Xy-OS/2 Shell Public Release (for OS/2 XyWriters only)

[Robert Holmgren holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

Folks:

A 6/3/96 revision of Xy-OS/2 Shell is FTP-able at
 hobbes.nmsu.edu/incoming (or /dos or /os2/editors or /new)
and should be available soon at
 ccat.sas.upenn.edu/pub/eaan
as file XYOS2SHL.ZIP. Check the date on the file (6/3 or newer).
NB: I plan to suspend computing between June and September 1996.

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Xy-OS/2 Shell may now be distributed publicly, on condition that the
complete XYOS2SHL.ZIP package of files is distributed intact and unaltered.
Thanks to everyone who helped. Hope you get return value out of it.

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6/3/96 addresses the following issues:

Bug: LISTOBJS.CMD reports some duplicate  among the so-called
"default objects". Fixed. N.B.: These objects are, in fact, all folders,
and are now listed as "Folder:".

Bug: LISTOBJS.CMD does not properly report  with the
special usage "LISTOBJS IDx", where "x" is a substring of the 
that you wish to list. Fixed.

Bug: When Folders are opened on the Desktop b
y , the Window List
is displayed, and receives focus, beside the newly-opened Folder. This is
due apparently to a bug in Rexx. It occurs intermittently when a Rexx
command file EXITs after performing OPEN=DEFAULT calls to SysSetObjectData.
 Solution: Specify an /L:launch_process, a /P:exit_process, or both.

Bug: Botched 4/96 edit in O2.PM; fails to pass "/B" parameter to
O2.CMD. Fixed.

Bug: Unbalanced IF THEN DO END ... ELSE nest in SW.CMD

Changed: O2 ignores error codes (result codes) 0, 1, and 255. Formerly O2
ignored only 0 and 255. rc=1 does not generally represent a genuine error
condition, and often enough it represents successful termination. To
restore the old behavior, hack O2.CMD as follows:
 Change:
if rc>1&rc\=255 then do
 To:
if rc>0&rc\=255 then do

Changed: O2.CMD's default ExitProc='XyW' assignment is removed. The
default ExitProc is determined (only) by Save/Get 669 in O2.PM
[XYOS2SHL.U2]. From the factory, that default is "XyWrite". You ca
n
change it, or of course you can always override it with CMline or alias
/P: arguments.

New: INSTALL.CMD creates a "Xy-OS/2 Shell" folder on the Desktop.

New: Many small improvements and accelerations here & there.

Documentation Error: SW.CMD aliases are documented as case-INsensitive.
In fact, *aliases* are case sEnSiTiVe, even though the actual underlying
masks (substrings of process titles to SWitch to) that these aliases
represent are effective regardless of case (they are INsensitive).

Documentation Addition: XYOS2SHL.DOC now describes basic procedures for
starting OS/2 [DOS|WIN3x] processes and then relinquishing all further
connection to those programs ("Launch and Release"), so that they are not
monitored for termination, and no exit_process is called at the time of
termination.

Related File: Carl Distefano's new REXXPL.ZIP provides an advanced
interface between XyWrite's XPL and Rexx. Information is shared
and exchanged between the two programming languages with comp
lete
bidirectional transparency. Truly a revolutionary, knock-your-socks-off
use of XyWrite, if you have a need or use for it. Look for an
update to the ZIP already at ccat.sas.upenn.edu/pub/eaan.

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To re-INSTALL under Xy4, be _sure_ to clean out your earlier Xy-OS/2 Shell
code from U2. If you have trouble doing this with Xy4DOS (because XyDOS
won't let you revise a loaded Help file), then either:

Get hold of a copy of LOADHELP.PM (in REORGNZ2.ZIP), clean up U2,
 then RUN LOADHELP.PM with U2 in the current window (if you already have
 REORGNZ2.ZIP, then LOADHELP is probably in your existing U2, so just
 clean it up, put "LH" on the CMline, and hit your  to load
 the altered file);
Or else (long roundabout way) make a copy of your U2 file, LOAD the copy,
 clean up the original, then reLOAD the original and erase the copy.

After you have removed all old Xy-OS/2 Shell code from U2, reinstall
XYOS2SHL by unZIPping fresh copies of all files from the latest
XYOS2
SHL.ZIP into a temporary directory, then run INSTALL.CMD from an
OS/2 prompt in that directory. Save any customized aliases in your old
O2-ALIAS.DAT or SW.CMD (they still work fine).



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Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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