ASP Advantage 1993/The Association of Shareware Professionals Advantage CD-ROM 1993.iso/files/writions/boxer50b/history.doc

Text File | 1993-04-06 | 20KB | 478 lines

  BOXER 5.0 contains many new features - most suggested by our users.

                Thank you for your support.  Enjoy!

Enhancements in v5.0:
---------------------

Syntax Highlighting: Boxer will display program source code with
highlighted comments, reserved words, symbols and constants in
user-definable colors! Misspelled keywords and unclosed comments and
strings become readily visible! Popular languages are supported; easily
configurable for others. This feature must be experienced to be
appreciated!!

CUA Style Menus:  Boxer now supports Alt-letter menu access, with user-
definable menu access keys, menu item hot letters, and hot letter colors!

Multi-Level Redo:  Did you ever Undo too far?  Redo lets you undo Undo!

Options can now be placed in a configuration file on disk, as well as on
the command line, or in the "BOXER" environment string

Extension-specific configuration allows options to be selected
automatically according to the extension of the file being edited!

The 26 macro areas, normally accessed with Ctrl-A to Ctrl-Z, can be
reassigned (with the RECONFIG utility) to any key sequences desired!

Copy, Cut, Paste and Delete quick-icons allow for faster block operations
by mouse

Preferred File Extensions: designate a list of file extensions which
Boxer will consult when searching for a file to open

"Quick Marking": 6 new commands have been added which initiate marking and
extend the cursor in a single step

8 New Screen Modes have been added: switch to 26, 29, 35 or 38 lines in EGA;
30, 33, 40 or 44 lines in VGA!

Auto-Scroll: provides variable speed scrolling for hands-off file browsing

Searchable Help Text: search the online help to quickly locate topics
or phrases

Quicker Exits: a Write & Quit command has been added to save all files
and exit in one step

The Search/Search & Replace commands suggest the word at the cursor
to speed these operations

Use the ASCII Chart or Insert Value commands to select characters for
Search and Replace, or for any other input on the message line

The Insert and Typeover cursors change size for extended screen modes

The compile function will jump to the proper error lines, even when
  insertions or deletions above have altered the error line's position

More configuration options have been added:

      -e.e1.e2    designate "preferred" file extensions
      -H0         disable Syntax Highlighting
      -I          to make "warm" menu letters
      -J#         sets justification style
      -Lfile      load print parameter file from command line
      -Ml         lefthand mouse: reverse sense of buttons
      -Mm         no L/R motion by mouse in menus
      -st         "sticky" auto indent ON
      -S          strips trailing blanks automatically when writing files
      -R          text Remains marked after block operations
      -Ro         read-only file warning OFF
      -U          selects Unix style file writes: linefeeds only
      -wi#        sets text width without enabling wordwrap


Filename Expansion now works while specifying DOS Commands, and naming
multiple files to edit

All available memory is now used for DOS Command, as with DOS shell.

Load up to 100 files via wildcard matches (was 32)

New Sort mode: randomly sort marked lines to alter a pre-sorted distribution

The ASCII chart has a mode showing Control-Letter equivalents

.EXE, .COM and .OBJ files do not appear in the file selection list, making
  more efficient use of the ~200 file limit therein

the Install program makes it easier to select alternate keyboard, printer
  and color files, and to preserve default settings from a prior version

horizontal menus accept the 1-9 keys, when unambiguous, to speed entry

A new frame style was added for the Fa# and Fi# options (8)

the print command will respect the "# of copies to print" value, even
  when printing without applying margins, etc.

the print command will display a "copy n of N" status during printing,
  even when printing without applying margins, etc.

the -0 option, when used in conjunction with a wildcard specification,
  serves to filter the File Menu to files matching the wildcard

the Status Window now displays the total # bytes loaded

The RECONFIG utility has a new Jump Back feature to help resolve
  key conflicts

when editing on a distant drive, BOXER will put backups in \BOXER\BACKUP,
  if such a directory exists

the Goto Line/Column command will accept a compound expression such
as "75 c10" to position to line 75, column 10 in a single step

LASERJET.COD includes the code sequence for printing graphic frame
  characters in place of accented foreign characters

the center mouse button will summon help when within the pull-down menus

The mouse cursor is now "transparent" - you may still select a specific
character with -M#

option flags can be reversed in sense with a double dash: --b

monochrome users can select the underlined attribute for text types

Alt-Enter can now be sensed (on enhanced keyboards)

The Enter key returns to current date in Calendar

trap sooner attempts to edit files too large to fit in RAM

Smooth Justification gives less priority to padding after punctuation

NULLs in embedded printer codes are quietly changed to character 0s

prompt to save the last file when closing to another file

inactive windows do not have icons, to better distinguish them from
  active windows

filenames with accented characters are no longer prohibited

printer init and reset codes can be longer - 64 bytes - and can also
be entered in "raw" format by enclosing the string in double quotes

the Insert/Typeover icon is active during the Message Line Editor

for block marking by mouse, the time period before marking commences has
  been reduced

under length lines are now permitted within a marked range being sorted;
they'll sort to the top

the compiler output files, BOXER.CC1 and BOXER.CC2 are now placed
  in BOXER's home directory, avoiding potential confusion for users
  on a network.  Also, the files are no longer deleted after use,
  allowing for examination.

the file BOXER.CFG is now named DEFAULT.CFG, and contains option flags,
  compiler info, and syntax highlighting info.

due to a change in format, macros containing window resizing commands
  must be re-recorded

Screen color files (.CLR) from previous versions are now invalid, due
  to  the changes made for Syntax Highlighting

Run RECONFIG on any old .KEY files to add key assignments for the new
  commands in v5.0

Note: old macros which accessed commands from the pull-down menus may
now misbehave. The menu item letters are now "hot" by default, so old
macros may now contain an unnecessary <Enter> key press. Compatibility
can be quickly regained with the "-I" option, by re-recording, or
editing the macro(s) with the BMAC utility.

Corrections in 5.0:

screen mispaint: wordwrap ON, press Enter in column > wordwrap
lengthen printer delay to 2ms (some had reported timeout)
fix MS mouse driver / UltraVision bug for cols != 80
fix bug in text anchors when first anchor deleted
in Typeover mode, with Autoindent ON, the cursor is placed at level of
  indent on the preceding line
clipboard didn't paint last character, on partial lines
errors getting options after -q and -z options
cured unnecessary "too much text on H/F" message
Help requested from the main menu bar was indexed wrong
advancing the mark to the key pressed during marking did not work in
  passive edit mode
the Insert ASCII Value command had not accepted char 255
erratic menu action by mouse in Windows and OS/2 non-full-screen modes

Corrections in 5.0a:
mouse behavior in menus was erratic, under certain conditions

Corrections in 5.0b:
increase mouse marking delay from 100ms to 150ms (was 200ms in 4.x)
  and add -Md# option for user control of this delay
ensure video mode is not reset improperly on exit when screen size
  is coincident with a BOXER mode, and add -Vx option allowing BOXER's
  video mode to persist on exit
with -0 option, Search Menu request would sometimes give File Menu
printer init/reset codes were foolishly limited to 8 chars when specified
  as digit string
use a long value to count replacements (had overflowed at 32768 changes)
dual newlines were added when Enter pressed at wordwrap column + 2
cursor was misplaced when Enter pressed in wordwrap mode when cursor is
  past the newline character (in virtual space)
resize misbehaved for .KEY files in which shifted arrows were unassigned,
  and/or arrow keys reassigned
very long compiler configuration strings could fail
convert 8-bit frame characters to SPACEs in -?p option flag output
MAKEMAN didn't insert current key bindings from v5.0 .KEY files
when Pasting into message line from Search Menu, search string was prepended
protect against very long file paths in Status Window display
calculator report is more readable; decimal result is now given first
correct improper compiler configuration string for Pascal IDE
increase reserved word limit from 256 to 512 for Syntax Highlighting
Syntax Highlighting info for Paradox has been added
new reserved words were added for DOS 6.0 CONFIG.SYS files

Enhancements in v4.0:
---------------------

BOXER now has 26 clipboard areas, and a pop-up Clipboard Manager allows
the clipboards to be selected, viewed or cleared with ease!

multiple compiler configurations: BOXER will use the extension of the file
being compiled to automatically select the proper compiler or assembler from
the BOXER.CFG file.  As many as 5 compilers can be defined for each file
extension.  See BOXER.CFG for details

BOXER is DESQview-aware: background programs will run faster under DESQview
because BOXER surrenders its time slice to DESQview when idle.  A sample
DESQview PIF file for BOXER is also included (BX-PIF.DVP)

a slick new graphic drawing feature: mark a rectangle with column marking and
select a style with Drawing Mode to automatically frame the marked area!

synchronized scrolling: press Scroll Lock when two or more windows are open
and the Up/Down arrows will scroll all windows.  Great for comparing files!

File Write speed has been increased by approximately 500% !

Line Marking: a quicker way to mark text when _full_ lines are to be marked

New color configurations: foreground and background colors can be selected for
window frames, and for a background "desktop" which appears if windows are not
full-screen

the current file position will be maintained for each window when the same
file is edited in multiple windows

new scrolling commands: Scroll Up/Down and Roll Up/Down allow a file to be
scrolled while maintaining either the current line, or the relative cursor
position within the window

a new Reload command allows the current file to be easily reloaded from
disk.  The Spell Checking macro has been updated to use this command to
automatically reload the corrected version from disk upon completion

the Left and Right arrows can be used to ascend and descend directories
while within the File Menu, and parent directories appear as the default
item during ascent

an Entab command allows marked ranges of lines to be converted from Spaces
to Tabs according to the current Tab widths

the Print Parameter menu now has entries for printer init and reset strings

case insensitive and regular expression searches are much faster

bulleted paragraphs can now be created and will survive reformat.  Just
use Tab character(s) between the bullet and the body of the paragraph

the Paste command will now paste columnar text blocks *atop* text when the
editor is in Typeover mode; ie the underlying text is not moved right in
this case

the File Close command will prompt for another file to load when the last
file is being closed.  This can facilitate loading a second large file when
a large file is already being edited

when writing marked blocks, an option will be offered to append to the
output file, if it already exists

the File Menu will preserve the directory traveled to and restore it
when the menu is next accessed.  The ',' can be used to return quickly
to the current DOS directory.

when sorting by extension in the File Menu, files will also be sorted by
filename within each extension group of like extensions

the Shift key can be used within the File Menu to allow the key pressed to
jump to a file with matching first letter

compiler warnings will be shown even when no other errors have occurred.
If desired, the old behavior can be recalled with the -W option

when paginating to disk, an option will be offered to append to the
output file, if it already exists

several new command line/environment options have been added:

-B      enable Blind-friendly mode: special cursor positioning, extra beeps
-C1     cursor thru Tabs, not across them
-C2     cursor from start of line to end of prev line
-C3     cursor from end of line to start of next line
-C4     go to top/btm of screen for first PgUp/PgDn
-E.EXT  set extension used for file backups
-Fa#    set active window frame style (#=0-7)
-Fi#    set inactive window frame style (#=0-7)
-H      Hot (auto-execute) 1st letters in horizontal menus
-N      gray /+-* keys remain command keys with Numlock ON
-P      pull-down menus drop when activated
-M#     set the ASCII value to be used for the mouse cursor character
-Mx#    set mouse X travel speed  (8=normal)
-My#    set mouse Y travel speed (16=normal)
-T      start in Typeover mode
-Vc#    set number of video columns (UltraVision only)
-Vr#    set number of video rows (25,28,43,50)
-W      no compiler warnings are shown unless errors also occur
-Z      add ^Z (ASCII 26) at end-of-file when writing files
-?p     will print the usage display page to the printer (PRN)

the Block Un-Indent command now deletes at the cursor column so it can act
as the inverse of the Block Indent command

automatic wordwrap will now be activated by any character while typing,
not just the Space

the remaining window will assume full size when a second window is closed

the status window displays the current Undo stack size and a breakdown
of available memory

the ASCII Value command now reports the value of the character at the
cursor, as well as that of subsequent key presses

the Find Open and Find Close commands have been streamlined

the Main Menu has been changed so that the menus will drop when the hot
letter is pressed.  The old style of operation can be obtained by using
the -P option to force auto-drop

changes have been made in the positioning of the cursor (while invisible)
to assist blind users using speech software.  Also, the current item in
horizontal menus, the ASCII chart, and the Calendar is written with BIOS
calls.  All Blind options are enabled with the -B option

screen colors which result in invisible text types are now allowed, to assist
blind users in configuring for speech software

a pause will occur when deleting the last line to slow backward "erosion"

the typewriter command defaults to sending a formfeed on entry

the compiler configuration string can now adapt to error messages that
have the error text on a second line

the cursor will now jump across tab characters, unless the old style of
movement is selected with the -C option

menus will respect home-home-home style cursor motion, if enabled

the File Locate command can be interrupted to halt a lengthy search

the nature of "Home-Home-Home" and "End-End-End" cursor motion has been
changed so that movement occurs based upon the number of times the key
is struck (1, 2 or 3) and not the current cursor position

a warning is presented when loading read-only files, and writing such files
is disallowed

changes have been made to memory management so that a little more memory
is available for editing.  Also, a warning will appear if memory is low
or fragmented, but often this will be followed by the out-of-memory message

BOXER will no longer warn if binary characters are encountered in a file
being read - this slowed file read, and seemed to be otherwise unappreciated.
The shortlived -% option has been retired

the current position will be retained if a prompted Search and Replace
operation is cancelled before completion

the '/' key on the numeric keypad, if present, can be used as a command
key.  If unassigned, the key retains its natural function

the registration information can be easily printed from an option in the
help menu

the Top of File command now also moves the cursor to start of line, except
while Column Marking

the Bottom of File command now also moves the cursor to end of line, except
while Column Marking

the default limit for Undo has been reduced from 512 to 200 to make more
memory available for editing.  Larger or smaller values can be selected
with the -u option, if desired

filenames/extensions which exceed 8/3 characters will be truncated to
to 8/3 characters, respectively

file paths can be entered with a / instead of a \ - BOXER will convert
automatically.  This will ease use with a Unix shell

The Help menu has been moved to the right most menu position

In typeover mode, the Enter command will create new lines at end of file

the Write Block command suggests the current filename with a .BLK extension

the mouse cursor uses the attribute of marked text for monochrome systems

Corrections:

changes have been made to work around a bug in the BIOS of some older XTs
  which caused BOXER not to run on these machines
the exponentiation feature in the calculator was undocumented
menus didn't show proper keys for Write & Delete Block commands
screen mispaint involving the eof marker
home cursor on exit if screen is not restored
restore cursor speed on return from DOS shell
allow search for "$" and replace with "text" to make changes at ends of lines
Typewriter command sometimes failed if it was first to print to the printer
Block Indent w/ Tab command inserted Tabs even in "Spaces Only" mode
with Autoindent Off, and Insert On, cursor was not placed in column 1 when
  Enter was struck
ensure mouse has full screen movement in 43/50 line modes, after return
  from a 25 line DOS shell
the -t# option misbehaved when it preceded numeric option flags in the
  BOXER environment string
BMAC problem with decompiling macros with Resize operations within
File Menu sort problem with unusual window sizes
fixed a bug involving DOS 2.x and mouse initialization
fixed a bug involving DOS 2.x and time/date strings

changes in 4.0a:

search bug for strings with embedded wildcard characters
filename truncation for C:TESTFILE.DOC style filenames
add BX-PIF.DVP to the release
wrong message given during Line Marking

changes in 4.0b:

^C macro was run instead of actual command bound to ^C
bug with wordwrap ON, Enter pressed in column > text width
lengthen printer delay from 12 to 16
file menu  couldn't change to single letter directory
a new frame style for Fa# and Fi# (8)
Enter at EOF in typeover mode brought current line down.
wordwrap excessive in split windows at right screen edge
wordwrap occurs sooner when near wrap column

changes in 4.0c:

write file w/o asking (if modified) when compiling
clipboard didn't paint last character, on partial lines
errors getting options after -q and -z options
Goto Column failed for Frames OFF, windows not at left edge
don't init the printer port - init codes can now do this
8.3 filenames were not forced from command line
.c and .cpp file extensions counted alike in BOXER.CFG
printer codes > 8 in number overflowed to next code
prevent capitalization on possessives:  David'S


(other changes made since initial release have been deleted to save space)