Collection of Tools & Utilities/Collection of Tools and Utilities.iso/edit/e4v200.zip/E4README.TXT

Text File | 1993-06-16 | 23KB | 580 lines

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E4(tm) Editor (C) Copyright N.Faulks 1993. All Rights Reserved.
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Version 2
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Note that this file is an E4 outline document (as well as a
printable text file), to view it in outline form, from within
E4, press ALT-H, then Y for "Yes". Now you can press ALT-H over
headings or text you would like to open or close.

If you want to print this file please note that it contains TAB
characters. To convert it to a printable (tab-less) file type
"E4 E4README.TXT" then press ALT-P for print, type a filename
and press RETURN. (or press RETURN to print straight to PRN). To
leave E4 press ALT-Q.

INTRODUCTION ***************************************************

 E4 is a powerful multi-file text editor with outlining,
 macros, SVGA support, and in-editor compilation and
 error tracking.

 E4 isn't a bloated every-feature-under-the-sun product,
 rather it is a small, fast editor that manages to
 provide most of the features most people use.

 E4 is great for people who only want to edit
 AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS as well as Programmers and
 System/Network Adminstrators.

 E4 is a complete Program Development Environment. You
 can compile from within the editor, a single file or a
 whole project. You can also run your program from within
 the editor, with or without a debugger. E4 can shrink in
 size to only 2K, leaving plenty of memory free for your
 program. The registered version of E4 comes with a
 program to trap error messages from a wide range of
 compilers. You can then step through compilation errors
 one by one, the cursor is taken to the erroneous line
 and the error message is displayed at the bottom of the
 screen. This works across different source files and for
 most languages (mixed languages are supported), even
 some linker errors are tracked to the original source
 file. E4 provides a common development environment,
 which ever language you are using.

 E4 really is better than other editors, because it is
 easy to use and powerful. Yes, you have to take the
 trouble to learn it, but once you have got over the
 short initial learning curve it WILL make you more
 productive. Easy to use doesn't have to mean pull down
 menus and WIMPs. E4 works well with a mouse, but the
 common commands are only a single mnemonic keystroke (E4
 doesn't use the function keys: how can they be easy to
 remember?). It doesn't matter if you have "every
 feature" if they are all equally difficult to use. E4
 makes everyone into an expert: the "Hintline" shows you
 most of the commands or options available, at every
 point in the editor. Full context-sensitive help makes
 E4 easy to learn.

 Feature lists are not the whole story: that's why E4 is
 made available on a try-before-you buy basis. Don't just
 reject it because it isn't exactly the same as what
 you're using: try it!

 E4 already has a large user community including
 professional programmers, businesspeople, educators, and
 students. If you've got a suggestion or problem call the
 author (Neil Faulks) on 071 873 2007 ([phone])
 during office hours, or mail him on the Internet
 ([e-mail]) or through CompuServe
 (>INTERNET:[e-mail]). We want you to be happy
 with E4, before and after you buy it.

E4-DELUXE ******************************************************

 There are two varieties of E4: E4 and E4-Deluxe. The
 original E4 is distributed as the file E4???.ZIP, where
 ??? is the version number. E4-Deluxe is distributed as
 E4D???.ZIP If you register E4 or E4-Deluxe you get both
 versions for the one price.

 E4-Deluxe is a larger version of E4 that provides
 pull-down menus. These menus are fully user-definable
 and can be made CUA compliant.

 E4-Deluxe comes with keyboard and menu files that allow
 E4 & E4-Deluxe to emulate a number of popular editors
 and word-processors. Obviously E4-Deluxe is required to
 emulate the menus of an application, but the keyboard
 files will also work with standard E4.

 You can also use a menu file to help you or your users
 migrate from another editor to E4. In this case E4
 simulates the menus of the other editor, but displays
 the correct E4 keystrokes. The message line also
 displays helpful information as you move the selector
 bar over the menus.

 Note that it is not possible to simulate all the
 features of other editors. Quite often basic differences
 mean that the E4 method appears cumbersome when looked
 at from the perspective of a user of another editor.
 However, E4 is far from cumbersome and you are
 encouraged to LEARN E4 rather than persisting with your
 old editing techniques. The E4 user community includes
 former users of Boxer, QEDIT and Brief and the various
 Borland IDEs, all of whom have happily switched to using
 E4. They are happy because E4 makes them more
 productive.

 You can choose an editor to emulate by using the /=
 command line switch. This selects the keyboard (.E4K)
 and menu (.E4U) files with the name given following the
 equals sign. For example

     E4 /=CUA

 Will run E4 in CUA mode. You can put this option in the
 E4 environment variable. See "INSTALLATION" below.

 The options available are listed below, but you are
 encouraged to try the native E4 menus and keystrokes
 before using these.

 BC    Borland C/Turbo Pascal IDE keystrokes only
 CUA    Very simple CUA menus and some CUA keystrokes.
 BOXERM    Boxer menus, E4 keystrokes, with tutorial information
 QEDIT    full QEDIT simulation, menus and keyboard
 QEDITM    QEDIT menus, E4 keystrokes, with tutorial information
 WP    Wordperfect Function keys (& ^INS and ^DEL), no menus.
 WS    WordStar control keys.

 All trademarks are acknowledged.

 Extra items in the E4 Deluxe Distribution include:

 E4.EXE        E4-Deluxe instead of E4

 *.E4K        Keymap files (like E4KEYS)
 *.E4U        Menu files

 To use a keymap and/or menu file run the editor using
 the /= switch.

 Note that the menu bar will not appear unless at least
 one keystroke in the keymap file is assigned to the
 special keyname "menu".

IMPORTANT NOTICE ***********************************************

 This is a Try-before-you-buy Evaluation copy of the E4
 Editor, it is fully functional. You may use E4 freely
 for up to 30 days, but if you want to use it after this
 period you must pay for it. See later in this file.

 Occasionally the editor will ask you to press a key when
 you first run it, this feature is absent from the
 version you will receive upon payment.

 Buying your own copy also brings the benefits of
 comprehensive printed documentation, extra utility
 programs and macros, and special offers on upgrades and
 other products.

 Programmers should note that only the registered version
 supports compiler error message tracking, as it requires
 extra support programs.

PACKING LIST & RELEASE NOTES ***********************************

 This software should be distributed as the single .ZIP
 or .EXE archive. The archive file contains the files
 listed below (for extra files included with E4-Deluxe
 see above). PLEASE KEEP THE ORIGINAL ARCHIVE FILE TO
 GIVE TO OTHERS.

 E4.EXE        The Editor itself (All you really need!)
 E4.HLP        The help file for the editor
 E4KEYS        A sample keyboard mapping file
 E4README.TXT    This document, Please read it all
 E4ORDER.TXT    Printable order form and prices
 VENDOR.TXT    Notes for shareware vendors and BBSs.
         Includes feature lists and descriptions
 FILE_ID.DIZ    A BBS description file
 TEMPLATE.C    Sample template file for C programs
 E4OPTS.C    Sample options file for C programs
 COMPILE.EXE    A generic compiler control program
 COMPILE.DOC    Documentation for COMPILE
 COMPILE.CL    Configuration file for COMPILE

 The sample E4KEYS file includes some key definitions of