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SEDiT
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SEDiT : A script file designed to provide icon driven access to SEDT.
A little history:
Having been around DEC for a few years longer than I sometimes care to
admit, I (like a lot of you, I'm sure) adopted EDT as my primary tool
for text file editing. Naturally when I got my Amiga, SEDT became my
editor of choice for obvious reasons, not the least of which had to do
with the price. Yet as much as I like SEDT's capabilities, (more than
I'll ever use), the one thing I really missed was the lack of an icon
interface from the Workbench. That was easily fixed with a simple
script file that launched SEDT, but still there was something missing -
like the ability to pick the file you wanted to edit without having to
use some other application or use a CLI to take a directory, etc. etc.
In other words what was needed was a file requester!
Not being a "software type", this was easier said than done, until I ran
across a standalone executable that pulled up the Arp file requester.
After VERY slight surgery to the executable (changed a couple ":" to
"="), it was just a matter of messing around with a script file 'till
I got it right (and I thought DCL had some strange twists).
I can't take any credit for the Arp file requester executable. That
was provided through the courtesy of David Czaya via his ArpFR program.
Similarly, the icon requester is not my doing, but rather a call to
CustReq, Jonathan Potter's glorified "ask" command. I'm sure any of
you software types out there could whip up something like this in C in
no time, but you haven't, so that's why I'm posting this to anyone in
DEC who can use it.
And while I think of it, I say "in DEC" in keeping with the request of
Frank Ries who states that the latest version of SEDT (Field Test 5A)
is intended for DEC employees only, and is not to be distributed to
anyone else, or placed in any public BBS. Ditto here.
What SEDiT does:
Basically this script file, when invoked, calls the Arp file requester
program, waits for you to select a file, then fires up SEDT with the
selected file. If you can't find a file you like, just enter a name for
a new one, or select "Cancel", and forget the whole thing.
SEDiT can be invoked in a few ways. Of course you can double click
on the SEDiT icon (made it myself thank you), or you can - for a file
which has an associated "SEDT file icon" - click once on the SEDiT
icon, hold the shift key, and double click on the SEDT file icon.
Another nice little trick is to set the "S" bit on the script file.
This lets you call up SEDiT through MyMenu, or by defining a hot key
in some other application like ClockDJ or MachIII. If you must you
can execute it from a CLI, though this seems a little self-defeating
to me.
There is one more feature worth mentioning. After you have finished
your editing session, SEDiT will check for the existance of an icon
(.info file) for the file you just edited. If you have created a new
file, or edited an existing file for which no icon previously existed,
SEDiT will put up a requester asking if you would like an icon created
for the file. You have ten seconds to make up your mind, after which
the requester gives up and goes away disgusted. Note that you will
not asked if you were creating a new file, and "quit" SEDT, as SEDiT
does check for the existance of the file you were working on.
If you want to explore the mechanics for all this, the script itself
is pretty well documented, so I won't go into that here.
What you get from me:
For your convenience, I have included the following in the SEDiT.lzh
archive;
ArpFileReq : Arp file requester (originally by David Czaya)
CustReq : "Ask" like requester by Jonathan Potter
CustReq.doc : Doc file for CustReq.
CustReq.doc.info: Icon for CustReq.doc
SEDiT : Script file written by yours truly.
SEDiT.info : Icon for SEDiT.
SEDiT.doc : This file.
SEDiT.doc.info : Icon for this file
SEDT_info : Icon used for files created with SEDT
What you need, but don't get from me;
Arp Library : Whatever the latest version is I suppose.
SEDT : Field Test version 5A of course.
MuchMore : The specified "Default Tool" of the SEDT icon (opt).
How to make it work (hopefully);
1) Make sure you have SEDT properly installed and in working order,
and be sure you have made the proper assigns for SEDT$DIR and
SEDT$TMP. Remember that if your using the Arp assign command, you must
define your logicals a little differently as Arp does special things
with "$" and such. To prevent a problem put a "*" (no quotes) in front
of the "$".
Ex: Assign SEDT*$DIR: Workbench:Sedt
2) Put SEDT_info into the directory defined by SEDT$DIR:
3) Put ArpFileReq and CustReq into your c: directory.
4) Put SEDiT and SEDiT.info wherever it's you like. SEDiT.info
specifies IconX as its default tool.
5) Make sure MuchMore is in your c: directory, and Arp.library is in
libs: .
That's it, could be cleaner, but not too bad...
Possible mods...
a) If the SEDT executable is not in c: , or not somewhere in the defined
search path, you will have to modify the ` SEDT "$FileSpec" 'command in
SEDiT to spell out the complete path.
b) If you don't have MuchMore in your c: directory, or use some other
text viewer, you will need to modify SEDT_info in SEDT$DIR: . Do this
by renaming it to something like SEDT_info.info and then use the info
workbench application to redefine the default tool. Don't forget to
rename it back to SEDT_info in SEDT$DIR: when your done.
c) Anything else you can think of that makes it work better for you.
If you come up with something really good, let me know about it too!
Mike Terella
12-14-90
Enet ALLVAX::TERELLA
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