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1992-08-01
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204 lines
Boxer: Shareware Text Editor Knocks Out Competition
by Jack M. Germain
___________________________________________________________
Reprinted from the April '92 issue of Alternative Computing
Magazine, by permission. Copyright 1992 by Alternative
Computing Magazine. Not to be reprinted without consent of
the Author.
___________________________________________________________
Are you looking for an alternative to a complicated word processing
program? Do you need a program that is fast and easy for writing memos,
letters, batch files and other documents? Could you use a shortcut to
revising reports filled with tables of numbers?
Then no matter what other program you may be using now with your IBM PC
compatible computer, take a good look at the latest version of the Boxer
Text Editing System. Boxer is a shareware program. You can try it be-
fore you buy it.
Boxer has grown considerably in the last four years. It was developed
by David R. Hamel of Boxer Software in Peterborough, NH, U.S.A. This is
one powerful program. It comes with many features you would expect to
find only in expensive commercial programs. Similar text editors cost
$150 or more.
Programmers and Writers Take Note
---------------------------------
Version 3.11 has both the text writer and the programmer in mind. Boxer
is an appropriate name for such a punchy program. Hamel has scored a
knockout. He's built in pull-down menus, full mouse support,
configurable keyboards, and an undo feature that lets you restore up to
4,096 changes. Charts and tables can be marked in rectangles and moved
about with ease. They can be boxed in a variety of line styles, too.
Boxer comes with a rich set of block commands. These include: cut,
copy, append, paste, delete, write, print, indent, sort, detab, invert,
total, average, fill with specified character, upper/lower/caps case
operations, and line, word, and character count. Boxer lets you mark
text in columns. This can greatly simplify editing jobs which would be
tedious with other editors.
And there's more. Boxer gives you fast scrolling, 26 keystroke macros,
a search and replace feature with multiple options. It includes
configurable colors, visible spaces mode, and 43/50 line modes for
EGA/VGA video systems.
Programmers will love Boxer's ability to compile from within the text
editor. The editor will even stop on error lines waiting for cor-
rections. To configure Boxer to compile programs from within the editor
you will need to add an environment setting to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
See the help file for a detailed discussion of the Compile File command.
But the environment settings are easy, and well explained in the
documentation.
Several other features make this an excellent programmer's editor.
Boxer has a multi-base calculator and ASCII chart, key-code display
function, auto-indent option and adjustable typewriter style tab stops.
Writers will find Boxer's text editing manipulation a prized toolbox.
Word processing jobs are effortless with manual and automatic para-graph
reformatting, four justification styles, and printing options. You can
set headers and footers, shell to DOS or run another program (such as a
spell checker) without exiting Boxer. You can also get a word count
jack-rabbit fast and view a calendar for any month and year. Boxer
comes loaded with many user options. Load one of the keyboard command
sets that comes with the program so you don't have to learn new
commands. The system includes command sets for WordPerfect, Brief,
QEdit, WordStar, and Epsilon word processing and text editing systems.
Each of these command sets has the extension ".KEY". To permanently
install one of these ready-made definition files as the de-fault, simply
rename DEFAULT.KEY to DEFAULT.BAK and copy the desired key file to
DEFAULT.KEY using DOS.
To create a new command set, run the RECONFIG.EXE utility. Or better
yet, keep Boxer's commands intact and quickly learn its own commands.
The pull down menu gives you direct access and shows the corresponding
Alt key combination for shortcuts.
Easy Menuing and Configuring Systems
------------------------------------
Press the F1 key to access the menuing system. Eleven main menu
categories appear across the top of the screen. The choices are: Help,
File, Edit, Search, Window, Block, Misc, Goto, WP, Options and Macro.
Press the first letter of the desired category or arrow (with either
cursor key or mouse) to the desired item. Then click, or press the
Enter key or the cursor down key to reveal the sub-menu options for that
category. The next visit to this same sub-menu will show that choice
already highlighted.
You can set up the screen display to suit your preference. A
double-lined box will border the writing screen and display the main
menu options on top. File data appears on the message line on the bot-
tom of the screen. The message line editor tries to guess what entry
you will be making next. The Esc key cancels the request. The message
line displays the line number and column position of the cursor. The
lower right corner of the screen alternately shows the date and time.
If you don't like always seeing the menu bar, toggle it off so it only
appears when you press F1. Similarly, if you prefer an unboxed writing
screen, turn off the border as well. Set screen colors to your liking.
Boxer provides detailed on-line help. Find the type of help you need
from the menu index and a window opens over your text. Press Alt-H to
get page after page of the user manual. Between these two help features
and other instruction files on the disk, you can learn most of the
program in your first session. There's even a DEMO.BAT file to get you
started.
One feature in Boxer is particularly useful for anyone who does a lot of
work with documents. Three different colors let you know what's old,
what's new, and what's saved. Pick a color for normal text. When you
add or change any line, that line turns a second color. Save the file,
and that second color becomes a third. With a monochrome system, once a
file is saved, changes to any lines cause the entire line to appear in
highlight. But there's no way to differentiate this line once it's
saved from previously saved text.
Of course, if you decide you don't like some or all of your changes, use
the undo key to restore the previous lines. You can undo the previous
text modifications or all changes to the current file. You can undo
changes of any kind one by one or all at once. Use the undo feature to
recover accidental deletions. The default setting keeps track of 512
changes. But you can reset that to any number up to 4,096.
Superior File Switching Features
--------------------------------
Boxer can handle multiple files better than any other word processing or
text editing program I've seen. Most expensive word processors let you
switch between two screens of text. Some let you cycle through as many
as ten. A few even let you place up to four windows in one screen. But
Boxer lets you split the screen vertically and horizontally into as many
as sixteen windows. You can resize or zoom a selected window. Each one
can hold a different file or different parts of the same file. Blocking
and search and replace commands operate on all windowed files.
Another unique feature is the list file. Boxer keeps track of the files
you worked on and saves their names. Call this list up from the files
sub-menu or with Shift-F1 to jump to any file listed. If you don't
specify a new file to load when you first start the text editor, Boxer
loads all of the files saved during your last working session.
Features Galore, but Don't Mistake its Use
------------------------------------------
The more you work with Boxer, the more features you will find. Boxer
includes elementary math functions performed on numbers under the
cursor. There's even a "passive editing" mode that permits read-only
access to a document and an auto-save function. Boxer makes file back-
ups to a subdirectory so earlier versions of a file can be retrieved.
Boxer is perhaps the most powerful text editing system available today.
But it isn't a word processing program. There are some things it isn't
designed to do. It will, however, handle most of the tasks you want
from a word processor.
One significant difference is in the way Boxer formats text on screen
and handles printing chores. You can justify one or more lines in rag-
ged right, ragged left, ragged center, and flush right, but you can't
change margin and tab settings for screen display. You can only set
these parameters to be executed by the printer. You can save these text
formatting options to disk using the pagination feature. Boxer lets you
place limited printer codes in the text, too. The printing options let
you save a document in single space and print it in double space. You
can set the number of lines or columns per page, print margins, and
number of copies to print. You can also set the pages to print.
Another difference from word processing programs is the way Boxer
handles paragraph reformat-ting. Word wrapping can be toggled on and
off easily. Paragraph indenting will occur if the auto-indent feature
is toggled on and you press the Tab key. But you must reformat each
paragraph separately whenever you make insertions and deletions.
Reformatting is done using the Ctrl-F10 key combination or through a
sub-menu option under the WP (word processing) category on the main
menu.
A Sure Winner
-------------
Version 3.11 was released in October 1991. Feature for feature, it is
one of the best text editors available today among both shareware and
commercial products. Its power makes a dent in your disk storage. The
program takes 169,905 bytes to store and another 108,139 bytes for the
ONLINE.HLP file. Boxer re-quires an IBM PC compatible with 384K of RAM
and a 720 K diskette or a hard disk.
Several registration offers are available in Australia. Pooch costs $60
Australian. It contains the latest version of Boxer, Lefthand-Man, a
Quick Reference Card, and upgrade notices. Lefthand-Man is a program
written by Boxer's author which facilitates DOS file operations and
speeds directory browsing. Prize costs $80 Australian. It includes all
of the above plus a printed reference manual and a coupon for one free
upgrade. Prices are in Australian dollars and include shipping. Share-
ware versions are available from Budgetware, disk number PC1006, and
registered versions can also be obtained from them.
U.S. contact: Boxer Software
P.O. Box 3230
Peterborough, NH 03458
Phone: 603-924-6602