





                                                      CHECKINI.TXT - Page 1
          _________________
          TABLE OF CONTENTS



          1. DISCLAIMER...................................................1


          2. IMPORTANT - READ THIS FIRST !................................2


          3. DESCRIPTION..................................................3

          3.1 GENERAL.....................................................3
          3.2 PM_WORKPLACE:HANDLES........................................3
          3.3 ORPHAN OBJECTS..............................................4

          4. USING CHECKINI...............................................5


          5. HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS........................................5


          6. EXAMPLES OF OUTPUT:..........................................6


          7. REVISION HISTORY.............................................8






                                                      CHECKINI.TXT - Page 2

          1. DISCLAIMER


          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
          Dennenlaan 12
          3843 BX Harderwijk



          2. IMPORTANT - READ THIS FIRST !

          You should take care when using this program on new version 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
          This was the case with the OS/2 2.00.1 (or 2.01) version.


          CHECKINI checks for, and optionally corrects, some problems in
          OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI. CHECKINI only looks at information
          regarding the workplace shell.
          The make full use of CHECKINI read this document to require
          information about what CHECKINI does.






                                                      CHECKINI.TXT - Page 3

          3. DESCRIPTION

          3.1 GENERAL

          The main reason for CHECKINI is the growth that the both .INI
          files tend to have if one uses the Workplace shell heavelly.
          Using CHECKINI in conjunction with COPYINI helps to reduce the
          INI files sizes, which in turn should increase the workplace
          shells performance.

          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.


          3.2 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 infact numbers. A object-handle can
          refer to a abstract object (a object NOT on your harddisk e.g.
          the color palette) and  file-system objects (files &
          directories).

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

          Whenever you add a program object to your desktop and specify a
          programfile the workplace shell determines if a handle was
          already assigned to the programfile and if so, it uses this
          handle. If no handle was assigned, the shell creates a handle and
          assignes it to the programfile. In the definition of the program
          object (self an abstract object) the handle for the programfile
          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 programfile.
          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
          harddisk.

          In theory the total amount of handle-to-file information could
          grow to big and than without any warning you will loose
          information. The workplace shell than shows nonsence or nothing
          at all in some of your program objects.






                                                      CHECKINI.TXT - Page 4
          CHECKINI allows you to remove handles for files or directories
          that are no longer present or inaccessable.


          If you have installed the october service pack (CSD Level
          XR06055) there has been a minor change in mechanisme described
          above. The workplace shell now keeps multiple versions of
          'PM_Workplace:Handles' in the ini-files. Appearantly this is
          intended as a error-recovery mechanism. However, I've been unable
          to determine of the backup mechanism itself is implemented.


          3.3 ORPHAN OBJECTS

          An wide spread way to remove undeleteable 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 infact NOT removed but they simply have no parent
          directory to they will show in.
          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 move these objects to another (new) location.
          The moved objects will appear after the workplace shell has been
          restarted.
          If this question is answered with NO, another question is asked
          whether the objects should be removed from the ini-files.


          WARNING 1

          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 swith given,
          take care when confirming deleting or correcting problems.

          WARNING 2

          Whenever you run CHECKINI with the /C switch you must be prepared
          to shutdown immidiatly after you have run the program. This
          because the workplace shell has a lot of info in memory and it
          you keep on working some of the changes checkini has made will be
          overwritten by the desktop.






                                                      CHECKINI.TXT - Page 5

          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.

          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 usefull 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.

          /R  -       Do not report errors on files on network drives or
                      removable local drives like diskette's or CD-roms.

          /?   -      Show info.




          5. HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS

          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.






                                                      CHECKINI.TXT - Page 6

          6. 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 7
          WHAT THE PROGRAM CHECKS

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

          PM_Workplace:Handles    - BLOCK1
          (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)

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

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

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

          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_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:Location   - (all keys)
          (Checks consistency of logical location names e.g. <WP_DESKTOP>)

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

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





                                                      CHECKINI.TXT - Page 8

          7. REVISION HISTORY

          Notes on version 1.1:

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

          Notes on version 1.2:

          - The check for PM_Workplace:Handles was moved so that it would
            be the last test done.
          - The frase 'DOES NOT EXIST' for file objects (files &
            directories) has been changed to 'UNABLE TO ACCESS' since this
            is a beter description of what CHECKINI finds.

          Notes on version 1.3:

          - 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:

          - Not all of the data checkini appearantly needs to exist. If
            some data checkini checks does not exist, the test is skipped.

          Notes on version 1.5:

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

          Notes on version 1.6:

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

          - 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.

          - Updated the documentation files (this file)

          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.






                                                      CHECKINI.TXT - Page 9

          Notes on version 1.7:

          - 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:

          - 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:

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

          - 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:

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

          - 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:

          - Several small (non-functional) errors were corrected.
          - Verified that CHECKINI works with OS/2 2.1 GA (rev. 6.514)






                                                     CHECKINI.TXT - Page 10
          Notes on version 1.93:

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

          - 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:

          - 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:

          - 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)

          - 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:

          1. 
            Checkini with abort when very long file names had to be
            presented on the screen. This has been corrected.

          Notes on version 1.97:

          - This version works with OS/2 3.0 (Warp version)
          - Some minor bugs where corrected.

          Notes on version 1.98:

          - 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.

          Notes on version 1.99:






                                                     CHECKINI.TXT - Page 11
          I've found that some OBJECTID's can be *extreme* long. I've
          increased the internal buffer from 50 to 150 chars.

          Notes on version 1.991

          - Corrected some problems with corrupted objectdata where
            checkini would trap on.
          - Implemented the /R switch that makes Checkini to ignore errors
            on non-locateable drives.
          - Added tests for object classes, PM_Workplace:StatusPos, and
            PM_PrintObjects. Also checkini now tests all abstract objects
            for existing classes and checks if startup folders are present
            in PM_Workplace:Startup.
          - CHECKINI now offers to remove objects that contain errors (/C
            option only).

          Notes on version 2.000

          For a long time I did not release new versions. This had to do
          with a burglary at my house where, amongst other things, I lost
          my PC and thus my fidonet connection.

          - Changed the way object classes are checked. Before trying to
            load a Dynamic link library containing a specific class I first
            check if the dll has already been loaded. Also some specific
            classes are not checked since they always gave troubles.
          - Increased several internal buffers to accomodate the changes in
            Warp 3.0, FP 17 and above and the current gamma version of
            merlin. I did not make any specific functional changes for
            merlin.
          - Changed the way the /R parameter works. Now /R means: Only
            check for files on local, non-removable disks. This implies
            that local diskette or CD-rom drives are not checked when this
            option is specified.

