Copyright: M-Edit (c)1992 Babarsoft


Contents
M-Edit: A Programmer's Editor for Windows NT Operating System

(c)1992 Babarsoft, 11/19/92 by Mark Gamber

M-Edit Overview

Before you Begin

Menu Functions

File Functions

Edit Functions

Search Functions

Window Functions

Options

Build

Help

Graphic Shortcuts

Toolbar

Drag-Drop

File List

Keyboard Functions

Shortcut Keys

Edit Function Keys


Tool Bar
Toolbar Functions

The Toolbar below the main menu provides fast access to a number of menu functions. A button function may be determined simply by moving the mouse pointer over the button in question which displays the function on the information bar at the bottom of the window.


Drag-Drop
Drag-Drop Interface

Files may be dragged from the File Manager or other drag-drop files sources and dropped on the main window to open windows to all the files dropped.


File List

The file most recently saved or loaded files are kept in a list at the bottom of the "File" menu for fast access. Files are listed from top to bottom, most recent to least recent. To load one of the listed files, you simply select the menu item for the file. An accessed file already listed is not added to the menu. A maximum of eight files are kept in the menu at a time.


Overview
M-Edit Overview

M-Edit is a text editor specifically designed with the developer in mind. It provides multiple text windows, access to API help systems and a number of text editting functions. M-Edit features include drag-drop file access, building applications using NMAKE, creating skeleton C source code to create a Windows application and online API help access using Windows Help or Quick Help.

This is the first version of M-Edit and I am interested in hearing feedback on the project. If you have suggestions, complaints or bugs, please see the "Before you Begin" section on how to contact the author directly. M-Edit is not public domain, but is free and may be freely distributed. In using M-Edit, the user agrees to hold harmless M-Edit and the author from any damages and/or loss of revenue due to use of M-Edit, be it real, imagined or conjured. If the user cannot agree to these terms, destroy the software and pretend it never existed.


Before you Begin
Before you Begin...

Make sure your environment and M-Edit are setup properly before starting to work with the application. First and foremost, in order to access context sensitive help, you need to choose which help system you would like to use by selecting the choices presented in the "Help Setup" dialog box. In addition, you must make sure the help files selected and Windows Help or Quick Help, as selected, are in the current path so they may be executed by M-Edit. Otherwise, you will not have access to language help on demand.

To use the "Run Makefile" option, you must have the development tools directory in your path. For example, if the directory where NMAKE.EXE  resides is \MSTOOLS\BIN, you would need to add that directory to your PATH statement. To modify the path used by the command processor, you can edit AUTOEXEC.NT in the same way as DOS's AUTOEXEC.BAT.

This is a first release of M-Edit and while every effort has been made to provide a clean, bug-free interface and operation, some things may have been overlooked or forgotten. As such, be aware of what you are doing and, should a definate bug be found, a report of the bug would be greatly appreciated. The author may be reached at:

America Online E-Mail:  PCA MarkG

Compuserve Mail:          76450,2754

Internet Mail:                   pcamarkg@aol.com


File Menu Functions

The File menu accesses files, saves window contents to files and creates new, untitled windows. Menu items are enabled when appropriate and disabled if they cannot be used when the menu is accessed. File menu functions are:

New:	Creates a new, untitled window.

Open:	Displays a dialog box for selecting a file and, if chosen, the file is displayed in a window.

Save:	Saves the contents of the current window to a file. If the window is untitled, a dialog box is

displayed to assign a filename to the file.

Save As: Displays a dialog box to assign a filename to the active window and saves the file

using the assigned name.

Exit:	Closes M-Edit


Edit Menu Functions

The Edit menu provides access to the clipboard, allowing you to cut and copy text from M-Edit and paste clipboard text to M-Edit. Changes may also be "undone". Edit menu functions consist of:

Cut:	Cuts selected text from an active window and places the text in the clipboard.

Copy:	Copies selected text from an active window and places the text in the clipboard.

Paste:	Pastes text in the clipboard into the active window at the current cursor position.

Undo:	Restores the active window to a state before the last change was made.


Search Menu Functions

The Search menu allows searches through text, finding and highlighting specified text and ,if specified, replacing found text with new text. You may also specify a line number to jump to, if it exists in the active window. Search menu functions are:

Find:	Displays a dialog box to enter the text to search for and, if found, highlights the found text.

The search may be continued or halted at any point.

Replace: Displays a dialog box to enter the text to replace and replacement text and searches

the active window, making changes as specified.

Go To:	Jumps to a specified line number in the active window.


Window Menu Functions

The Window menu alters the appearance of all text windows. Windows may be tiled, cascaded, closed and icons may be arranged from this menu. In addition, window titles are added and deleted from the bottom of the menu to maintain an accurate means of selecting a window using the menu rather than a mouse. Window menu items are:

Tile:	Tiles all active windows so no window overlaps any other window.

Cascade: Arranges active windows in a cascading fashion from upper left to lower right.

Arrange Icons: Moves all icons onto the main window and aligns them with the window bottom.

Close All: Closes all displayed windows.


Options Menu

The Options menu allows window attributes such as background color and font to be set and saved. If saved, all subsequent windows opened take on the set properties. The Options menu allows:

Color:	Displays a dialog box used to select the background color for the active window.

Font:	Displays a dialog box allowing changes in the text color and text font.

Tab Stops: Sets the number of spaces to move when TAB is pressed.

Save Defaults: Saves the active window's setting as the window default settings. Each window

can have different colors and fonts. When a window is first opened, however, the saved

properties are initially used for the window display.


Help Menu

Help provides access to M-Edit general help, information about M-Edit and setting up context sensitive help for use with language help files. In addition, skeleton C source code may be created. The Help menu is:

Source Code: Creates up to five C source windows making up the five required files for a

skeleton Windows 3.1 or Windows NT application.

Help Setup: Specifies whether to use the Windows Help or Quick Help system.

Help:	Accesses this help file.

About:	Displays brief information on M-Edit, including version.


Build Menu

Source files may be compiled and entire projects constructed from this menu. The Build menu contains:

Compile:	Starts a language compiler, the source file being the file attached to the currently active window. Compiler output is redirected to a file which is displayed upon completion of the compile.

Build:	Starts NMAKE, using a make file selected from a dialog box. The make file components (compiler, linker, etc) are redirected to a disk file which is displayed upon completion of the build process.

Build All:	Same as the Build option, except it forces all files in the make file to be worked on rather than just those which have changed since the last build. Redirected component output is displayed upon completion.

Tool Options:	At this time, only a compiler is supported. This displays a dialog box which allows you to enter the command line used to compile a source file. For example, the Windows NT SDK C compiler with a C file may look like:  cl386 -c -Gs3 -Ot -DWIN32 -Di386


Help Setup

In order to use the context sensitive help, you must have set the system path to include the paths for the help system program and help files. For example, if you use Quick Help and QH.EXE is in a "\WINDEV\HELP" directory, that path must be included in the PATH statement. Windows Help is generally accessed regardless of custom settings, but you must specifiy the file to use as the help file. For example, to access API32W.HLP, you would specify that filename and optional path in the edit box displayed below the radio buttons.

Once the path and help system is set up, pressing the RIGHT mouse button or F1 on a word will start the selected system and attempt to find the item selected.


Source Code Creation

The Source Code dialog box allows you to create skeleton code for five files required to create a Windows application. You may select the files to create by checking the items and prevent files from being created by unchecking the items. You must also specify the Program Name, Window Title and Filename to use for the new files.

Program Name may be up to 14 letters in length and my not include spaces and punctuation. This name is used to determine the window Class name and the application name in the definition file.

Window Title is the text that is displayed in the window's title bar. It may be up to 80 characters in length and use any printable character.

Filename may be any valid filename. DO NOT include and extender since one is added to the end of each created file automatically. This field is also used to determine Make file targets and dependencies and include file names in the C source code.

The files are initially created as windows ONLY. No actual disk file is created. You must manually save each file before exitting M-Edit.


Keyboard Commands
M-Edit Function Hotkeys

Certain menu items may be accessed through key combinations. The combinations and functions are listed below:

Open:	Control + F12	Find:	F3

Save:	Shift + F12	Replace:	Shift + F3

Save As:	Alt + F12	Go To:	F5

Exit:	Alt + F4	Tile:	Shift + F4

Cut:	Control + X	Cascade:	Shift + F5

Copy:	Control + C	Color:	Alt + C

Paste:	Control + V	Font:	Alt + O

Undo:	Control + Z	Tab Stops:	Alt + T

General help may be accessed at any time by pressing Alt + F1. Help on a function at the current cursor position may be accessed by pressing F1.