ralph@mit-atrp.UUCP (Ralph L. Vinciguerra) (04/15/88)
I have just received TxEd Plus and am very pleased. I also got ARexx with it so I could see just how these things are coming along. Along the way I ran into a couple problems and others might want to know how to work around them. Or, maybe I was doing something wrong ? Icons problems: Although TxEd has a switch to turn icon creations on and off, I feel that the icon-on mode is done incorrectly. I use the Workbench for all my tasks (editing, Tex'ing, VT100'ing, etc.). The problem is that if you enable TxEd plus's icon creation, if trashes the icon you had originally. And worse, is puts a strange value in the Default Tool field: "E". Huh ? First, it shouldn't touch the icon image. I make my own clean and small icons and I don't want them trashed. Second, if it's legitimately creating an icon, the most reasonable assumption about what default tool to use is the tool and it's invokation path in the first place. Let's say I keep TxEd in my C: directory and I have it named "ed". Then the right default tool is "C:Ed, not "E". I think MaxiPlan does it right. The solution to this problem is to turn the icon making mode OFF. If you want a new text file to edit, first use the workbench to duplicate an existing text object, rename it, and start TxEd by double clicking it. I successfully use the VT100 emulator this way. Before I download, I pop out to the workbench and create blank files with icons first. This technique can almost always succeed in making it possible to use non-icon oriented programs from the workbench. Except when they can't be started by shift selecting. Now if I could just find an icon oriented version of the ARC program ! Crashing on the USER menu: For some reason, until I properly installed ARexx, TxEd would start O.K. and run but if I selected the USER menu, immediate GURU ! All is fine after I have things fully installed. Bad ARP v 1.0 docs file and command: The ARP docs file on the distribution disk with TxEd was damaged so this problem may have been described there. The Mount command doesn't seem to properly mount VD0:. I tried it very carefully in my Startup-Sequence and manually, with no luck. So much as a "cd vd0:" will cause the system to reboot. The old mount command needs to be used instead. Good luck, and I hope this helps anyone in the same boat. Disclaimer: These problems I mention in the above programs are small ones, which are EASILY worked around, and I must say that at this point I'm WILD about using these programs constantly. The TxEd to ARexx macro capability is great, I hope SuperBase adds a port. Maybe a news reader could be created....download the days news while you have dinner and read at high speed later that night..... Ralph
lphillips@lpami.van-bc.UUCP (Larry Phillips) (04/17/88)
[ line eater sacrificial offering ] ralph@mit-atrp.UUCP (Ralph L. Vinciguerra) writes: > I have just received TxEd Plus and am very pleased. Mine was sent Thursday, so the Canadian mail system should get it here by the end of the month, if I'm lucky. (I just received a postal workers newsletter addressed to a house about 3 blocks away. :-) ) > If you want a new text file to edit, first use the workbench to duplicate > an existing text object, rename it, and start TxEd by double clicking it. > I successfully use the VT100 emulator this way. Before I download, I pop > out to the workbench and create blank files with icons first. For creating blank files, here is an ARexx version of 'touch', that acts like the UN*X 'touch'. If the file does not already exist, it is created as an empty file. It's relatively easy to add the capability to copy a suitable icon to represent the created file. You could also use an ARexx program to add an icon to any or all files found in a directory, probably callable from TxED through its ARexx interface. (guesswork until I get mine) -------------- buzz saw goes here --------------- /* touch -- set the date or time of a file. Calls setdate. If the file does not exist, creates it as an empty file */ parse arg x if index(x,'*') >0 | index(x,'#?') >0 | index(x,'?') >0 | index(x,'|') >0 then do setdate x end else if exists(word(x,1)) then setdate x else do scratch = open(dummy,x,'w') scratch = close(dummy) end ------------- buzz saw switch off --------------- > These problems I mention in the above programs are small ones, which are > EASILY worked around, and I must say that at this point I'm WILD about > using these programs constantly. Glad to hear it, though it will make waiting all the more difficult. I get constant use out of a few utilities written in ARexx, and am, in fact, using one right now to post this message.... > The TxEd to ARexx macro capability is great, I hope SuperBase adds a port. > Maybe a news reader could be created....download the days news while you > have dinner and read at high speed later that night..... A news reader is somtehing that should be fairly simple. The ARexx program I am using to post this is a bit kludgy, as it uses TxED (not TxED Plus), which of course does not have an ARexx interface. It looks in a specified directory, finds any files called 'answer.nn', where nn is 2 digit number. It then makes a corresponding copy of each 'answer.nn' to 'mail.nn', and calls TxED with 'mail.nn' as a command line argument. When I have hacked and slashed all the extraneous stuff out, written my response, and saved the file, the ARexx program searches through the saved file and extracts the Newsgroup and subject, and calls the mail program with all the necessary parameters. Not elegant, but workable. One of the first priorities when TxED Plus arrives is to write a proper readnews program complete with keep, discard, reply, include, etc. > Ralph -larry -- Janus? Well, look at it this way. If you squint a little, the J could be Amiga checkmark, and the rest of the word describes MsDos. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ {ihnp4!alberta!ubc-vision,uunet}!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 | +----------------------------------------------------------------+