Icons
An icon is a small graphical image
on the screen, used as a visual representation of an object such as an application
or a window. While the use of icons is not restricted to object-oriented
applications, the implementation of an icon-based user interface, where
icons representing objects are directly manipulated on the screen by the
user to achieve a desired result, is the essence of the object-oriented
workplace environment implemented
by the Workplace Shell under OS/2 Version 2.0. For more information see
Installing and Supporting the
Workplace Shell and Workplace
Shell Implementation.
Icons are designed using the Icon Editor program supplied with OS/2 Version
2.0. This utility offers the interactive design of icons, pointers and
bitmaps by the user. The resulting objects are saved in files for subsequent
use by applications.
The implementation of an icon depends on the associated application. There
are three different possibilities:
For a full-screen protected-mode application
(that is, those which do not utilize Presentation Manager facilities) or
for an application which executes in a text window under Presentation Manager,
an icon can be provided for use with the application. It must be in the
same directory and with the same file name as the application executable
module. For example, the icon for the application MBOOGLE.EXE would have
the name MBOOGLE.ICO. When loading the application, the Presentation Manager
automatically checks the directory for a corresponding icon file. If it
exists, it will use it to represent the application. Otherwise a default
icon will be used.
For Presentation Manager applications, icons
are generally incorporated into the executable modules when the applications
are created. See OS/2 Version 2.0 - Volume 4: Application Development
for further information on creating icons and including them in Presentation
Manager applications.
If there is no default icon available for the
application, the user can associate an icon by using the "General" page
in the Settings notebook. This dialog box allows the user to create a new
one or to search for another available icon with the find command.
Data files generally have a default icon, but this can be changed in the
same way as for an application.
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