Programmer's File Editor ------------------------ ABSTRACT -------- This is the 0.05.006 release of Programmer's File Editor, a large-capacity multi-file programming oriented editor for Windows 3.1 and Windows NT on Intel platforms PFE includes the following features: - The size of file it can handle is limited only by the total amount of virtual memory available - No arbitrary limit on the number of lines a file can contain - It can edit multiple files, the number being limited only by the available system resources - Accepts files dropped from File Manager or other drag-drop server - Allows multiple edit windows showing the same file - Multi-level undo facility - Can read and write files in UNIX format using LF as line terminator, with automatic format detection - Can run multiple instances if desired - Backup copies can be maintained of existing files when saving - Most-recently-used list of files allows easy selection between sessions - Line numbers can be shown in any edit window if required - Any installed fixed-pitch screen font, including TrueType, can be used in edit windows - The most frequent operations can be performed from active buttons on a tear-off toolbar - Active status bar reports settings and allows easy alteration of common ones - Text can be copied and moved by dragging and dropping - Tabs can be inserted as TAB characters or spaces - DOS commands, such as compilers, can be run with the output captured in an edit window - An application being developed can be quickly launched from a configurable dialog - Commonly-used text can be inserted in a simple operation from template libraries - Fully-remappable keyboard, including two-key operation similar to MicroEMACS and mapping of Alt keys to functions - Multiple sets of key mappings can be stored, and selected as required from a dialog or from the command line - Keystrokes and menu commands can be recorded in a replayable keyboard macro - Commonly-used program development tools can be configured into a list and started simply from a dialog - Files can be printed either in total, by line range, or selected text only - Automatic line indenting and removal of trailing spaces - Automatic configuration of edit options depending on file type - Automatic configuration of tab sizes depending on file type - Automatic brace alignment when editing C source - Text indent/undent operations - Optional automatic text wrapping at configurable margin - Can mail files to MAPI-compliant mailers like Microsoft Mail 3.0 - User-configurable help menu - Comprehensive help file with help buttons on all dialogs and F1 help available for system messages - Mouse help available on screen and menu items - Double click on right button starts help engine for help on keywords in edit windows - Allows Windows to be closed down and DOS to be rebooted from the system menu - Uses standard MDI methods to be fully compatible with other Windows apps - All operations are TWI compliant - Windows can be tiled vertically to maximize width - Windows/NT 32-bit executable version for Intel platforms Additionally, the editor can be controlled by another application across a DDE client-server link. NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR --------------------- PFE has been under development since October 1991, and has been on public release since July 1992. It's now heavily used by many people all over the world; this version has fixed many of the reported bugs and incorporated many of the splendid suggestions sent in by them. The change log included in the distribution set gives a history of how PFE has changed in the course of development. It also gives details of the known bugs that still await fixing. I would very much appreciate hearing from you if you use PFE and find problems, or if you can think of ways it could be improved - and even (or is that 'especially'?) if you just think it's great. Even if the facility you would like to see appears to be of interest only to you, tell me about it - you'd be surprised how many ideas in that class have a much wider appeal. You can contact me by e-mail at A.Phillips@lancaster.ac.uk I will try to reply to all the mail I receive. WHERE TO GET PFE ---------------- I post releases of PFE to three main archive sites: - For the UK Higher Education sector, it's available in the HENSA/micros archive on the micros.hensa.ac.uk system - On the Internet, I place copies on two archives: wsmr-simtel20.army.mil ftp.cica.indiana.edu Files can take a very long time to move from the /pub/pc/win3/uploads directory on CICA, so look there, and in any sub-directories of it, first On Usenet, I post an announcement of each release to the comp.os.ms-windows.announce group, and send the distribution set to the moderator of the comp.binaries.ms-windows group for posting. Though I do not place it there myself, a copy should be available from CompuServe in the WINSHA forum within a few days of each release. If you have a favourite BBS or archive that does not yet have a copy, I would very much appreciate your posting a copy there too. -- Alan Phillips January 1994