Conference bulova::decw_jan-89_to_nov-90

A workaround is to hit the "refresh icon box" button,
which appears in the uppoer left corner of the icon box.
This usually, but not always, lines the icons up properly.
Of course I'd like to see a solution
that didn't require manual intervention.

...it has the unfortunate side effect of rearranging my icons. I like them
in a particular order. Yes, I'm picky. 

I gather there's nothing else to be done then?

I run a similarly tall and thin icon box.  I've ended up with mine on the
right-hand side of the screen, and then those ridiculously long names just
disappear off the edge!

Chris

    About those long icon names: it may be possible to change them.
    
    For example, the Session Manager icon is usually named "<user> on
    <node>".  The name appears to be constructed by FAOing the user/node
    names into a template string defined in the resource database.
    So, by defining the appropriate resource in your DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT
    file, you can change the icon name.
    
    Here's what I use to get the icon to just be my username; I don't
    need to see my node name since I run standalone anyway.  Actually,
    I know my own name as well, so I suppose I could have removed that
    as well, but I didn't.
    
*Session Manager.iconName:				!AS!+
    
    For reference, the orignal definiton of iconName was
    
*Session Manager.iconName:				!AS on !AS
    
    Needless to say, this is totally unsupported meddling, and if you get
    into trouble, I'll deny having ever told you this!	:-)
                  

    You can also define "Session Manager.iconName:" in 
    SYS$LOGIN:DECW$SESSION.DAT.
    
    To include the username and nodename, but on seperate lines,
    I have done this in my DECW$SESSION.DAT ...
    
    Session Manager.iconName:	!AS on\n!AS

    ... you end up with the Session Manager's icon title
    looking like:
    
    		USERNAME on
                  NODE

    No doubt that by placing the "\n" before the "on" word,
    you could also make it look like:
    
                USERNAME
                on NODE
                       
    Steve.                 

That's all well and good, but I would like to encourage the addtion of a
resource that tells the icon box placement algorithm to favor downward
rather than acrossward placement of the icons, so that vertical icon
boxes can be used for effectively.

	Yes I agree with .-1 and .-2.  I have had many folks ask me how to
edit DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT to get their icon box like mine which is a tall
thin, right side box.  I'd like to be able to consistantly place icons
in a specific location since when I have many icons it helps me quickly
locate the one I want (especially with small icons).  I realize this
is a matter of personal taste.

    I also have the problem, and it causes blue smoke to arise from my
    cube whenever it happens.  A number of features of the Icon Box make it
    worse.  For example, an icon can only be picked up and moved when it is
    in full view.  So when an icon is misplaces, I have to enlarge the icon
    box, rearrange it and then contract the icon box to the right size.  
    
    My solutions are short term.  In VUE, I replace the logical name of my
    userdisk: DISK$USERDISK: by DUA1: the physical name.  This makes the
    width of the box less and therefore reduces the likelyhood that two
    icons can be placed side by side. Then I leave a gap where new icons
    can be created before my short icons like mail. 
    
    A proper engineering solution would be much better!

re: .9 sounds like an old version.  Starting with FT2.1, the icon box will
let you move icons that extend out of view.  Even so I agree that long
icon names are not pleasant.

Dick

FileView's icon name and window title will be made customizable, with
selectable literal, node name and device/directory portions.  You will
be able to associate the icon name and window title with a saved view,
including your default startup view.

-steve-

That's not going to help.  The problem isn't that fileview's icon names
are too long, the problem is that the icon box code doesn't have a
Y-before-X option.

Even with the SDC version of DECwindows, you can not move an icon in the
following situation.  Create a narrow, long icon box with a wide icon that
extends beyond the edge of the box.  You can not move smaller icons from
above the wide icon to below it.

Kevin

RE: .13

That's not how it works on my system.  I have on very rare occasions had a
situation where things seemed to get stuck.  Making the icon box bigger,
moving 1 icon and making it smaller again seemed to unstick it.

Dick

Agreed, if I make the icon box bigger, then I can move stuff around.  But I
don't think that I should have to do that.

Kevin

Agree that you shouldn't have to.  But, as a work-around, you should be able
to make it bigger move 1, make it smaller and move the others.  That's what
I do on the VERY infrequent occasions that it gets stuck.

Dick