Club Amiga de Montreal - CAM/CAM_CD_1.iso/files/037.lha/Uedit/Uedit-ReadMe

Text File | 1987-05-17 | 16KB | 532 lines

                                  Uedit
                    Copyright (C) 1986-87, Rick Stiles
                        2420 Summit Springs Drive
                            Dunwoody, GA 30350

Dear folks,

Uedit is a shareware program.  That means you can try it before you buy it.
If you use it, you must buy it so that I'll get paid for my work.

See Uedit-Policy for purchasing information and commissions for helping Uedit.


You are encouraged to distribute copies of Uedit to friends and associates,
club members, and bulletin boards.  Uedit's success depends upon your support
and your assistance in distributing it to others.


                               About Uedit


Uedit is Extremely flexible and powerful.

You can use it immediately.  The menus and Help are all you need.


The goals in writing Uedit were openness, flexibility, power, friendliness -
above all to give Freedom of Choice to the user.


Being able to edit 20 files is only the beginning of the depth Uedit has got.

Learn Mode adds a new dimension, providing instant automation for people who
hate reading instructions and only want to know enough to get the job done.


The command language adds another dimension, letting you rewrite Every
command, even the gadget and mouse button commands - on the fly.

Then there is the overall configurability and customizability, being able to
swap and kill keys, select colors, customize the menus, etc.

Then there is the ability to switch configurations, changing the entire
personality of Uedit, without interrupting editing.

Then there is the fact that it sleeps so that other tasks run efficiently and
can start other tasks and load in their results so that you can use them.


BlitzFonts in shareware (for $10) will give you faster text displaying with
your programs on the Amiga, including Uedit.  BlitzFonts is on Uedit's
diskette.  (Be sure to send Hayes Haugen $10 for his useful program and he'll
send you his latest font-speeder-uppers!)

Uedit's diskette is full of Extras.  See Uedit-Policy for a listing of them.



                            Config! and Data!


Config! is a configuration file which is the Source of every command Uedit
currently uses.

Data! is a compiled copy of Config! which Uedit loads at startup.

These need to be in your S: volume, along with Help!, the help file.


You can keep as many config and data files as you want.

Configuration files are written in command language which reads like English.


The "Save config" and "Load config" commands in the menu let you switch
configurations and save changes to Uedit that you have made while editing.

Thus you can customize Uedit while using it.


The menu selections say "config", but in fact it is a Data file you are
loading or saving.

You can load and save data files from/to any directory and under any name.


Config! and Data! are the default configuration and data files and must be in
the S: volume.


The command language was not created to give you something you'd have to read
about and learn to use.

Ignore the command language.  It only exists in order to provide the openness
that Uedit's philosophy demands.


If you can't use Uedit productively right off using only the menus and Help
file, then Uedit has failed miserably.

Uedit V1.0 wasn't friendly enough.

But after much improving in response to user feedback, people started saying
that they chose Uedit because of its friendliness.



                              Editing Tricks


If you are like me and hate reading instructions, and expect programs to be
Easy Without Reading, then Learn Mode is for you.

No reading necessary.  It uses only the normal editing stuff.

It offers immense power and capacity to automate tedious chores.


For instance, it has been used to convert as many as 40 program modules from
BASIC or Pascal to C.  It could as easily have been 400 modules.  Setting up
took about a minute, then Uedit did them all, one by one.


The Manual has lots of Examples and Editing Tricks which show how to take
advantage of Uedit's flexibility and power.


The Manual describes how to use Learn Mode to click-add numbers or click-
bracket words, do mail-merges, and so on.


If you need to search and replace misspelled names in 300 documents, you can
teach Learn Mode how to do one and then let it do them all.


To set up for such chores takes maybe thirty seconds.


You could easily write simple commands which run tasks on the Amiga at the
press of a key.

But you could more quickly teach Learn Mode to do it.


Anything you'd write a command for, Learn Mode can probably be set up to do
in seconds.


A useful trick is to swap "Run learn" (ctl-r) with the mouse's buttonUp
operation.

Then when you click the button, buttonDown will deposit the cursor like it
normally does, and buttonUp will execute a learned sequence!


The learned sequence can be anything.

It can, for instance, click-bracket words with printer control codes.  The
Manual's Editing Tricks present such examples.


Or you can swap the mouse's buttonUp operation with another key, such as
the add-numbers key (ctl-=).

Then you can click-add numbers that are scattered in various documents.
Pressing ctl-\ will put the running total into the text at the cursor.


Note that if you want to swap the mouse's buttonUp operation with a key,
gadget, or menu selection, you need to keep buttonDown from getting into the
swap.

You should press the mouse button and hold it, press AltCtl-f6 (the "Swap
keys" key), then release the button and press the key you're swapping it with.


If you select "Swap keys" first and then click the mouse button, you'll be
swapping the buttonDown and buttonUp operations.


Learned sequences can be stored on disk as numbered files.  They are stored
in the S: volume.

You can easily write key-commands which load and run learned sequences stored
on disk.  A command to load & run learn sequence #3 would look like this:

           <shftAlt-3: if (loadLearn(3)) runLearn >


Type it anywhere in any buffer.  Select "Compile" (F6) to compile it.  Select
"Save config" to make it available next time as part of Uedit's configuration.

Learn sequence #3 might go to top of document and type in a header, or go to
bottom of document and insert your name and address.



                               Customizing


You can customize Uedit virtually to the point of redesigning it.

You can customize it while using it, or by editing and compiling a config
file.


If you run Uedit by typing "Run UE -dDataFile .." or "Run UE -cConfigFile .."
in CLI, it will load DataFile or compile ConfigFile.

You can switch configurations while editing by selecting "Load config".


The configurability of Uedit is extreme.


One user made Uedit a disk housekeeping utility by cloning commands off of
the click-loading command.  (Type a filename anywhere, then press Ctrl and
click the filename.)

His commands click-delete and click-copy files.


Tom Althoff, a user in NY, has written Uedit commands which behave like
Borland's Turbo Pascal (tm) editor.

Click a gadget, and Uedit will save changes, tell DOS to compile modules,
detect errors, reload the offending module, and put the cursor On The Error.

The compiler's error message is displayed in the message line.


Tom's commands work with the Manx Aztec C (tm) compiler and assembler, but
they're easy to modify for other compilers.  They are available on many
networks.

((NOTE:  A directory utility configuration written by yours truly, and a
number of configurations including the above are provided as Extras on
Uedit's diskette which you will receive when you register  See Policy-Update
for a listing of the current ones.))



                              Odds and Ends


Here are some odds and ends to help get you started.


To abort any operation, press Amiga-ESC.


Primitive Mode is what Uedit is when it has no config.  The Title Bar and the
message line tell you what to do in Primitive Mode.

Primitive Mode is used for text and number input.  If you press F7 to input a
search string, you'll be in Primitive Mode.


Primitive Mode is also used when compiling the config file at startup and an
error is found.  Uedit puts you on the error spot so you can correct it.

At that point it has no commands, so you are stuck using the bare bones until
the config has finished compiling.


You can search for two things at once by putting a "$" dollar sign between
two search strings.

The "?" question mark is used by search as a wildcard.


You can change these by editing Config! or by selecting "Set wildcard" or
"Set eitherOr".

"Search caps" lets you toggle on and off the case-sensitivity of searching.


Using all key, mouse and gadget Shft/Alt/Ctl prefix-combinations, you can
have about 800 commands on-line at the same time.

Keys can load, compile, run, swap, and kill other keys, so there really is no
limit.


Everything - including the Close Box - can have up to 8 commands attached, by
using all combinations of Shft, Alt & Ctl.


There are 4 "invisible" gadgets in the message line.  You can mark or unmark
them by selecting "Mark gadgets".

Using Shft, Alt and Ctl, there are 32 gadgets in all.

Gadgets are just like keys and mouse clicks.  They can be swapped, killed,
reprogrammed, learned, used by menu selections, and so on.


Menu selections are always attached to a key, gadget or mouse button command.

If no command exists - or if you kill it and select "Save config" - the menu
selection won't appear next time.


If you swap a menu selection, the key you swapped it with will be executed
whenever you select that menu item.


You can run other programs from inside Uedit and have the results loaded in
("DOS + result") or ignored ("AmigaDOS").


Uedit sleeps when it can, so that other tasks will run faster.


Clicking the Title Bar will switch to the tiny window.  It comes up inactive,
so you can type into CLI immediately.

This also lets the Amiga reopen the big window in a better memory location.


If Uedit runs out of memory and the "Memory..." message appears, that means
it is compacting its stuff in memory, creating a larger area for the Amiga to
use for graphics.

If "Memory..." appears, you ought to save and close some documents.

Also it's a good idea to click the Title Bar and reopen Uedit's window.


Uedit sleeps between your inputs.

If you don't type anything for 4 seconds, it will do housekeeping.

If you select "Busies", you'll see which buffer is being worked on.

When the housekeeping is done, it sleeps.


Uedit displays twice as many lines of text when Interlace is used.

It picks up font changes made with Preferences.  It works with all known
hardware add-ons.


Some people start Uedit in their Workbench Startup-Sequence and do everything
from inside it.  They let Uedit run other tasks and continue editing or
let Uedit sleep.


To see the demo, press shift-alt-ctrl-d.  The file "demo" will need to be in
your current directory.

The demo is useless, except as an example.  It compiles and runs commands,
then reloads the original config after the demo has finished.


All flag settings, such as "Favorite" and "Word wrap" toggle like a light
switch.  If "Word wrap" is Yes, selecting "Word wrap" switches it to No.  And
vice versa.


To see the current settings for line-length, lines/page, tab-spacing, etc,
press shift-HELP or select "Show vals".


Some settings are global and others are local to the current document.

Changing a local setting like word-wrap changes the global setting for future
files loaded in.

Selecting "Save config" saves the current settings.


In the Colors menu there is a "Columnar" flag setting.  It displays hilite
and invert regions as colored rectangles.

Columnar displaying has zero effect on cut/copy operations.  It is merely a
way of looking at hilite or invert regions.


You can do regular cut/copy/paste or columnar cut/copy/paste manipulations
regardless of which display mode is being used.  The only difference is this:

For regular cut/copy, end of hilite must come after beginning of hilite,
regardless of what column either is in.  Otherwise there'd be no region
defined.

For columnar data manipulations, the preceding must be true and in addition
the start column must be Lower than end column, or else no columnar region
exists.  If you're in "Columnar" displaying mode and can't see a colored
rectangular region, then you haven't defined one properly.


To print a region, hilite it and press ctl-p.


Hilite can be created in 3 ways.  Invert can be created in 2 ways.  Press
HELP to see how.


If "Print Pref" is Yes, printing will go through Preferences, which can be to
a serial or parallel printer.

If "Print Pref" is No, printing goes to the parallel port in raw form, so
Preferences can't filter your text.


By choosing Serial Printer in Preferences, you can select either a parallel
or serial printer by toggling "Print Pref" in Uedit.


To set Colors, press alt-HELP until you see a combination that you like.

Then select "Save config".


When choosing colors, you should create a hilited region which overlaps an
inverted region, so that you can watch their colors.


Menus keep their old colors until they're rebuilt.  To force them to be
rebuilt, click the Title Bar and then the tiny window.


To save changes in defaults, or after compiling commands, or after swapping
or killing keys, you must select "Save config".


To recover the original config after fooling around with commands, colors,
etc, select "Load config".


To make something happen automatically at startup, write a command like this:

    <ShftAltCtl-z: LoadFile("Manual.Table") LoadFile("Uedit-ReadMe") >


You must use ShftAltCtl-z, unless you change the startup command in the
config file.

Put the cursor before the above command and select "Compile" (F6).

Uedit will find the "<" angle bracket and compile the command.  Select "Save
config" to save it.


Then each time you start up, Uedit will run the command.


You can make it load a config other than S:Data! by compiling a command like
this:

                  <shftAltCtl-z: loadConfig("NewData")>.

Select "Save config", and Uedit will load and use NewData next time.  Pressing
shftAltCtl-z would load it anytime.


When Uedit comes up, it loads S:Data! first thing.

You can make it load NewData by typing "Run UE -dNewData ..." in CLI.

This would be faster than the above command would, since Uedit wouldn't have
to load S:Data! first.


To kill a startup auto-command, select "Kill key", press shftAltCtl-z, and
select "Save config".

If you kill the wrong key and haven't saved it yet, select "Load config" and
try again.


The arrow keys are used for vertical and horizontal scrolling.  The shift
keys determine the level of "power" of the scroll.


The number-keypad keys are arranged logically and are easy to remember.


The "5" key always "finds" the cursor.


The 4, 6, 8 & 2 keys move the cursor left, right, up and down.  Again, the
shift keys determine the level of "power".


The 7 & 9 keys delete left and right.  Again, shift keys determine the
"power".  (Ctl-d deletes lines of text.)

The 0 key is the Undo delete key.


The 1 & 3 keys set start/end of hilite or invert regions.  Ctrl 1 & 3 are for
invert.  Normal, Shft & Alt are for hilite.


The ".", "-" and Enter keys are for Copy, Cut and Paste of hilite or invert
regions.  Again, Ctrl is for invert and the rest are for hilite.


To deactivate the keypad commands to use the keypad for number entry, select
"Use keys".


                             Acknowledgements


I wish to thank the users who have given helpful feedback on Uedit since it
came out.

Most of the improvements since V1.0 have been because of their input.

I especially want to thank John Youells, Tim Jones, Mike Davenport, and Tom
Althoff for all of their help, encouragement, and willingness to spend money
on long distance calls in order to help Uedit in shareware.  You wouldn't be
reading this, if it hadn't been for their help and encouragement.


                      *****************************


Your feedback will be appreciated.


           Rick Stiles
           2420 Summit Springs Drive
           Dunwoody, GA 30350