ) DevCloseDC( hdcOut ); return hbmOut; } </PRE> Credit: Rick Fishman

How do I know what item was selected in a Combo box?
Catch the LN_SELECT message from the combo box, then send an LM_QUERYSELECTION to get the index of the selection, then a LM_QUERYITEMTEXT to get the selected text.

Credit: Pete Norloff

How do I get a bitmap into a dialog in a DLL?
You've hit on a known problem with bitmaps in dialogs in DLLs. This also used to be a problem for icons but that appears to be working now.

First, define your bitmap in your dialog like this (notice no mention of SS_BITMAP). It is strictly text at this point. PM can handle this when loading the dialog.

Below are all the files necessary to create dllbitmp.exe and dlgdll.dll. Dlgdll has the dialog box and bitmap. Dllbitmp.exe calls DllDialog in dlgdll.dll to bring up the dialog box from the DLL's resource file...

DLLBITMP.C: <PRE>
 * 1) define INCL_GPI
 * 2) define INCL_WIN
 * 3) include <os2.h>
 * 4) include "dllbitmp.h"

FCF_MENU    | FCF_SYSMENU    | FCF_MINMAX  | FCF_SIZEBORDER | FCF_SHELLPOSITION)
 * 1) define FRAME_FLAGS (FCF_TASKLIST | FCF_TITLEBAR   |
 * 1) define CLIENT_CLASS "DllBitmp"

INT main( VOID ); VOID EXPENTRY DllDialog( HWND ); FNWP wpClient;

INT main( VOID ) {   HAB   hab; HMQ  hmq; QMSG qmsg; HWND hwndFrame, hwndClient; ULONG flFrame = FRAME_FLAGS;

hab = WinInitialize( 0 ); hmq = WinCreateMsgQueue( hab, 0 ); WinRegisterClass( hab, CLIENT_CLASS, wpClient, 0, 0 ); hwndFrame = WinCreateStdWindow( HWND_DESKTOP, WS_VISIBLE,                                    &flFrame,CLIENT_CLASS, NULL,                                    0,NULLHANDLE, ID_RESOURCES,                                     &hwndClient ); while( WinGetMsg( hab, &qmsg, NULLHANDLE, 0, 0 ) ) WinDispatchMsg( hab, &qmsg );

WinDestroyWindow( hwndFrame ); WinDestroyMsgQueue( hmq ); WinTerminate( hab ); return 0; }

MRESULT EXPENTRY wpClient( HWND hwnd, ULONG msg,                           MPARAM mp1, MPARAM mp2 ) {   switch( msg ) {      case WM_ERASEBACKGROUND: return (MRESULT) TRUE; case WM_COMMAND: switch( SHORT1FROMMP( mp1 ) ) {         case IDM_DOIT          { DllDialog( hwnd ); return 0; }      }

break; }   return WinDefWindowProc( hwnd, msg, mp1, mp2 ); } </PRE>

DLLBITMP.H:


 * 1) define ID_RESOURCES	1
 * 2) define IDD_DOIT	100
 * 3) define IDM_DOIT	110
 * 4) define ID_BITMAP	1100
 * 5) define ID_BITMAPID	1200

DLLBITMP.DEF:

NAME		DLLBITMP     WINDOWAPI PROTMODE HEAPSIZE	16384 STACKSIZE	16384

DLLBITMP.RC: <PRE>
 * 1) include <os2.h>
 * 2) include "dllbitmp.h"

MENU ID_RESOURCES {    MENUITEM "!~DoIt", IDM_DOIT } </PRE>

DLGDLL.C: <PRE>
 * 1) define INCL_DOS
 * 2) define INCL_GPI
 * 3) define INCL_WIN
 * 4) include <os2.h>
 * 5) include "dllbitmp.h"

FNWP wpDlg;

VOID EXPENTRY DllDialog( HWND hwnd ) {   HMODULE hmod;

DosQueryModuleHandle( "DLGDLL", &hmod ); WinDlgBox( HWND_DESKTOP, hwnd, wpDlg, hmod, IDD_DOIT, NULL ); }

MRESULT EXPENTRY wpDlg( HWND hwndDlg, ULONG msg, MPARAM mp1, MPARAM mp2 ) {   switch (msg) {      case WM_INITDLG: {         HWND    hwndBmp = WinWindowFromID( hwndDlg, ID_BITMAPID ); HPS    hps = WinGetPS( hwndDlg ); HBITMAP hbm; HMODULE hmod;

DosQuieryModuleHandle( "DLGDLL", &hmod ); hbm = GpiLoadBitmap( hps, hmod, ID_BITMAP, 0, 0 ); WinSetWindowBits(hwndBmp,QWL_STYLE,SS_BITMAP,SS_BITMAP | 0x7f); WinSendMsg( hwndBmp, SM_SETHANDLE, MPFROMP( hbm ), NULL ); WinSetWindowULong( hwndDlg, QWL_USER, (ULONG) hbm ); WinReleasePS( hps ); break; }      case WM_DESTROY: {         HBITMAP hbm = (HBITMAP) WinQueryWindowULong(hwndDlg,QWL_USER ); GpiDeleteBitmap( hbm ); break; }   }    return WinDefDlgProc( hwndDlg, msg, mp1, mp2 ); } </PRE>

DLGDLL.DLG: <PRE> DLGTEMPLATE IDD_DOIT LOADONCALL MOVEABLE DISCARDABLE BEGIN DIALOG "", IDD_DOIT, 0, 0, 210, 154, FS_NOBYTEALIGN | FS_DLGBORDER | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CLIPSIBLINGS | WS_SAVEBITS, FCF_TITLEBAR BEGIN CONTROL "foo", ID_BITMAPID, 98, 56, 32, 32, WC_STATIC, SS_TEXT | DT_LEFT | DT_TOP | WS_VISIBLE END END </PRE>

DLGDLL.DEF:

LIBRARY	DLGDLL		INITINSTANCE	TERMINSTANCE PROTMODE CODE		LOADONCALL DATA		LOADONCALL	MULTIPLE	NONSHARED EXPORTS	DllDialog

DLGDLL.RC: <PRE>
 * 1) include <os2.h>
 * 2) include "dllbitmp.h"

BITMAP ID_BITMAP "dlgdll.bmp"

rcinclude dlgdll.dlg </PRE>

MAKEFILE: <PRE> all: dlgdll.dll dllbitmp.exe

dlgdll.dll: $*.obj $*.res link386 /NOI /NOE /MAP /DE /NOL $*, $*.dll,, os2386, $* rc $*.res $*.dll implib $*.lib $*.def

dllbitmp.exe: $*.obj $*.def $*.res link386 /NOI /NOE /MAP /DE /NOL $*,,, os2386 dlgdll, $* rc $*.res $*.exe

dllbitmp.obj: $*.c    icc /Q+ /Ss /W3 /Kbcepr /Gm- /Gd- /Ge+ /Ti+ /O- /C $*.c

dllbitmp.res: $*.rc    rc -r $*

dlgdll.obj: $*.c    icc /Q+ /Ss /W3 /Kbcepr /Gm- /Gd- /Ge- /Ti+ /O- /C $*.c

dlgdll.res: $*.rc $*.dlg rc -r $* </PRE> Credit: Rick Fishman

How does programming PM compare to programming X?
Many people have said "PM is much cleaner." Until I hear from someone I trust with extensive experience with both (I only know X), however, this FAQ will take no position.

There was an unsubstantiated rumor that someone was porting an X library to OS/2 (X-Windows, not X-Mode or any other X), I dunno whether this has been substantiated or not.

IBM and a few other manufacturers have built their own X servers for OS/2. [details?]

[Colin Jensen...]

I have some limited experience with X and PM. Raw Xlib is harder to program than PM. However most, if not all, of the X11 Toolkits are *easier* to use than PM. I have experience comparing XView to PM. A friend of mine has experience with Windows versus Xt, and has the same opinion (Windows isn't that far off conceptually from PM).

How do I put bitmaps on buttons?
Stefan Gruendal (Stefan_Gruendel@wue.maus.de) writes:

But to my questione. bitmaps on pushbuttons, that optically "move into the screen"? I didn't find any way to achieve this with the Toolkit's Dialog Editor. But as mentioned above, I know there's a way.

Starting with OS/2 2.x, a new button style was added - BS_ICON - which allows you to do what you are trying to accomplish. It works, as far as I know, only for pushbuttons, and the icon or bitmap is taken from the resource file, whose resource id is specified in the pushbutton text.

For example:

In FOO.H: In FOO.RC: BITMAP IDBM_BUTTON BUTTON.BMP In FOO.C sprintf(achText,"#%d",IDBM_BUTTON); hwndButton=WinCreateWindow(hwndClient,WC_BUTTON,achText,                           WS_VISIBLE|BS_PUSHBUTTON|BS_ICON,                            10,10,32,32,hwndClient,HWND_TOP,                            IDPB_BUTTON,NULL,NULL); The bitmap is stretched or compressed to fill the button.
 * 1) define IDBM_BUTTON 256
 * 2) define IDPB_BUTTON 257

(Quoted almost directly from EDMI/2 Edition 1)

Can a PM program tell if there's a previous instance of itself running?
Raja Thiagarajan (sthiagar@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu) writes:

Can a PM program tell if there's a previous instance of itself running? In Win3.x (but apparently NOT Win32), there's a hPrevInst handle; is there an OS/2 2.x equivalent? Basically, I'm thinking in terms of a program that would try to borrow resources from a previous instance if a previous instance is running. (Specifically, if my palette animation program gets started twice, the second instance oughta share palettes with the first instance!)

What you're really asking is two questions: There are some ways to achieve this; You can use semaphores or/and shared memory or the other method described below. Try to open your named semaphore, if it's there, your application is already running, else create a semaphore... To share data, use shared memory. There are some excellent examples in Schildt & Goosey "OS/2 Programming".
 * How can I determine if a previous instance of my application is already running?
 * How can I share resources between multiple instances of my application?

To answer your first question, you need to enumerate all of the main windows present on the desktop, and figure out if any of them are yours. This is achieved using the following code <PRE> HWND queryAppInstance(PCHAR pchClassWanted) {  HENUM heEnum; HWND hwndTop; HWND hwndClient; CHAR achClass[256];

heEnum=WinBeginEnumWindows(HWND_DESKTOP);

hwndTop=WinGetNextWindow(heEnum); while (hwndTop!=NULLHANDLE) { hwndClient=WinWindowFromID(hwndTop,FID_CLIENT); if (hwndClient!=NULLHANDLE) { WinQueryClassName(hwndClient,sizeof(achClass),achClass); if (strcmp(achClass,pchClassWanted)==0) { WinEndEnumWindows(heEnum); return hwndClient; } /* endif */ } /* endif */

hwndTop=WinGetNextWindow(heEnum); } /* endwhile */

WinEndEnumWindows(heEnum); return NULLHANDLE; } </PRE> To answer your second question, the only way that I know of to share resources is to place them in a DLL. The procedure to do this is as follows: Then, when your application starts, you simply call WinLoadLibrary (the preferred way) or DosLoadModule to load the DLL. These functions return a handle to the DLL which must then be used in any function which loads resources (e.g. GpiLoadBitmap, WinLoadPointer, etc.).
 * Create a dummy source file with an empty procedure in it.
 * Compile the source file and link as a DLL.
 * Add your resources to the DLL in the same manner as you would to an executable.

Note that this procedure does not require knowing the window handle of any previous instance of your application because OS/2 implements DLLs in a shared fashion (which I suspect is one of the reasons they were created in the first place). All you need to know is the name of the DLL. This technique can also be used to share resources between different applications.

(Quoted almost directly from EDMI/2 Edition 1)

How to avoid crash when using Drag and Drop?
You can avoid this by doing;
 * 1) Call any DRG* function in your application
 * 2) Call DosLoadModule to load the PMDRAG.DLL file

Are there any PM bindings for GNU Ada?
Yes. There are some PM bindings for gnat 2.03 or higher. They can be found at http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/dev/ada/os2apipm.zip

Miscellaneous Programming
This section covers non-Presentation Manager programming.

Explain the SYS_DLLS keywords.
Actually there are three key names that exist for the app name SYS_DLLS.

They are:
 * Load : DLL loaded and ordinal 1 entry point called for every msg queue created in the system
 * LoadPerProcess : DLL loaded and ordinal 1 entry point called for only the first message queue created on a process
 * LoadOneTime : DLL loaded and ordinal 1 entry point called for only the shell's message queue (the first PM queue in the system)

You would use one over another depending on the type of initialization that you require. Most DLLs only need to be initialized once for the system and are thus LoadOneTime, some DLLs like PMCTLS have per process initialization and thus are LoadPerProcess, and then there is the very rare case of DLLs that need to perform some function every time a message queue is created and these are specified as Load.

Note: that anything other than LoadOneTime is a significant performance hit on the system. Note: also that in addition to your INITIALIZATION/TERMINATION function specified in the DEF file for your DLL (which is a new feature in 2.0), your ORDINAL 1 entry point in your DLL is also called. Be careful with this as I have seen some pretty strange results if you have an ordinal 1 entry point that has nothing to do with initialization. In addition, remember to never ever create a message queue inside of your initialization routine. Always call WinQueryAnchorBlock if you need a HAB for some API.

As for shared resources, if you need resources on multiple processes then they need to be created on multiple processes as they won't be valid on any process other than the one you loaded. I believe that this is the reason PMCTLS is LoadPerProcess. You have a few options here, 1) you can store your resources in shared memory, and 2) for icons you can call WinSetPoinerOwner to make your icons shared across the entire system.

How do I start another session?
This small program will start any program synchronously using DosStartSession. The important thing is the queue. When you specify SSF_RELATED_CHILD and a TermQ name, OS/2 will write the return code to the specified queue when the session terminates. I use this in an event scheduler by creating a separate thread that does reads from the queue but you can just as easily block on the main thread to catch the return code. That will, in effect, provide for synchronous execution. Note that one problem with SSF_RELATED_CHILD is that if the program that started the child dies, so does the child. <PRE>
 * 1) define INCL_DOSERRORS
 * 2) define INCL_DOSPROCESS
 * 3) define INCL_DOSQUEUES
 * 4) define INCL_DOSSESMGR
 * 5) include <os2.h>
 * 6) include <stdio.h>
 * 7) include <stdlib.h>
 * 8) include <string.h>


 * 1) define QUEUE_NAME   "\\QUEUES\\STRTSYNC.QUE"

int main(int argc, char *argv[]);

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {    APIRET rc; HQUEUE hque;

if( argc < 2 ) return 1;

rc = DosCreateQueue(&hque, QUE_FIFO | QUE_CONVERT_ADDRESS, QUEUE_NAME); if( !rc ) {        STARTDATA   stdata; PID        pidSession; CHAR       szObjFail[ 50 ]; ULONG      ulLength, idSession; REQUESTDATA rd; PUSHORT    pusInfo = NULL; BYTE       bPriority;

(void) memset( &stdata, 0, sizeof( stdata ) );

stdata.Length      = sizeof( STARTDATA ); stdata.FgBg        = SSF_FGBG_FORE; stdata.TraceOpt    = SSF_TRACEOPT_NONE; stdata.PgmTitle    = "Rick's Program"; stdata.InheritOpt  = SSF_INHERTOPT_SHELL; stdata.SessionType = SSF_TYPE_DEFAULT; stdata.PgmControl  = SSF_CONTROL_VISIBLE; stdata.ObjectBuffer = szObjFail; stdata.ObjectBuffLen= sizeof( szObjFail ); stdata.Related     = SSF_RELATED_CHILD; stdata.TermQ       = QUEUE_NAME; stdata.PgmName     = argv[ 1 ];

rc = DosStartSession( &stdata, &idSession, &pidSession );

if( rc && rc != ERROR_SMG_START_IN_BACKGROUND ) {            printf( "DosStartSession RC(%u)\n", rc ); return (INT) rc; }

rc = DosReadQueue( hque, &rd, &ulLength, (PPVOID) &pusInfo, 0,                           DCWW_WAIT, &bPriority, 0 );

if( rc && rc != ERROR_QUE_EMPTY ) {            printf( "DosReadQueue RC(%u)\n", rc ); return (INT) rc; }

printf( "RetCode from Session %u: %u\n",                 pusInfo[ 0 ], pusInfo[ 1 ]);

DosCloseQueue( hque ); }    else {        printf( "DosCreateQueue RC(%u)\n", rc ); return (INT) rc; }

return 0; } </PRE> Credit: Rick Fishman

How do I check if a filename is valid?
Here's some code that should help. I found that you have to look at each return code to see if it's really an error. This routine does do syntax checking, it's just a little more complicated than before: <PRE>
 * 1) define INCL_DOSFILEMGR
 * 2) define INCL_DOSERRORS
 * 3) include <os2.h>
 * 4) include <stdio.h>

int main( int argc, char **argv ) {       int         rc; FILESTATUS3 piBuffer;

if ( argc !=2 ) {               printf( "Must pass filename on command line!\n"); return( -1 ); }       else {               printf( "Checking on %s, ", argv[ 1 ] ); rc = DosQueryPathInfo( (PSZ)argv[1], FIL_STANDARD, &piBuffer,                                      sizeof(FILESTATUS3));

if ( rc == 0 ) printf( "syntax valid and file exists\n" ); else if ( rc == ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND ) printf( "syntax valid and file doesn't exist.\n"); else if ( rc == ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND ) printf( "syntax valid, somthing in path was not found\n"); else {                       printf( "bad, rc=%d, ",rc ); switch( rc ) {                               case ERROR_INVALID_DRIVE: printf( "drive name does not exist\n"); break;

case ERROR_INVALID_NAME: printf( "invalid syntax for drive name\n"); break;

case ERROR_FILENAME_EXCED_RANGE: printf( "dir name and/or filename too long\n"); break;

case ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION: printf( "sharing violation\n"); break;

case ERROR_BUFFER_OVERFLOW: printf( "buffer overflow\n"); break;

case ERROR_INVALID_LEVEL: printf( "invalid level requested\n"); break;

case ERROR_INVALID_EA_NAME: printf( "invalid EA name\n"); break;

case ERROR_EA_LIST_INCONSISTENT: printf( "EA list inconsistent\n"); break;

default: printf("Undocumented return value.\n"); }                       return( -1 ); }           return( 0 ); } } </PRE> Credit: Mike Brown

Why should I use _beginthread instead of DosCreateThread?
You must if you want to use the C runtime library.

How do I open a file that is already in use?
Use DosOpen with OPEN_SHARE_DENYNONE. <PRE> /* this will copy an open program */


 * 1) define INCL_NOPM
 * 2) define INCL_DOS
 * 3) include <os2.h>
 * 4) include <stdio.h>
 * 5) include <string.h>

void usage(void) {   printf("USAGE: CopyOpen  \n\n"); printf("      This program,  unlike the normal copy and xcopy commands,\n"); printf("      will copy an open file.\n"); printf("NOTE: Wildcards are not supported\n"); }

int cdecl main(int argc, char **argv) {   HFILE hf, hfOut; USHORT usAction, rc, bytesRead, bytesWriten ; static BYTE buf[4096]; long total=0l; int error = FALSE;

if(argc!=3){ usage; return 1; }   rc = DosOpen(strupr(argv[1]),        &hf,        &usAction,        0L,        FILE_NORMAL,        FILE_OPEN,        OPEN_ACCESS_READONLY | OPEN_SHARE_DENYNONE,        0L); if(rc){ printf("SYS%04u: Could not open %s for read.\n", rc, argv[1]); return 3; }   rc = DosOpen(strupr(argv[2]),        &hfOut,        &usAction,        0L,        FILE_NORMAL,        FILE_CREATE | FILE_TRUNCATE,        OPEN_ACCESS_WRITEONLY | OPEN_SHARE_DENYREADWRITE,        0L); if(rc){ printf("SYS%04u: Could not open %s for write.\n", rc, argv[2]); return 3; }   else{ do{ rc = DosRead(hf, buf, sizeof(buf), &bytesRead); if(!rc){ rc = DosWrite(hfOut, buf, bytesRead, &bytesWriten); if(!rc) total += bytesWriten; }       }while(!rc &&               sizeof(buf) == bytesRead &&               bytesRead == bytesWriten); if(rc){ printf("SYS%04u: while copying.\n", rc); error = TRUE; }       if(bytesRead != bytesWriten){ printf("Disk full?\n"); error = TRUE; }       DosClose(hf); if(!error) printf("%lu bytes copied.\n", total); }   return( error? 3 : 0); } </PRE> Credit: Peter Fitzsimmons

Can we use Vio in v2.0? Where are the docs for it?
Yes; check PRCP.INF.

Can I redirect stdin and stdout in a child process?
This is what I use to redirect stderr, stdout to a file from a program I start using DosStartSession. You could do the same type of thing using a pipe. <PRE> ULONG ulAction; ULONG ulNew; HFILE hfFile, hfNewStdOut = -1, hfNewStdErr = -1, hfStdOut = 1, hfStdErr = 2;

// Open output file DosOpen( szOutputFile, &hfFile, &ulAction, 1, 0,            FILE_OPEN | FILE_CREATE,             OPEN_ACCESS_READWRITE | OPEN_SHARE_DENYNONE, 0L ); // Duplicate handles DosDupHandle( hfStdOut, phfNewStdOut ); DosDupHandle( hfStdErr, phfNewStdErr ); // Close existing handles for current process DosClose( hfStdOut ); DosClose( hfStdErr ); // Redirect existing handles to new file DosDupHandle( hfFile, &hfStdOut ); DosDupHandle( hfFile, &hfStdErr ); // Let started program inherit handles from parent stdata.InheritOpt = SSF_INHERITOPT_PARENT; // Start new session DosStartSession( &stdata, &ulSessionID, &pidSession ); // Get back original handles DosDupHandle( hfNewStdOut, &hfStdOut ); DosDupHandle( hfNewStdErr, &hfStdErr ); // Close the duplicated handles - no longer needed DosClose( hfNewStdOut ); DosClose( hfNewStdErr ); </PRE> Credit: Rick Fishman

How do I use DosMon* to stuff the kbd buf?
Here's a mini app (all error handling, comments, etc. removed.)

(also all this stuff to avoid compile warnings !!!!!). <PRE> compile with: icc -Sm -Kabgioprx+ -Ss+ -W3 -Gs+ -Gf+ -O+ KEY.C start with: detach key stop with: F11 or CTRL-F10 test envir: OS/2 2.0GA+SP, C-Set++ CSD 22. no other functionality. </PRE> original src part of my glorious DOS/OS2 1.x/OS2 2.0 keyboard roboter which inserts keys into the keyboard monitor queue controlled by an source file (mini language).

(C) Mario Semo 1777,1832,1967-92.

<PRE>
 * TOP OF FILE KEY.C
 * 1) define INCL_DOS
 * 2) define INCL_KBD
 * 3) define INCL_NOPM


 * 1) include<os2.h>
 * 2) include<stdio.h>
 * 3) include<conio.h>
 * 4) include<process.h>
 * 5) include<stdlib.h>
 * 6) include<string.h>


 * 1) define DosMonOpen DOS16MONOPEN
 * 2) define DosMonClose DOS16MONCLOSE
 * 3) define DosMonReg  DOS16MONREG
 * 4) define DosMonRead DOS16MONREAD
 * 5) define DosMonWrite DOS16MONWRITE


 * 1) define MONITOR_DEFAULT 0x0000
 * 2) define MONITOR_BEGIN  0x0001
 * 3) define MONITOR_END    0x0002

typedef SHANDLE HMONITOR;      /* hmon */ typedef HMONITOR *PHMONITOR;

typedef struct _MONIN {        /* mnin */ USHORT cb; BYTE abReserved[18]; BYTE abBuffer[108]; } MONIN; typedef MONIN *PMONIN;
 * 1) pragma pack(2)

typedef struct _MONOUT {       /* mnout */ USHORT cb; UCHAR buffer[18]; BYTE abBuf[108]; } MONOUT; typedef MONOUT *PMONOUT;
 * 1) pragma pack(2)

APIRET16 APIENTRY16 DosMonOpen(PSZ pszDevName, PHMONITOR phmon); APIRET16 APIENTRY16 DosMonClose(HMONITOR hmon); APIRET16 APIENTRY16 DosMonReg(HMONITOR hmon, PBYTE pbInBuf,            PBYTE pbOutBuf, USHORT fPosition, USHORT usIndex); APIRET16 APIENTRY16 DosMonRead(PBYTE pbInBuf, USHORT fWait,                              PBYTE pbDataBuf,                               PUSHORT pcbData); APIRET16 APIENTRY16 DosMonWrite(PBYTE pbOutBuf, PBYTE pbDataBuf,                               USHORT cbData);

APIRET16 APIENTRY16 DosGetInfoSeg(PSEL pselGlobal, PSEL pselLocal);
 * 1) define DosGetInfoSeg   DOS16GETINFOSEG

typedef struct _GINFOSEG { /* gis */ ULONG  time; ULONG   msecs; UCHAR   hour; UCHAR  minutes; UCHAR   seconds; UCHAR   hundredths; USHORT timezone; USHORT cusecTimerInterval; UCHAR   day; UCHAR  month; USHORT  year; UCHAR   weekday; UCHAR  uchMajorVersion; UCHAR uchMinorVersion; UCHAR  chRevisionLetter; UCHAR   sgCurrent; UCHAR  sgMax; UCHAR   cHugeShift; UCHAR  fProtectModeOnly; USHORT pidForeground; UCHAR  fDynamicSched; UCHAR   csecMaxWait; USHORT cmsecMinSlice; USHORT  cmsecMaxSlice; USHORT bootdrive; UCHAR   amecRAS[32]; UCHAR  csgWindowableVioMax; UCHAR   csgPMMax; } GINFOSEG; typedef GINFOSEG *PGINFOSEG;
 * 1) pragma pack(2)

static PGINFOSEG gdt;


 * 1) define MAKEPGINFOSEG(sel) ((PGINFOSEG)MAKEP(sel, 0))
 * 2) define MAKEPLINFOSEG(sel) ((PLINFOSEG)MAKEP(sel, 0))

typedef struct _keypacket {  USHORT     mnflags; KBDKEYINFO cp; USHORT    ddflags; } KEYPACKET;
 * 1) pragma pack(2)


 * 1) define RELEASE    0x40
 * 2) define CTL_F10_KEY 103
 * 3) define F11_KEY    133


 * 1) pragma stack16(8192)
 * 2) pragma seg16(HKBD)
 * 3) pragma seg16(MONIN)
 * 4) pragma seg16(MONOUT)
 * 5) pragma seg16(KEYPACKET)

static HKBD KBDHandle = (HKBD)0; static PGINFOSEG _Seg16 gdt; static MONIN monInbuf = {0}; static MONOUT monOutbuf = {0}; static HEV hevThreadDone = (HEV)0;

static void _System keyboard_monitor(ULONG Dummy);

int main(int argc, char *argv[], char *envp[]) { SEL gdt_descriptor, ldt_descriptor; PID pidKeybrd;

monInbuf.cb = sizeof(MONIN); monOutbuf.cb = sizeof(MONOUT);

DosGetInfoSeg(&gdt_descriptor, &ldt_descriptor);

gdt = MAKEPGINFOSEG(gdt_descriptor);

DosMonOpen ( "KBD$", &KBDHandle );

DosCreateEventSem(NULL, &hevThreadDone,0,FALSE);

if (DosCreateThread(&pidKeybrd, &keyboard_monitor, 0L, 2L, 12000L)) DosExit(EXIT_PROCESS,0);

DosWaitEventSem(hevThreadDone, (ULONG)SEM_INDEFINITE_WAIT); DosMonClose(KBDHandle);

DosBeep(100,100);

DosExit(EXIT_PROCESS,0); return(0); }

static void _System keyboard_monitor(ULONG Dummy) { KEYPACKET keybuff; USHORT count;

DosSetPrty(PRTYS_THREAD, PRTYC_TIMECRITICAL,0, 0);

DosMonReg( KBDHandle, (PBYTE)&monInbuf, (PBYTE)&monOutbuf,           MONITOR_BEGIN, gdt->sgCurrent);

DosSetPrty(PRTYS_THREAD, PRTYC_REGULAR,0, 0);

for(keybuff.cp.chChar = 0; ; ) {   count = sizeof(keybuff); DosMonRead( (PBYTE)&monInbuf, IO_WAIT, (PBYTE)&keybuff, &count); if (!(keybuff.ddflags & RELEASE)) {       if(keybuff.cp.chChar == 0) {          switch (keybuff.cp.chScan) {             case CTL_F10_KEY   : case F11_KEY      : DosPostEventSem(hevThreadDone); DosExit(EXIT_THREAD,0); break; }         }       }    DosMonWrite((PBYTE)&monOutbuf,(PBYTE)&keybuff,count); } } </PRE> Credit: Mario Semo

How do I determine what file system a drive uses?
16 bit: DosQFsInfo.

32 but: DosQueryFSInfo

The folling little 16 bit program produces the following output on my computer:

LOCAL C:  FAT LOCAL D:  HPFS LOCAL E:  HPFS LOCAL F:  FAT REMOTE P: LAN   \\SERV1\C$ REMOTE Q: LAN   \\SERV1\D$ REMOTE R: LAN   \\SERV1\E$

Code. . . . <PRE> /* qdisk.c */
 * 1) define INCL_NOPM
 * 2) define INCL_DOS
 * 3) include <os2.h>
 * 4) include <stdio.h>
 * 5) include <stdlib.h>

void errorRC(USHORT rc) {    char msg[256]; USHORT bc; if(0 != (rc=DosGetMessage(NULL, 0, msg, sizeof(msg), rc,                              "OSO001.MSG", &bc))) { printf("SYS%04u: Unable to access OSO001.MSG\n", rc); }    else DosWrite(2, msg, bc, &bc); }

void qdisk(char drv) {    USHORT rc, len; char dev[3]; void *buf; char *p;

if(drv < 'C') return; sprintf(dev, "%c:", drv); buf = malloc(2048); len = 2048; rc = DosQFSAttach(dev, 0, FSAIL_QUERYNAME, buf, &len, 0L); if(rc){ errorRC(rc); return; }    switch((*(PUSHORT)buf)){ case FSAT_CHARDEV : printf("CHAR   "); break; case FSAT_PSEUDODEV: printf("DEV   "); break; case FSAT_LOCALDRV : printf("LOCAL "); break; case FSAT_REMOTEDRV: printf("REMOTE "); break; default: printf("Unknown "); break; }    p = buf; p += sizeof(USHORT);   /* itype */ printf("%-3s ", p+sizeof(USHORT)); p += (sizeof(USHORT) + (*(USHORT *)p) + 1);   /* cbName */ printf("%-8s ", p+sizeof(USHORT)); p += (sizeof(USHORT) + (*(USHORT *)p) + 1);   /* cbFSDName */ if((*(USHORT *)p))                            /* cbFSAData */ printf("%s", p+sizeof(USHORT)); printf("\n"); free(buf); }

void cdecl main(void) {    char drv; USHORT usDisk; ULONG ulDrives; DosQCurDisk(&usDisk, &ulDrives); /* gets current drive */ for (drv = 'A'; drv <= 'Z'; drv++) { if (ulDrives & 1)		     /* if the drive bit is set, */ qdisk(drv); ulDrives >>= 1; } } </PRE>
 * PS: DosQSysInfo will return the max path length that your version of OS/2 supports.  But since this API is specific to OS/2,  and not to a particular drive,  it does not answer your original question.

Credit: Peter Fitzsimmons

How do I get the error message from a DOS API call?
For DOSAPI calls, you can issue a DosGetMessage as follows: RC = DosXXXX(...); DosGetMessage(NULL,0,Msg,sizeof(Msg),RC,"OSO001.MSG",&Msg_Length); Credit: Ken Kahn

How do I set an exception handler?
<PRE> /* * Simple example of an exception handler */


 * 1) define INCL_DOS
 * 2) include <os2.h>
 * 3) include <setjmp.h>
 * 4) include <stdio.h>
 * 5) include <string.h>

extern int main(void);

/* * Exception registration record. Stored on stack, with first * pointer to next registeration record, second pointer to * exception handler, and the rest defined by the author of * the exception handler. */

typedef struct { struct _EXCEPTIONREGISTRATIONRECORD * volatile prev_structure; _ERR * volatile ExceptionHandler; jmp_buf env; } MYEXCEPTIONREGISTRATIONRECORD, *PMYEXCEPTIONREGISTRATIONRECORD;

/* * Exception handler that returns traps via longjmp. */

extern ULONG APIENTRY MyExceptionHandler (PEXCEPTIONREPORTRECORD pReportRecord,   PEXCEPTIONREGISTRATIONRECORD pRegRecord,    PCONTEXTRECORD pContextRecord, PVOID pReserved) { ULONG rc = XCPT_CONTINUE_SEARCH;

if (pReportRecord->ExceptionNum == XCPT_ACCESS_VIOLATION) longjmp(((PMYEXCEPTIONREGISTRATIONRECORD) pRegRecord)->env, -1);

/*  * If we return to here then we could not handle the exception. */

return rc; }

extern BOOL Trapper(PSZ psz) { MYEXCEPTIONREGISTRATIONRECORD myExceptionRegRecord;

/*  * Insert my exception handler into the chain. */

myExceptionRegRecord.prev_structure = NULL; myExceptionRegRecord.ExceptionHandler = MyExceptionHandler; DosSetExceptionHandler((PEXCEPTIONREGISTRATIONRECORD) &myExceptionRegRecord);

if (setjmp(myExceptionRegRecord.env)) goto OnException;

/*  * Now go about my business in safety. */

if (strlen(psz)) printf("Trapper says okay to '%s'\n", psz); else printf("Trapper says it is empty\n");

/*  * I'm done, so unchain my exception handler. */

DosUnsetExceptionHandler((PEXCEPTIONREGISTRATIONRECORD)&myExceptionRegRecord)

return TRUE;

/*  * The code below is only executed if a trap occurs. */

OnException: printf("Trapper says 'ouch!'\n");

DosUnsetExceptionHandler((PEXCEPTIONREGISTRATIONRECORD)&myExceptionRegRecord)

return FALSE; }

extern int main { Trapper("Hello"); Trapper(NULL); Trapper(""); Trapper((PSZ) 42); Trapper("Goodbye");

return 0; } </PRE> Credit: Dan Kehn

How can I determine a diskette format and if a disk is in a drive?
Let's have a snippet from one of my functions

The 'ifdef M_I386's mean C Set/2 <PRE> EXPORT int GetFileSysAttach ( char cDrv, PVOID pInfo, UnsInt cbInfo ) { CHAR szFileSys [4];

szFileSys [0] = (CHAR) toupper ( cDrv ); szFileSys [1] = ':'; szFileSys [2] = '\0';

DosError ( EXCEPTION_DISABLE );

Errno = DosQueryFSAttach ( szFileSys, 0, FSAIL_QUERYNAME, pInfo, &cbInfo ); Errno = DosQFSAttach ( szFileSys, 0, FSAIL_QUERYNAME, pInfo, &cbInfo, 0L );
 * 1) ifdef M_I386
 * 1) else
 * 1) endif

DosError ( EXCEPTION_ENABLE ); return Errno ? -1 : 0; }

EXPORT	int	GetFileSysInfo ( PSZ pszFileSys, PFSysInfo pfsi ) { USHORT	idDrv; FSALLOCATE fsal; FSINFO	fsinfo; PFSQBUFFER2 fsq = NULL; PFSQBUFFER fsq = NULL; PUSHORT    pus; CHAR   hbuf [L_FILENAME]; PCHAR  pch; BOOL   fProt = ProtectedMode ;
 * 1) ifdef M_I386
 * 1) else
 * 1) endif
 * 1) ifndef _MT
 * 1) else
 * 2) define fProt TRUE
 * 3) endif

idDrv = tolower ( *pszFileSys ) - ('a' - 1);

DosError ( EXCEPTION_DISABLE );

if ( ! (Errno = DosQFSInfo ( idDrv, 1, (PBYTE) &fsal, sizeof ( fsal ) )) ) Errno = DosQFSInfo ( idDrv, 2, (PBYTE) &fsinfo, sizeof ( fsinfo ) );

DosError ( EXCEPTION_ENABLE );

if ( Errno ) {   if ( Errno == ERROR_NO_VOLUME_LABEL ) memset ( &fsinfo, 0, sizeof (fsinfo) ); else return -1; // No disk inserted }

if ( fProt ) {   if ( GetFileSysAttach ( (CHAR) (idDrv + 'a' - 1), hbuf, L_FILENAME ) ) return -1;

fsq = (PFSQBUFFER2) hbuf; fsq = (PFSQBUFFER) hbuf; }
 * 1) ifdef M_I386
 * 1) else
 * 1) endif

DosError ( EXCEPTION_ENABLE ); ... </PRE> I think it's more than you want, the fsal-struct contains the size information, but I think if you want to retrieve ALL information about a logical drive that's what you need.

Credit: Rainer Prem

What do all those keywords mean when making a DLL?
Okay, with the help of some of my peers, I've solved the mystery surrounding the seemingly redundant SINGLE/MULTIPLE and SHARED/NONSHARED attributes.

First, some prep up work...

Every DLL needs and gets a data segment ("automatic data segment"). It is the place where the DLL stores all its STATIC data - basically the data declared in the DLL module but declared outside any function AND (I venture) variables declared STATIC within a DLL function as well. The STACK is NOT!! part of a DLL's automatic data segment (thoug it seems to be for an EXE). The stack that is used when 'running' a DLL function is that of the calling thread.

Now here's the clincher...

DLLs CAN ALSO HAVE ADDITIONAL DATA SEGMENTS!! (as can EXEs, I imagine)

Bingo! Now we understand why there are two different sets of attributes - specifically, NONE/SINGLE/MULTIPLE and SHARED/NONSHARED. Though they basically do the same thing, they APPLY to different things.


 * NONE/SINGLE/MULTIPLE:applies to the one and only default data segment. This is the data segment that is "automatically" created for your DLL (or EXE). I imagine that for 90% of the DLLs written, this is the only type of data segment that exists. Whether or not this data segment is shared or whether a private copy is created for each linking application is A DIRECT FUNCTION OF THIS ATTRIBUTE - 'SINGLE'=it's shared, 'MULTIPLE'=everyone get's his own copy.
 * SHARED/NONSHARED:This SETS THE DEFAULT!! FOR ALL DATA SEGMENTS other than the "automatic" data segment. DEFAULT is the key word, because you can specify, through the SEGMENTS statement, the characteristics of these additional segments on an individual basis (which in all certainty, override this value.)

So... to answer my own question

could {someone} explain what the following statements would produce:DATA MULTIPLE SHARED

Every application which links to the DLL will have it's own private copy of the automatic data segment. If the DLL has no additional data segments, the SHARED keyword is meaningless and can be omitted. If there are additional data segments, only one copy of each will exist and they will be shared by all applications (unless a SEGMENTS statement follows which overrides this default for a specific segment)

or DATA SINGLE NONSHARED

Every application which links to the DLL will share a single automatic data segment (hence, each app that affects the DLL STATIC data will affect it for all apps). If there are no additional data segments, the NONSHARED keyword is meaningless and can be omitted. If there are, a private copy will be created for each app (unless overridden by a SEGMENTS statement).

Note that in the absence of BOTH a SINGLE/MUTLIPLE and SHARED/NONSHARED keyword, the default is for ALL data segments (automatic and additional ones) to be shared (i.e., only one copy). In the absence of one OR the other, but not both, the property of ALL data segments are mandated by the single keyword. In other words, DATA SINGLE and DATA SHARED do the same exact thing.

Credit: John Cortell

Where can I find serial port sample code?

 * Question: Does anyone have any C sample code showing how to use the serial port under OS/2 using DosOpen and DosDevIoCtl?


 * Answr: As a matter of fact, yes. :-)

extracted from a silly & specialized program <PRE> /* dtp.c -- D-dial Terminal Program: the first hack */

//-- an annoying detail


 * 1) define INCL_BASE
 * 2) define INCL_DOSDEVIOCTL /* docs lie, this is NOT included by BASE */
 * 3) include <os2.h>

//-- initialization (in main as written)

HFILE portFd; ULONG action;

if (DosOpen("COM1", &portFd, &action, 0, FILE_NORMAL, FILE_OPEN, OPEN_ACCESS_READWRITE | OPEN_SHARE_DENYREADWRITE, 0) != 0) { fprintf(stderr, "Open of COM1 failed\n"); goto error0; }

{	DCBINFO di; ULONG dummy;

dummy = sizeof(di); if (DosDevIOCtl(portFd, IOCTL_ASYNC, ASYNC_GETDCBINFO, 0, 0, 0, &di, sizeof(di), &dummy) != 0) fprintf(stderr, "DosDevIOCtl failed\n"); else { fprintf(stderr, "Timeouts: read = %u, write = %u\n",                   di.usWriteTimeout, di.usReadTimeout); fprintf(stderr, "Flag bytes: %02x, %02x, %02x\n",                   di.fbCtlHndShake, di.fbFlowReplace, di.fbTimeout); }       di.fbTimeout = (di.fbTimeout & ~(3 << 1)) | (2 << 1); /* rcv = wait-for-something */ di.usReadTimeout = 250; dummy = sizeof(di); if (DosDevIOCtl(portFd, IOCTL_ASYNC, ASYNC_SETDCBINFO, &di, sizeof(di), &dummy, 0, 0, 0) != 0) fprintf(stderr, "DosDevIOCtl failed to set parameters!\a\n"); }

if (initSerialOutput(portFd) != 0) goto error1;

//-- the "running" variable is sort of a relic, I think

running = 1; if (_beginthread(serialInputThread, 0, 8192, (void *)portFd) < 0) { fprintf(stderr, "can't start serial input thread\n"); goto error2; }

if (_beginthread(serialOutputThread, 0, 8192, (void *)portFd) < 0) { fprintf(stderr, "can't start serial output thread\n"); goto error2; }

//-- wrapup code

shutdownSerialOutput; DosClose(portFd);

//-- the rest of this lives outside of main. ..

//-- input side: gory details omitted

//-- the port has been setup in "wait for something" mode, so we can request //-- more than one character at a time without blocking until the buffer is //-- full. At least, I *think* that's working now: this is used with 300 baud //-- systems, so it's hard to tell <g>. At least it isn't blocking until the //-- buffer is filled. ..

/* serialInputThread -- reads port, writes to text window void serialInputThread(void *arg) {   HFILE inFd = (long)arg; FILE *logFile; UCHAR buf[10];
 * arg is the port's handle for reading
 * arg is the port's handle for reading

ParserState ps = {0};

logFile = fopen("dtp.log", "ab");

for {       ULONG n;        if (DosRead(inFd, buf, 10, &n) == 0) {           ULONG i;            for (i = 0; i <n; ++i) {               if (logFile != 0) putc(buf[i], logFile); if (runParser(&ps, buf[i]) != 0) postChar(buf[i]); }       }    } }

/* output side: I rather like this arrangement using queues except that I'd prefer an anonymous queue. For this, having the queue named in the filesystem's name space is at best a minor annoyance. */

/****   SerialOutput subsystem */


 * 1) define MAX_CHUNK_SIZE 50

typedef struct {   USHORT nUsed; UCHAR buf[MAX_CHUNK_SIZE]; } SO_CHUNK;


 * 1) define NUM_SO_CHUNKS 6

HQUEUE soQueue, freeQueue;

int initSerialOutput (HFILE outFd) {   (void) outFd;     /* reserved for more general version */

if (DosCreateQueue      (&soQueue, QUE_FIFO, "\\queues\\dtp\\soQueue") != 0) {       fprintf(stderr, "Failed to create serial output queue\n"); goto error0; }   if (DosCreateQueue       (&freeQueue, QUE_FIFO, "\\queues\\dtp\\freeQueue") != 0) {       fprintf(stderr, "Failed to create serial free queue\n"); goto error1; }   {   SO_CHUNK *p = malloc(sizeof(SO_CHUNK) * NUM_SO_CHUNKS); int i;       if (p == 0) {           fprintf(stderr,            "Failed to allocate memory for serial chunks\n"); goto error1; }       for (i = NUM_SO_CHUNKS; 0 < i; --i) if (DosWriteQueue(freeQueue, 0, sizeof(SO_CHUNK), p++, 0)           != 0) {               fprintf(stderr, "Failed to initialize free queue\n"); goto error1; }   }

return 0;

error1: DosCloseQueue(soQueue); error0: return -1; }

void shutdownSerialOutput(void) {   DosCloseQueue(freeQueue); DosCloseQueue(soQueue); }

void writeSerial(UCHAR const *buf, USHORT n) { while (0 < n)   { REQUESTDATA rd; ULONG dataLength; PVOID data; BYTE priority;

if (DosReadQueue(freeQueue, &rd, &dataLength, &data, 0, DCWW_WAIT, &priority, 0) == 0) {           SO_CHUNK *sc = data; USHORT m = MAX_CHUNK_SIZE; if (n < m)               m = n;            memcpy(sc->buf, buf, m); sc->nUsed = m;           DosWriteQueue(soQueue, 0, sizeof(SO_CHUNK), sc, 0); buf += m;           n -= m;        } } }

void writeSerialString(UCHAR const *buf) {   writeSerial(buf, strlen(buf)); }

void serialOutputThread(void *arg) {   HFILE outFd = (long)arg; REQUESTDATA rd; ULONG dataLength; PVOID data; BYTE priority;

for {       if (DosReadQueue(soQueue, &rd, &dataLength, &data, 0, DCWW_WAIT, &priority, 0) == 0) {           if (rd.ulData == 0) {     /* simple data block */ ULONG dummy; SO_CHUNK *sc = data; DosWrite(outFd, sc->buf, sc->nUsed, &dummy); DosWriteQueue(freeQueue, 0, sizeof(SO_CHUNK), sc, 0); }           else ; /* anything else is a test, ignore it */ }   } } </PRE> The intention was that control messages could be posted to the queue using null data packets (passing the actual message in the REQUESTDATA.ulData field); these would allow for controlling the port's baud rate and other settings. This seems to work under 2.0, and even appears to be intended to work (Deitel & Kogan's description), but I haven't done anything with it yet, as you can see. Haven't needed the facility yet...

Credit: Martin Maney

How do I disable <Ctrl><Alt><Del>?
You need to do a DosDevIOCtl with Category 4, Function 56. Use a 0xFFFF for the Hot Key ID. Set the other values to 0. This will toggle <Ctrl><Alt><Del> and <Ctrl><Esc> and <Alt><Esc> on then off on the next call. Note that this does a little more than what you want since it also disables <Ctrl><Esc> and <Alt><Esc> so you may run into problems getting around your different sessions when you've got it disabled. Other than this there is NO WAY to disable <Ctrl><Alt><Del> under OS/2 and believe me, people have tried!

Credit: Mike Brown

Why doesn't printf produce output when I expect it to?
For historical reasons, most Unix C libraries' stdio default to using line buffered streams, whereas most DOS and OS/2 C libraries' stdio default to using fully buffered streams. ANSI C species that standard output should be line buffered when connected to an interactive device, but not all libraries are ANSI compliant. You can control the buffering algorithm used for a particular stream with the setvbuf function.

If you didn't understand that paragraph, read on.

printf is part of the Standard I/O (stdio) library, which uses buffered streams for file IO. ANSI C specifies three algorithms for deciding when to flush the buffer (i.e. when to print buffered data to the file): Buffered data is always flushed when the stream is closed or when fflush is called. Since standard output is flushed when main exits, all data printed with printf will appear at that time, if it has not already. However, ANSI C does not require that a stream be flushed when scanf is called on it. Therefore, if you print to a fully buffered stream and then request input on it, it is likely that the input will be read before the printed data appears.
 * not buffered. Data is flushed to the file as soon as possible, usually immediately after being received.
 * line buffered. Data is flushed to the file when a newline is received (and the newline is also flushed).
 * fully buffered. Data is flushed to the file when the buffer is full.

You can control the buffering algorithm used for a particular stream with the setvbuf function. For example, the statement setvbuf(stdout, NULL, _IOLBF, BUFSIZ) sets standard output to be line-buffered, which is what most Unix programmers expect. Any decent C reference will cover all of this material.

[Colin Jensen... ]

After reading one too many bug reports about this phenomena, the gcc/2 maintainer changed its stdout to not-buffered whenever stdout is interactive. When stdout is sent to a pipe or file, stdout is still fully-buffered.

How do I write an OS/2 device driver?
The preferred method is to buy the OS/2 device driver kit (DDK) from IBM. It contains samples for display, printer, SCSI, and other drivers. You can develop kernel and PM drivers. NOTE: The kernel debugger comes with the IBM Toolkit, sold separately.

There's a book called Writing OS/2 2.0 Device Drivers in C from Van&rbl.Nostrand-Reinhold and also IBM's flood of printed material.

As reference to SCSI programming, check SCSI Programming FAQ, available at ftp.regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de

How do I change the master environment?
Quick and simple answer.

In OS/2 it is literally impossible for you to change the master environment from one of your programs.To be able to do so would fatally disrupt the programming paradigm that has existed for ages: Your program does not alter the master environment. Your program is the slave, not the master. Therefore, no capability was built into OS/2 to facilitate this.

There is, however, a kludge.

As you know, a .CMD file can alter the master environment. This is the nature of batch files (ok, so I'm a MS-DOG dinosaur and still call them batch files instead of command files or scripts). Therefore, you can place a sequence of commands in the batch file that will take your program's output and alter the environment of your current shell.

That's as close as you are gonna get to the master environment. You can always create your own sort of environment variables, in the form of shared memory or named pipes.

What is the best way to communicate between processes?
There is more than one way - and you get to decide which is right for you!


 * Shared Memory:Shared memory is pretty self-explanatory. It is a memory segment that is allocated by one program, and then made available to other programs. When all the programs are done with it, then it is disposed of. You can name shared memory. So if you want two programs to communicate, then let them look for memory with the same name and communicate that way.
 * Named Pipes:Named pipes are a lot like shared memory, but think of a named pipe as a file instead of a single block of memory. Each process can create, read, write, and destroy a named pipe, much like you can a file.
 * The difference between named pipes and shared memory is that a named pipe link is hot; With shared memory, data can be left in (as a sleeper, if you will), process 1 exits, process 2 accesses the data in memory, then deallocates the memory. With shared memory, a process doesn't even have to exist to leave a message for another process.


 * Queues:An OS/2 queue is either a standard First-In First-Out (FIFO) queue data/operation structure, a LIFO structure, or a user-based-priority structure. However, OS/2 makes it unique because more than one process (or thread) can write to this queue.

What is the best way to communicate between threads?
The best way to communicate between threads is sometimes also the best way to communicate between processes. However, when communicating between threads you can utilize two (very important) techniques: Have two threads work at the same time: Of course, there are issues of deadlock and other such nonsense that corporate chaps get paid to consider, but that's beyond the scope of this document.
 * Semaphores:In order to share application resources, and not write to the same space at the same time, you have to have some kind of flags that tell the thread when it should stop, when it should keep on going, and so on. Semaphores provide this capability. Semaphores are not for passing data. They merely exist as simple flags between threads and you should treat them as such.
 * Global Variables:"Hey Jeff - I thought this was supposed to be about nifty OS/2-specific tricks!" It is! You can now use those old nasty things, global variables, in new ways.  In conjunction with semaphores, you can pass data very easily between threads with global variables.  Here's a simple example:
 * Create a global variable called PassData.
 * Create a semaphore called OkToPassData.
 * Create a semaphore called DataPassed.
 * If the semaphore DataPassed is true:
 * Set the semaphore OkToPassData to false.
 * Read the data in the global.
 * Set the semaphore DataPassed to false.
 * Set the semaphore OkToPassData to true.
 * When a thread wants to pass data, wait for the semaphore to be clear.
 * Set the semaphore OkToPassData to false.
 * Put the data in the global.
 * Set the semaphore DataPassed to true.
 * Set the semaphore OkToPassData to true.

How to I write an IFS?
Starting with Issue #3, EDM/2 started carrying a series about writing an IFS.

How do I interface with OS/2's SCSI support?
A complete description and sample code can be found at scsipg.zip. 

How do I program full-screen graphics?
Several compilers come with their own VGA graphics libraries. A 3rd party developer has even developed an SVGA library (with drivers) for emx/gcc.

Full-screen graphics programming is nearly identical to full-screen DOS graphics programming, with the notable exception that you must lock and unlock the screen under OS/2 before you can use it.

For fast direct-access screen graphics, check the file dlib06.zip.

How do I program MMPM/2 programs?
IBM has created the MMPM/2 toolkit just for that. However, if that is too much trouble for you, there is a simple REXX interface to MMPM/2 available in OS/2 2.1.

IBM's Ultimedia Builder/2, Ultimedia Perfect Image/2, and Ultimedia Workplace/2 are all in beta and scheduled to be released soon.

For the Emx/GCC enviroment there is the MM4EMX package by Marc Van Woerkom. MM4EMX is freeware. All header and lib files included.

How do I peripheral memory or an I/O port?
The basic thing to do is either mark it as IOPL or surround it in a 16-bit module. emx/gcc and other compilers include some macros and functions to assist you in doing this.

Check the file IOPL32.ZIP

Porting
This section covers all aspects of porting programs.

How do I port my DOS keyboard TSR to OS/2?
Use keyboard monitors (for full-screen sessions) or hooks for the PM session.

How can I simulate (Unix feature) under OS/2?
A working version of select is included with the emx/gcc libraries. See the emx/gcc documentation for more information on its usage.
 * fork
 * fork/exec
 * select
 * job control

A working version of fork comes with the emx/gcc libraries. The author cautions that this is not the way to multitask, though, because it eats up a lot of resources (since it literally duplicates the current process, leaving everything but the PID unchanged). _beginthread is the suggested solution if at all possible.

How can I recompile public domain/shareware source code for OS/2?
Most publicly available OS/2 programs come with binaries (since there is currently only one OS/2 architecture). If you are porting source code from another system (for example, Unix), you will first need to acquire a compiler. See section 1 for information on compilers; in particular, note that the GNU C compiler is available.

You should realize that many publicly available programs have already been ported to OS/2. Check the many FTP sites carrying OS/2 programs before you reinvent any wheels (the OS/2 User's FAQ contains information on FTP site).

Most Unix applications (through the use of emx/gcc) port with extreme ease; DOS and Windows applications are a tougher problem, and require many changes before they can be recompiled as a native OS/2 program.

(It is interesting to note that Microsoft C v6.0 will compile bound OS/2 programs, which will run under DOS and OS/2 without modification.)

How can I port my DOS program to OS/2?
To the first approximation, you don't have to - OS/2 2.x's DOS support is excellent, and your DOS program will probably just work; similarly, OS/2 2.x supports Windows 3.0 (and soon 3.1) programs. See the OS/2 User's FAQ for details.

[That was Barry Jaspan's opinion. I believe that you should make every effort to recompile your existing DOS programs for OS/2 2.x. They will run faster in many cases, and both (a) use less memory and (b) be able to use more memory than their DOS counterparts. - Jeff]

If you truly want to port your DOS program over to OS/2, then study the libraries available to you. The core code (if you wrote it correctly) will probably not change much. You will just have to change the user interface stuff.

If your program is a real simple one that uses standard input and output, then you will probably not make very many changes to your program when converting it to OS/2.

You should also realize that neato and nifty DOS tricks (like grabbing an interrupt whenever you feel like it, or writing directly to almost anywhere) are completely out of the question.

How can I port my Windows program to OS/2?
A tool called Mirrors is available from Micrografx. It does not currently support Windows 3.1-specific programs and calls. (although you *can* call the functions in the new 3.1 DLLs) There are also several toolkits available that allow you to make calls to a common API library, and your source will work across the two platforms without any changes at all.
 * Rough ports can be done in under 1 day, but a detailed port still costs you a lot of effort.
 * The ported application is heavily dependent on the underlying OS/2 system.

However, if you want to bite the bullet and port it, then be prepared to make a lot of changes. Just like porting regular DOS programs, you will have to scrap most, if not all, of your user interface. Your core code, if modular and abstract enough, should come through the port relatively unscathed.

SMART - by One-up Corp is also available on Developers Connection CD.

Miscellaneous
This section covers questions not covered in previous sections.

Is OS/2 suitable for real time programs?
Yes! There is a special priority you can assign your programs (ForegroundServer Mode) via DosSetPriority which will give your process (note, not thread, but process) the maximum allowable CPU time.

Another route is to use DosEnterCritSec/DosExitCritSec. Calling the former will disable thread switching (hopefully for a short period of time), and calling the latter will enable thread switching again.

What is available for multimedia programming under OS/2?
The OS/2 2.x Multimedia package is now available.

What is available for AI/neural net programming under OS/2?
LISP and XScheme are available from cdrom.com. There are also some AI/neural net tools listed in tinf31.zip.

Special software offers
Here are some of the OS/2 software products that represent particularly good values. Most prices do not include shipping and handling.


 * Borland C++ for OS/2. Available from Below Zero in Calgary for about $136 U.S., including shipping. Add GST in Canada. Below Zero will export outside North America.
 * IBM PL/I. Not everyone is a PL/I programmer, but IBM is offering free copies of Workframe/2 with every purchase and free product videos.

Technical Support
How can I get answers to my OS/2 questions?

If your question is not answered in this List, post a note to the appropriate Usenet conference: These groups are also watched closely by OS/2 experts from IBM.

A LISTSERVer distributes its own OS/2 conference by mail; send a single line message with the word HELP to listserv@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be for full instructions; or send the same message to listserv@frors12.circe.fr for information on an unedited mailing list. To subscribe to the Multimedia Presentation Manager/2, send a single line message with the phrase SUBSCRIBE MMOS2-L (Your Name) to mail-server@knex.via.mind.org.

Your local FidoNet BBS may carry OS/2 echo conferences and/or OS2NET. If not, ask your system operator to join them.

The IBM PC Co. BBS message areas, product database, and PS/2 Assistant file(s) are invaluable resources. Information on the new OS/2 BBS is included in the OS/2 2.0 package. In the United States IBM has toll free technical support, an OS/2 Hotline (general information, orders, upgrades; ask about OS/2 videotapes, T-shirts, and other accessories), the HelpWare Center, a software order line, two FAX information services, and an educational inquiries line.

Any of the regular DOS or Windows resources (e.g. books, magazines, shareware/freeware sources) will be useful since both environments come with OS/2 2.0.

(taken from OS/2 General FAQ)

Developer's Assistance Program (DAP)
OS/2 2.0 developers should contact the IBM Developer Assistance Program; membership is free.

The IBM OS/2 Device Driver Development Kit CD-ROM, containing a wide selection of development tools and code, and the OS/2 2.1 Beta CD-ROM are both available from IBM.

The IBM OS/2 Device Driver Development Kit CD-ROM is also available from IBM.

(taken from the OS/2 general FAQ)

OS/2 Software Sources
The following BBSes hold large OS/2 libraries: Check OS/2 FAQ for a more extensive list of ftp sites.
 * Fernwood
 * OS/2 Shareware
 * Bay Area OS/2
 * Gateway/2
 * Greater Chicago Online
 * OS/2 Connection (San Diego)
 * OS/2 Las Vegas
 * IBM Germany
 * IBM Germany (Another)
 * IBM Denmark
 * OS/2 UK
 * IBM UK
 * IBM Norway
 * IBM Sweden
 * OS/2 Norway
 * OS/2 Australia

(The monthly Worldwide OS/2 BBS Listing, available from these BBSes, lists others.) The IBM PC Company BBS has some shareware/freeware as well, along with CSDs and the PS/2 Assistant (an invaluable resource for locating almost any sort of information on OS/2). IBM Canada maintains several support BBSes.

The Usenet conference comp.binaries.os2 carries OS/2 software. And several sites are available via anonymous ftp. (No ftp? Send a single line message with the word HELP to bitftp@pucc.bitnet or ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com to learn about ftp mail servers.) Some are (with Internet node numbers and subdirectories): The cdrom.com library is available on CD-ROM from Walnut Creek. EMS offers an OS/2 shareware/freeware library on diskette.

Other sources include CompuServe (FIND OS/2) and archive servers (send a single line message with the word HELP to listserv@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be or mail-server@rus.uni-stuttgart.de for more information, or use ftp).

IBM has been releasing freely distributable employee written software (e.g. Visual REXX) and OS/2 patches to these sites.

Reporting Bugs and Errors in the FAQ
With the advent of all this nifty hypertext IPF stuff, there are bound to be bugs and errors in this FAQ, simply by Murphy's Law. (Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong) If you find an error, however, insignificant, please send me a note (through one of the ways listed below) telling me what's wrong with the FAQ.

Obtaining this FAQ
This FAQ is distributed on a regular basis to: All other sites should receive this FAQ on a trickle-down basis from these sites.
 * http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/info/faq/pfaq34.zip on the Internet

This FAQ is distributed in two versions, ASCII and INF. The INF version is binary and viewable only by the VIEW.EXE program that comes with OS/2. The ASCII version is text and is viewable by any program that can view text (which includes most word processors). The filename is PFAQnn.ZIP, where 'nn' is the FAQ version.

Credits
The following people have contributed in numerous and not-so-numerous ways to this document to make it what it is today, and what it will be tomorrow. Give a big round of applause for. ..
 * Barry Jaspan <bjaspan@athena.mit.edu>
 * Jeff Garzik <jgarzik@pantera.atl.ga.us>
 * Byers R E James <zoorejb@nusunix2.nus.sg>
 * Stefan Gruendal <Stefan_Gruendel@wue.maus.de>
 * Raja Thiagarajan <sthiagar@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu>
 * Larry Saloman <os2man@panix.com>
 * Timothy Sipples <sip1@kimbark.uchicago.edu>
 * Bob Smith <OECN_SMITH@MEC.OHIO.GOV>
 * Tim Francis <francis@vnet.IBM.COM>
 * Colin Jensen <cjensen@netcom.com>
 * Bill Henning <bhenning@wimsey.com>
 * Axel Uhl <auhl@fzi.de>
 * R. Mahoney <rmahoney@bix.com>
 * Frank Fuchs <ffu@softpro.de>
 * James J. Song <jjs@acd4.acd.com>
 * Morio Taneda <Morio_Taneda@ka.maus.de>
 * Timur Tabi <timur@seas.gwu.edu>
 * Paul Prescod <papresco@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca>
 * Rich Wales <richw@mks.com>
 * Craig Swanson <Craig_Swanson@f354.n202.z1.fidonet.org>
 * Ivar E. Hosteng <nit3ieh@odin.oslo.nit.no or nit3ieh@accsys.oslo.nit.no>
 * Eberhard Mattes <mattes@azu.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de>
 * Phillip E. Parker <pparker@twsuvm.uc.twsu.edu>
 * Lyle Sutton <lgs@roadnet.ups.com>
 * William First <wfirst@magi.com>

Ok, so the list is a little short right now. If you contributed to Barry's or Jeff's FAQ, and you are not listed here, then please send me your name and I'll be glad to include you in this list.

I have obtained some information from sources other than people also. Besides being credited above, here is another list:
 * OS/2 Frequently Asked Questions List v2.1
 * Electronic Developers' OS/2 Magazine