
            CHECKINI.TXT                                                Page 1

            TABLE OF CONTENTS

                1. DISCLAIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    2
                2. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    2
                3. IMPORTANT NOTICES  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    3
                3.1. NEW VERSIONS OF OS/2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    3
                3.2. NETWORK ENVIRONMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    3
                4. USING CHECKINI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    4
                4.1. COMMAND LINE OPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    4
                4.2. OUTPUT ON SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    4
                4.3. WHEN CHECKINI IS FINISHED  . . . . . . . . . . . . .    4
                5. DETAILED DESCRIPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    6
                5.1. PM_Workplace:Handles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    6
                5.2. ORPHAN OBJECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    6
                5.3. WHAT THE PROGRAM CHECKS FOR  . . . . . . . . . . . .    7
                5.4. EXAMPLES of OUTPUT:  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    8
                5.5. REVISION HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    9





















































            CHECKINI.TXT                                                Page 2

            1. DISCLAIMER

            19 December 1994

            I allow you to use and distribute CHECKINI freely under the
            condition that I am in no way responsible for any damage or loss
            you may suffer. 

            Henk Kelder,
            Harderwijk
            The Netherlands

            2:280/801.339@fidonet.org


            2. INTRODUCTION

            CHECKINI checks for, and optionally corrects, some problems in
            OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI. CHECKINI only looks at information
            regarding the workplace shell and ONLY at information regarding
            the workplace shell. 

            The make full use of CHECKINI read this document to acquire
            information about what CHECKINI does.

            The main reason for CHECKINI was the growth that the both .INI
            files used to to show if one used the Workplace shell heavily.

            Since OS/2 2.1 the total INI-file handling has been changed and
            the ini-files no longer show the big growth. Inconsistencies in
            the ini-files can however still occur. Also, all redundant
            information, as described in this document can still be present.

            Also CHECKINI helps to determine some possible cause's for
            workplace shell failures like loosing workplace shell objects, or
            situations in which a program object looses the proper executable
            name or current directory. Obviously, the real cause for these
            problems must be in the workplace shell itself, CHECKINI however
            could help you to determine the degree of damage that has been
            done.

            Note: CHECKINI does not work when Presentation manager has not
            been started.












            














            CHECKINI.TXT                                                Page 3

            3. IMPORTANT NOTICES

            3.1. NEW VERSIONS OF OS/2

            You should take care when using this program on new versions of
            OS/2 since this program interprets data from the ini-files.
            The internal structure of this data can change, and the program
            might fail or even corrupt information.

            The best way to test this is run checkini WITHOUT the /C option! 
            (Optionally use the /W option to write out all checkini's
            findings and inspect the logfile)
            If Checkini reports un unusual amount of errors, the internal
            structure of the workplace shells data inside the ini-files might
            have changed.
            Look in CHECKINI's logfile at the  "PM_Abstract:Objects &
            PM_Abstract:FldrContents" section with special care.
            If this section contains a lot of errors while your workplace
            shell seems to function properly there might have been a change,
            so: 

            DO NOT USE CHECKINI.EXE or WPSBKP.EXE then!
            ===========================================

            (see DANGER.TXT about this)


            3.2. NETWORK ENVIRONMENTS

            if you are normally connected to a network and run CHECKINI when
            you are NOT connected to this network, or when you are not logged
            in, CHECKINI will report errors for references to network
            objects.
            In the situation mentioned above and with the /C switch given,
            take care when confirming deleting or correcting problems.




















            














            CHECKINI.TXT                                                Page 4

            4. USING CHECKINI

            From an OS/2 command prompt enter the command CHECKINI.
            Without any command line options CHECKINI doesn't change anything
            to your ini-files.

            4.1. COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

            /C             -    Write corrections to ini-files. The
                                default is to diagnose only. If this
                                option is specified the program will ask
                                confirmations for all changes it may want
                                to do in your ini-files.

            /APath         -    Specify different location for ini-files
                                to be checked. This option is useful if
                                you have a copy of you ini files and you
                                would like these copies to be checked. 
                                NOTE: Do NOT use this option to check ini-
                                files not belonging to the PC you run
                                CHECKINI on.

            /Llogfilename  -    Specify name of logfile. The default is
                                CHECKINI.LOG in the directory you start
                                the program in.

            /W             -    Write all output to logfile. Normally only
                                problems are written to the logfile. This
                                option could help you to inspect a lot
                                about your workplace shell objects
                                (actually workplace shell objects
                                instances).

            /S             -    'Silent run', only write logfile. Normally
                                found errors are reported directly.

            /?             -    Show info.


            4.2. OUTPUT ON SCREEN

            While running CHECKINI displays all found information on the
            screen. Whenever a problem is found, and the /S switch is not
            used the program reports the problem. The problem itself is
            visible in the bottom lines of the screen. Problems are always
            reported in CAPITALS.

            4.3. WHEN CHECKINI IS FINISHED

            When you have used CHECKINI with the /C argument be prepared to
            shutdown immediately after CHECKINI has completed. This because
            the workplace shell has a copy of the ini-files in memory and
            writes them back to disk on a timed basis. It can happen that
            this mechanism will undo some of the changes CHECKINI made.
            Sorry, you'll have to do it again if this happens.
            














            CHECKINI.TXT                                                Page 5

            A better approach is to reset the Workplace shell using RESETWPS,
            but even than it is possible that one must run CHECKINI multiple
            times before all corrections are kept.




















































            














            CHECKINI.TXT                                                Page 6

            5. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

            5.1. PM_Workplace:Handles

            A special note is in place about a specific piece of information
            in the INI-files called 'PM_Workplace:Handles'.
            The workplace shell uses some obscure entity called
            object-handles to refer to objects. Object handles are in fact
            numbers. A object-handle can refer to a abstract object (a object
            NOT on your hard disk e.g. the colour palette) and file-system
            objects (files & directories). 

            Abstract objects reside in the ini-files. 
            File-system objects reside on your hard disk. 

            Whenever you add a program object to your desktop and specify a
            program file the workplace shell determines if a handle was
            already assigned to the program file and if so, it uses this
            handle. If no handle was assigned, the shell creates a handle and
            assigns it to the program file. In the definition of the program
            object (self an abstract object) the handle for the program file
            is stored.
             
            When you start the program by clicking on the object the wps
            must have a way to refer the stored handle back to the program
            file. This is done by using the 'PM_Workplace:Handles'
            information. Unfortunately only handles are added to this
            information and they are not removed when a (program)file is
            removed from your hard disk. 

            CHECKINI allows you to remove handles for files or directories
            that no longer are present or are inaccessible.


            5.2. ORPHAN OBJECTS

            An wide spread way to remove undeletable objects is to move
            them to a directory, and then, in a OS/2 or DOS session remove
            the directory. The Workplace shell than no longer shows the
            objects. They are in fact NOT removed but they simply have no
            parent directory they will show in (no stool to sit on).
            Also, sometimes it is possible that suddenly several objects
            are lost. A reason for this could be a unintentional removal
            of a desktop directory.

            CHECKINI detect these 'orphan objects' and queries to user (when
            /C specified) to recreate the folder (directory) these objects
            where located in or as an alternative, move these objects to
            another (new) location. Any moved objects will appear after the
            workplace shell has been restarted. (after a reboot or resetwps!)

            If none of the above options was selected the user is presented
            to possibility to purge the objects from the ini-files.


            














            CHECKINI.TXT                                                Page 7

            5.3. WHAT THE PROGRAM CHECKS FOR

            The following ini-records (Application - Key) are checked:

            PM_Abstract:Objects     - (all keys)
            (Mainly checks WPProgram objects for consistency, but also
            checks for 'lost-objects' - objects moved to non-existing
            locations. Also checks WPNetLink and WPShadow links.)


            PM_Abstract:FldrContent - (all keys)
            (Used for the check mentioned above for 'lost-objects')    


            PM_Workplace:Handles[0/1] - BLOCKn 
            (Checks consistency and existence of filesystem object-handles)

            PM_Workplace:Location   - (all keys)
            (Checks existence of object where id-strings like <WP_DESKTOP>
            point to)

            PM_Workplace:Folderpos  - (all keys)
            (Checks for obsolete saved object positions, fonts, etc)

            PM_PrintObject:JobCnrPos - (all keys)
            (Checks for obsolete saved print job container positions)

            PM_Workplace:PalettePos - (all keys)
            (Checks for obsolete saved palette positions, fonts, etc)

            PM_Workplace:Templates  - (all keys)
            (Checks for template-records that refer to non-existing objects)


            PM_Abstract:Icons       - (all keys)
            (Checks for obsolete icons, icons for abstract objects that do
            not exist)

            PMWP_ASSOC_FILTER       - (all keys)
            (Checks for associations with non-existing objects)

            PMWP_ASSOC_TYPE         - (all keys)
            (Checks for associations with non-existing objects)

            PMWP_ASSOC_CHECKSUM     - (all keys)
            (Checks for obsolete checksum record that point to
            non-existing objects)

            PM_Workplace:Startup    - (all keys)
            (Checks if the referenced folders are in fact startup folders)

            FolderWorkareaRunningObjects - (all keys)
            (Checks for a list of open objects for a workarea)


            














            CHECKINI.TXT                                                Page 8

            5.4. EXAMPLES of OUTPUT:

            =================================================
             PM_Workplace:Handles:BLOCK1                   
            =================================================
            3E2DA:CHECKINI.EXE   =>E:\ICON\CHECKINI.EXE<-UNABLE TO ACCESS
            395F8:COPYINI.EXE    =>E:\ICON\COPYINI.EXE<-UNABLE TO ACCESS
            39400:GETPROG.EXE    =>E:\ICON\GETPROG.EXE<-UNABLE TO ACCESS
            =================================================
             PM_Abstract:Objects & PM_Abstract:FldrContents
            =================================================
              Object 13087, Class WPNetLink : A network folder
               Linked to: \\SERVER09\SYS3\DIRECTORY1<-UNABLE TO ACCESS!
              Object 140AD, Class WPNetLink : SYS3
               Linked to: \\SERVER09\SYS3<-UNABLE TO ACCESS!
              Object 15185, Class WPNetLink : SYS1
               Linked to: \\SERVER09\SYS1<-UNABLE TO ACCESS!
              Object 15956, Class WPNetLink : A network folder
               Linked to: \\SERVER09\SYS3\DIRECTORY1<-UNABLE TO ACCESS!
            =================================================
             Checking AssocCheckSum                          
            =================================================
            PMWP_ASSOC_CHECKSUM:252153
              points to 3D8F9 - E:\ICON\GETBLOCK.EXE<-UNABLE TO ACCESS
            =================================================
             Checking FolderPos                              
            =================================================
            PM_Workplace:FolderPos:252223@10
              points to 3D93F - OBJECT DOES NOT EXIST


























            














            CHECKINI.TXT                                                Page 9

            5.5. REVISION HISTORY

            Notes on version 1.1:

            o   Some checks were added: 
                PM_Workplace:PalettePos
                PM_Workplace:Startup
                Some other checkings were extended.

            Notes on version 1.2:

            o   The check for PM_Workplace:Handles was moved so that it would
                be the last test done.

            o   The fraise 'DOES NOT EXIST' for file objects (files & 
                directories) has been changed to 'UNABLE TO ACCESS' since     
                this is a better description of what CHECKINI finds.

            Notes on version 1.3:

            o   The only extra in this version is that it support OS/2    
                2.00.1 (beta version) since in this version the internal    
                structure of various workplace shells object data has    
                changed.

            Notes on version 1.4:

            o    Not all the data checkini apparently needs to exist. If
                 some data  checkini checks does not exist, the test is
                 skipped.

            Notes on version 1.5:

            o    Checkini now works properly after installing the
                 servicepack dated october 1992.

            Notes on version 1.6:

            o    Two additional tests were added. These test are for:
                 - 'FolderWorkareaRunningObjects' and 
                 - 'PM_PrintObject:JobCnrPos'

            o   When a conflict in OBJECTID's is detected (two or more
                objects having the same OBJECTID, CHECKINI /c can assign a
                new OBJECTID to the objects that claim to have an OBJECTID
                that is already in use by another object.

            o    Updated the documentation files (this file)

            o   A simple test has been build in to see if OBJECTID's can be
                found in the ini-files, to determine if the internal data
                structure of the ini-files might have been changed and
                CHECKINI will fail completely. This is however no guarantee
                that CHECKINI will function properly on new versions of OS/2
                2.0.
            














            CHECKINI.TXT                                               Page 10

            Notes on version 1.7:

            o   The 'simple test' mentioned above might block someone using
                CheckIni if the ini-file itself is corrupt. Now the test is
                only performed when /C (correct) switch is specified.

            Notes on version 1.8:

            o   When checking 'PM_Workplace:Handles' a test has been put in
                that checks the accessibility on a volume in one strike. 
                If the user okays the removal of all references to a
                non-locateable volume, all handles on that volume are removed
                without further checking.

            Notes on version 1.81:

            o   Apparently CheckIni went bananas whenever an alternate ini
                directory was specified and no ini's were found. This has
                been corrected.

            o   Some minor enhancements were made to the text that is being
                shown on the screen. These changes mainly have to do with
                signalling problems with OBJECTID's.

            o   CheckIni refused to Change/Correct anything if the Desktop's 
                Extended attributes have been damaged. CheckIni now offers a
                try-to-repair option.

                This option comes down to CheckIni re-assigning objectid
                <WP_DESKTOP> to the desktop when CheckIni is unable to locate
                this ObjectId inside the Desktop Extended Attributes. If this
                corrective action has been taken CheckIni terminates and one
                should wait a view moments so the WPS has time to update the
                physical extended attribute on disk.

            Notes on version 1.90:

            o   This version now supports all known versions of OS/2 2.0 and 
                OS/2 2.1 Beta versions up till release level 6.498 (March
                '93)

            Notes on version 1.91:

            o   The try-to-repair option will be called also now when the
                desktop folder doesn't contain the .CLASSINFO extended
                attribute at all.

            o   When /C was specified, and lost objects were found and the
                user choose for 'discard object', the OBJECTID was still
                checked and when an error was found the program asked if a
                new OBJECTID should be assigned. This has been corrected

            Notes on version 1.92:

            o     Several small (non-functional) errors were corrected.
            














            CHECKINI.TXT                                               Page 11

            o     Verified that CHECKINI works with OS/2 2.1 GA (rev. 6.514)

            Notes on version 1.93:

            o   Corrected a problem were CheckIni reported a problem with     
                'Not enough memory' in GetAllProfileNames.

            o   When a directory containing objects is missing, CHECKINI now
                first tries to recreate this directory before trying to move
                the objects. (Only on local drives)

            Notes on version 1.94:

            o   Due to a bug in the Workplace shell, whenever Checkini
                (re)assigned an OBJECTID to a Scheme Palette, all scheme's
                went to 'New Scheme'.

                The same problem  could occur on OS/2 2.1 installations that
                were installed on top of OS/2 2.0. The problem would even
                then occur when the /C option was not specified.
                These problems have been corrected.
                    
            Notes on version 1.95:

            o   When the workplace shell had more then 64 Kb of
                object-handle-to-file data (PM_Workplace:HandlesX) CHECKINI
                would mess up. Now CHECKINI can handle multiple BLOCK records
                and will only write as much of these records as needed back
                to OS2SYS.INI (and discard any others)

            o   Objects of class WPTransient were not recognized and
                therefore whenever and OBJECTID of such an object existed
                CHECKINI would give an error message. This has been
                corrected.

            Notes on version 1.96:

            o   Checkini with abort when very long file names had to be
                presented on the screen. This has been corrected.


            Notes on version 1.97:

            o   This version works with OS/2 3.0 (Warp version)

            o   Some minor bugs where corrected.

            Notes on version 1.98:

            o   In version 1.95 I added logic to handle more then 64 Kb of
                object-handle-to-file data. I implicitally assumed then that
                I would always read the multiple BLOCK records in the proper
                order. As it turns out this assumption is not always correct.
                I've changed it so I will always read the proper order.

            













