PPPCNT OS2 PPP CoNnecTion Utility

PPPCNT OS2 PPP CoNnecTion Utility

(ala UNIX style PPP connection)
Copyright GIGAplexed Consulting Services 1998
A REXX example that drives PPP customizations)

Prereq's


Assessment: This installation makes almost no change to your environment. Uninstall can be as simple as getting rid of the parts listed in pppcnt.lst. Config.sys is not changed. One thing is that the resolv file gets changed on a connection basis, but the original is maintained in 'resolv.ori' should you need it for some reason.

  • WHY A UTILITY TO DO THIS? (if you don't care go directly to 'WHAT TO DO ...')

    If you have never used IBM's Global ISP then you may not know the difference but believe me, the dialer.exe is a great deal nicer than slippm.exe. (ie 'Dial Other Provider') But still I hate using another window to drive something connection oriented, that I use on a regular basis. Actually slippm was reverse engineered to include PPP. It's annoying interface is stark, requires you to hit enter to launch your connection and asks 'Select OK to Exit'. Well if I canceled the app don't I want to exit? Also they did not implement any of the custom window save features like holding the 'alt' key and moving window permanently to a new location. On the good side this GUI is pretty rock solid in terms of problems. This utility DOES NOT DISPENSE entirely of slippm! You should still enter your connections via this GUI and test them for success. Then proceed to use PPPCNT.

    You may already have a connection(s) defined within slippm? I thought to myself, wouldn't it be neat to just setup the connection info in slippm and then go off and launch ppp.exe directly by hand. (which slippm does) So for a while I had this little command file to start my connection from an icon which worked pretty dandy. Unless of course I was spaced or stoned and invoked the cmd file multiple times, then we had problems.

    So I needed an indicator on the desktop but did not want the full GUI and lacked the proper specs to define the shared data area that would tell me when ppp was up and operational. Think about it .... ppp has to talk to you through some common programming communication medium to signal the event, then my little widget can say 'we're ready!'.

    SO after a long walk in the park I devised a way to CHEAT!

    My application knows when things are happening by using pstat to display Process ID info. I guessed and tested to find the shared memory name.

    Now my utility could go from red to yellow and finally knew when to turn on the green light. But how was I to reset the icon to red when ... nothing was left running? Another trick up my sleeve. The REXX signal instruction provided just the trick.

  • WHAT TO DO TO MAKE YOUR PPP GO GO GO ...

    Click for Warp 3 or Warp 4 Downloads.


    Download the '.zip' file and unzip to \TCPIP\ETC or for warp 4 use \MPTN\ETC. Run 'dial other providers' and if it does not contain any dialer definitions create at least one. Also test dial these accounts from that dialer. It creates initial pointers in the TCPOS2.INI file that will manage which connection is active/last. Now you are ready to procede to create the PPPCNT account icons on your desktop without further need for dial other providers. Run PINSTALL 'account name'. (no quotes) Account name is one that is displayed in your Dial Other Providers screen. (under name) You can PINSTALL for as many accounts as are defined. Using an existing icon updates it and does not create new.

    This will check for PPP's existance on your machine and install a traffic light icon on your desktop with the appropriate account name.

    The icon's WPS setup information requires that the 'start minimized' button be set. This alleviates a slight contention problem in execution. (window is also unnecessary except for debug purposes. So if you are looking at the window that launches PPP titled 'your connection name' and wondering why things are proceding slowly, you have your answer. Minimize the window or bring the 'PPP Connection' window to the front.

    If you have an internal variable volume modem you may want to manually edit the appropriate modem command string in Dial Other Providers to attenuate the sound. For USRobotics it is Mx where x=0 (off) and x=3 (for the deaf rocker) DO NOT set the '&M' parameter or you will turn error correction off and make your connection so slow as to be useless!

    Now just 'click' and away you go!

  • Shutting Down the Connection

    To shutdown, select 'PPP Connection' from the task list. (control-esc) In that window (PPP's log) hit control-C. (and note red light is set back on when window goes away) It should be noted that care should be taken not to hit control-C twice as the first cancels PPP then the second will cancel the exec prior to the red light being set on the icon. Should this happen, proper icon will be set next time application is invoked. (in other words this is a trivial issue)

    Slippm saves the connection info in TCPOS2.INI and pppcnt.cmd reads it each time it executes so changes made within slippm are automatically used.

    CUSTOMIZATION ICONS

    PPPCNT has the facility to specify alternate action icons. I ship a sample, ace, duce, three card to show you how it works. Get creative and make your own. Have a cool one, send it to me for inclusion in the package.

    example: pinstall IBM three.ico two.ico ace.ico


    where 'IBM' is an account name defined in the 'dial other provider' window.

    Case sensitivity in account name is important! Also if you invoke pinstall for a connection icon which already exists on your desktop, it is redefined. The icon names are maintained with the account name in TCPOS2.INI.

  • DEBUGGING AND ERRORS

    If there is an error message and exec is still running you can just switch to the 'PPP connection' window in the task list. The problem is that when the exec concludes the window usually goes away faster than you can see. In that case, it is easiest to modify the WPS object in the folllowing manner and let the window hang with all the info at completion.

    If you you need to see (or suspect) error messages that disappear too quickly it is most convenient to uncheck the 2 boxes on the 'SESSION' page for settings of the WPS object. (right click icon and select 'settings') Uncheck these...

    Start Minimized
    Close Window on Exit

    If you experience difficulty you may contact me at 76354.1617@compuserve.com. Please be sure to include enough info so that my response may be thorough. 
    Change History
______________

04/26/98 Formal introduction

04/28/98 Scripts now work (tested with Compuserve)
         Made changes with "@" so that password is not displayed in log
         Added custom icon feature

05/06/98 Noted condition when double control-C is hit from PPP Connection
         as leaving status icon in confused state. (ie green when gone)
         This is because first control-C returns to exec (RXppp) from PPP and
         second cancels exec prior to resetting icon.
         If it hurts ... don't do it! Reinvocation will sync ... trivial.

         Added more checks for 'PPP running' in starting stage.

06/04/98 Fixed problem with objectids and shorter account names

11/28/98 Modifications for Warp 4. Kept as separate zip file. (fairly trivial)

02/22/99 Added nameserver resolution file setting and maintenance of original
         resolve file (as resolv.ori) should the user want it for some reason.

03/12/99 Added null setting for empty modem strings per a bug report.
         Also set CCVIEW=NO so you cannot accidentally reinvoke.