Tools Menu

Tools Configuration



You can add custom tools, like compilers and file viewers, to the environment by using the Tools Configuration dialog box. The tool will be added to the Tools menu and optionally as a button on the toolbar.



Command Line Here you specify the path and name of the tool you want to launch together with the required switches and arguments. You can pass the current file on the command line by using one of the special variables. By clicking the small button with the triangle arrow you will see a menu with the valid values. They are:

$(FullName) = The full path and file name of the current document
$(FileFolder) = The path without the file name
$(FileTitle) = File name with extension
$(FileName) = File name without extension
$(FileExt) = File extension only

Prompt for arguments, if this option is checked a dialog prompting you for additional arguments will be shown when you're running the tool. These arguments will be added to the end of the command line.

Working directory specifies the working directory for the tool. You may use the $(FileFolder) variable here, which will be inserted if you click on the small button with the folder.

Menu Item Text is the text that will appear on the Tools menu for this tool. You can give the menu text an accelerator by typing in an ampersand (&) character before the character you want to use as the accelerator. If you want to include an ampersand as part of the menu text you have to type it twice.

Don't save current file... Check this option if you don't want to save the changes to the current file when running the tool. By default Source Edit will always save the current document.

Save all open files... Set this option if you would like to save all files currently opened in Source Edit before running the tool.

Capture Output Source Edit can capture the output of a command line tool. You can then view the output in the Output Window. Both the output written to StdOut a well as StdOut will be captured.

However if you run a 16-bit program on Windows 9x/Me the capturing method will fail and Source Edit might even hang. To resolve this Source Edit comes with a Redirect 16-bit to 32-bit console application (rd16to32.exe, located in the same folder as Source Edit). Simply precede the command line with the path to rd16to32.exe

Output pattern. This button will bring up the Output Pattern dialog in which you can specify a pattern that describes the output. The pattern is a regular expression that will be used by Source Edit to find the line and column in the document the output is regarding. Ready-made patterns exist for Microsoft Compilers, Borland C++ 5.5, older Borland compilers, Sun Java compiler, GCC, and Perl. If no output pattern is specified EMACS style output is assumed. EMACS style output has the following form: FileName:StartLine:StartColumn:EndLine:EndColumn

Convert OEM characters to ANSI. Use this option to convert DOS characters to Windows characters.

Keep prompt open will keep the command line window open after the tool has finished. Source Edit will by default always close this window.

Put command on toolbar. Check this option if you want Source Edit to create a button on the toolbar for the tool you've created. You can click the Edit Image button to bring up the Button Editor to change the image that will be used on the button. The Menu Item Text you have specified will be used as a tooltip for the button when the mouse cursor is hovering over the button.

You must always click Add or Replace before you close this dialog. You can edit a tool you have created by double clicking the tool in the list box and then click Replace when you are done.

Source Edit doesn't have any restrictions on the number of tools you can add however the Tools menu has a limitation of 12 tools. If you add more then 12 tools a More Tools... menu item will appear on the Tools menu. This will bring up a dialog box from where you can launch any of the tools you have created. The limitation of buttons on the toolbar depends on your screen resolution. The toolbar will not wrap to show all buttons if you have added more then can fit on the screen.

Because of this you should have the tools you use often at the top of the list. The order in the list determents the order in both the menu as well as on the toolbar. You can change the order by clicking the Up and Down buttons to the right of the list.

Button Editor

When you create a tool using the Tools Configuration dialog box you have the ability to create a button on the toolbar for this tool. With the Button Editor you can edit the image that will appear on this button.

The Button Editor is a simple image editor. You can load a predefined image by clicking the Load Image button or you can create an image from scratch by picking a color in the palette and click on the picture. The image can be moved using the navigation arrow buttons.