The Workplace Shell (WPS) is an

object-oriented Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of '' objects''. Objects can contain data (called fields, attributes or properties) and have actions they can perform (called procedures or methods and impleme ...

desktop shell (also called

desktop environment In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphi ...

) produced by

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

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development lab for

OS/2 OS/2 is a Proprietary software, proprietary computer operating system for x86 and PowerPC based personal computers. It was created and initially developed jointly by IBM and Microsoft, under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci, ...

2.0. It is based on Common User Access and made a radical shift away from the

Program Manager Program Manager is the shell of Windows 3.x and Windows NT 3.x operating systems. This shell exposed a task-oriented graphical user interface (GUI), consisting of ''icons'' ( shortcuts for programs) arranged into ''program groups''. It replaced ...

type interface that earlier versions of

shared with Windows 3.x or the application-oriented

WIMP WiMP is a music streaming service available on mobile devices, tablets, network players and computers. WiMP, standing for "Wireless Music Player," was a music streaming service that emphasized high-quality audio. WiMP offered music and podcast ...

interface of the

Apple Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

. The Workplace Shell was also used in OS/2 Warp 3 and Warp 4, and the OS/2-based operating systems

eComStation eComStation or eCS is an operating system based on OS/2 Warp for the 32-bit x86 architecture. It was originally developed by Serenity Systems and Mensys BV under license from IBM. It includes additional applications, and support for new hardwa ...

and

ArcaOS ArcaOS is a Proprietary software, proprietary operating system based on OS/2, developed and marketed by Arca Noae, LLC under license from IBM. It was first released in 2017 and builds on OS/2 Warp 4.52 by adding support for new hardware, fixing ...

. IBM originally intended to deliver the Workplace Shell as part of the OfficeVision/2 LAN product, but in 1991 announced plans to release it as part of OS/2 2.0 instead. Although mostly written in C, under the covers the Workplace Shell is implemented as an object-oriented class library, basing on the System Object Model (SOM). The WPS classes are glued together with an

interface definition language An interface description language or interface definition language (IDL) is a generic term for a language that lets a program or object written in one language communicate with another program written in an unknown language. IDLs are usually use ...

(IDL). SOM and its IDL was developed by IBM in their

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lab. The classes can easily be manipulated by sending simple settings strings (like "KEYWORD=VALUE;") to them both via a C and a

Rexx Rexx (restructured extended executor) is a high-level programming language developed at IBM by Mike Cowlishaw. Both proprietary and open-source software, open source Rexx interpreter (computing), interpreters exist for a wide range of comput ...

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. When implementing a new WPS class, it is derived from an existing class from within the WPS class hierarchy. For modifying, extending or removing certain functionality of the parent class, often only a few methods of the parent class need to be overwritten by the developer. All other functionality of the parent class can safely remain unchanged, ensuring the seamless integration of the added or modified functionality and with that the consistency of the remaining user interface. The resulting object class is shipped in DLL form. Once the new object class implemented by it is registered with the Workplace Shell and an instance of this class is created, it can be acted on by the user or other programs as every other Workplace Shell object. A part of the WPS design allows for the developer of a class Y which extends or modifies a class X to execute an additional

on installation which will let the WPS 'replace' class X by class Y. This will make even all existing instances of class X behave as instances of the modified class Y; i.e., almost a retroactive

inheritance Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

. This allows for many useful third-party desktop utilities that add or modify functionality to or of existing objects without access to IBM's source code. Where the IDL and class headers also of derived classes are published, these classes can as well be extended in turn in the same way.

References

External links

* A well-known free and open source Workplace Shell extension package name
xWorkplace
(for extended workplace) makes widely use of class replacement, introducing many new features to the user interface.
osFree
which seeks to entirely reimplement OS/2 as free software. * For OS/2 and eComStation developers, th
Workplace Shell Toolkit
eases common programming tasks when creating WPS classes, as well as for plain

Presentation Manager Presentation Manager (PM) is the graphical user interface (GUI) that International Business Machines, IBM and Microsoft introduced in version 1.1 of their operating system OS/2 in late 1988. History Microsoft began developing a graphic user inter ...

programming.
DFM
(Desktop File Manager) is a Linux file manager for the

X Window System The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X originated as part of Project Athena at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. The X protocol has been at ...

, inspired by the WPS.
Workplace Shell for Windows
is a freeware clone of the WPS made for Windows unofficially by IBM employees.
Download Workplace Shell for Windows

Download Workplace Shell for Windows 1.51 Source Code
{{OS/2 Workplace Shell Desktop environments

See also

References

External links