Category : Miscellaneous Language Source Code
Archive   : MAX.ZIP
Filename : MAXEDIT.DOC

MaxEdit Version 1.00 - Reference Manual


Alt Key Sequences

A - Allocate Region
B - Buffer Text
C - Cut Text
D - Delete Line
E - Erase Region
F - File Mode
G - Goto Line
H -
I - Insert Line
J - Join Line
K - Split Line
L - Clear Background
M - Toggle Mark
N - Next Region
O - Overflow Mode
P - Paste Buffer
Q -
R - Read File
S - Status Mode
T - Truncate Line
U - Unallocate Region
V - Verify Mode
W - Write File
X - Search
Y - Replace
Z - Zap (Clear to EOF)
- - Wrap Mode


Other Key Sequences

Up - Line up, scroll at top
Down - Line down, scroll at bottom if not at end of file
Left - Column to left, scroll horizontally if necessary
Right - Column to right, scroll horizontally if necessary
Ctl-Left - Word to left
Ctl-Right - Word to right
Home - Beginning of current line
End - End of current line
Ctl-Home - Beginning of file
Ctl-End - End of file
Tab - One tabstop right
Shift-Tab - One tabstop left
Delete - Delete one character
PgUp - Scroll up 1/2 page
PgDn - Scroll down 1/2 page
Insert - Toggle insert/overtype
Ctl-PrtSc - Refresh screen
Shift-PrtSc - Print screen


Function Keys

The function keys send a command function reference when pressed. The
function reference is based on the name of the function key. The function
reference sent by the key can be used to invoke a Max function by creating
a user defined function with the function key name. For example, if you
want F5 to print "hello" every time it is pressed, enter the following:

define (
f5 (
print ("hello")
)
)

Now pressing F5 causes MaxEdit to return "f5()" to Max, just as if you
had typed it yourself in the command window. The f5 is interpreted by
Max as a function name and the corresponding function is executed.

The function keys may also be shifted, controlled and alted. The keys
return the following sequences:

Keys: Returns:

F1 through F10 f1() - f10()

Shifted F1 through F10 shift-f1() through shift-f10()

Controlled F1 through F10 ctrl-f1() through ctrl-f10()

Alted F1 through F10 alt-f1() through alt-f10()


The following functions are defined in the window.max initialization
file:

f1() Translate and interpret contents of function definition
window.

f2() Suspend from Max to the operating system. When you want
to return from the operating system to Max type exit.

f3() Print in the command entry window a directory of all
user defined functions.

f6() Clear all user defined functions and preprocessor
definitions entered since the last call to tset.

f10() Quit from Max.

You may redefined them by modifying window.max.


Windows

The MaxEdit interactive environment lets you issue commands in one window
while you edit a file in another. MaxEdit supports any number of
tiled (adjacent) or piled (overlapping) windows. Switch between windows by
using the Next (alt-n) command. Windows are automatically refreshed as
they are entered. Refreshing may be turned off by disabling the verify
feature (alt-v). You may open a new window by allocating (alt-a) it, or
close an existing window by unallocating (alt-u) it.

To enter a command in the command window, type the command and press
enter. All text to the left of the carriage return when enter is pressed is
sent to the Max command interpreter. This is always true in command windows
(for file windows, see File Mode below). To reenter text on a previous
line, use the arrow keys to move the cursor back to the line and to
the right of the text you want to send. Press enter. The command will
be re-sent without your having to retype it.

To open a new window, use either the "window (WOpen)" function from Max
or use the MaxEdit window allocate command (Alt-A). The window allocate
command allows you to define the location of the new window by specifying
first the upper left corner and then the lower right corner. The arrow
keys, tab, backtab, home, end, page up and page down may be used to
position the cursor. Enter ESC if you decide that you do not want to
open the window. You may change the defaults for the window
while it is prompting you to enter a corner location. The following
values may be changed by entering the letter:

a - video attributes as described under "window." These are
decimal values (hex 0x70 = dec 112, hex 0x07 = dec 7).

b - border style as described under "window." These are in
the range 1 to 8.

l - line length in bytes (characters). This is the maximum
length of a line in the window.

s - total buffer size in bytes (characters). This is the total
number of characters that may be entered in the window.


Temporary Files

MaxEdit uses a temporary file for the cut/copy/paste operations. The name
of the file is window.tmp and it is deleted when MaxEdit terminates. If
you have a ramdisk or would like the file put in a specific directory
you may specify the disk or pathname of the directory using the TMP
environment variable. If you do not specify a directory, the temporary
file will be placed in the current directory.

For example, to put the window.tmp file in C:\TMP, use the following
command under DOS:

SET TMP=C:\TMP


Read and Write

You may read a file into the current window using the read (alt-r)
command. A popup window is displayed where you can enter the name of
the file you with to read. Several options may be selected by specifying
a hyphen and the option character before the filename. Options for read
are:

c clear window before reading file
d display file as it is read
t read from temporary file (used for cut/copy/paste)

The contents of a window may be written to disk using the write command.
The same popup window is used to get the name of file to write. To reenter
a the name of file you previously specified, use the arrow and end
keys to position to the end of the line containing the filename. Be sure
there are no conflicting options on the same line, because they will
be re-sent too. Options may be specified for writing by preceding the
filename with a hyphen and the option character. Options for write are:

a append to file (default is to truncate)
c cut text after writing it
t write to temporary file (used for cut/copy/paste)

The read command expands tab characters in the file to MaxEdit tabstops.
You may cancel the read or write operation by entering ESC instead of a
filename.


Search and Replace

The MaxEdit search function accepts the ? and * wildcards. Specify ? to
match any single character and * to match zero or more characters. If the
characters ? and * are in the text you wish to search for, then precede
them with a backslash (\) escape character. The newline character (\n)
may also be used in searches and replacements but it should not be used
as the first character of a search string because it gives undesirable
results.

The replace command prompts first for a search string and then for a
replace string. It then searches for the first occurence of the search
string, positions the cursor to it, and prompts you to enter y, n, or a:

y - yes, make the change and search for next occurence
n - no, do not make change but search for next occurence
a - all, make the change and all remaining occurences

You may also enter ESC when prompted for the search string, replace
string or change confirmation to cancel the replace. Any changes made
will remain.


Marks and Cut/Copy/Write/Paste

The mark feature may be used to cut, copy or write a portion of the
file. A mark specifies the beginning or the end of the section you wish
to use and is entered by using the Mark (alt-m) command. The marked
character is displayed in reverse video so that you know which character
is marked. You may now position above or below the mark and select
the Cut (alt-c), Copy (alt-b for buffer) or Write (alt-w) commands. Those
commands work on text between the cursor and the mark. Cut and Copy are
used to copy text to a temporary file for subsequent placement using
Paste (alt-p). The difference between Cut and Copy is that Cut removes the
text from the file while Copy just makes a copy.


Overflow Mode

In the command window it is useful to have old text scroll off the
top of the buffer so that new text may be added to the bottom of the
buffer. This is known as overflow and is perfectly natural in the command
window. In the function definition window you don't want to lose anything
you've typed so don't use overflow mode. To toggle (i.e. switch) between
overflow and no-overflow modes use alt-o. The character "O" will appear
at the middle of the bottom row of the screen when you are in overflow mode.


File Mode

File mode is the opposite of overflow mode. It is usually used for
composing functions rather than entering commands. In file mode, a
carriage return does not cause the current line of text to be sent to
the Max command interpreter. When you are not in file mode each line of
text to the left of the cursor when a carriage return is entered is sent
to the command interpreter. To toggle (i.e. switch) between file and
no-file modes use alt-f. The character "F" will appear at the middle
of the bottom row of the screen when you are in file mode.


Status Mode

The row at the bottom of the screen that tells you the current line and
column numbers is called the status row. It also tells you how many free
bytes (characters) are left in the buffer. If you are creating a function
in the function definition window it is wise to save your file (using alt-w
for write) when it gets close to 100 or so. Then either allocate a
larger buffer or continue in another file. If the free storage gets low
in the command entry window, don't worry about it. MaxEdit will discard
old text from the top of the buffer so there will be room for new text.
The status row may be toggled (turned off and back on) by entering alt-s.