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Amiga Format CD 3
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Amiga Format CD03 (1996-07-04)(Future Publishing)(GB)(Track 1 of 6)[!][issue 1996-08].iso
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edwordv5.5
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1996-05-20
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===========================================
========---- Professional V5.5 ----========
FEATURES
MARTIN REDDY, 1996
EdWord is an extremely powerful, general purpose text editor which offers a
host of useful and helpful facilities. It was initially released as a Share-
ware program, but since that time it has undergone a myriad of improvements
and updates resulting in the current version which provides an indispensable
aid for every Amiga user. As you might expect, the basic function of EdWord
is to edit text and in this role, it offers all the rudimentary facilities
which any text editor might offer, but what makes EdWord that bit more
special are the extra options which it provides. These have made the program
quite large in size but, as any woman will tell you, the old saying that
size isn't everything is a load of crap. Bigger is better and EdWord has got
it where it counts! The following is a list of some of the more notable
functions which are supported by version 5.5 :-
· Multiple Documents: you can edit up to 15 documents at once
(memory permitting, of course) with a split screen option to
view two of them together and the ability to cut & paste etc.
between them all.
· A Macro Facility: lets you record any sequence of keypresses/
mouse clicks and menu selections, and then play them back. This
is very useful for automating small repetitive jobs.
· An "Auto Completion" facility to automatically complete the
current word, based upon the contents of the currently loaded
Keyword Definition File (ALT+SPACE).
· A "Find Functions" facility to list all functions/procedures in
a source code file and allow the user to jump directly to any
of these by clicking over its name.
· An ARexx port offering an extensive and comprehensive range of
commands (over 100) to provide full automation of EdWord; with
the ability to enter these commands directly (without using
ARexx), as well as run any ARexx script from within the editor
(documentation for the ARexx commands is not supplied with the
demo version)
· PowerPacker Support: EdWord will (optionally) decrunch any
data files which have been packed with this cruncher
· A new few feature called Auto Suggest whereby if you type in
a filename which doesn't exist when loading, then EdWord will
make an intelligent suggestion as to what you actually meant
to type in by finding the filename which closet matches it!
· AppWindow Support: When running EdWord on a WorkBench screen,
it is possible to load a file by simply dragging its icon into
the editor's window
· An iconify feature via a Workbench AppIcon or a zoom gagdet on
the editor's window (when on the WorkBench screen) and
· A calculator which lets you perform basic arithmetic as well as
convert numbers between different bases including decimal,hexa-
decimal, octal and binary (Separate Program)
· An auto indenting facility as well as a symbolic indenting
facility (i.e. EdWord can automatically indent your source
code as you enter it)
· Text Casing of language keywords. i.e. certain keywords can be
forced into a certain case (UPPERCASE,lowercase or Capitalised)
Useful to maintain a consistent look to a piece of source code
(a couple of Keyword Files are provided for this purpose).
· Access to AmigaDOS to allow the user the ability to run any DOS
command (This could be used to run a compiler or assembler
through the editor or open a NewShell etc.)
· Save backups and auto save files to a specified directory.
· The ability to use either the standard EdWord file requester or
the reqtools.library or asl.library ones
· An Auto Save facility to make EdWord automatically save your
document every so often.
· An ASCII table of printable character codes with the ability to
insert any such character into the current text (from ASCII
code 0 to 255)
· The ability to sort a block alphabetically - this could be used
for arranging a list of names, games etc.
· checks RAM for any viruses or suspicious programs when it first
loads up and alerts the user if it finds anything strange.
· Various screen resolutions are supported including PAL and NTSC
standards, custom or WorkBench screen and the ability to work
in interlace mode.
· Powerful printing options including the setting of margins, the
page length, the ability to include page numbers and to specify
the print pitch and quality.
· On-line help texts available from within the editor.
· Tested under Workbench V2.0 and V3.0. Requires WB2.0 or higher
(1 Meg. of RAM minimum is recommended).
A BRIEF HELPING HAND
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most of the facilities which EdWord offers are fairly intuitive and need
little or no explaining (I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how
to load and save a file!). However, one or two areas require a little bit
explanation so that you can utilise their full potential. (If you register
with me then you will also get the "EdWordHelp" program which explains every
aspect of using EdWord in full detail)
1) Text Casing : This facility lets you force certain words into a certain
case. This is useful for programmers who, for example, may want all the
keywords in a language to be forced into uppercase and all variables to
be forced into Capitalised form. This is done be reading in a file
(called a "Keyword Definition File" which lists all the keywords of a
language). I have supplied one or two of these files with this demo.
Try loading one of these into the Text Casing module (in the Utilities
menu) and put the keyword casing on. Keyword Configuration files can be
recognised by the ".KEY" filename extension. The following three such
files have been included with the shareware release :-
· AmigaDOS.key = List of AmigaDOS keywords (e.g. Dir,List,Copy etc.)
· Pascal.key = List of ISO Pascal keywords (e.g. WriteLn,Begin,End )
· C.key = List of C keywords (e.g. If,While,Int,Struct etc.)
Just click on the "Load" gadget in the Text Casing facility and use the
file requester to choose your Keyword File. (N.B Delimiters are symbols
which inhibit the casing operations within a certain range eg comments)
2) Symbolic Indentation : This facility will let you make EdWord indent
your source code as you type it. It is very similar to the "Automatic
Indentation" feature of the Lattice/SAS C editor but it is fully
configurable. Information for this facility is also stored in the
Keyword Definition file so if you load the "C.key" file into the Text
Casing facility then when you return to the editor, whenever you end
a line with a "{" symbol EdWord will indent the next line until you
end a line with a "}" symbol when EdWord will un-indent that line.
Obviously, if you load the "Pascal.key" file then this works with
"Begin" and "End" instead of "{" and "}".
3) User Commands : EdWord will let you define 10 user commands. These are
just commands which you could type in at the CLI prompt but EdWord will
let you run them without having to quit the editor. The "Delay switch"
can be used to force a wait for a keypress after completing the command
The "AutoSave" switch can be used to force EdWord to save the current
file before executing the command. The "Async" switch specifies whether
you want the command to be run in the background or foreground. The
actual command string which you enter will be executed exactly as you
enter it with three exceptions :-
· any occurrence of an "*" character will be replaced with the current
filename when the command is run.
· any occurrence of an "@" character will be replaced with the current
filename with no file extensions. e.g. If the filename is "hello.c"
then the "@" character will be converted to "Hello"
· any occurrence of a "¶" character (Alt+P), will be replaced with the
current file's full pathname
· any occurrence of a "|" character will be converted into a line feed
so that you can specify multiple commands with the one string.
e.g. The following Command String will display the name of the current
file being edited and perform an AmigaDOS List command to find out the
size/date etc. of the file.
ECHO "The current filename is *" | List *
Using these facilities you can create custom environments for just about
any language. I have used it successfully to make integrated editor/compiler
environments for AmigaBASIC, DevPac, Lattice C, North C & DICE with amazing
ease, effortlessness and speed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I would like to take this opportunity to thank some of the people who have
helped me during the development of EdWord and have put up with my constant
ravings about what totally excellent new feature I've added to it. Firstly,
to Sandy McNair without whom EdWord probably wouldn't exist because it was
him who challenged me to write it in the first place and he has given me
buckets full of help in debugging it. In the same vein, thanks to a certain
Graham Lynch for all of his comments along the lines of "I bet that EdWord
doesn't do this ..." which promptly forced me to incorporate it just so that
I could say "yes". Thanks also to Keith Sharp for his invaluable aid in
finding bugs (which he seemed to take great pleasure in doing!) and for
letting me test the program on a WorkBench 2.0 machine. Thanks to Lesley
Stronach (I spelt it right this time!) and Merle Stevenson for keeping me
sane and just for being there. Thanks to my mum for the last twenty years
and for being totally brill. Thanks to all the nice people who actually
registered for the shareware release of EdWord - much appreciated guys.
(In particular, many thanks to Simon Dick for all of his help in testing
EdWord and also for his help with AppWindows and ARexx and his general
suggestions for improvement. I've no doubt that EdWord wouldn't offer as
much power today if it wasn't for his aid). Thanks to the music of Bon Jovi
Gun, Sisters of Mercy, U2 and Dire Straits and of course, thanks to Michelle
Pfeiffer for just being a totally gorgeous and desirable woman.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my little band of
Beta Testers who provided lots of helpful criticism & suggestions prior to
this release of EdWord. Thanks to their dilligent efforts, I feel a lot
more confident about the stability and robustness of this package. The
Beta Testers for EdWord Professional V5.0/5 were (in alphabetical order) :
· Andrew Davidson
· Daniel Feal
· Jim Beck
· Magnus Johnson
· Simon Dick
Cheers,
Martin.