The Workplace Shell allows each object to have an optional object ID, which uniquely identifies the object on the system. All objects can have such IDs, no matter of which class.

Per definition, Desktop object IDs must be a character string in angle brackets. For example, the standard &link_syssetupfdr; has the <WP_CONFIG> object ID. Using an object ID, applications can reference objects without having to know in which folder they actually reside.

Many object IDs are assigned by the &os2; installation program when the system is first installed and usually never changed afterwards. (Those IDs should not be changed in the first place because certain applications or the WPS itself might rely on the ID to identify the object.)

However, there are usually many more object IDs on your system than those assigned by the initial &os2; install. Many installation programs will also assign IDs to their objects in order to be able to remove them again later.

&xwp; allows you to view and change an object's ID on the "Icon" page in each object's properties notebook. However, great care should be taken when changing object IDs.