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• FREEWARE!
• GENERAL INFO
◊ Forward Delete is a small extension letting you use that mysterious key called forward delete, present on all Extended Keyboards, which is used to delete the character at the right of the insertion point.
It also makes shift-delete equivalent to the forward delete key, so that this feature is now available to all Mac users.
Forward Delete also allows the use of the Apple-approved key combinations option-delete and option-forward delete to delete entire words (interestingly enough, Apple made option-delete work inside the Macsbug debugger).
It works with every application using TextEdit (if you do not know what TextEdit is, do not worry: it is simply that part of the Mac Operating System which manages basic text editing). Try it out in the Finder or in dialog boxes.
◊ Forward Delete can be used with any Mac under any System (I tried it under System 4.3 on my old Mac Plus and it works!).
◊ Forward Delete’s patch will not cause problems on PowerMacs, because TextEdit is still emulated.
◊ In previous versions of this documentation, I complained that Apple did not find the time to have TextEdit support the forward delete key. According to a knowledgeable source, what really happened is that TextEdit was modified to support this key, during some beta version of System 7.0, but for some reason this caused compatibility problems with some 3rd party software, and they had to take it out. Well, if they had to take it out, I suppose it is a very large software company. If you notice compatibility problems with some 3rd party software and my extension, drop me a line so that I can fix it - better yet, bash the software company: the larger, the better (David versus Goliath contests are my favorite part-time activities).
◊ You can notice a strange (inconsistent) and reproducible behavior in TextEdit: write a couple of words in TeachText, then double-click on the large amount of white space below. The last word should be selected or not, in a seemingly random fashion. Click or double-click in the text; now double-click again on the large amount of white space below the text. The selection of the last word occurs only sometimes. This bug sometimes affects Forward Delete: it may happen that the “word delete” combinations do not work. It is not my fault, sorry.
• TECHNICAL INFO FOR PROGRAMMERS
◊ I wrote Forward Delete in assembly. I simply patch the _TEKey trap, checking for the key pressed. Having intercepted _TEKey, there are no slow downs in the system at idle time. The net overhead, occurring when you type a key which is not forward delete or delete at a TextEdit field is 60 clock cycles on a Motorola 68000, meaning 7.5 microseconds if it is running at 8 MHz (the Mac Plus runs at 7.8336 MHz, so it takes a little more: 7.66 microseconds). Given that one million microseconds form one second, I think that even the fastest typist will not notice the delay on the lowly Mac Plus.
Common word processors do not use TextEdit, so they will not be affected by the patch.
◊ The patch is obviously a “head patch”, so it should be safe.
• DISCLAIMER
◊ “No warranties at all, either express or implied…” “All trademarks are held by their respective owners…” and all that stuff.
This application should do no damage, but if it does then you will be on your own. Let me know of any bugs you run into, anyway.
• VERSION HISTORY:
◊ 1.1.4 - Got rid of the same bug that was fixed in CDIconKiller 1.3.3 thanks to Patrick Dyson.
◊ 1.1.3 - Fixed the misaligned icon at startup (suggested by Masatsugu Nagata), better TrapAvailable (written by Stefan Kurth).
◊ 1.1.2 - Reduced the size of the patch. Updated the docs.
◊ 1.1.1 - Reduced the size of the code showing the icon; the icon now wraps correctly if many extensions are loaded before mine. I took the buggy ShowIcon code straight from QuickTime 1.6.1. Never use Apple code for anything! Peppino Ventura found this bug.
◊ 1.1 - Both Peppino Ventura and Fabrizio Sebastiani suggested that non-extended keyboard Mac users would like to access the forward delete functionality by pressing shift-delete.
◊ 1.0.1 - Fixed a bug: sometimes erroneously left the TextEdit handle locked in its heap, or unlocked it even if it was previously locked; the bug occurred only with the option-key combinations. Stripped down the code. Less Apple bashing in the documentation.
◊ 1.0 - Minor modifications and final release.
◊ 1.0d4 - Modified the balloon and the Get Info strings.
◊ 1.0d3 - Now accepts the option modifier to delete a word, and shows up its icon at startup.
◊ 1.0d2 - Checks if enough memory is available to install the patch.
◊ 1.0d1 - It seems to work perfectly. Even with Balloon Help in the Finder.
• THANKS TO…
◊ Alessandro Levi Montalcini, who offered me his ShowIcon routine; I refused because I mistakenly thought the Apple code would have worked better. I ended up rewriting the Apple code, wasting time but making it work myself.
◊ Giuseppe “Peppino” Ventura deserves to be called the Bug-Finder. Really.
To report bugs, suggestions, or whatever, send e-mail to fab@kagi.com
