XFolder was written to add a number of features to the Workplace Shell for which IBM has shown no interest so far and probably never will.
These pages are supposed to give you a quick, interactive introduction to the many features of XFolder.
For details about certain XFolder features, please read the XFolder Online Reference, for which the XFolder install program has created an object in the "XFolder Installation" folder on your Desktop.
Now click on the button below to continue.
.****** Context menus ***********************
Many of the new XFolder features either modify the default context menu items
or are accessible by using them.
As an example, please click on the Desktop with mouse button 2. Its context
menu will open, where you will see many new options. If you wish to know what the
meaning of a certain menu item is, click on it, keep holding the mouse button down
and press the F1 key. A help window will appear, explaining this menu item.
XFolder also allows you to quickly create objects using context menus.
Click with mouse button 2 on the Desktop. In the context menu you'll see a submenu
called "Create another". Select one of the menu items in it, and XFolder will create
the respective object directly at the mouse position.
You can modify the new menus and menu items in folder context menus as you desire.
This is done using the "XFolder Configuration Folder", which was created by the
install program in the "XFolder Installation" folder on your Desktop.
Everything you put into this special folder will appear as menu items in folder
context menus. If you put templates into this folder, you'll be able to create
objects from them using context menus.
Click on the Desktop with mouse button 2 and select XFolder Configuration Folder
in the XFolder menu.
You will see that each subfolder of that folder corresponds to a submenu, and that
each other object appears as a menu item in the context menus.
The other XFolder features are freely configurable too. To accomplish this, XFolder
has created a new object called "Workplace Shell" in your "System setup" folder.
In this object you'll find both the standard "System" settings pages dealing with
the Workplace Shell as well as the new XFolder settings.
Open your "System setup" folder and therein the "Workplace Shell" object to take
a look at the new pages.
On each of the new pages you can always receive extensive help by pressing the "Help"
button.
While the "Workplace Shell" object deals with settings which affect the whole system,
there are certain settings which apply to single folders only. For this, XFolder adds
a new settings page to all folder settings notebooks also.
Open the settings notebook for any folder. There will be a new "XFolder" settings
page in that notebook, for which you will find more help also.
.****** Desktop settings ***********************
XFolder adds more settings to the Desktop also. On the "XDesktop" page
in the Desktop's settings notebook you will find more menu options, but most importantly,
the settings for the new eXtended Shutdown, with which XFolder can replace
and enhance the
default OS/2 shutdown routines.
The eXtended Shutdown allows you to automatically reboot your computer, define
your own reboot options, not to close certain programs, cancel shutdown, and more.
In addition, XFolder allows you to restart the WPS only without having to reboot
the whole computer.
Please look into the XFolder Online Reference to read a more detailed
introduction to these features.
.****** OS/2 Kernel, new with V0.84; note that you'll have to update the next and
.****** previous flags of DesktopSettings and StatusBars
Another object has been created in your "System setup" folder, which is called
"OS/2 Kernel". As opposed to the "Workplace Shell" object, which deals with
WPS settings which take effect immediately, the "OS/2 Kernel" contains those settings
which require a reboot to take effect.
This object offers you an easy-to-use interface for the most important CONFIG.SYS
settings. There is extensive help available for all these settings. Since changing
the CONFIG.SYS is always a bit dangerous, XFolder tries to assist you in finding
settings which won't ruin your system and can also optimize some of the values
for your computer.
A shortcut to that object can also be found in the "XFolder" menu in
every folder's context menu.
XFolder can add status bars to all open folder views. In these status bars you will
see detailed and very flexible information about the objects which are currently selected.
Since other WPS software also provides status bars, this feature is disabled per default.
In the new "Workplace Shell" object you may enable this feature on the "Status bars"
page.
The status bar display can be configured very freely.
Please look into the XFolder Online Reference to read a more detailed
introduction to these features.
XFolder also allows you to define folder hotkeys for many folder functions.
As an example, open any folder and press Ctrl+S. You will see a new
window which allows you to select defined objects in that folder.
There are more than 30 different folder functions to which you may assign
folder hotkeys, such as sorting, opening the parent folder, refresh now etc.
This is also explained in detail in the
XFolder Online Reference.
New system sounds - there are now a few more events which you can assign
sounds to.
New default icons for the most common WPS classes.
Netscape DDE interface - you can now choose to only use the Netscape
which is already running.
Treesize - find out how much disk space is consumed by a folder and all of its
subfolders.
Auto-scroll in Tree View - scroll down a Tree View automatically
when it is expanded to make the new items visible.
Quick Open makes your most frequently used folders
show their content instantaneously.
This should suffice for a short introduction to XFolder's potential.
The XFolder Online Reference contains detailed descriptions for all the
XFolder features, including those that were not described here, and for how to
configure them.
You may open this reference either by double-clicking on the object which the
XFolder install program has created in the "XFolder Installation" folder on your
Desktop, or by selecting the respective menu item in the "XFolder" menu in each
folder's context menu.
And now, have fun with XFolder!