The Point Text Editor for the IBM PC
Reference Manual Version 2.00
(c) 1985-1989 Charles Crowley
4913 Royene Avenue NE Albuquerque, NM 87110
505-265-1188
All Rights Reserved
2
Contents
1 INTRODUCTION 11
1.1 What is in this reference manual............................. 11
1.2 Typographical conventions................................. 11
2 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN POINT 13
2.1 Windows.......................................... 13
2.1.1 The banner line................................... 13
2.1.1.1 The SAVE message............................ 13
2.1.1.2 The file name............................... 13
2.1.1.3 The * message.............................. 14
2.1.1.4 The OverType message......................... 14
2.1.1.5 The ReadOnly message......................... 14
2.1.1.6 The UNIX message............................ 14
2.1.1.7 The line and column numbers..................... 14
2.1.1.8 The banner fill character........................ 14
2.1.1.9 Banner line mouse commands..................... 14
2.1.2 The border..................................... 14
2.1.3 The elevator.................................... 14
2.1.3.1 The left border elevator......................... 15
2.1.3.2 The bottom border elevator....................... 15
2.1.4 The corners..................................... 15
2.1.5 Text......................................... 15
2.1.5.1 The text display............................. 15
2.1.5.2 Displayed characters........................... 15
2.1.5.3 The end-of-line character........................ 15
2.1.6 The selection.................................... 16
2.1.6.1 Selecting text............................... 16
2.1.6.2 Selecting by words and lines...................... 16
2.1.6.3 Extending the selection......................... 16
2.1.6.4 Selecting the end-of-line......................... 17
2.2 Screen layout in Point................................... 17
2.2.1 The top line..................................... 17
2.2.2 Scrolling....................................... 17
2.2.2.1 Scrolling with the mouse........................ 17
2.2.2.2 Scrolling with the keyboard....................... 18
2.2.3 Window positioning................................ 18
2.2.3.1 Sizing a new window.......................... 18
2.2.3.2 Resizing a window............................ 18
2.2.3.3 Overlapping windows.......................... 19
3
4 CONTENTS
2.2.3.4 Top and bottom commands....................... 19
2.2.3.5 Zoomed windows............................. 19
2.2.3.6 Hidden windows............................. 19
2.2.4 The active window................................. 19
2.3 Input to Point....................................... 20
2.3.1 Typing in text................................... 20
2.3.1.1 The insertion point........................... 20
2.3.1.2 Keyboard input............................. 20
2.3.1.3 Overtype mode.............................. 20
2.3.1.4 Backspacing over text.......................... 20
2.3.2 Entering responses................................. 20
2.3.2.1 Responding to prompts......................... 20
2.3.2.2 Selecting a file name........................... 21
2.3.2.3 Option setting.............................. 22
2.3.2.4 Interactively redefining keys, buttons, and mouse motions...... 23
2.3.2.5 Setting the screen colors........................ 23
2.3.3 Using the mouse.................................. 23
2.3.3.1 The mouse cursor............................ 23
2.3.3.2 The mouse buttons........................... 23
2.3.3.3 Selecting with the keyboard....................... 24
2.3.3.4 Simulating the mouse.......................... 24
2.4 File handling in Point................................... 24
2.4.1 Files in windows.................................. 24
2.4.2 Backup files..................................... 25
2.4.3 File handles..................................... 25
2.4.4 Read-only files................................... 25
2.5 Point commands...................................... 25
2.5.1 Mouse commands.................................. 25
2.5.2 Menu commands.................................. 25
2.5.3 Top line commands................................. 26
2.5.4 Keyboard commands................................ 26
2.5.4.1 Escape and Ctrl-break.......................... 26
2.5.5 Copying and moving................................. 26
2.5.5.1 Copy command............................. 26
2.5.5.2 Duplicate command........................... 26
2.5.5.3 Copy with scrap buffer......................... 27
2.5.5.4 Moving text................................ 27
2.5.6 Redoing and undoing commands.......................... 27
2.5.6.1 Redo.................................... 27
2.5.6.2 Reversible undo.............................. 27
2.5.6.3 Multiple step undo............................. 28
2.5.7 Other options..................................... 28
2.5.8 Searching and replacing............................... 28
2.5.8.1 Case sensitivity option.......................... 28
2.5.8.2 Searching for a string in all windows................... 29
2.5.8.3 Searching for whole words......................... 29
2.5.8.4 Searching for regular expressions..................... 29
2.5.9 The XTAG facility.................................. 32
2.5.10 Finding keywords in groups of files......................... 33
2.5.11 Keyboard macros................................... 33
CONTENTS 5
3 POINT COMMANDS 35
3.1 Invoking Point........................................ 35
3.2 Format of the command descriptions............................ 35
3.3 Window commands...................................... 36
3.3.1 Window management................................ 36
3.3.1.1 New window............................... 36
3.3.1.2 Usage hint: creating full screen windows................ 36
3.3.1.3 New window from selection....................... 36
3.3.1.4 Hide window................................ 36
3.3.1.5 Usage hint: hidden windows...................... 36
3.3.1.6 Close window................................ 37
3.3.1.7 Close window and save file....................... 37
3.3.1.8 Split window................................ 37
3.3.1.9 Usage hint: working with two parts of a file.............. 37
3.3.1.10 Redraw screen............................... 37
3.3.2 Window positioning................................. 37
3.3.2.1 Top window............................... 37
3.3.2.2 Bottom window............................. 37
3.3.2.3 Top/bottom window........................... 37
3.3.2.4 Usage hint: scanning through the windows.............. 38
3.3.2.5 Exchange top windows......................... 38
3.3.2.6 Usage hint: working with two windows................ 38
3.3.2.7 Zoom window.............................. 38
3.3.2.8 Resize window............................... 38
3.3.2.9 Stretch window............................... 38
3.3.2.10 Usage hint: resizing windows....................... 38
3.3.2.11 Move window................................ 39
3.3.2.12 Usage hint:resizing windows...................... 39
3.3.3 File positioning in the window........................... 39
3.3.3.1 Scroll down................................. 39
3.3.3.2 Scroll up.................................. 39
3.3.3.3 Usage hint: scrolling two or more lines.................. 39
3.3.3.4 Scroll left.................................. 39
3.3.3.5 Scroll right................................. 39
3.3.3.6 Thumb vertical............................... 39
3.3.3.7 Thumb horizontal............................ 40
3.3.3.8 Usage hint: comparing two windows.................. 40
3.3.4 Searching....................................... 40
3.3.4.1 Search for string.............................. 40
3.3.4.2 Search for regular expression....................... 40
3.3.4.3 Usage hint: changing the default search string............ 41
3.3.4.4 Usage hint: search and replace..................... 41
3.3.4.5 Usage hint: search and replace in all windows............. 41
3.3.4.6 Usage hint: searching in several files................... 41
3.3.4.7 Usage hint: finding variables....................... 42
3.3.4.8 Search for selection............................ 42
3.3.4.9 Usage hint: repeating a search..................... 42
3.3.4.10 Search backwards............................. 43
3.3.4.11 Usage hint: fast search for selection................... 43
3.3.4.12 Usage hint: searching in another window............... 43
3.3.4.13 Find tagged string............................. 43
6 CONTENTS
3.3.4.14 Find selected tag.............................. 43
3.3.4.15 Usage hint: using XTAGs........................ 43
3.3.4.16 Find keyword................................ 44
3.3.4.17 Find selected keyword........................... 44
3.3.4.18 Usage hint: finding a string in multiple files............... 44
3.3.4.19 Replace................................... 44
3.3.4.20 Usage hint: replace within the selection................. 44
3.3.4.21 Usage hint: indenting and outdenting................. 44
3.3.4.22 Beginning of file.............................. 44
3.3.4.23 Beginning of file and move selection................... 45
3.3.4.24 End of file................................. 45
3.3.4.25 Go to line number............................. 45
3.3.4.26 Go to selected line number........................ 45
3.3.4.27 Usage hint: finding compile error lines.................. 45
3.3.4.28 Go back................................... 45
3.3.4.29 Usage hint: switching between two places in a file.......... 45
3.3.4.30 Usage hint: remembering your editing context............ 45
3.3.4.31 Show selection............................... 46
3.3.4.32 Find matching bracket......................... 46
3.3.4.33 Usage hint: finding matching brackets................. 46
3.4 Editing commands...................................... 46
3.4.1 Selecting text..................................... 46
3.4.1.1 Select text................................. 46
3.4.1.2 Extend selection.............................. 46
3.4.1.3 Usage hint: extending the selection beyond the window....... 46
3.4.2 Inserting characters................................. 47
3.4.2.1 Inserting characters............................ 47
3.4.2.2 Insert ASCII................................ 47
3.4.2.3 Change case................................ 47
3.4.3 Copying and moving text.............................. 47
3.4.3.1 Copy.................................... 47
3.4.3.2 Usage hint: copying text........................ 47
3.4.3.3 Duplicate.................................. 47
3.4.3.4 Usage hint: duplicating lines....................... 48
3.4.3.5 Move.................................... 48
3.4.3.6 Extract................................... 48
3.4.3.7 Delete.................................... 48
3.4.3.8 Delete, no scrap.............................. 48
3.4.3.9 Copy to scrap............................... 48
3.4.3.10 Insert.................................... 48
3.4.3.11 Exchange with scrap............................ 48
3.4.3.12 Usage hint: exchange two strings..................... 48
3.4.3.13 Cancel................................... 49
3.4.3.14 Fill lines.................................. 49
3.4.3.15 Usage hint: filling lines.......................... 49
3.4.4 Redoing and undoing edits............................. 49
3.4.4.1 Redo last edit............................... 49
3.4.4.2 Usage hint: renaming a variable.................... 50
3.4.4.3 Undo last edit............................... 50
3.4.4.4 Usage hint: comparing changed and original strings......... 50
3.4.4.5 Undo multiple............................... 50
CONTENTS 7
3.5 Other commands....................................... 50
3.5.1 File commands.................................... 50
3.5.1.1 Load file.................................. 50
3.5.1.2 Load file from selection.......................... 51
3.5.1.3 Save file................................... 51
3.5.1.4 Save unsaved files............................. 51
3.5.1.5 Save as..................................... 51
3.5.2 Quit commands.................................... 51
3.5.2.1 Quit-ask about files............................ 51
3.5.2.2 Quit-save files............................... 51
3.5.2.3 Quit-discard edits............................. 51
3.5.3 Executing DOS commands............................. 51
3.5.3.1 Execute selected command....................... 51
3.5.3.2 Escape to DOS shell............................ 52
3.5.3.3 Replace selected command....................... 52
3.5.4 Keyboard macro commands............................. 52
3.5.4.1 Begin/end macro.............................. 52
3.5.4.2 Play back macro.............................. 52
3.5.4.3 Usage hint: indenting and outdenting................. 52
3.5.5 Mouse simulation commands............................ 52
3.5.5.1 Beginning of line.............................. 52
3.5.5.2 End of line................................. 53
3.5.5.3 Click left mouse button.......................... 53
3.5.5.4 Click right mouse button........................ 53
3.5.6 Miscellaneous commands.............................. 53
3.5.6.1 Toggle readOnly.............................. 53
3.5.6.2 Cycle colors................................ 53
3.5.6.3 Usage hint: marking windows with color................ 53
3.5.6.4 Invoke help................................. 53
3.5.6.5 Display Point information......................... 54
3.5.7 Menu commands................................... 54
3.5.7.1 Invoke user menus............................. 54
3.5.7.2 Invoke the TOPLIST........................... 54
3.5.7.3 Usage hint: topping windows with the TOPLIST menu....... 54
3.6 Invoking commands with the mouse............................ 54
3.7 Mouse motion commands.................................. 55
3.7.1 Issuing a mouse motion command......................... 55
3.7.2 Canceling a mouse motion command........................ 56
3.7.3 Default mouse motion subcommands........................ 56
3.7.4 Installing the mouse motion command....................... 57
3.7.4.1 Usage hint: mouse motion commands................. 57
3.7.5 Changing the default subcommands........................ 57
3.7.6 Changing other mouse motion parameters..................... 58
3.7.7 Second mouse motion command.......................... 58
3.7.8 Usage hint: learning to use the mouse motion commands............. 59
3.7.8.1 Using one mouse motion command................... 59
3.7.8.2 Using more mouse motion commands................. 60
3.8 Keyboard commands..................................... 61
3.8.1 Function keys..................................... 62
3.8.2 Keypad and other keys............................... 62
3.8.3 Alt-letter keys.................................... 63
8 CONTENTS
4 POINT OPTIONS 65
4.1 Specifying basic Point options................................ 65
4.1.1 Local initialization files............................... 65
4.2 Format of pt.ini....................................... 65
4.3 Option names and values.................................. 65
4.3.1 Searching options................................... 66
4.3.2 Display options.................................... 67
4.3.3 Editing options.................................... 68
4.3.4 Scrolling options................................... 68
4.3.5 File handling options................................. 69
4.3.6 Filename selection options.............................. 69
4.3.7 Color options..................................... 70
4.3.7.1 Window colors............................... 70
4.3.7.2 Menu colors................................ 71
4.3.7.3 Interactive color setting.......................... 71
4.4 Specifying menus, buttons, and keys............................ 72
4.4.1 Point command numbers.............................. 72
4.4.2 Specifying keys.................................... 75
4.4.3 Specifying menus................................... 77
4.4.4 Option setting commands.............................. 79
4.4.5 Top line menus.................................... 79
4.4.6 Bottom line menus.................................. 80
4.4.7 Pop-up mouse menus................................. 80
4.4.8 Assigning commands to buttons.......................... 81
4.4.9 Mouse sensitive window points........................... 81
4.4.9.1 Usage hint: window corner commands................. 82
4.4.10 Interactively redefining keys and mouse buttons.................. 82
4.4.10.1 Usage hint: redefining keys and mouse buttons............ 83
4.4.11 Examples....................................... 83
4.5 The File selection screen................................... 83
4.5.1 Usage hint: file selection screen menus....................... 84
A Point usage hints 85
A.1 Window placement...................................... 85
A.2 Some fast methods...................................... 86
A.3 Copying text......................................... 86
A.4 Redo and undo........................................ 86
A.5 Searching for strings..................................... 86
A.6 Using the mouse....................................... 87
B Point without a mouse 89
B.1 Moving the mouse cursor.................................. 89
B.2 Simulating the mouse buttons................................ 89
B.3 Using mouse keys with a mouse............................... 89
C Point quick reference guide 91
C.1 Function keys......................................... 91
C.2 Alt-letter and other keys................................... 91
C.3 Mouse command chart.................................... 92
C.4 Command numbers by category............................... 93
C.4.1 Simulated mouse command table.......................... 96
CONTENTS...................................................... 9
D Point size limitations 97
E Point development history and acknowledgments 99
F Index 101
10 CONTENTS
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION This Reference Manual describes Point, a text editor for the IBM PC
| (and compatible computers) with a mouse-based user interface and overlapped
| windows.
1.1 What is in this reference manual
Chapter 2 describes the principles and definitions necessary to understand the
| functioning of the editor.
Chapter 3 is a detailed reference guide to Point commands, intended for use
| after you have a general knowledge of Point features.
Chapters 2 and 3 will describe the behavior of Point using the default options
| in the distributed pt.ini file. When you become more familiar with Point and
| its commands, you can try the other .ini files and modify them to create the
| user interface that is most suitable to your style of editing.
Chapter 4 describes each of the options available with Point and how to set
| them. It also describes how to specify top line and pop-up mouse menus, and
| how to assign functions and menus to keystrokes and mouse buttons.
Appendix A provides hints on how to use the features of Point most effectively.
Appendix B describes how to use Point without a mouse.
Appendix C is a quick reference to Point features.
Appendix D lists the various size limitations in Point (number of windows,
| number of files, etc.).
Appendix E describes how Point was designed and implemented. It includes
| acknowledgments of people who have inspired and inuenced Point.
Sppendix F is the index.
1.2 Typographical conventions
In order to make it easier to read this manual we have used a set of standard
| conventions for the font of certain types of words.
The name Point itself is always in a slanted font.
Keyboard keys are in a sans serif font: Enter, F10, A. Usually these are keys
| that you will type.
Prompts that Point displays on the screen are in typewriter font: Enter
| filename:.
Point menus are in typewriter font: FILE, EDIT.
Names of DOS files on your disk are in typewriter font: pt.ini, pt.msg.
11
12 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
Point commands are in a sans serif font: New window, Go to line number.
Input that you type to Point is in typewriter font: k, 532.
The names of Point options are in typewriter font: undoSize, makeBaks.
Chapter 2
IMPORT ANT CONCEPTS IN POINT
2.1 Windows
2.1.1 The banner line
The top line of each window is called the banner line. It displays:
A SAVE message when editing space is low.
The name of the file loaded in the window.
A * if the file has been changed.
The OverType message if Point is in overtype mode.
The ReadOnly message if the window is in readOnly mode.
The UNIX message if the window is in UNIX mode.
The numbers of the lines shown in the window.
The numbers of the columns shown in the window.
Unused space filled with blanks or double bars.
2.1.1.1 The SAVE message
When the editing space used by Point to keep track of changes in the files
| becomes low, the message SAVE appears before the file name in each window. At
| this time, one or more of the edited files should be saved to reclaim the
| editing space they are using. The amount of editing space used depends on how
| many changes have been made, not on the size of the files. If files are not
| saved, you will risk losing data when editing space runs out. One problem is
| the the change history will be lost when you save the files and you will not
| be able to undo any of the changes you have made before the save.
2.1.1.2 The file name
The file name is displayed exactly as it was typed in (including
| capitalization). It may be a path name. If the name displayed is Unnamed, then
| no file is associated with that window. You can still type or move text into
| the window, but you must give it a name when you save it.
13
14 CHAPTER 2. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN POINT
2.1.1.3 The * message
If the file in the window has been changed, a * will appear after the file name.
2.1.1.4 The OverType message
If you are in overtype mode the message OverType will appear.
2.1.1.5 The ReadOnly message
If you are in readOnly mode the message ReadOnly will appear.
2.1.1.6 The UNIX message
If you are in UNIX mode the message UNIX will appear.
2.1.1.7 The line and column numbers
Line numbers and column numbers of the display in the window are given as
| ranges. Column numbers are useful for horizontal scrolling.
2.1.1.8 The banner fill character
The rest of the banner line consists of blanks unless this is the active window,
| in which case there is a double horizontal line through the banner line.
2.1.1.9 Banner line mouse commands
If you press and hold down the right mouse button on the banner line and move
| the mouse, a shadow of the window borders will follow the mouse, and allow you
| to move the window anywhere on the screen. The window will shrink if you run
| its shadow borders into the edge of the screen, but will expand again, up to
| its original size, as you move the shadow borders back away from the edge.
Clicking the left mouse button on the banner line makes that window the active
| window. Clicking the middle mouse button on the banner line splits the window.
2.1.2 The border
The border of the window is a single line unless it is the active window, in
| which case it is a double line.
Clicking the middle mouse button on the right border horizontally splits the
| window. Clicking a mouse button on the bottom border moves the window
| horizontally, in either a scroll or a thumb.
Clicking a mouse button on the left border scrolls or thumbs the window
| vertically.
2.1.3 The elevator
The elevator is a portion of the border that is a different color (or has
| different video attributes) than the rest of the border. It is an
| approximation of the position of the window in the file, and the amount of the
| file shown in the window.
2.1. WINDOWS 15
2.1.3.1 The left border elevator
The entire length of the left border (not including the two corners) is used to
| represent the whole document. The further along in the file the window is, the
| further down the left border the elevator starts. The longer the elevator is,
| the more of the file that is visible in the window (hence the shorter the
| file). As you scroll through the file you can see the highlighted portion of
| the left border move.
2.1.3.2 The bottom border elevator
An elevator may also appear on the bottom border. This will occur only when
| there are lines of text that extend beyond the right border of the window, or
| when the window is indented.
2.1.4 The corners
The four corners of the window are special in that there are three mouse
| commands that are invoked by clicking either the left, right or middle mouse
| button on a corner.
Clicking the left mouse button on a corner tops the window, unless it is already
| the top window, in which case it bottoms the window.
Clicking the middle mouse button on a corner causes the window below the top
| window to become the top window. In other words, it exchanges the two top
| windows and so is useful for switching back and forth between two windows when
| other windows are also open.
Pressing the right mouse button on a corner allows you to stretch or shrink the
| window by dragging the corner with the mouse. An elastic shadow border will
| follow the mouse cursor. When you release the right mouse button, the window
| will change to the size of the shadow border.
The corners are not considered part of the banner line, the left border, the
| right border, or the bottom border.
2.1.5 Text
2.1.5.1 The text display
The text display is a representation of the contents of the file loaded into the
| window. It is displayed as it would be on a printer. DOS (and most PC
| software) ends lines in most files with a carriage return, line-feed sequence
| (ASCII 13 and 10). Such a sequence causes Point to display the succeeding text
| on the next line in the window.
2.1.5.2 Displayed characters
Point displays the characters in the file using the graphics symbols defined for
| the IBM PC for the 256 possible character values. Each character in the file
| is displayed this way, with three exceptions. A tab character moves to the
| next tab stop and does not display as a tab. A line-feed character (ASCII 10)
| is displayed as a blank and causes the display to move to the next line. A
| carriage return (ASCII 13) that is immediately followed by a line-feed is not
| displayed. Carriage returns not followed by line-feeds are displayed normally.
2.1.5.3 The end-of-line character
At the end of each line Point displays a blank that represents the carriage
| return, line-feed sequence. This is called the "end-of-line character" and it
| is visible only if you include it in the selection. Point will accept a
| line-feed (ASCII 10) alone as an end-of-line character, but if you type in a
| carriage return alone, Point will insert the carriage return, line-feed
| sequence into the file.
16 CHAPTER 2. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN POINT
2.1.6 The selection
The selection is a sequence of one or more characters in a displayed file.
| Unless there are no open windows, there is always a current selection, but it
| is not necessary that the selection be visible. It may be partially or
| entirely covered by another window or be in a part of the file that is not
| showing in the window.
Making a selection specifies the part of the text that you want to work with.
| After a selection is made, you generally issue a command that affects the
| selected text.
Selecting text has no effect, other than to change the appearance of the
| display, until you issue a command that affects the current selection. That
| is, making a selection does not imply a commitment to do anything. If you
| select the wrong item, simply make another selection before issuing a command.
| The textColors option can be used to set the color or video attributes of the
| text, or selected text, in a window.
2.1.6.1 Selecting text
Point the mouse cursor at the character in the text where you want the selection
| to begin (or end).
To start the selection process, press the left mouse button. As you hold down
| the button and move the mouse, the selection will follow the mouse cursor and
| you can see what will be selected. As soon as you release the left mouse
| button the selection is made.
2.1.6.2 Selecting by words and lines
When you make a selection by clicking the left mouse button, you are selecting
| in character mode.
This means that if you move the mouse while the left button is still pressed,
| the selection will be extended by characters. If you click twice in rapid
| succession on a character, you begin selecting in word mode. In this mode
| entire words at a time are selected. In this case the selection is extended by
| words. A triple click (again in rapid succession) selects a whole line in line
| mode. There is an option doubleClickRate that determines how closely two
| clicks must be together to be considered a double click.
The selection mode affects how the Move, Copy, Duplicate and Extract commands
| work. If you have selected text in line mode and try to copy it to the middle
| of another line, it will be copied, instead, at the beginning of the line you
| indicate. In word mode you can only copy words at the beginning of other
| words. This means that you do not have to be as accurate in positioning your
| insertion point, and therefore can work more rapidly.
2.1.6.3 Extending the selection
The right mouse button is used to extend (or contract) the selection. First,
| start the selection with the left mouse button. Then release the left mouse
| button and move the mouse cursor to the point where you want the selection to
| end. Press the right mouse button, and the selection will be extended to that
| point. If you hold down the right mouse button, the selection will follow the
| mouse cursor as it does when selecting with the left mouse button.
There are two ways to extend a selection beyond the text seen in the window. You
| can start the selection with the left mouse button, move the window as much as
| desired, and then extend the selection by clicking the right mouse button. Or,
| you can use automatic scrolling. Begin the extension at the original selection
| by holding down either the left or the right mouse button as you move the
| mouse cursor. When you move into the window border, either above or below, the
| window will be scrolled automatically and the selection will be extended as it
| scrolls. The window will scroll autoScrollRate lines at a time.
Automatic scrolling will occur only when the mouse cursor is on either the
| bottom border or the top border of the window. If you move the cursor farther
| up or down, the scrolling will stop.
2.2. SCREEN LAYOUT IN POINT 17
At any time during the automatic scrolling you can move the mouse cursor back
| into the window and then continue extending (or contracting) the selection.
The selection is extended by units of either characters, words, or lines,
| depending on whether the selection with the left mouse button was in
| character, word, or line mode.
2.1.6.4 Selecting the end-of-line
The end-of-line character at the end of each line in the window is a space, and
| is not visible, but it can be selected. It is distinguishable from actual
| spaces in the text, since it is always the last character in the line that can
| be selected. Actually, you are selecting the carriage return, new-line
| combination that DOS uses to mark the end of a line. It is not possible to
| select either the carriage return or the new-line separately when they occur
| in sequence.
A carriage return alone does display and can be selected. Point also recognizes
| a new-line alone as an end-of-line character. It, too, can be effectively
| selected alone.
Deleting an end-of-line character will join that line with the next line.
2.2 Screen layout in Point
2.2.1 The top line
The top line of the screen contains menu names and several Point commands.
Pressing (and holding down) the left mouse button on a menu name calls up that
| menu. To select a command from it, move the mouse down the menu and release
| the button while the mouse is on the command you want.
To invoke a Point command from the top line, click on the command name with the
| left mouse button.
2.2.2 Scrolling
2.2.2.1 Scrolling with the mouse
The left border of a window is the scroll bar for that window. The corners of
| the window are not considered to be part of the scroll bar. If you click the
| left mouse button on the scroll bar the window will scroll up, that is, you
| will see information closer to the beginning of the file being displayed in
| the window. If you click the right mouse button on the scroll bar the window
| will scroll down.
The number of lines scrolled is determined by how far down on the scroll bar you
| click the mouse.
If you click the right mouse button on the scroll bar, the window will scroll so
| that the line you clicked on will be the top line in the window. If you click
| the left mouse button on the scroll bar, the window will scroll so that the
| top line in the window (before scrolling) will move to the line you clicked
| on.
If you move the mouse cursor to the scroll bar and press and hold a mouse button
| down, Point will begin scrolling the window continuously until you release the
| mouse button. The farther down the scroll bar you have the mouse cursor, the
| more lines each scroll will move and hence the faster the scrolling will go.
| The slowest scrolling is obtained by holding the mouse button down by the top
| line in the window.
There are three options related to continuous scrolling. The first is
| smoothScroll which must be true for continuous scrolling to occur at all. If
| smoothScroll is false (that is, set to 0) then you will get only one scroll
| per button press. If you set smoothScroll to true (true is the default for
| this option) then there are two other options to control the scrolling. The
| scrollDelay determines the number of hundredths of a second that Point will
| wait while the mouse button is held down before it begins continuous
| scrolling. The default value for scrollDelay is 50. This is 50=100 seconds or
| one half second. If scrollDelay is too small, the scrolling will seem jumpy
| and it will be hard to get
18 CHAPTER 2. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN POINT
Point to scroll only one time (which is the most common case). After continuous
| scrolling is started, the option scrollRate determines how many hundredths of
| a second Point will delay between each scroll. The default for this is 0. You
| can normally adjust the scrolling rate by scrolling more or fewer lines each
| scroll. On most machines, scrolling one line at a time is about as slow as you
| want to go.
If you have a very fast machine you might set scrollRate to 5 or 10.
You can also click the middle (or both) mouse button on the scroll bar to jump
| to a part of the file. Where you jump to is determined by how far down the
| scroll bar you click the button. This is called thumbing since it is analogous
| to using your thumb to quickly get to some part of a book.
The bottom border is the horizontal scroll bar. It works similarly to the
| vertical scroll bar with some exceptions. Left and right
| scrolling]indexscrolling!left is by columns and is determined by where along
| the bottom border you click the mouse button. Using the left mouse button, the
| text scrolls towards column one and the column presently on the left of the
| window moves to the column you clicked on.
Horizontal thumbing is a little different than vertical thumbing in that the
| columns always represent columns 1 through 78 (or less for smaller windows) of
| the text. Thus, clicking on column 78 does not move to the end of the line but
| rather moves column 78 to the left side of the window.
2.2.2.2 Scrolling with the keyboard
The PgUp and PgDn keys scroll the window up and down by about a screenfull.
| Point overlaps scrolled screens by two lines in order to show a little content
| while scrolling.
You cannot do horizontal scrolling with the keyboard.
2.2.3 Window positioning
Each window has a position and a size. There are commands to move a window, to
| stretch (or contract) a window at any corner, and to specify new borders for
| the window. The initial windows are given default position and size. The
| initialWindows option determines the configuration of the initial windows.
2.2.3.1 Sizing a new window
When you create a window you are asked to specify its position. First, you are
| asked to press (and hold down) the left mouse button at the upper left corner.
| Then, an elastic border will follow the mouse cursor and you are requested to
| release the button at the lower right corner.
If you press and release (that is, click) the left mouse button at the upper
| left corner position without moving the mouse, the lower right corner will
| default to be the lower right corner of the screen.
Actually, you can specify any two opposite corners in any order. The elastic
| border will show you where the window will be.
2.2.3.2 Resizing a window
The Resize window command will allow you to specify the position of the window
| in the same way as you did when the window was created.
Alternatively, you can stretch or shrink a window by any corner with the right
| mouse button.
You can also move a window by pressing the right mouse button on the banner
| line. By moving the window into the sides of the screen you can make it
| smaller.
2.2. SCREEN LAYOUT IN POINT 19
2.2.3.3 Overlapping windows
The windows on the display are overlapped. One way to think of them is as
| rectangles that are laid on the screen. Point remembers which are above and
| which are underneath other windows. It displays the top window first, then the
| next, and so on. It does not display the parts of windows that are hidden
| beneath other windows.
It is possible for a window to be completely covered by other windows and not be
| visible at all. If the windows above it are moved or deleted, the window
| underneath will become partly or fully visible again. You can also explicitly
| bring a window to the top. Inactive windows can be kept underneath other
| windows and only brought forward when you need them.
2.2.3.4 Top and bottom commands
There are commands to "top" a window (make it the top window) and "bottom" a
| window (make it the bottom window).
The TOPLIST menu shows you the names of the files in all the active windows
| (listed from top to bottom). Selecting a file name from that menu tops that
| window.
The Bottom window command is invoked with Alt-b.
2.2.3.5 Zoomed windows
It is also possible to "zoom" a window. This enlarges the window to the screen
| size (except for the top line of commands and menus), and covers all the other
| windows. When you "unzoom" a window it returns to the position and size it was
| before you zoomed it, and the rest of the windows become visible again
| (although the unzoomed window will be the top window even if it was not before
| it was zoomed). This feature is used when you want to concentrate on one
| window for a while without losing its position relative to the other windows.
2.2.3.6 Hidden windows
A window can be "hidden" with the Hide window command. A hidden window does not
| display at all, but still retains all information about the file, its position
| in the file, its position on the screen, etc. This is different than closing a
| window, which closes the file in the window and releases the window for reuse.
| If there are one or more hidden windows, they appear at the bottom of the
| TOPLIST menu, separated from the list of visible windows by a horizontal bar.
| You can make a hidden window visible again (and top it) by selecting it from
| the TOPLIST menu. Hidden windows that have been edited (before being hidden)
| will be asked about or saved automatically when you exit Point.
2.2.4 The active window
At all times, one window is marked as the active window. It is to this window
| that top line and keyboard commands will apply. The active window has a double
| line border.
Make a window the active window by clicking the left mouse button on its banner
| line, by topping the window, or by creating a new window. If the active window
| is closed or bottomed, the top window becomes the active window.
20 CHAPTER 2. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN POINT
2.3 Input to Point
2.3.1 Typing in text
2.3.1.1 The insertion point
To insert characters into the text you must first select the point where you
| want the characters inserted. This is called the insertion point. It is
| immediately before the first character of your selection. Any text typed on
| the keyboard will be inserted at this point. The selection, in this case, does
| not indicate text that you want to work with, but where new text will be
| inserted.
2.3.1.2 Keyboard input
You are initially in insert mode in Point. That is, any printing character that
| you type will be inserted at the insertion point. Most of the 128 ASCII
| characters can be entered by typing the appropriate keys. Those that cannot
| are either intercepted by the operating system or interpreted specially by
| Point. They are: Ctrl-2 (nul), Ctrl-c (like Ctrl-break), Ctrl-h (backspace),
| Ctrl-m (enter or carriage return), Ctrl-p, Ctrl-s (suspend), and Ctrl-[
| (escape).
You can insert any 8-bit, extended ASCII character value by using the Insert
| ASCII command (Alt-a).
2.3.1.3 Overtype mode
You can switch (from the EDIT II menu or by using Alt-o) to overtype 1 mode, in
| which each character you type replaces the character at the insertion point.
| As each character is replaced, the insertion point will move one character to
| the right, as though you are typing over the existing characters. The banner
| line will indicate when you are in overtype mode.
2.3.1.4 Backspacing over text
The backspace key deletes the character immediately before the selection (the
| previous character).
The Ctrl-backspace key deletes the "word" just before the selection. A "word"
| (to Ctrl-backspace) is either:
A sequence of letters (upper and lower case) and numbers
A sequence of characters none of which are letters or numbers
The blank space (spaces, tabs, and the end-of-line character) after the word
| is also deleted.
If you use Ctrl-backspace in the middle of a word, only the characters before
| the selection are deleted.
These two commands will work in the same way whether the text was just typed in
| or was previously in the file.
2.3.2 Entering responses
2.3.2.1 Responding to prompts
Sometimes Point will ask you for text input on the bottom line of the display.
| Enter your response by typing normally. The Backspace key erases the last
| typed character, and, if you want to start over, Ctrl-backspace erases
| everything typed in so far. You cannot use the mouse to select the response
| although the right mouse button will copy the selection into the response
| area.
Terminate a response with the Enter key (or the left mouse button).
Other names that have been used for this concept (in other editors) are
| overwrite, replace, and typeover.
2.3. INPUT TO POINT 21
Whenever input is requested the Esc (escape) key will cancel the pending action.
Sometimes a default response is automatically typed for you. Press Enter (or the
| left mouse button) to accept the default. A backspace will erase the last
| character of the default and allow you to further edit the default. Pressing
| any other key will erase the default and start a new string with the key you
| pressed.
Some responses only require a yes or no answer and terminate after you type
| either a y (or Y) or an n (or N). To answer yes or no questions with the
| mouse, the mouse cursor must be on the bottom line of the screen. The left
| mouse button is a y and any other mouse button is an n. The yes or no
| questions also have default responses (usually y).
2.3.2.2 Selecting a file name
When you create a new window or load a new file into a window, you are presented
| with a display of directory names, file names, and commands which allow you to
| move around the directory tree easily. Directory names, displayed in the color
| of selected text and followed by a backslash ("""), are listed before file
| names. The ".."" directory is also displayed. Clicking on ".."" with the left
| mouse button will move you to the parent directory. In addition, clicking in
| the file display part of the window where no file name is displayed will also
| move you to the parent directory.
If you select a directory name, the current directory is changed to that
| directory, the file pattern is changed to *.* and the files in the new current
| directory are displayed. This current directory will stay in effect until you
| change it again or exit Point. You can also change the current drive or
| directory by escaping into the MS/DOS command interpreter (use Alt-d to do
| this) and change them there. The changes made in the MS/DOS command
| interpreter will apply to the file selection screen.
Clicking on a file name with the left mouse button will load that file into the
| window.
The top line of a menu of commands that will affect the directory and file name
| display. These commands allow you to move around the directory tree and move
| to other drives. The commands are defined as follows: Cancel The pending load
| or window create is cancelled.
Next Move to the next page of filenames. This command has an effect only if
| there are too many filenames to display on the screen at once.
Prev Move to the next page of filenames. This command has an effect only if
| there are too many filenames to display on the screen at once.
DRIVES&DIRS This is a drop down menu containing the following items:
Home Change to the directory you started Point in.
C:\windows Change to the directory "\windows" on the current drive.
C:\bin Change to the directory "\bin" on the current drive.
C:\ Change to the directory \ (the root directory) on the current drive.
A: Change the current drive to "A".
C: Change the current drive to "C".
D: Change the current drive to "D".
PATTERNS This is a drop down menu containing the following items: *.* Change
| filePattern to "*.*".
*.c Change filePattern to "*.c
'.
22 CHAPTER 2. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN POINT
*.exe|*.com Change filePattern to "*.exe|*.com".
*.bat Change filePattern to "*.bat".
*.asm Change filePattern to "*.asm".
*.doc Change filePattern to "*.doc".
Do not sort List filenames in the order they are in in the directory.
Sort by name List the filenames in sorted order.
Sort by extension List the filenames sorted first by extension and then by
| filename.
A: Change current drive to "A".
C: Change current drive to "C".
D: Change current drive to "D".
*.c Change filePattern to "*.c".
Home Change directory to the current directory when you started Point.
With the commands in the PATTERNS menu you can respecify the file pattern used
| to generate the list of files that is displayed. A file pattern can contain
| several individual file patterns if they are separated by vertical bars ("j").
| An individual file pattern can contain a drive letter and a path name, but can
| use the DOS wild card characters ("*" and "?") only in the last component of
| the path name.
Here are some examples of possible file patterns:
*.* -- all files in the current directory
*.doc -- all files with extension ``doc''
*.doc|*.txt -- all files with extensions ``doc'' or ``txt''
\bin\a*.bat -- ``.bat'' files in ``\bin'' beginning with ``a''
\bin\*.bat|\test\*.bat -- ``bat'' files in ``\bin'' and ``\test''
Information in the second line of the display indicates the drive and directory
| from which the file names are taken, the file pattern used to select the
| displayed file names, and the number of files selected. From the file
| selection screen, you can choose to click on a file name to load the file,
| click on "..\" to move to the parent directory, click on a command name to
| change the display or the current drive, or type in a file name directly.
Point waits for either a left mouse button click or a typed-in file name.
2.3.2.3 Option setting
Most of the menus allow you to change some of the Point options interactively.
| If you select an option (except a True/False option), you are prompted for a
| new value for the option. The true/false options are toggled (i.e., changed
| from true to false or false to true) when they are selected.
2.3. INPUT TO POINT 23
2.3.2.4 Interactively redefining keys, buttons, and mouse motions
This feature, which allows you to change the definition of a key, mouse button,
| or mouse motion subcommand interactively, is useful when you want to be able
| to issue a command easily. For example, you might want to make the F3 key the
| Change case command so that you can quickly change the case of a sequence of
| words.
You can access "redefine" through the OTHERS menu item "Redefine...". When you
| select "Redefine...", you are asked what type of action you want to
| redefine. The options are: k to redefine a key b to redefine a mouse button 1
| to redefine a subcommand of the first mouse motion command 2 to redefine a
| subcommand of the second mouse motion command If you choose "k", Point asks
| you to press the key you wish to redefine. Then it asks you for the new
| command to assign to that key. This process is described below.
If you choose "b", Point asks you to press the mouse button you wish to
| redefine. Then it asks you for the command to assign to that button. A mouse
| button can be redefined with a Shift, Alt or Ctrl key modifying it. (You can
| do this in pt.ini also.) Just press the Shift, Alt or Ctrl key and then click
| the mouse button.
If you choose 1 or 2, you will be asked for the subcommand direction. Use either
| a compass direction (n, ne, e, se, s, sw, w, or nw) followed by the Enter key,
| or the Enter key alone, which redefines the No motion command.
After you have selected the action to redefine, Point will display a line of
| directions on line 24 of the screen, and a command number and one-line command
| description on line 25. These are the same one-line descriptions you will see
| if you have the helpMode option set to 1 or 2. The first command you see will
| be the command currently assigned to the action you specified.
You can scroll up and down through all the possible commands (presently there
| are about 100 Point commands) with the up and down cursor keys. Left and right
| scrolls are possible also. To jump directly to a command, type its number. A
| one digit command number must be preceded by a "0" or followed by the Enter
| key.
When the display shows the command that you want, press the Enter key to
| complete the redefinition.
2.3.2.5 Setting the screen colors
If you choose the textColors option, you are presented with a screen that allows
| you to change the active window color scheme easily.
2.3.3 Using the mouse
2.3.3.1 The mouse cursor
The mouse cursor is handled by the mouse driver provided with the mouse, not by
| Point. Because Point runs in text mode, the cursor appears as a small block on
| the screen.
2.3.3.2 The mouse buttons
Point can be used with either a two- or three- button mouse. Various commands
| can be executed by pressing either the left or the right mouse button, or by
| pressing both buttons at the same time.
24 CHAPTER 2. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN POINT
If you have a three-button mouse, the middle button usually has the same effect
| as pressing both buttons on a two-button mouse. Most actions take place when
| you release the mouse button(s).
It is difficult to press and release both mouse buttons simultaneously so this
| is not required in Point. Since the action takes place when the button(s) is
| released, Point can monitor the buttons while they are down. Point will
| consider both buttons pressed if, at any time during a period when one button
| is down, another button is also down at the same time. The command invoked by
| both buttons will be executed. Try this with thumbing. Move the mouse cursor
| to the left border and press the left button. While holding down the left
| button, press the right button. Now while holding the right button, release
| the left button. Finally release the right button. The action taken will be
| the thumbing (both buttons) command, not a scroll up or down.
Sometimes you will have to hold down some other key while pressing or releasing
| a mouse button.
This will be either a Shift key (either one), the Ctrl key, or the Alt key. To
| get the best results you should press the Shift (or Ctrl or Alt) key first,
| hold it down, and then press the mouse button.
The left mouse button is the main button. Always use the left mouse button
| unless specifically directed to use the right mouse button.
2.3.3.3 Selecting with the keyboard
There are several cursor movement keys that also move the selection. The cursor
| keys (left, right, up and down) move the selection one character or line in
| the indicated direction. The Ctrl-left and Ctrl-right leys move the selection
| one (blank-delimited) work to the left or right. The Home key moves the
| selection to the first (non-blank) character of the line. The End key moves
| the selection to the last character of the line.
The Gray+ key simulates a click of the left mouse button. The Gray- key
| simulates a click of the right mouse button.
2.3.3.4 Simulating the mouse
Point can be used without a mouse. The cursor keys move the mouse cursor, and
| various other keys simulate a mouse. The keys just described work differently
| if there is no mouse present. See Appendix B for details.
2.4 File handling in Point
2.4.1 Files in windows
All windows in Point (except ones named UnNamed * see below) have an associated
| file whose name is shown in the banner line. When the window is loaded it
| displays the contents of the file. As the file is edited, the window shows the
| most current version, but the original file on disk is unchanged until you
| save the edited file.
All new text in the window is kept temporarily in Point's work file (called
| pttemp.add). This file is created in the Point work directory, which defaults
| to the current drive and directory but can be set with the workDrive option.
You can put the work file on a RAM disk but it probably will not speed things up
| much unless you are editing a very large file or many different files. The
| reason is that Point tries to keep all the active parts of the work file in
| its internal buffers anyway. With large files or with many files, it will not
| be able to do this.
If you press Enter only (no string) when prompted for a file name, Point will
| create a scratch window with the name UnNamed. Such a window starts out empty,
| and all new text is placed in the Point work file. A scratch window can be
| saved only with the Save as... command.
2.5. POINT COMMANDS 25
2.4.2 Backup files
When you edit and save a file, Point will save the version of the file as it was
| before editing in a .bak file. The .bak file contains the file as it was when
| you first loaded it, not the version before the last save. That is, even if
| you save the file two or more times during an editing session, when you quit
| Point the .bak file will contain the version of the file before you started
| editing.
The makeBaks option determines whether Point makes .bak files at all.
2.4.3 File handles
Point has a number of files open at the same time, therefore in order to have
| many files in many windows, it needs sufficient DOS file handles. Tell DOS how
| many file handles to allocate in the ""config.sys" file. We recommend that you
| specify at least 20 and preferably 30 file handles in ""config.sys".
2.4.4 Read-only files
The facility for read-only files has two purposes. One is to correctly handle
| files that have read-only permission in DOS. The other is to allow you to edit
| files without the possibility of accidentally changing them. A file in a
| window can be made read-only in three ways.
The first way is to load a file that DOS has marked as read-only into a window.
| The second way is to load a file into a window when the global readOnly option
| ag is true. The third way is to use the Toggle readOnly command (command
| #86), which toggles the read-only state of the file in the active window. If a
| file is marked read-only by DOS, however, its status cannot be changed.
You are allowed to edit a read-only file, but the changed version cannot be
| saved. Trying to save a read-only file will result in an error message. Trying
| to quit with a read-only file that has been edited will generate an error
| message also, but you will be given a choice to cancel the quit (by pressing
| the Escape key), or to proceed with the quit without saving the changes (by
| pressing any other key). You are allowed to write a read-only file to another
| file name.
2.5 Point commands
Point commands can be executed with a key press, from a mouse menu, or from the
| top line using the mouse buttons.
2.5.1 Mouse commands
There are a number of mouse-sensitive points on the display screen that can be
| used for immediate result. The mouse can directly move, stretch, or contract a
| window; start and/or extend the text selection; make a window the active
| window; top or bottom a window; and scroll a window vertically or
| horizontally.
2.5.2 Menu commands
The pull-down mouse menus are accessed by moving the mouse cursor to the top
| line. Pressing (and holding down) the left mouse button on the name of a menu
| (in upper case) causes the menu to be displayed. After the menu appears, Point
| follows the mouse cursor. If you are inside the menu, the command selected is
| shown in the color of selected text. If you release the mouse button on a
| selected command, that command is executed. If you release the mouse button
| outside of the menu, no command is executed.
26 CHAPTER 2. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN POINT
Pressing the Esc key exits from a menu without selecting anything, and pressing
| the Enter key simulates a mouse button click (that is, it executes the
| selected command). Pop-up mouse menus are also possible in Point. See Chapter
| 4 for details.
2.5.3 Top line commands
For convenience, several commonly used commands are listed directly on the top
| line of the screen.
Clicking the left mouse button on one of these command names causes that command
| to be executed.
It is possible to put any command on the top line (and give it any name) by
| modifying the file pt.ini. As you become more proficient with Point you can
| respecify the top line to fit your needs. There are also pt.ini options: to
| have several top lines, each accessed with a different button; to have a
| bottom line of menus and commands instead of a top line; and to have pop-up
| mouse menus.
2.5.4 Keyboard commands
The function keys (F1 through F10), the keypad keys (PgUp, PgDn, Ins, Del,
| cursor keys, etc.), and the letter keys with the Alt shift are used to execute
| commands from the keyboard. See Appendix C.
You can redefine the keys (interactively or in pt.ini) to assign any command to
| any key. See Chapter 4 for details on redefining keys.
2.5.4.1 Escape and Ctrl-break
The Escape key (marked "Esc") is used as a general escape in Point. Most
| commands can be aborted with no action or changes by hitting the escape key
| whenever keyboard or mouse input is requested.
The escape key will not stop an action that does not require keyboard input
| (e.g., writing a file, searching for a text string).
The Ctrl-Break key always stops the current editor action.
2.5.5 Copying and moving
2.5.5.1 Copy command
There are several ways to copy text in Point. The first is to use the Copy
| command. Start by selecting the text you want to copy. Then move the mouse
| cursor to the place where you want the selection copied, without pressing any
| mouse button. Next, hold down the Shift key and click the left mouse button.
| The selected text is then copied in front of the mouse cursor, and the new
| selection is the first character after the copied text.
If you select the text to be copied in word mode (double click), then the text
| is copied in front of the word you are pointing at. If you select the text to
| be copied in line mode (triple click), then the text is copied in front of the
| line you are pointing at.
2.5.5.2 Duplicate command
The second way to copy is to use the Duplicate command. First, select the
| character after the place where you want the text to be copied. That is, move
| the insertion point to where you want the text copied. Then press F4, which
| puts you into duplicate mode. Next, select the text you want to copy.
When you press F4 again, the selected text is copied to where the insertion
| point was when you pressed F4 the first time. This ends duplicate mode. The
| new selection is the first character after the copied text.
You can execute any Point commands while in duplicate mode. In particular, you
| can scroll the window, top windows, search for text, create new windows, etc.
2.5. POINT COMMANDS 27
The duplicate method is easier if you are copying several things in succession
| to one place. The copy method is easier if you are already at the text that
| you want to copy.
An easy way to duplicate a section of text is to select it and then press F4
| twice. This is an especially useful method of duplicating one or more lines of
| text.
2.5.5.3 Copy with scrap buffer
The third method uses a special buffer called the scrap buffer. Select the text
| you want copied and copy it into the scrap (with the Shift-F4 key). Next, move
| to where you want the text copied, select that point, and press the Ins key.
| In general, the Ins key inserts, at the insertion point, the last text that
| was copied to the scrap or deleted. If the text in the scrap buffer was
| selected in word mode or line mode, then it will be inserted in that mode,
| that is, it will be inserted in front of the word or line that contains the
| insertion point. You can insert the same text as many times as you want (until
| the next delete or Shift-F4 replaces it in the scrap buffer).
2.5.5.4 Moving text
There are Move and Extract commands that act in a similar way to Copy and
| Duplicate. For the Move command hold down the Ctrl key (instead of the Shift
| key) when you select where the text is to be moved. For the Extract command,
| use the F5 key (instead of F4) to go into "extract mode".
You can also move text by deleting it with the Del key, moving the selection to
| the place where you want to put the text, and then inserting it with the Ins
| key.
2.5.6 Redoing and undoing commands
The last 50 editing actions are recorded by Point in a change history. This
| record is used to implement the Undo last edit and Redo last edit commands.
| The undoSize option determines how many previous changes are remembered in the
| change history (50 is the default, 100 is the maximum).
2.5.6.1 Redo
Most editing actions can be redone. A Redo last edit does the last action over
| again in the present environment. That is, Redo last edit does not exactly
| redo the last command but creates the same effect in the present environment.
| For example, suppose you select some text, delete it, and type in some new
| text. If you then select some other text and press F8 (redo), the selected
| text is deleted and the same characters as were inserted before are inserted
| at the new insertion point.
If the last action was a Copy, then the text that was copied before is copied to
| the present insertion point. A Move acts exactly like a Copy when you redo it,
| since the moved text is already gone from its original spot and you presumably
| do not want to move it again from where you just put it.
A Delete cannot be redone since deleted text cannot be deleted again. Because of
| this, Point ignores deletes when looking for the last action to redo.
2.5.6.2 Reversible undo
The Undo last edit command (F9) reverses the effect of the last editing action.
| A Delete is restored.
A Copy is deleted. A Move is deleted and reinserted in its original position.
If the last action was to select some text, delete it, and then type in new text
| all at the same point, then this action is undone as a unit. That is, the new
| text is deleted and the old text restored. Some actions cannot be undone or
| redone: close window, write file, load file, exit Point, change selection,
| scroll window, move window, change window size, search, redraw, top, and
| bottom.
28 CHAPTER 2. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN POINT
2.5.6.3 Multiple step undo
The last 50 (depending on the undoSize option) editing changes are remembered by
| Point. The Undo last edit command undoes the last command and records the
| undoing change in the change history. Thus, a second Undo last edit will undo
| the Undo last edit. Sometimes, however, you want to back up several changes.
| The command for this is Undo multiple. Undo multiple undoes the last change
| and erases it from the change history. Repeated Undo multiples will undo more
| and more of your recent edits.
Undo multiple always repositions the window to where the undoing change will
| take place and then makes the change.
If you use Undo last edit and then decide you want to undo more than one step,
| you have to use Undo multiple two extra times: one to undo the Undo last edit,
| and a second to undo the action the first Undo last edit undid! If you prefer
| Undo multiple to be the default, you can set the undoBack option to 1, which
| will make Undo last edit work exactly like Undo multiple.
2.5.7 Other options
There is an option (43lines) to use the 43 line mode supported by the Enhanced
| Graphics Adapter with the monochrome or Enhanced Graphics Display.
2.5.8 Searching and replacing
You can search for any text string, including a string that contains the
| end-of-line character. This allows you to search for strings that span several
| lines. Since a carriage return ends the search string input, Point provides
| four escape characters to allow you to specify end-of-line characters.
The escape characters are: "n represents the end-of-line character which is
| represented in the file as a carriage return (ASCII 13) followed by a
| line-feed (ASCII 10).
\N represents a line-feed (ASCII 10).
\r represents a carriage return (ASCII 13).
\\ represents the backslash character("\") itself.
These escape characters can be used when entering search strings and replacement
| strings.
You can indent a sequence of lines by selecting them and then doing a Replace
| within the selection, replacing "\n" with "\n" (where "" is the tab
| character). The reverse replacement "outdents" lines. Replacing "\n\n" with
| "\n" will delete blank lines.
2.5.8.1 Case sensitivity option
If the ignoreCase option is true searches will ignore case of letters (a-z and
| A-Z), that is, they will be case insensitive. If the ignoreCase option is
| false then the case of letters will be taken into account in searches.
This case sensitivity applies only to the Search for string command, not to the
| Search for selection command. If you type in a string with upper case letters
| and find an occurrence of it with the Search for string command, a subsequent
| Search for selection will not be case sensitive. To maintain the case
| sensitivity, execute the Search for string command again. This command will
| prompt you with the previous search string, so you only need to press the
| Enter key or click the left mouse button to repeat the case sensitive search.
| If Search for string is on the menu line (as Find, for example), you can do
| another search by clicking twice on the menu line command.
2.5. POINT COMMANDS 29
2.5.8.2 Searching for a string in all windows
The searchMode option has the following possible values:
0 searches start just after the selection and go to the end of the file
1 searches start just before the selection and go backwards to the beginning of
the file
2 searches start just after the selection, go to the end of the file, and then
| wrap around to the beginning of the file and continue to the selection
3 searches start at the selection, go to the end of the file, then start at the
| beginning of the next window and go to the end of that window, then go to the
| beginning of the next window and so on, until the string is found or the file
| in the bottom window is searched
A search in a window which does not contain
| the selection starts at the beginning of the window unless searchMode=1, in
| which case it starts at the end of the file.
A search for the selection with searchMode=1 will always succeed since it will
| find the original selection again (after searching the whole file) if the
| selection does not occur elsewhere in the file. If searchMode=1, Point will
| issue a message when the search wraps around to the beginning of the file.
To search for a string in all the windows, set searchMode=1. The search will
| start at the active window (usually this is also the top window; the active
| window has a double line border) and continue through the files in each window
| below it until the string is found or the bottom window is searched. Point
| issues messages telling you which file is being searched (although the
| messages go by more quickly than you can read them unless you have very large
| or heavily edited files).
When the string is found, all windows above the window in which it is found are
| bottomed.
Another invocation of the search command will continue the search in this and
| the following windows.
Thus you can use this facility to look at each occurrence of a string in all
| your windows.
2.5.8.3 Searching for whole words
If you set the findWholeWords option to true, then all searches will look for
| strings that are complete words. What this means is that the search string
| must not have a letter or digit on either side of it in order to match.
This is useful for finding strings that may be part of other strings. For
| example, suppose you wanted to find all occurrences of the variable i in a
| program. Since i occurs in many variable you would find several matches on
| every line. If you set the findWholeWords option to true and then searched for
| i you would find only occurrences of the identifier i rather than the letter
| i.
2.5.8.4 Searching for regular expressions
So far we have only discussed searching for fixed strings. Point also allows you
| to search for regular expressions, that is, string patterns that represent
| several (often many) different strings. But you must turn on the reSearch
| option for regular expression searching to be in effect. The reason for this
| is that the regular expressions use a number of special characters and so
| these have to be escaped if you want to search for them. If you leave reSearch
| off then you do not have to worry about the special characters but you also
| cannot search for regular expressions.
Regular expression searching is the same as for fixed strings except that
| certain characters are treated as string patterns rather thatn as literal
| characters. Let us examine the characters used in regular expressions.
Literal Characters: The simplest regular expressions are simply fixed strings.
Examples: begin nextBlock i
30 CHAPTER 2. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN POINT
Some characters are special in regular expressions and so must
| be escaped. In addition some characters are hard or inconvenient to type (like
| newline, carriage return, tab, bell, etc.) and so there are escape sequences
| to handle them. These will be discussed at the end of this section.
Parentheses For Grouping: A regular expression in parentheses matches the
| regular expression without the parentheses, that is, the parentheses are
| simply to group together the regular expression so we can apply the "*" or "j"
| operators to it. If you want to match actual parentheses you must escape them
| (more on this later).
Examples: (begin) (i) Wildcard Character: The "wildcard" character "." matches
| any single character.
Examples: s.t | matches "set", "sit", "sct", "sxt", etc.
t..t | matches "toot", "t67t", "t+=t", etc.
Repetitions: The "*" (closure) operator matches zero or more instances of the
| regular expression preceding the "*" Examples: fi* | matches an "f" followed
| by zero or more "i"s M(iss)*ippi | matches "Mippi", "Missippi", "Mississippi",
| etc.
Notice the use of parentheses to delimit the pattern that the "*" is applied to.
Or Operator: The "j" (or) operator matches either the regular expression on the
| left of the "j" or the regular expression in the right of the "j".
Examples:
beginjend | matches the string "begin" or the string "end"
s(ajejijoju)t | matches "sat", "set", "sit", "sot", and "sut"
M(i(ssjpp))*i | matches "Mi", "Missi", "Mippi", "Mississippi", etc.
Beginning Of Line: The "^" (beginning of line) operator matches the beginning of
| a line. Note that it does not match any actual character but rather it matches
| the condition that the regular expression after it occurs at the beginning of
| the line. In particular it does not match the newline the ends the previous
| line.
The "^" operator can only occur as the first character of the regular
| expression. If it is in any other position it will match the character "^".
End Of Line: The "$" (end of line) operator matches the end of a line. Note that
| it does not match any actual character but rather it matches the condition
| that the regular expression before it occurs at the end of the line. In
| particular it does not match the newline the ends the line.
The "$" operator can only occur as the last character of the regular expression.
| If it is in any other position it will match the character "$".
Examples:
2.5. POINT COMMANDS 31
^printf | matches the string "printf" only if it is the first six character of
| the line
^(beginjend) | matches the strings "begin" or "end" if the occur at the
| beginning of the line
^f | matches "f" at the beginning of a line. Typically this will find C
| procedures definitions
;$ | matches lines that end | with a ";"
*/$ | matches lines ending with "*/" (comment lines)
^f$ | matches lines that contain only the character "f"
^begin$ | matches lines containing | only the string "begin"
Beginning Of Word: The ""<" (beginning of word)
| operator matches the beginning of a word. That is, the character preceding it
| must not be a letter or a digit.
End Of Word: The "">" (end of word) operator matches the end of a word. That is,
| the character following it must not be a letter or a digit.
Examples:
" | matches the string "i" as a variable
x"> | matches variable names ending in "x"
Character Class: The "[...]" (character class) operator
| (where ... is a sequence of characters) matches any one of the characters in
| the sequence "...". If "^" is the first character in "..." then the character
| class matches any character not in the rest of "...". A "^" anywhere other
| than the first character of "..." causes "^" to be one of the characters in
| the character class. If "-" occurs in "..." with characters before it and
| after it, it stands for all the characters between the character before it and
| after it (in the ASCII character code).
Examples: [aeiou] | matches any of the vowels
[a-z] | matches any lower case letter
[a-zA-Z0-9] | matches any letter (either case) or digit
[a-ft-z] | matches all lower case letters except those between "g" and "s"
[^a-zA-Z] | matches any character that is not a letter
Special Characters: As we
| have seen, some characters are not treated literally but as regular expression
| characters. These characters are: '"', '(', ')', '.', '*', 'j', '^', '$', '[',
| and ']'. What if you want to look for those characters? The answer is that you
| "escape" these characters. There is a character called the "escape character"
| which by default is "\" but can be changed with the "-e" option. The escape
| character tells Point not to treat the next character as it normally would. So
| if we escape any of the above characters we get the literal character itself.
| That is, "\*" matches the "*" character, "\." matches the "." character, "\\"
| matches the "\" character, and so on.
There are two other uses of the escape character. The first is really the
| opposite of the one described above. When you type "\<" and "\>" you get
| regular expression operators and when you type "<" and ">" you get the literal
| characters '<' and '>'. This was done on the assumption that you would be
| looking for '<' and '>' more often than you would use the regular expression
| operator "\<" (beginning of word) and "\>" (end of word).
The final use of the escape character is to make it easy to represent characters
| that are inconvenient or impossible to type in a search string. Examples are:
| carriage return, line feed, tab, bell, and many other of the ASCII control
| characters.
Here are the escaped characters to get literal versions of the regular
| expression operators:
32 CHAPTER 2. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN POINT
"\(", "\)", "\*",, "\.", "\\", "\[", "\]", "\|", "\^", and "\$" each of these
| represent the literal character after the "\".
Here are the two escaped characters representing regular expression operators:
\< | this is not a special character but rather a way to represent the '<'
| character
\> | this is not a special character but rather a way to represent
| the '>' character Here are the escaped characters which allow you to represent
| some of the most commonly used ASCII control characters:
\n | the line feed (or newline) character, ASCII 10
\r | the carriage return character, ASCII 13
/t | the tab character, ASCII 9
\b | the backspace character, ASCII 8
\a | the bell (alert) character, ASCII 7
Finally here are the escape sequences that
| allow you to represent any ASCII control character in a search string. In
| these sequences, 'd' represents any octal digit (0-7) and 'x' represents any
| hexadecimal digit (0-9, A-F or a-f).
\ddd | where "ddd" are three octal digits and represent the ASCII character
| whose value is "ddd"
\dd | where "dd" are two octal digits and represent the
| ASCII character whose value is "dd" (This must be followed in the string by a
| non-digit)
\d | where "d" is one octal digit and represents the ASCII
| character whose value is "d" (This must be followed in the string by a
| non-digit)
\xhhh | where "hhh" are three hex digits and represent the ASCII
| character whose value is "hhh"
\xhh | where "hh" are two hex digits and
| represent the ASCII character whose value is "hh" (This must be followed in
| the string by a non-digit)
\xh | where "h" is one hex digit and represents the
| ASCII character whose value is "h" (This must be followed in the string by a
| non-digit)
2.5.9 The XTAG facility
In programming you often have a large number of source files and you frequently
| need to find specific things in the source files such as the definition of a
| procedure or record structure. The XTAG facility is designed to meet that
| need.
First you must mark all the places in the files that you might want to search
| for. For example, before every function or procedure definition you might put
| in a comment line that includes the string "XTAG:functionName" where
| "functionName" is the name of the function whose definition follows.
Next you set the tagPattern option to include all the files you want searched.
| For example you might use "tagPattern=*.pas" to search through all the Pascal
| files in the current directory. These patterns are in the same format as
| filePattern.
Now when you are looking at a code file and see a function or procedure name
| that you wish to see the definition of, you select the name and execute the
| Find tagged string command or the Find selected tag command if you need to
| type in the name. Point will search through all the files until it finds the
| tagged string. When it finds the string, it opens a window on the file and
| scrolls it to the line where it found the tag. If a window to that file is
| already open, Point will top that window and scroll it to the line the tag is
| on.
2.5. POINT COMMANDS 33
2.5.10 Finding keywords in groups of files
The find keyword facility is similar to the XTAG facility but it does not
| require you to tag the strings you plan to search for with "XTAG:". Thus is
| takes less setup but the search takes longer and you will find all occurrences
| of the string, not just the tagged definition. This facility is best for
| looking at all ocurrences of a string.
The Find keyword and Find selected keyword commands work in about the same way
| as the Find tag and Find selected tag commands. They use the same tagPattern
| option to determine which files to search.
Once you find an instance of the string, the Find keyword command stops and
| shows you the string in a window. If you execute the Find keyword command
| again with exactly the same string, Point will restart the search where it
| found the last string. So you can repeatedly execute the command and find all
| occurrences of the string in all of the files.
2.5.11 Keyboard macros
You can record a sequence of keystrokes in the keyboard macro buffer and play
| them back again later. Begin by executing the Begin/end macro command (Alt-m
| key) which records each following keystroke in the keyboard macro buffer. The
| keystroke commands are executed as you type them, so you are defining the
| macro by example. The second time you execute the Begin/end macro command the
| recording stops and the macro is defined.
The macro is executed with the Play back macro command (Alt-p key). This plays
| back the keystrokes in the keyboard macro buffer just as you recorded them.
There is only one keyboard macro buffer so if you record another macro, the
| first one is lost.
Keyboard macros can be used to indent a section of code as follows:
1. Position the selection on the first line to be indented
2. Execute Begin/end macro
3. Press Tab
4. Press Left Arrow (cursor key)
5. Press Down Arrow
6. Execute Begin/end macro
Then execute Play back macro once for each line you want to indent. The macro
| inserts the tab, moves to the beginning of the line, and then moves down one
| line.
34 CHAPTER 2. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN POINT
Chapter 3
POINT COMMANDS
3.1 Invoking Point
Format: pt [/h] [/o] [/v] [/l] [file1 [file2 ...]] The /h (horizontal split)
| option causes the initial windows to be full width with the first window full
| screen height, the second window a few lines down, etc. The /v (vertical
| split) option is similar except that the initial windows are all full screen
| height and spaced vertically across the screen. The windows will be evenly
| spaced on the screen. The /o (overlaid) option causes the initial windows to
| each be full screen size and overlaid. The /o option is the default. The first
| window will be the bottom window, the next will be above it, and so on. The
| last window will be the top window.
Every time Point exits it will write a file pt.las that records the files that
| were being editing, the location of the window they were in and what lines
| were showing in the window. When Point is invoked with the /l (or -l) option,
| it will look in the current directory (and only in the current directory, not
| in the search path) for a pt.las file. If it finds one, it restores the
| context of the last editing session.
Point uses the slash (/) to mark option letters. It will accept a hyphen (-)
| also, so the options -h, -o, -v, and -l are allowed.
Point will create a window for each file name on the command line. If the file
| name specification contains any file name wildcard characters (* or ?) it will
| be expanded to all matching file names as specified in the DOS manual. A
| maximum of 255 files is allowed.
1 Several options relate to invoking Point. The initialWindows option determines
| the arrangement of the initial windows. The buffers option determines how much
| buffer space Point will allocate, hence how much memory it will use. The
| videoMode option determines how the screen will be updated. The workDrive
| option determines where Point will place its work file. You can put it on a
| RAM disk to speed up execution when working with large files.
3.2 Format of the command descriptions
The commands described in this chapter are grouped by function type. At the end
| of each command description, the ways to invoke the command are described in
| [square brackets]. A number (e.g., #7) gives the command number which can be
| used to assign the command to the top line, to a keystroke, to a mouse button,
| or to a menu. If the command can be invoked with the mouse, the 1 Up to 20
| with DOS 2.x 35
36 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
keyword "mouse" appears followed by the buttons and place required to invoke the
| function. For example, "mouse(left button, any corner)" means that the command
| can be invoked by pressing the left mouse button on any corner of a window. If
| a key can be used to invoke a command, it is listed. For commands that appear
| on the top line, a quoted string (e.g., "new") gives the command name used on
| the top line. Finally, a menu name (WINDOWS, EDIT, MOVE, or FILE) means that
| the command appears on that menu.
The menu names and the top line names are those used in the distributed files
| pt.ini and color.ini. The ptexpert.ini file specifies different menus and a
| different top line.
3.3 Window commands
3.3.1 Window management
3.3.1.1 New window
A new window is created. You are asked to specify any two opposite corners.
| Press (and hold down) the left mouse button at one corner and an elastic
| window border will follow the mouse. The first corner can be any one of the
| four corners of the new window position. Release the button at the opposite
| corner. If you click at the first corner without moving the mouse, the
| opposite corner will be taken to be the lower right corner of the screen.
| Next, Point asks for a file to be loaded into the window. You can select the
| file from a menu of file names or you can type the file name in directly.
| Pressing the Escape key aborts the action, and no window is created. Pressing
| the Enter key creates a scratch window (with no associated file) called
| UnNamed. [#7, Alt-n key, "open" on the top line, WINDOWS menu]
3.3.1.2 Usage hint: creating full screen windows
If the New window command is the left-most command on the top line menu, you can
| create a new, full screen window by moving the mouse pointer to the upper left
| corner of the screen and clicking twice (once to execute the command and a
| second time to specify a full screen window). It is easy to move to the upper
| left corner since the mouse cursor stops at the edges of the screen.
3.3.1.3 New window from selection
This is exactly like the New window command (above) except that the file name to
| load into the new window is taken from the selection. [#82, Alt-F10 key,
| Ctrl-F10 key]
3.3.1.4 Hide window
The Hide window command affects the active window. When a window is "hidden", it
| is no longer shown on the display but the information about it is saved. Any
| hidden window shows up as a file name on the TOPLIST menu, appearing in a
| second list (separated by a double horizontal line) below the names of the
| visible files. Selecting the name of a hidden window from the TOPLIST menu
| unhides it and makes it the top window. It will be the same size and in the
| same position as it was when hidden. [#38, Alt-x key, WINDOWS II menu]
3.3.1.5 Usage hint: hidden windows
One fast way to look through all the windows is to move the mouse to the lower
| left or lower right corner and click with the left mouse button which bottoms
| the windows one at a time (assuming you have windows that cover the entire
| bottom of the display). Sometimes you want to concentrate on a few of the open
| windows but you still have to cycle through all the windows. If you hide the
3.3. WINDOW COMMANDS 37
windows you are not immediately interested in then you can cycle through only
| the windows you are interested in. The hidden windows can be unhidden later
| when you need to look at them.
3.3.1.6 Close window
The active window is removed from the display. If this is the last window that
| shows the file, you are asked whether to save the edited version of the file
| or to discard the edits and leave the original file unchanged. The file is
| closed and the window is deleted. [#17, Alt-c key, "close" on the top line,
| WINDOWS menu]
3.3.1.7 Close window and save file
The window is removed from the display. If (and only if) the file has been
| changed it is saved automatically (no verify is requested). The file is closed
| and the window is deleted. [#72, WINDOWS menu]
3.3.1.8 Split window
A window can be split (vertically or horizontally) into two independently
| scrolled windows on the same file. The original window is unchanged and the
| split window is on top of it. The split window starts where the split was made
| and goes to the right or lower border of the original window.
[mouse(middle button, top or right border)]
3.3.1.9 Usage hint: working with two parts of a file
Splitting a window is useful when you are working on two parts of a file at the
| same time. You can add declarations, for example, as you add code.
3.3.1.10 Redraw screen
Redraw all the windows in the display. [#10, F10 key, OTHERS menu]
3.3.2 Window positioning
3.3.2.1 Top window
The window is made the top window shown on the display. [#12, TOPLIST menu (left
| mouse button on filename)]
3.3.2.2 Bottom window
The active window is made the bottom window. [#29, Alt-b key]
3.3.2.3 Top/bottom window
The window is made the top window unless it is already the top window, in which
| case it is made the bottom window. [#28, mouse (left button, any corner)]
38 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
3.3.2.4 Usage hint: scanning through the windows
It is most useful to have full screen windows since you normally work in only
| one window at a time. When you have several full screen windows you frequently
| want to look through all the open windows. This is easily done by positioning
| the mouse cursor on the lower left or lower right corner and repeatedly
| clicking the left mouse button. This bottoms the windows in turn and cycles
| through all the windows quickly.
It is easiest to use the lower right or lower left corner since these are in the
| lower left or right corner of the display and so they are easy to pick with a
| fast motion of the mouse since the mouse cursor stops at the window edges and
| corners.
3.3.2.5 Exchange top windows
This command exchanges the places of the top two windows. This is useful when
| you are changing between two windows frequently but you also have other
| windows open also. [Command #88, mouse(middle button, any corner)]
3.3.2.6 Usage hint: working with two windows
Sometimes you have more than two windows open but you need to concentrate on two
| of the windows for a while. You can quickly switch back and forth between the
| two windows with this command.
The other windows below the top two windows will keep coming up if you simply
| keep bottoming the top window, but this command will cycle through the two
| windows you are currently interested in.
3.3.2.7 Zoom window
The active window is expanded to cover the entire screen, or, if it is already
| zoomed, it is returned to its original position. [#11, Alt-z, WINDOWS menu]
3.3.2.8 Resize window
Respecify the size and position of the window. Press (and hold down) the left
| mouse button at any corner. That corner will remain fixed, and an elastic
| window border will follow the mouse cursor.
Release the button when the window is the desired size. If you click at the
| first corner, the opposite corner is taken to be the lower right corner of the
| display. [#13, WINDOWS menu]
3.3.2.9 Stretch window
Change the window size on the display. Press (and hold down) the right mouse
| button at any corner.
That corner will be moved as an elastic window border follows the mouse cursor
| until you release the button. Window size can be increased or decreased. The
| position of the opposite corner of the window is not changed. [mouse (right
| button, any corner)]
3.3.2.10 Usage hint: resizing windows
It is often easier to move a window by stretching it twice than by using the
| Resize window command.
The Stretch window command is quick and easy, and will probably be more useful
| for all window adjustments.
3.3. WINDOW COMMANDS 39
3.3.2.11 Move window
The window is moved on the display. Press (and hold down) the right mouse button
| on the banner line. A shadow border of the window will follow the mouse cursor
| until you release the button when the window is at the desired position. The
| size of the window is not changed unless you release the button while the
| shadow border is smaller due to being moved into the side of the display. If
| the final version of the window is too small, the move will be canceled.
| [mouse (right button, banner line)]
3.3.2.12 Usage hint:resizing windows
Move window can be used to reduce the size of a window. First, move the window
| down to the bottom right corner of the screen to reduce its size. Release the
| mouse button to set the reduced size. Then move the smaller window back into
| its original position.
3.3.3 File positioning in the window
3.3.3.1 Scroll down
Move the window toward the end of the document. If the window contains N lines
| it will be scrolled N-2 lines. If you invoke this command with the mouse, the
| amount scrolled depends on how far down the left border of the window the
| mouse cursor is positioned when you invoke the command.
More precisely, the text line next to the mouse cursor will become the top line
| of the window. If the mouse is at the top line displayed in the window, the
| window is scrolled one line. [#15, PgDn key, mouse(right button, left border)]
3.3.3.2 Scroll up
Move the window toward the beginning of the document. If the window contains N
| lines it will be scrolled N-2 lines. If you invoke this command with the
| mouse, the amount scrolled depends on how far down the left border of the
| window the mouse cursor is positioned when you invoke the command. More
| precisely, the window is scrolled up so that the top line is moved down to the
| line where the mouse cursor is. [#14, PgUp key, mouse (left button, left
| border)]
3.3.3.3 Usage hint: scrolling two or more lines
The ability to scroll a particular line to the top of the window is handy. Use
| it, for example, to move the beginning of a procedure or the beginning of a
| loop to the top of the screen.
3.3.3.4 Scroll left
Move the window to the left. [mouse (left button, bottom border)]
3.3.3.5 Scroll right
Move the window to the right. [mouse (right button, bottom border)]
3.3.3.6 Thumb vertical
Move the window to a specific point in the document. Imagine the length of the
| document laid out along the left border. The mouse cursor indicates
| approximately where the window will be positioned in the document. The top of
| the elevator (the highlighted portion of the left border) will start at the
| line the mouse cursor is on when you thumb. The upper and lower left corners
| are not part of the left border and cannot be used for thumbing. [mouse
| (middle button, left border)]
40 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
3.3.3.7 Thumb horizontal
Move the window left or right, using the bottom border in much the same way you
| use the left border in a vertical scroll. [mouse (middle button, bottom
| border)]
3.3.3.8 Usage hint: comparing two windows
You sometimes want to compare the contents of two windows. For example they
| might contain two versions of the same code. This is easy to do with Point by
| putting the windows side by side or above and below each other. Setting up the
| windows this way is easily accomplished with the Stretch window command which
| is invoked with the right mouse button on any window corner.
Above and below windows are best if the lines are long but it is not quite as
| easy to compare line by line. Side by side windows allow easy line by line
| comparison but each window can only be half a screen wide. If the code is
| indented it is sometimes useful to scroll the window horizontally to bring the
| beginning of the code the of left border of the window. This way you can see
| the maximum amount of code in side by side windows.
3.3.4 Searching
3.3.4.1 Search for string
Search for the indicated string. A prompt for the string to be searched for will
| appear, and the default search string will be inserted automatically as a
| response. The default search string is the string that was searched for last.
| Pressing Enter will accept the default. Pressing Backspace will erase the last
| character of the default string and allow you to continue editing it, either
| with more backspaces or by typing in characters. Pressing any other character
| will erase the default string and start a new string.
If the selection is in the window, the search is from the selection to the end
| of the file. If the selection is in another window, the entire file is
| searched. The search ignores case if the ignoreCase option is true and is case
| sensitive if the ignoreCase option is false.
On success, the string found is selected (in character mode). If the string is
| already in the window, the window is not changed. If the string found is not
| in the window, the window is either indented or repositioned in the file to
| show the string. The window is topped when the string is found only if the
| topOnFind option is set to 1. The searchMode option determines whether the
| search proceeds forwards, backwards, or circularly.
The findWholeWords determines what context the search string must occur in. If
| findWholeWords is false (that is, set to 0) then any match is acceptable. If
| findWholeWords is true (set to 1) then the matched string must not have a
| letter (upper or lower case) or a digit on either side of it.
Letters and digits around a string a considered part of the same word.
In a search string the following escape sequences are valid: ""n" represents the
| end-of-line character (ASCII 13 followed by an ASCII 10), ""N" represents
| the line feed character (ASCII 10), ""r" represents the carriage return
| character (ASCII 13), and """" represents a single backslash character (""").
| [#19, Shift-F6 key, SEARCH menu]
3.3.4.2 Search for regular expression
Point also allows you to search for regular expressions as well as fixed
| strings. You enter the string in the same way except that it can contain the
| special regular expression characters. The reSearch option must be on for
| regular expression searching to be in effect. All other search options apply
| equally to searching for regular expressions.
See Chapter Two for a discussion of regular expressions and examples of them.
3.3. WINDOW COMMANDS 41
3.3.4.3 Usage hint: changing the default search string
If you want to add a few characters to the end of the default search string
| (which will be the last string you searched for), first backspace over all
| characters in the string. Then retype the string and the additional
| characters. The backspace prevents the first character you type from erasing
| the default string.
3.3.4.4 Usage hint: search and replace
Put the Search for string command on the top line and call it "find" (or
| something similar). Then, clicking twice on "find" will invoke a search for
| the last string you searched for. The first click executes the Search for
| string command and prompts with the last string you searched for. The second
| click acts as the Enter key to accept the default string.
This method can be used as a quick version of Replace. First, search for a
| string. It will be found and made the selection. Then change it by deleting it
| and typing in a new string. Click twice on "find" to look for the next
| occurrence, and then use Redo last edit or not, depending on whether you want
| to make the change. Continue with double clicks on "find" and redos (or not)
| until all the occurrences of the string have been found and you have changed
| the ones you want to change. Keep your right hand on the mouse and your left
| hand on the redo key (F8).
3.3.4.5 Usage hint: search and replace in all windows
You can use the search commands with the Redo last edit command to get the
| effect of a Replace with verify command that spans all the windows. To do
| this:
1. Set searchMode to 3 (search in all windows)
2. Select the first instance of the string to be replaced
3. Perform a forward Search for selection to establish the selected string as
| the search string
4. Perform a backward Search for selection to get back to the first instance of
| the string to be
replaced
5. Make the change in the selected string
6. Double click on the Search for string command on the menu line
7. Repeat the replacement with the Redo last edit [F8]
8. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until the search completes. You can skip step 6 for
| instances of the search string that you do not want to change
3.3.4.6 Usage hint: searching in several files
Sometimes you want to search for a string in several files. There are a number
| of ways this can be accomplished in Point. First we will enumerate the four
| methods this can be done and then we will compare the four methods.
The first method is to load each file into a window and search separately in
| each file. This usually means starting Point with several filenames on the
| command line or with filename patterns with wildcard characters on the command
| line. You start by searching in the first file and then go on to the next file
| and so on. Remember that when you switch to a new file you can still use
| Search for selection even though the selection is not in the file you want to
| search in. Invoking Search for selection by clicking the right mouse button on
| the right border of the window you want to search in.
42 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
If you are also changing the string you are searching for or doing some other
| editing that changes the selection, you can double click in "find" on the menu
| bar to repeat the Search for string command using the last string searched for
| (even if it is no longer the selection).
The second method is to load all the files into windows (just as in the first
| method) and set the searchMode option to 3. This causes the search to start at
| the selection and search through all the open windows.
The third method is to use the Find tagged string and Find selected tag
| commands. This requires that you set the tagPattern option to select all the
| files you want to search in. It also requires that each instance of the string
| you want to search for be proceeded by the tagString (with defaults to
| "XTAG:").
The fourth method is to use the Find keyword and Find selected keyword commands.
| This requires that you set the tagPattern option to select all the files you
| want to search in.
The first method is simple and easy to remember. You can specify the files on
| the command line.
On the other hand it does require more actions by the user.
The second method is similar to the first but saves you from explicitly
| switching from window to window.
The third method requires that the string be preceded by the tagString string
| and usually this is not the case. But remember that you can set tagString to
| anything and so this method can be used to filter out strings you do not want
| to see.
The fourth method does not require that you have the files loaded into windows
| since it loads the file into a window when it finds the keyword. Since the
| search is quite fast you can use a fairly general tagPattern and be sure that
| you find all instances of the string. It requires little effort during the
| search; usually just repeating the Find selected keyword command which is
| invoked with F5.
3.3.4.7 Usage hint: finding variables
Use the findWholeWords option when you are searching for a string that might be
| a part of other (longer) strings. For example, if you are searching for the
| variable "n" in a program, set the findWholeWords option to true before the
| search and you will find only actual instance of the variable "n" and not
| other variables such as "line", "next" or "n2".
3.3.4.8 Search for selection
This is the same as Search for string, except that the current selection is used
| as the search string. The selected search string can include one or more
| end-of-line characters. You can select a string in one window and search for
| it in another window. [#27, F6 key, SEARCH menu]
3.3.4.9 Usage hint: repeating a search
Point does not have a specific command to repeat the last search. If you have
| found a string and it is still selected then the Search for selection command
| will repeat the search. If you have changed to selection you can select the
| search string and again use the Search for selection command to repeat the
| search.
You can get exactly the same effect as a "Repeat last search" command by
| selecting the Search for string command and then typing Enter. This works
| because the default search string is always the last string that was searched
| for, even if the matching string in the text has been unselected for even
| changed.
You can do this quickly by double clicking on "Find" on the top line. The first
| click select "Find" which is the Search for string command and the second
| click acts as an Enter to accept the default search string.
3.3. WINDOW COMMANDS 43
3.3.4.10 Search backwards
This is the same as Search for selection, except that the search goes in the
| opposite direction. Unless searchMode=1, this is from the selection to the
| beginning of the file. [#66, Alt-F6 key, Ctrl-F6 key, SEARCH menu]
3.3.4.11 Usage hint: fast search for selection
The Search for selection commands are available with mouse clicks on the right
| border of the window: left button for search backward and right button for
| search forward. The search always takes place in the window inside the right
| border on which you clicked. (This need not be the window the selection is
| in).
3.3.4.12 Usage hint: searching in another window
To search for a string in a new window, select the string in the current window,
| and then open the new window. A click on its right border searches for the
| string.
Usually the right border of a window is also on the right edge of the screen.
| This makes positioning the mouse cursor on the right border quick and easy {
| just move the mouse to the right and the cursor will stop on the right border.
3.3.4.13 Find tagged string
Search for the tagged string. A prompt for the tag string will appear. The
| default response is the last tag string searched for. Files on the disk are
| searched for the string "XTAG:" followed by the tag string response. When this
| pattern is found, a window is opened up on the file containing it, and
| positioned at the tagged string. If the file is already in an open window,
| that window is topped and then positioned at the tagged string.
Which files are to be searched is determined by the option tagPattern, which has
| the same format as the option filePattern. There is also an option tagString
| that you can use to change the tag marker from "XTAG:" to anything else.
The tag string being searched for does not have to match the entire string
| following "XTAG:" in the files being searched. If the tag string is shorter
| than the string following "XTAG:" in the files, it is only necessary that what
| immediately follows "XTAG:" match the tag string. Any characters beyond the
| matched tag string are irrelevant.
If you search for the same string again after it has been found as a tag, the
| search will not start over but will continue from where it left off. That is,
| the search will start immediately after the tag string that was just found,
| and continue through the rest of the files specified by the tagPattern, until
| the string is found again or the end of the files is reached. [#91, SEARCH
| menu]
3.3.4.14 Find selected tag
This command is identical to the Find tagged string command, except that it uses
| the selection as the tag string, rather than prompting for it. [#92, SEARCH
| menu]
3.3.4.15 Usage hint: using XTAGs
The Find selected tag command allows you to mark ("tag") important strings in
| your files and search for them quickly. For example, you might tag every
| procedure definition with a comment such as "/* XTAG:nextChar */". Then if you
| are looking at code that contains a procedure call you can select the
| procedure name and execute a Find selected tag . Usually there will be only
| one tagged occurrence of a string, but if there are several you can find all
| of them by searching again with the
44 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
same tag string. This will be more common when the tag string is not a whole
| name but a common prefix of tagged names such as "set".
3.3.4.16 Find keyword
This command is similar to Find tagged string. Rather than look for the "XTAG:"
| prefix, however, it simply searches for the string you provide at the prompt.
| The tagPattern option determines which files are searched. [#93, SEARCH menu]
3.3.4.17 Find selected keyword
Find selected tag is identical to Find tagged string, except that rather than
| prompting for a string, it uses the selection. [#94, SEARCH menu]
3.3.4.18 Usage hint: finding a string in multiple files
This command is useful when you want to look at all occurrences of a certain
| string in a number of files. For example suppose you had about 30 C files in a
| directory and you were currently looking at one. You see the variable
| "lineLength" and want to find all uses of it. You set tagPattern to "*.c" and
| set findWholeWords to true.
| Then this command will search through all the files looking for ones that
| contain "lineLength". As each one is found you can examine the occurrence and
| decide what to do about it. Then you can go on by invoking this command again.
| It will pick up where it left off unless you change the string being searched
| for.
3.3.4.19 Replace
Replace occurrences of one string with another string. First you are asked for
| the string to search for. Then the replacement string is requested. Both the
| search and replace strings can contain the escape sequences ("\n", "\N", "\r",
| and "\\") as described in the Search for string command (above). Next you are
| asked whether the replace operation should take place only within the current
| selection or from the current selection to the end of the file (a "global"
| replace). Finally, you are asked to indicate whether you want to verify each
| replacement or accept all replacements without verification. If you choose to
| verify each change, a 'y' makes the replacement, an 'n' does not do the
| replacement but goes on to the next occurrence of the string, and Esc
| terminates the replace operation. [#20, Alt-r key, SEARCH menu]
3.3.4.20 Usage hint: replace within the selection
Replacing within the selection is an easy way to replace all instances of a
| string in an area.
3.3.4.21 Usage hint: indenting and outdenting
Including new lines ("\n") in strings to be replaced is mainly used for context.
| That is, it ensures that your replacement is correct. For example, you can
| un-indent a sequence of lines by selecting them and replacing "\n" with
| "\n" within the selection. Or you can indent a tab by replacing "\n" with
| "\n". (Here "" means the tab key, not five characters.)
3.3.4.22 Beginning of file
Position the window at the beginning of the file. [#8, Ctrl-PgUp key, MOVE menu]
| This may not be necessary if the variable does not occur as a part of other
| variable. This is probably the case with "lineLength".
3.3. WINDOW COMMANDS 45
3.3.4.23 Beginning of file and move selection
This command is similar to the Beginning of file command, but also moves the
| selection to the first character of the file. It is intended to be used before
| a Search for string or Replace that you want to start at the beginning of the
| file. [#78, MOVE menu]
3.3.4.24 End of file
Position the window at the end of the file, with the end-of-file marker on the
| bottom line of the window. [#9, Ctrl-PgDn key, MOVE menu]
3.3.4.25 Go to line number
You are prompted for a line number. The window is repositioned so that the
| requested line number is the top line in the window. [#16, Alt-F7 key, Ctrl-F7
| key, Alt-g key, MOVE menu]
3.3.4.26 Go to selected line number
The selection is taken as a line number. Nondigits at the beginning of the
| selection are ignored.
The window is repositioned so that the line number is the top line in the
| window. [#84, Alt-F9 key, Ctrl-F9 key, MOVE menu]
3.3.4.27 Usage hint: finding compile error lines
This command is useful in finding lines which compile errors. Most compilers
| produce an error listing with line numbers. If this is redirected to a file
| and the file edited with the source code then you can select the line number
| in the error file and go to that line in the source file. It is most useful to
| have the error file be a full screen window and the source file a 3/4 screen
| window on top of it so that the top of the error file window is showing. Then
| you can select the line number and go to that line number in the source file
| window. If the error file contains error messages for several source files you
| can use the Load selected filename command to load the files into the top
| window in succession or the New window from selection command to create a new
| window for each file.
3.3.4.28 Go back
The window is repositioned to the last place you came from with a nonrelative
| motion (that is, not a scroll). This is the last place you jumped from with
| one of the following commands: go to line number, go back to last place,
| search, beginning of file, or end of file. A separate "last place" is
| remembered for each window. [#56, F7 key, MOVE menu]
3.3.4.29 Usage hint: switching between two places in a file
The Go back command provides a convenient way to switch back and forth between
| two places in a file. The other way to accomplish the same effect is to split
| the window and have both windows showing or to have both windows be the top
| two windows and using the Exchange top windows command to switch between them.
3.3.4.30 Usage hint: remembering your editing context
Another use of this command is to help you recall what you were doing in a
| window. If you leave off editing for a while and come back to it you can look
| where you are and also look at the last place you jumped from. This will often
| help to jog your memory about what you were trying to do.
46 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
3.3.4.31 Show selection
The window containing the selection is made the top window and repositioned so
| that the selection is near the top of the window. [#58, Shift-F7 key, MOVE
| menu]
3.3.4.32 Find matching bracket
The file is searched, in the correct direction, for the bracketing character
| that matches the first selected character. Nesting is taken into account. The
| allowed bracketing characters are (, ), [, ], f, and g. [#83, Shift-F8 key,
| SEARCH menu]
3.3.4.33 Usage hint: finding matching brackets
The use of this command is fairly clear. Often in a program you can lose track
| of the various matching brackets. This command helps you make sure that the
| brackets you think should match really do match.
3.4 Editing commands
3.4.1 Selecting text
3.4.1.1 Select text
Characters in the document are made the current selection. Press and hold down
| the left mouse button to start the selection, and move either forward or
| backward from the place where you first pressed the button. The selection
| starts in "character mode". If you release the left button and press it again
| inside the selection, the selection mode changes to "word mode", and the
| selection is extended one word at a time. A third press inside the selection
| changes the selection mode to "line mode", and the selection is extended one
| line at a time. A fourth click returns you to "character mode". The selection
| mode affects the action of the Copy and Move commands. [#26, mouse (left
| button, inside window)]
3.4.1.2 Extend selection
Characters are added to (or removed from) the current selection. Press the right
| mouse button to start the extension. Hold the button down and move the mouse
| to select more or less text. You can move either forward or backward from the
| place where the right mouse button was first pressed.
The selection is extended (or contracted) by characters, words, or lines
| depending on the selection mode when the selection was started. [#39, mouse
| (right button, inside window)]
3.4.1.3 Usage hint: extending the selection beyond the window
The selection can be extended beyond the window in either of two ways. One way
| is to start the selection in the current window, and then scroll or jump the
| window in either direction (with keys or with the mouse cursor in the left
| border). Then extend the selection by clicking the right mouse button inside
| the scrolled or jumped window.
The second way is to use automatic scrolling. Begin the extension at the
| original selection by holding down either the left or the right mouse button
| as you move the mouse cursor. When you move the cursor into the window border,
| either above or below, the window will be scrolled automatically and the
| selection will be extended as the window scrolls. The rate at which the it
| scrolls is set in the scrollRateRate option. The window will scroll
| autoScrollRate lines at a time.
Automatic scrolling will occur only when the mouse cursor is on either the
| bottom border or the top border of the window. At any time during the
| scrolling you can move the mouse cursor back
3.4. EDITING COMMANDS 47
into the window, or above or below it, and the scrolling will stop. You can then
| continue extending (or contracting) the selection.
3.4.2 Inserting characters
3.4.2.1 Inserting characters
Most characters can be typed directly. They will be inserted at the insertion
| point, which is immediately in front of the first character of the
| selection. The ASCII characters that cannot be inserted because either DOS or
| Point interprets them specially are Ctrl-2, Ctrl-c, Ctrl-h, Ctrl-m, Ctrl-p,
| Ctrl-s, and Ctrl-[. If the Enter key is typed and the autoIndent option is set
| to 1, the new line is indented to the same level as the previous line. In
| fact, it will be indented with exactly the same sequence of spaces and tabs
| that begin the previous line. If the overType option is set to 1, the
| character typed will replace the existing character after the insertion point.
| [Most keys]
3.4.2.2 Insert ASCII
Any extended ASCII character (the 256 characters defined for the IBM PC) can be
| inserted into the text. Specify the character with its numerical ASCII value
| in either decimal, hexadecimal, or octal. If the two leading characters of the
| value you give are "0x" the rest of the number is interpreted as hexadecimal.
| If the first character is "0" (and the second is not "x"), then the number is
| interpreted as octal. If neither of these is the case, the number is
| interpreted as decimal. [#23, Alt-a key, EDIT II menu]
3.4.2.3 Change case
This command changes the case of the first character of the selection and moves
| the selection to the following character. An upper case letter is changed to
| lower case, a lower case letter is changed to upper case, and all other
| characters are unchanged. Since the selection moves to the next character, the
| Change case command can be repeated to change the case of a word or sequence
| of words. [#81, EDIT menu]
3.4.3 Copying and moving text
3.4.3.1 Copy
Select the text to be copied. Then move the mouse cursor to the point where you
| want to copy the text. Press and release the left mouse button while holding
| down the Shift key. The text will be copied to the place where you release the
| left mouse button. If the selection is in word (line) mode, the text will be
| copied in front of the word (line) where you release the mouse button. [#69,
| Shift key and mouse]
3.4.3.2 Usage hint: copying text
To simplify copying (or moving) a line or sequence of lines, set up Copy (or
| Move) as a mouse motion command. This way you can copy or move text using only
| the mouse.
3.4.3.3 Duplicate
Select the point to which you want to copy the duplicated text, and press F4.
| Then select the text to be duplicated and press F4 again. [#2, F4 key and
| mouse, EDIT menu]
48 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
3.4.3.4 Usage hint: duplicating lines
A convenient way to copy a line or sequence of lines is to select it and then
| press F4 twice.
3.4.3.5 Move
Select the text to be moved. Then move the mouse cursor to the point where you
| want to move the text. Press and release the left mouse button while holding
| down the Ctrl key. The text will be moved to the place where you release the
| left mouse button. If the selection is in word (line) mode, the text will be
| moved in front of the word (line) where you release the mouse button. [#70,
| Ctrl key and mouse]
3.4.3.6 Extract
Select at the point where you want to put the extracted text and press F5. Then
| select the text to be extracted and press F5 again. [#3, F5 key and mouse,
| EDIT II menu]
3.4.3.7 Delete
The selected text is deleted. It is saved in the scrap buffer for later
| insertion. The selection mode of the text in the scrap buffer is recorded.
| [#4, Del key, F1 key, EDIT menu]
3.4.3.8 Delete, no scrap
The selected text is deleted. The scrap buffer is not changed. [#61, Shift-F1
| key, EDIT menu]
3.4.3.9 Copy to scrap
The selected text is copied into the scrap buffer. The scrap buffer contains the
| last text either deleted or copied into it with this command. It can be
| inserted at the insertion point with the Insert command. The selection mode of
| the copied text is remembered and used when the text is inserted.
[#57, Shift-F4 key]
3.4.3.10 Insert
The last text deleted or copied into the scrap will be inserted at the insertion
| point (immediately in front of the first character of the selection). If the
| selection was in word (line) mode when the text was placed in the scrap, the
| text will be inserted in front of the word (line) containing the insertion
| point. [#55, Ins key, F2 key, EDIT menu]
3.4.3.11 Exchange with scrap
The selected text is saved in the scrap buffer and the contents of the scrap
| buffer are inserted into the file in place of the selection. [#62, Alt-e key,
| EDIT menu]
3.4.3.12 Usage hint: exchange two strings
There is an easy way to exchange two strings:
1. Select one of the strings
2. Copy to scrap
3. Select the other string
3.4. EDITING COMMANDS 49
4. Exchange with scrap
5. Select the first string
6. Exchange with scrap
The second step is Copy to scrap rather than Delete (to scrap) so that you won't
| lose the exact position of the first string.
3.4.3.13 Cancel
Cancel a command whenever user input is requested. This also cancels extract and
| duplicate modes.
[#22, Esc key, OTHERS menu]
3.4.3.14 Fill lines
This command fills lines so that each one contains as many words as possible
| between column 1 of the text and the right margin as defined by the
| rightMargin option. A "word" for this purpose is a string of non-white space
| characters separated by white space characters. White space characters are
| spaces, tabs and end-of-lines.
When the Fill lines command is invoked, it performs this fill operation on all
| lines that have any selected characters. (That is, the first and last lines of
| the selection do not have to be selected entirely, just one or more characters
| in each). [#85, EDIT II menu]
3.4.3.15 Usage hint: filling lines
This command always uses column 1 as the left margin. If you want to indent the
| block of text, you can do this is three steps:
1. Reduce rightMargin by the indent desired
2. Justify the lines
3. Indent the lines
Indent the lines with the Replace command by replacing ""n" by ""n" (where
| is the tab character). This indents by one tab. Other indents are
| possible with similar replaces. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard
| macro facility to indent the lines one at a time.
3.4.4 Redoing and undoing edits
3.4.4.1 Redo last edit
The last action is repeated. If the last action copied or moved text, then the
| same text is copied to the current insertion point. If the last action was a
| Delete immediately followed by an Insert, the current selection is deleted
| before the insert is redone. A Delete alone cannot be redone (just select and
| delete again). The redone action is recorded in the change history and can be
| undone. [#24, F8 key, EDIT menu]
50 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
3.4.4.2 Usage hint: renaming a variable
Use Redo last edit to rename a variable in a section of code:
1. Select the variable to be renamed
2. Search forward (for selection) to set the search string
3. Search backwards to get back to the first string
4. Delete it
5. Type in the new name
6. Search for string and accept the default string set above
7. Redo
Repeat the last two steps until all occurrences of the variable are renamed.
3.4.4.3 Undo last edit
The last editing action is undone. A Delete is restored. A Copy is deleted. A
| Move is put back where it came from. An Insert is deleted, and the previous
| delete (if it was at the same place as the insert) is restored. The undoing
| change is recorded in the change history so a second Undo last edit will undo
| the first Undo last edit. If the undoBack option is set to 1, then Undo last
| edit acts like Undo multiple. You cannot undo changes if you have saved the
| file since the changes were made. [#25, Alt-u key, F9 key, EDIT menu]
3.4.4.4 Usage hint: comparing changed and original strings
If you make a change and then want to look back at what you just changed, Undo
| last edit will switch back and forth between the old version and the new
| version.
3.4.4.5 Undo multiple
This acts like Undo last edit except that it does not record the change in the
| change history, and in fact removes the change being undone from the change
| history. Thus, a second Undo multiple will undo the change before that. You
| can use Undo multiple to undo up to 50 previous edits. The undoSize option
| determines how many previous edits are saved. The window will be moved to
| where the undoing change will take place before the change is made. You cannot
| undo changes if you have saved the file since the changes were made. [#40,
| Shift-F9 key, EDIT menu]
3.5 Other commands
3.5.1 File commands
3.5.1.1 Load file
A new file is loaded into the active window. You can select a file name (with
| the left mouse button) from the menu of file names displayed, or type in the
| name directly. If you type in the name of a file that does not exist yet, you
| are asked whether to create it. If you answer 'n' (no), the file load is
| canceled, unless the autoCreate option is 1, in which case the file will be
| created automatically without verification. Escape cancels the load. Enter
| causes a New window (with no associated file) to be created. If the file
| currently in the window was changed and is not displayed in any other window,
| then you are asked whether to save the edited version of the file. [#33, Alt-l
| key, FILE menu]
3.5. OTHER COMMANDS 51
3.5.1.2 Load file from selection
This is exactly the same as the Load file command (above) except that the file
| name is taken from the selection. [#73, Shift-F10 key, FILE menu]
3.5.1.3 Save file
Write out the edited version of the file. The editing space it was using is
| reclaimed. This action cannot be undone, but a ".bak" file will contain the
| old version of the file, unless the makeBaks option is set to 0, in which case
| no ".bak" file will be created. You cannot undo changes if you have saved the
| file since the changes were made. [#54, Alt-s, FILE menu]
3.5.1.4 Save unsaved files
All files that have been edited but not saved are saved as described in the Save
| file command (above). [#46, FILE menu] 3.5.1.5 Save as...
Write out the edited version of the file to another name. You are prompted for
| the new file name.
This action cannot be undone. [#18, Alt-w, FILE menu]
3.5.2 Quit commands
3.5.2.1 Quit-ask about files
This action exits the editor. If any files have been changed but not saved, you
| will be asked about each one. Respond 'y' (or 'Y') to save the new version of
| the file and 'n' (or 'N') to leave the original version unchanged. No other
| input will be accepted. You can respond with the mouse buttons by clicking the
| left button for 'y' and the right button for 'n', but only if the mouse cursor
| is on the same line of the screen as the verify message (that is, the bottom
| line of the screen). [#5, Alt-q, FILE menu]
3.5.2.2 Quit-save files
This action exits the editor. All files that have been changed but not saved are
| automatically saved. [#48, F3 key, FILE menu]
3.5.2.3 Quit-discard edits
This action exits the editor. No files are saved. If any files have been edited
| a single verify is requested. [#49, Shift-F3, FILE menu]
3.5.3 Executing DOS commands
3.5.3.1 Execute selected command
The current selection is taken as a DOS command and passed to the DOS command
| processor for execution. The standard output of the command is saved in a
| temporary file. When the command completes, a new window is created and the
| standard output of the command is displayed in that window. You can redirect
| either the standard input or the standard output of the command on the command
| line (i.e., in the selection). If you redirect the standard output the window
| created by Point will be empty when the command completes. [#30, OTHERS menu]
52 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
3.5.3.2 Escape to DOS shell
The screen is cleared, and a copy of the DOS command processor is executed. You
| can execute any DOS command using it. When you exit the DOS shell with the
| "exit" command, you are returned to the editor and the screen is redrawn. The
| output of the commands executed is not saved. The current directory in effect
| when you invoked Point is restored after you exit from the DOS command
| interpreter, but the current directory you were last in is restored if you
| invoke the DOS command interpreter again. [#32, Alt-d key, OTHERS menu]
3.5.3.3 Replace selected command
This command executes the selection as a DOS command. It then replaces the
| command in the file with the standard output of its execution. For example,
| "dir /w" would be replaced with a list of filenames. [#90, OTHERS menu]
3.5.4 Keyboard macro commands
3.5.4.1 Begin/end macro
This command begins recording keystrokes in the keyboard macro buffer.
| Keystrokes are recorded until the command is executed again. There is only one
| keyboard macro buffer. [#76, Alt-m key, OTHERS menu]
3.5.4.2 Play back macro
The keystrokes in the keyboard macro buffer are played back as if they were
| typed on the keyboard.
[#77, Alt-p key, OTHERS menu]
3.5.4.3 Usage hint: indenting and outdenting
You can indent (or un-indent) a sequence of lines easily using keyboard macros.
| To indent:
1. Select the beginning of the line
2. Begin/End macro
3. Tab
4. Left arrow
5. Down arrow
6. Begin/End macro
7. Play back macro
Then repeat the Play back macro command (Alt-p) until the entire sequence of
| lines is indented.
3.5.5 Mouse simulation commands
3.5.5.1 Beginning of line
This command moves the selection to the first non-white-space character of the
| line the selection is currently on. By "non-white space" we mean no a blank or
| a tab. The selection mode is unchanged so the first word of the line is
| selected if the current selection mode is word mode.
If there is not mouse present, only the mouse cursor (and not the selection) is
| moved. [#41, Home]
3.5. OTHER COMMANDS 53
3.5.5.2 End of line
This command moves the selection to the last character of the line the selection
| is currently on. This command always selects the "end-of-line" character at
| the end of the line the selection is on. The selection mode is unchanged.
If there is not mouse present, only the mouse cursor (and not the selection) is
| moved. [#42, End]
3.5.5.3 Click left mouse button
This command simulates a click (a press immediately followed by a release) of
| the left mouse button. It for use when you are using Point without a mouse.
| [#43, Gray+]
3.5.5.4 Click right mouse button
This command simulates a click (a press immediately followed by a release) of
| the right mouse button. It for use when you are using Point without a mouse.
| [#44, Gray-]
3.5.6 Miscellaneous commands
3.5.6.1 Toggle readOnly
This command changes the read-only status of the file in the active window. That
| is, it changes it from read-only to read-write or from read-write to
| read-only. When a file is loaded into a window, it is assigned read-only
| status if either (1) the readOnly option is true, or (2) the DOS file
| permissions are read-only. The Toggle readOnly command will not allow you to
| change a file to read-write if the DOS file permissions are read-only. See
| Chapter 2 for more detail on read-only files. [#86]
3.5.6.2 Cycle colors
This command changes the text and border colors of the active window. The
| textColors and borderColors options in pt.ini allow you to specify up to 11
| different color combinations. The color code before the ";" (if any) is the
| default color combination, and is used for the menus, the help windows, and
| the file selection screen. (If there is no ";" then the first color
| combination is used for this.) Each window starts out using the default color
| combination.
The Cycle colors command changes the window colors to the next color combination
| on the list in the textColors and borderColors options in pt.ini. After the
| last combination has been used, Point cycles back to the beginning of the
| list. The default color combination (before the ";") is included in this
| cycle. [#87, OTHERS menu]
3.5.6.3 Usage hint: marking windows with color
You can use this command to temporarily mark a window that you want to remember
| to do something with or that contains certain information.
3.5.6.4 Invoke help
The help system is entered. If the helpMode option is 1 or 2, the help screen
| for the last command you selected from the top line or from a menu is shown
| (even if you did not actually execute the command). Otherwise you are shown
| the main help menu. You can move around the help system with PgUp or the left
| mouse button (return to the previous help screen), PgDn or the right mouse
| button (go to the next help screen), space or escape (return to editing), a
| menu selection (go to the selected help screen), or a letter key (go to the
| selected help screen). [#64, Alt-h key, "Help" on the top line, OTHERS menu]
54 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
3.5.6.5 Display Point information
This command displays internal information about Point data structures,
| including the character numbers of the selected characters, and the amount of
| unused editing space left. [#21, Alt-i key]
3.5.7 Menu commands
3.5.7.1 Invoke user menus
These commands display the eight user-defined menus and allow the user to select
| a command from them. They can be displayed as top line menus, bottom line
| menus, drop-down menus (from the top line), or as pop-up menus. [#50 (menu 1),
| #51 (menu 2), #52 (menu 3), #60 (menu 4), #65 (menu 5), #67 (menu 6), #79
| (menu 7), #80 (menu 8), #96 (menu 9), #97 (menu 10), #98 (menu 11), #99 (menu
| 12), #100 (menu 13), #101 (menu 14), #102 (menu 15), #103 (menu 16)]
3.5.7.2 Invoke the TOPLIST
A menu that lists the names of the files in all open windows is displayed. The
| file names are listed from the top window to the bottom window. If there are
| hidden files, they are shown after the list of visible windows (a double line
| divides the two lists). Selecting a file name from the TOPLIST menu will top
| that window. Selecting the file name of a hidden window unhides and tops the
| window.
[#53, "TOPLIST" on the top line, mouse (middle button, inside window)]
3.5.7.3 Usage hint: topping windows with the TOPLIST menu
During a complex editing session, when you are editing many files at the same
| time, use the TOPLIST menu to see where you are in your file list quickly.
| This is usually easier than stepping through all the windows with the
| Top/bottom window command.
3.6 Invoking commands with the mouse
In the following table, the left column is the command name, the middle column
| is the location of the mouse cursor, and the right column is the mouse
| button(s) to press. "Middle" means both buttons on two-button mice.
Command Mouse Position MouseButton(s)
Not Defined Outside window Left
Not Defined Outside window Right
Display TOPLIST menu Outside window Middle
Select text (characters) Inside window Left
Extend selection Inside window Right
Display TOPLIST menu Inside window Middle
Scroll up Left border Left
Scroll down Left border Right
Thumb vertically Left border Middle
Scroll left Bottom border Left
Scroll right Bottom border Right
Thumb horizontally Bottom border Middle
Make active window Top border Left
Move window Top border Right
Split vertically Top border Middle
Search backwards for selection Right border Left
3.7. MOUSE MOTION COMMANDS 55
Search for selection Right border Right
Split horizontally Right border Middle
Top/Bottom window Any corner Left
Stretch window Any corner Right
3.7 Mouse motion commands
Commands can be assigned to certain types of mouse movements. This means that
| you can do more editing with the mouse without moving your hand back to the
| keyboard, and without moving the mouse to the menu line to issue commands.
The mouse motion commands are fairly complicated and are intended to be used
| after you have become familiar with Point. See the "Usage hints" subsection in
| this section for hints on how to get started using the mouse motion commands.
| If you are a frequent Point user, you will find that the mouse motion commands
| can speed up you editing considerably.
3.7.1 Issuing a mouse motion command
The "Mouse Motion" command is assigned to a mouse button. It has nine associated
| subcommands.
You issue a subcommand by pressing the mouse button, moving the mouse at least
| one character in one of the eight compass directions, or not moving it at all,
| and then releasing the mouse button.
The directions are:
N { north or up
NE { north-east or up and right
E { east or right
SE { south-east or down and right
S { south or down
SW { south-west or down and left
W { west or left
NW { north-west or up and left
{ no movement
Point looks only at where you first press the mouse button and where you
| release it when determining the direction of your mouse movement.
While the mouse button is depressed, Point gives you feedback as to which
| command it would execute if you were to release the button at that point. This
| feedback is an arrow, pointing in the direction in which you have moved (or a
| single dot for the "No Motion" command). If the helpMode option is set to 1 or
| 2, a one-line description of the command is given on the bottom line of the
| display. It is recommended that you set "helpMode=1" or "helpMode=2" while you
| are learning to use the mouse motion commands.
The ninth mouse motion subcommand, the "No Motion" command, is invoked if you
| release the mouse button at the same point at which you pressed it. This
| command is easily issued as a fast click of the mouse button. Therefore, it
| should be the most commonly used command of the nine mouse motion subcommands.
| [#45]
56 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
3.7.2 Canceling a mouse motion command
Pressing a second mouse button will cancel the Mouse motion command.
3.7.3 Default mouse motion subcommands
You can specify the nine subcommands of the "Mouse Motion" command (see section
| 3.7.5 for information on how to do this). The default subcommands are: undo
| prev delete copy duplicate move redo next insert
The command numbers are:
duplicate { command #2
prev { command
#66 delete { command #4
move { command #70
insert { command #55
next { command #19
redo { command #24
copy { command #69
undo { command #25
Here are some rules to help
| you remember these commands: Downward strokes are positive (redo, next,
| insert) Upward strokes are negative (undo, prev, delete) They are paired, down
| and up (redo/undo, next/prev, insert/delete) Diagonal strokes make editing
| changes Horizontal strokes do copy and move Vertical strokes do searches
3.7. MOUSE MOTION COMMANDS 57
3.7.4 Installing the mouse motion command
The command number of the Mouse motion command is 45. You can attach it to the
| middle mouse button by putting the following line in your pt.ini file: b04=45
| If you use a two button mouse, you can attach the Mouse motion command to the
| right mouse button with the line: b02=45
3.7.4.1 Usage hint: mouse motion commands
If you do attach the Mouse motion command to the right mouse button, you will
| also want to change the no motion subcommand to "Extend Selection" (command
| #39), so as not to lose the ability to extend the selection with the mouse.
| Then the right mouse button will act almost as it did before, except that you
| will be able to issue mouse commands with it also. What you will lose is the
| ability to drag the selection when extending it (that is, pressing the right
| mouse button and moving it to adjust the selection). Since it is not usual to
| use this method anyway, the actual loss of function is small, and the gain of
| having eight other mouse motion commands immediately available with the right
| mouse button is large.
3.7.5 Changing the default subcommands
The subcommands can be changed in pt.ini with lines of the form:
| mN=commandNumber where N is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 as in the chart
| below: NW[8] N[1] NE[2] W[7] [0] E[3] SW[6] S[5] SE[4]
To change the no motion action to extend selection, use: m0=39 -- 39 is the
| extend selection command Here are some other example changes: m3=29 -- Right
| motion bottoms the window m7=57 -- Left motion copies the selection to the
| scrap
58 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
3.7.6 Changing other mouse motion parameters
The parameters Point uses to determine the direction of a mouse motion can be
| adjusted. Parameter 1 is used to decide between north and northeast. Parameter
| 3 is used to decide between northeast and east. (Parameter 2 is discussed
| below.) These parameters are the ratio of the number of rows you moved north
| and the number of columns you moved east multiplied by 100 so that they are
| integers. The default values are 175 and 25.
These values are set in pt.ini. The following lines set the parameters to their
| default values: q1=175 q3=25 You can experiment with these values if the
| defaults do not seem natural to you. These same parameters are used for the
| other three quadrants of the plane.
If you specify the diagonal commands to be -1 or 31 (no action), then Point will
| use the nearest vertical or horizontal command. This method can be used to
| reduce the possible motions to just four: north, east, west, and south (and no
| motion). Parameter 2 is used in this case to decode between north and east.
| The default value is 45, which is about a 45 degree angle. (The fact that both
| numbers are 45 is a coincidence.)
3.7.7 Second mouse motion command
The purpose of the second Mouse motion command is to assign Mouse motion
| commands to two mouse buttons when a three button mouse is being used.[#46]
| The default subcommands of the second "Mouse Motion" command are: close window
| move to last place delete | no scrap copy to scrap extend exchange with scrap
| bottom window TOPLIST cancel
The command numbers are:
extend { command #39
move to last place { command #56
delete/no scrap { command #61
exchange with scrap { command #62
cancel { command #22
TOPLIST { command #53
bottom { command #29
copy to scrap { command #57
3.7. MOUSE MOTION COMMANDS 59
close window { command #17
The second mouse motion commands can be changed in
| pt.ini with lines of the form: nN=commandNumber where N is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
| 6, 7, or 8 as in the chart above.
3.7.8 Usage hint: learning to use the mouse motion commands
Point was designed to be intuitive and easy to remember how to use. The idea was
| that even if you did not use Point very often you would still remember how to
| use it since the basic concepts was simple and easy to remember. Unfortunately
| it is difficult to add advanced facilities to a text editor and still keep
| everything easy to remember. The mouse motion commands are an example of a
| feature of Point that is hard to remember how to use. The reason is that you
| have 9 commands attached to a mouse button and it is hard to remember what
| those commands are. It helps to have the helpMode option set to 2 so that you
| get one line of information about the mouse motion commands as they are
| selected. Mouse motion commands are most effective when you are using Point
| often (like every day). In these cases you will memorize the mouse motion
| commands and they will speed up your editing. If you use Point infrequently it
| is better not to use the mouse motion commands at all or only use one with
| only five commands.
Once you decide to start using the mouse motion commands you might not want to
| use the default assignments since they put a lot of commands on a mouse
| button. In this usage hint we will describe a step by step way to get started
| using mouse motion commands.
3.7.8.1 Using one mouse motion command
It is easier to put only five commands on a mouse button. It is mentally easier
| to remember the commands and physically easier to select the one you want
| quickly. Suppose you have a three-button mouse. You might start by putting
| the following mouse motion commands on the middle mouse button: delete copy
| duplicate move redo Delete and Redo are commonly used when you are
| rearranging code.
Duplicate is handy for duplicating lines of code. This is done as follows:
Select the line or lines to duplicate using a triple click and drag.
Click the middle mouse button twice.
The first click begins duplicate mode and selects the insertion point just
| before the selection. The second click copies the selected lines to the
| remembered insertion point which is just in front of the lines. This quickly
| duplicated the lines.
Duplicate is also useful to grab a variable name from a nearby line:
60 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
Click the middle mouse button to enter duplicate mode.
Select the variable to copy using a double click.
Click the middle mouse button again to do the duplication.
Now the variable name is copied in and the insertion point is right after the
| copied name so you can immediately begin typing the rest of the line. it is
| fast and easy to generate a whole line of code by coping parts of nearly
| lines. If Duplicate where on a menu this technique would be too slow to be
| useful but having it immediately available with a mouse button click makes it
| useful. Duplicate is so commonly used and so handy that it is the best
| candidate for the "No motion" command.
The Move and Copy commands are also quite useful for rearranging lines of code.
| Here is how you would copy a few lines of code to another place: Select the
| lines to be copied in word mode (triple click).
Find the place you want to move them to.
Press the middle mouse button anywhere on the line below the copy point.
Move the mouse to the left and release the button.
It is important to select the lines in word mode so that in the third step you
| can point to anywhere on the line. If you make the selection in character mode
| you would have to point to the first character on the line. The lines are
| copied in front of the place you select so you have to point to the line below
| the place where you want the lines copied to. By moving the mouse right
| instead of left in step four you will move the lines instead of copying them.
| Moving is useful for rearranging lines.
The following lines in pt.ini will set up the middle mouse button with the
| commands as we have just described.
b04=45 -- Middle mouse button: mouse motion 1
m0=2 -- duplicate
m1=4 -- delete
m2=-1
m3=70 -- move
m4=-1
m5=24 -- redo
m6=-1
m7=69 -- copy
m8=-1
Notice that
| you must redefine the diagonal commands (2, 4, 6 and 8) to 1 to disable them.
Otherwise they will retain their default assignments.
If you have a two button mouse then you can use almost the same assignments but
| you should change the "No motion" command to be Extend the selection since it
| is very common to want to extend the selection with the mouse. Remember
| though, that you will be losing the ability to extend and then drag the
| selection by pressing the right mouse button and moving the mouse with the
| button depressed.
3.7.8.2 Using more mouse motion commands
You should try other Point commands as mouse motion subcommands. There are two
| criteria for assigning a mouse motion subcommand:
How often you use the
| command.
3.8. KEYBOARD COMMANDS 61
How dangerous the command is if accidently executed.
Since you can easier execute a mouse motion command by mistake it is important
| not to have a dangerous command assigned as a mouse motion subcommand. The "No
| motion" command is the most critical since it can be executed by an
| inadvertent click of a mouse button.
If you really get to like the mouse motion commands and have a three button
| mouse you can assign mouse motion commands to both the middle and right mouse
| button. (It is generally best to leave the left mouse button as selection
| since selection is the most common thing you do.) 3 We have found it useful to
| have Copy to scrap and Exchange with scrap as the west and east commands on
| the second mouse motion button. This means that you can exchange two strings
| as follows:
Select the first string.
Press the middle mouse button, move left and release (This executes the Copy
| to scrap command.)
Select the second string.
Press the middle mouse button, move right and release (This executes the
| Exchange with scrap command.)
Select the first string (again).
Press the middle mouse button, move right and release (This executes the
| Exchange with scrap command.) This seems more complicated than it is to
| actually do.
Another way to exchange to strings using only Move is:
Select the first
| string.
Point at the beginning of the second string.
Execute Move (Press right button, move right and release.)
Select the second
| string (which now follows the first string).
Point to the place where the first string was (and where the second string is
| to move to)
Execute Move (Press right button, move right and release.)
This
| is a little harder since you have to remember where the first string was.
3.8 Keyboard commands
Many commands can also be invoked from the keyboard. If they involve a window,
| the window used is the active window (not necessarily the window with the
| selection in it). Keyboard commands are listed below.
If you are left handed you might want selection on the right mouse button and
| the mouse motion commands on the left and middle mouse buttons.
62 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
3.8.1 Function keys
F1 Delete the selection (to scrap).
Shift-F1 Delete the selection (not to scrap).
F2 Insert from the scrap buffer.
F3 Quit and save.
Shift-F3 Quit and discard edits.
Alt-F3 Quit and ask.
Ctrl-F3 Quit and ask.
F4 Duplicate text.
Shift-F4 Copy to scrap.
F5 Extract text.
F6 Search for the selection.
Shift-F6 Search for string.
Alt-F6 Search backwards.
Ctrl-F6 Search backwards.
F7 Go back to the last place you were.
Shift-F7 Go to the selection.
Alt-F7 Go to line number.
Ctrl-F7 Go to line number.
F8 Redo Last Edit.
Shift-F8 Match bracket character: (, ), [, ], f, or g.
F9 Undo Last Edit.
Shift-F9 Undo Multiple.
Alt-F9 Go to selected line number.
Ctrl-F9 Go to selected line number.
F10 Redraw the display screen.
Shift-F10 Load selected file name into active window.
Alt-F10 New window (load with selected file name).
Ctrl-F10 New window (load with selected file name).
3.8.2 Keypad and other keys
Home Move the selection to the first (non-blank) character of the line
End Move the selection to the last character of the line
Gray + Simulate the clicking of the left mouse button
Gray - Simulate the clicking of the right mouse button
Cursor keys Move the selection one position.
Ctrl-left Move selection one word (blank delimited) left.
Ctrl-right Move selection one word (blank delimited) right.
Del Delete the selection(to scrap).
Ins Insert from the scrap buffer.
PgUp Scroll up (window size - 2).
PgDn Scroll down (window size - 2).
Ctrl-PgUp Move to the beginning of the file.
Ctrl-PgDn Move to the end of the file.
Backspace Delete character.
Ctrl-Backspace Delete word.
Escape Cancel command.
Ctrl-Break Stop the current editor action.
3.8. KEYBOARD COMMANDS 63
3.8.3 Alt-letter keys
Alt-a Enter ASCII character.
Alt-b Bottom the active window.
Alt-c Close the active window and ask about saving.
Alt-d Escape to the DOS command interpreter.
Alt-e Exchange the selection with the scrap.
Alt-g Goto line number.
Alt-h Enter the help system.
Alt-i Display Point information.
Alt-l Load a new file into the active window.
Alt-m Begin/end recording macro keystrokes.
Alt-n Create a new window.
Alt-o Toggle overtype mode and insert mode.
Alt-p Play back keyboard macro.
Alt-q Quit and ask about unsaved files.
Alt-r Replace string.
Alt-s Save the file in the active window.
Alt-t Toggle 43 line mode. IBM EGA only.
Alt-u Undo last edit.
Alt-w Save the file in the active as...
Alt-x Hide the window.
Alt-z Zoom or unzoom the active window.
64 CHAPTER 3. POINT COMMANDS
Chapter 4
POINT OPTIONS The previous sections described the behavior of Point using the
| default options. It is possible to alter many aspects of this behavior by
| specifying options in pt.ini. This section describes each of the available
| options and explains how to specify them.
We will describe the non-menu options first since they are simpler. Then we will
| describe the color setting options, and, finally, how to specify menus.
4.1 Specifying basic Point options
When Point starts it looks for the file pt.ini in the current directory. If
| pt.ini is not found there, Point looks in each directory in your PATH
| environment variable. If the file is not found at all, Point will exit. If it
| does find pt.ini, Point reads the file and sets the options accordingly.
4.1.1 Local initialization files
After Point finds and processes pt.ini, it will look in the current directory
| (and only in the current directory) for another initialization file named
| ptlocal.ini. If such a file is found, Point will then process it. Since
| ptlocal.ini is processed after pt.ini, it will override the options in pt.ini.
This feature can be used to make per directory changes in Point initialization.
| The global pt.ini sets options, menus, keys, etc. for general use. If in some
| directories you want to make changes in these settings, do so with a
| ptlocal.ini. For example, you might want a special filePattern option in
| certain directories.
4.2 Format of pt.ini
The pt.ini file should contain strings of characters of the form:
| optionName=optionValue No spaces should be included in the string or around
| the "=". These strings must be separated by one or more blanks, tabs, or
| newlines. The distribution disk contains several examples of ".ini" files.
4.3 Option names and values
The default for these options is always listed first. The capitalization of the
| option names is for clarity; in processing the pt.ini file, capitalization is
| ignored.
65
66 CHAPTER 4. POINT OPTIONS
Setting an true/false option to 1 makes it "true" and setting it to 0 makes it
| "false".
4.3.1 Searching options
findWholeWords=0 ) Searches will look for a string in the text that matches the
| search string, no matter what the context of the found text.
findWholeWords=1 ) When a search string is matched in the text, it cannot have a
| letter (upper or lower case) or a digit around it in order to be considered a
| successful match. That is, the string found must be a whole word and not a
| part of a larger word.
ignoreCase=1 ) For string searches (search and replace commands) ignore case in
| the search string and the text being searched.
ignoreCase=0 ) For string searches (search and replace commands) consider case
| in the search string and the text being searched. No match is made unless the
| characters and the cases both are equal.
linesOverFind=4 ) When a search string is found, Point determines whether it
| will be visible in the window as the file is currently positioned, and
| repositions the file in the window if necessary. If the window must be
| scrolled vertically, the linesOverFind option is used to determine how many
| lines down from the top of the window the found search string will be placed.
| If linesOverFind=0, then the found search string will be on the top line of
| the window.
That is, there will be no lines above it. If the value of linesOverFind would
| place the search string below the bottom of the window, then the search string
| is placed in the middle of the window. If you want the found search string
| always to be placed in the middle of the window, you can ensure this by
| setting linesOverFind to some large value like 99.
reSearch=0 ) This option determines whether regular expression searching is
| enabled or disabled.
When regular expression searching is enabled by setting this option to 1,
| certain characters do not match themselves but instead are special regular
| expression characters. These characters are: *, j, ., (, ), [, ], ^, $, and ".
| See Chapter Two for a discussion of regular expressions.
searchMode=0 ) String searches start at the selection (or the beginning of the
| file if the selection is not in the window) and go to the end of the file.
searchMode=1 ) Searches go from the selection backwards to the beginning of the
| file.
searchMode=2 ) Searches start at the selection and go to the end of the file,
| then continue from the beginning of the file and go to the selection. This is
| a "circular" search.
searchMode=3 ) Searches start at the selection, go to the end of the file, then
| start at the beginning of the next window and go to the end of that file, then
| go to the next window, and so on, until the string is found or the file in the
| bottom window is searched.
tagPattern ) This is a series of file patterns in the same format as
| filePattern. It determines the sequence of files searched when looking for an
| XTAG or a keyword.
tagString=XTAG: The string that is the XTAG marker. This can be any string (it
| need not be "XTAG:").
topOnFind=0 ) When a string is found in a window, the window is NOT
| automatically made the top window. This means that you may not be able to see
| the string that was found since it might be beneath another window.
topOnFind=1 ) When a string is found in a window, the window is automatically
| made the top window.
4.3. OPTION NAMES AND VALUES 67
4.3.2 Display options
43lines=0 ) The usual 25-line character set is used.
43lines=1 ) This option only applies if you have the Enhanced Graphics Adapter
| using a monochrome display or the Enhanced Graphics Display. If 43lines is 1,
| Point uses the smaller (8x8) character set which allows 43 lines on the screen
| (still with 80 characters per line).
centerMenus=0 ) Menu items are left justified.
centerMenus=1 ) Menu items are centered.
helpMode=2 ) Whenever a top line or menu command is touched, a short, one-line
| description of the command is written on the bottom line of the display.
helpMode=1 ) Whenever a menu command is touched, a short, one-line description
| of the command is written on the bottom line of the display.
helpMode=0 ) No description messages are displayed.
initialWindows=0 ) Each file listed on the command line is put in a full screen
| window and the windows overlay each other.
initialWindows=1 ) The first window takes up the whole screen; the rest of the
| windows are evenly spaced horizontally down the screen and are all the whole
| width of the screen. The first window will be the bottom window; the last will
| be the top window.
initialWindows=2 ) The first window takes up the whole screen. The rest of the
| windows are evenly spaced vertically across the screen and are all the whole
| length of the screen. The first window will be the bottom window; the last
| will be the top window.
pathNames=1 ) The full file path name is displayed on the window banner and in
| the TOPLIST.
pathNames=0 ) Only the final part of the file path name is displayed on the
| window banner and in the TOPLIST.
tabWidth=8 ) The tab stops are set every 8 places. Any value can be set.
videoMode=0 ) For monochrome or EGA adapters. No synchronizing is done on screen
| updating.
This is the fastest method.
videoMode=1 ) The display is written using the BIOS calls. This mode is the
| slowest but it should work in the widest range of environments and machines.
videoMode=2 ) The display is written (two bytes at a time) during the horizontal
| retrace. This mode should not cause any icker (or snow) on a color graphics
| display but it is slower than videoMode=0.
videoMode=3 ) The display is written (one byte at a time) during the horizontal
| retrace. This mode will not cause any icker (or snow) on a color graphics
| display but it is slower than videoMode=2.
68 CHAPTER 4. POINT OPTIONS
4.3.3 Editing options
autoIndent=1 ) When a newline (Enter key) is inserted, also insert the spaces
| and tabs that begin the previous line.
autoIndent=0 ) No special action on inserting a newline.
doubleClickDelay=30 ) The maximum time (in hundredths of a second) between two
| mouse button clicks for them to be considered a double click. This only
| affects how the selection mode is set when you single, double or triple click
| on a item to select by characters, words or lines.
overType=1 ) Typed characters replace existing characters in the text. (Except
| you cannot type over the end-of-line character.)
rightMargin=999 ) The right
| margin controls the word wrap feature of Point. When you are typing in text
| and you pass the right margin, the word you are typing is moved to the next
| line automatically and a newline is inserted in front of it. A "word" is a
| sequence of characters delimited by blanks or tabs.
undoSize=50 ) The number of previous changes that are remembered and can be
| undone. The value of undoSize must be in the range of 2 to 100.
unixMode=0 ) The MS/DOS line ending convention is used for all files. MS/DOS
| ends lines with the two character carriage return and line feed sequence
| (decimal 15 and 12 { also called CRLF). Point can be set to display files
| using either the MS/DOS or the UNIX convention, but will normally end lines
| entered in Point with the MS/DOS CRLF sequence.
unixMode=1 ) The UNIX line ending convention is used for all files. UNIX ends
| lines with a single line feed character. The purpose of this option is to
| allow the editing of UNIX files that might be obtained over a network. "UNIX"
| will show in the banner line for each window if the UNIX line ending
| convention is being used in that window.
unixMode=2 ) Point will examine the first 300 characters of each file as it is
| read in. If any of these characters is a carriage return (decimal 15) it will
| use the MS/DOS line ending convention for that file. Otherwise it will use the
| UNIX convention. This decision is made once for a file and not changed until
| another file (or the same file) is loaded into the window. "UNIX" will show in
| the banner line for each window if the UNIX line ending convention is being
| used in that window.
4.3.4 Scrolling options
autoScrollRate=2 ) The number of lines Point will scroll down (or up) at a time
| when you are extending the selection with the mouse button held down and you
| move the cursor to the bottom (or top) border of the window. The effectively
| controls the speed at which the automatic scrolled occurs.
scrollDelay=50 ) The time (in hundredths of a second) that Point will delay
| before beginning continuous scrolling. That is, if you press a mouse button on
| the scroll bar you will get one scroll immediately. After scrollDelay
| hundredths of a second, Point will begin continuously scrolling every
| [scrollRate] hundredths of a second.
scrollRate=0 ) The time between scrolls when scrolling continuously. Note that
| the scrolling itself takes time and so this puts a natural limit on the speed
| of scrolling. Unless you have a very fast machine, you should keep this at 0.
4.3. OPTION NAMES AND VALUES 69
smoothScroll=1 ) Continuous scrolling is enabled. When you press and hold the
| mouse button down on the scroll bar, Point will wait for scrollDelay
| hundredths of a second and then begin scrolling the display continuously.
smoothScroll=0 ) Continuous scrolling is not enabled.
4.3.5 File handling options
autoSaveInterval=0 ) This option determines the number of minutes that must go
| by before Point will automatically save all files that have been edited but
| not yet saved. If this option is zero (the default) then automatic saving in
| disabled. A reasonable value might be from 10 to 60 (minutes).
buffers=50 ) This number of 1024-byte memory buffers are allocated to hold parts
| of the files being edited. As you specify more buffers, Point will work faster
| for larger files but it will also use up more space in memory. The value of
| buffers must be in the range of 2 to 300.
maxFiles=20 The maximum number of files that can be edited at one time and of
| windows that can exist at one time. This can be set to values greater than 20
| only on DOS 3.x systems, that is, not if you are running DOS 2.x.
readOnly=0 ) Read-only is false. That is, files loaded into windows are
| read-write.
readOnly=1 ) Files loaded into windows are read-only.
workDrive ) The Point work file will be put on this drive and directory. The
| default is the current drive and directory. You can use this to put the work
| drive on a RAM disk. The string can be a drive letter (and colon), a directory
| name, or a drive letter (and colon) and directory name.
If you put in a directory name, be sure to end it with a backslash (""").
4.3.6 Filename selection options
filePattern=*.* ) This is a DOS file name pattern with the wildcard characters
| '*' and ' ?' allowed. It is used by Point to determine which file names are
| displayed for mouse selection when you load a file into a window. The pattern
| can contain a path name. For example, "filePattern}="wp"*.doc" is a valid
| filePattern. (Note that the filePattern does not have quotes around it in
| pt.ini.) In addition, you can specify several file patterns if they are
| separated with a vertical bar ('|'). Point will display all matching file
| names. For example, "filePattern=*.txt|"etc"*.dat|*.prg" is a valid
| filePattern.
fileSort=2 ) Filenames in directory listings are sorted first by their extension
| and then by the main part of the filename.
fileSort=0 ) Filenames in directory listings are listed in the order they occur
| in the directory (which is usually random).
fileSort=1 ) Filenames in directory listings are sorted by filename.
fsDirs= ) This is a list of drive and directory names that you will want to
| change to rapidly from the file selection screen. The fsDirs directories will
| be referred to in file selection screen menu entries. A typical example would
| be: fsDirs=A:;B:;C:;D:;C:";C:"windows;C:"bin This would allow you to quickly
| select and of the drives A through D and the three listed directories. There
| is no default for this option so it must be included in pt.ini.
70 CHAPTER 4. POINT OPTIONS
fsMenu=1 ) This option tells Point which menu to use as the top line menu for
| the file selection screen.
fsPatterns= ) This is a list of filePattern values that you want to have rapid
| access to from the file selection screen. It is in the same format as
| filePattern.
4.3.7 Color options
These options set the foreground and background colors for the various parts of
| the screen display.
For monochrome displays they set the video attributes of the characters (which
| can be normal video, reverse video, underlined, blinking, or intense). Each
| option consists of several pairs of hexadecimal digits. In each pair the first
| digit is the background color and the second digit is the foreground color.
We use the color codes as they are defined by the IBM PC hardware. The hex color
| codes are:
Code Color Code Color
0 Black 8 Grey
1 Blue 9 Light Blue
2 Green A Light Green
3 Cyan B Light Cyan
4 Red C Light Red
5 Magenta D Light Magenta
6 Brown E Yellow
7 White F Bright White
Only the first eight color codes (0-7)
| are supported for background colors. Using any of the other eight color codes
| (8-F) will cause the character to blink. It is possible to reprogram the
| display hardware so that color codes 8-F cause bright backgrounds rather than
| blinking characters. You can do this reprogramming from the interactive color
| setting screen (described below).
textColors=0770 ) The first pair is the color of ordinary text and the second
| pair is the color of selected text. Each window can use different textColors.
borderColors=70070F ) The first pair is the color of banner/menu line at the top
| of the window.
The second pair is the color of the left, right, and bottom borders. The third
| pair is the color of the elevator on the left border. Each window can use
| different borderColors.
msgColors=070FF070 ) The first pair is the color of informational messages. The
| second pair is the color of user input to prompt, parts of the new/load file
| selection screen, and a few error messages. The third pair is the color of
| error messages. The fourth pair is the color of the top line containing
| commands and menus.
4.3.7.1 Window colors
It is possible to specify not just one but a sequence of color codes in the
| "textColors" and "borderColors" options. For example, suppose you had the
| following line in pt.ini: textColors=7017,7107,0760 Point will always use the
| first textColor codes when it creates a window.
The other color codes are used when you execute the Cycle colors command. The
| window text colors will then be changed to the second color codes. Thus, a
| window would be created with
4.3. OPTION NAMES AND VALUES 71
textColors 7017, have textColors 7107 after using Cycle colors once, and
| textColors 0760 after using Cycle colors twice. After that, the cycle will
| start over so on more invocation of Cycle colors will change the window
| textColors to 7017.
The same thing can be done with borderColors. You can have different numbers of
| color codes for textColors and borderColors, although one usually wants them
| to be synchronized for the most pleasing color combinations.
4.3.7.2 Menu colors
You can also specify the textColors and borderColors for the menus. By default,
| the menus use the first color codes specified in the textColors and
| borderColors options. But, if you put a color specification in textColors (or
| borderColors) in front of the window colors and separated from them with a
| semicolon (";"), then this will specify the menu colors. For example, suppose
| you have the following line in pt.ini: textColors=6016;7017,7107,0760 Then the
| menus will have textColors 6016 and the windows will have colors as described
| in the previous section. You can do the same thing with borderColors.
The menu color is not used as part of the cycle for the Cycle colors command.
4.3.7.3 Interactive color setting
If you choose the textColors option from the WINDOWS menu, you are presented
| with a screen consisting of three major parts. The top part is a menu line
| with 10 commands. Nine of these are used to select that part of the display in
| which you want to change the color. The part that will be changed is selected
| by clicking on its name on this menu line. The tenth command exits interactive
| color setting.
The second part of the screen is a line of four commands and a menu of the 128
| possible combinations of foreground and background colors from which you can
| choose. Select a color combination by clicking on it. The commands allow you
| to look at another 128 color combinations (the alternate colors) which will
| either blink or have bright background colors. Two of the commands switch you
| back and forth between the plain and alternate color sets. The other two
| commands change the alternate color set from blinking to intense and back
| again.
NOTE: the commands that switch between blinking and intense colors reprogram the
| hardware and their effect will persist even after you exit Point (and until
| you reset your machine).
The third part of the screen is a sample window showing how the selected color
| combination will look, and samples of the four other display parts in which
| you can set the colors.
You can continue to select different colors and parts of the window until you
| are satisfied with the look of the window. Then click the left mouse button
| anywhere on the top line of the color selection screen to exit color selection
| mode with the new colors. If you click the left mouse button anywhere on the
| bottom line while at the color selection screen, you will exit color
| selection, cancel all the changes you made while at the color selection
| screen, and return to the screen colors in effect when you started color
| selection.
The colors options of the OTHERS menu has a value of five pairs of hex digits.
| These are the current values for: text, selection, banner, border, and
| elevator.
Pressing the Escape key while in color setting mode will return you to editing
| without making any color changes.
Although having different number and repeatedly cycling through them might
| creating interesting visual effects.
72 CHAPTER 4. POINT OPTIONS
4.4 Specifying menus, buttons, and keys
So far we have only seen the default configuration of Point. In this section we
| will describe how to change this configuration in many different ways.
It is possible to change the commands and menus on the top line, and to use any
| names that you want for the commands and menus. You can have several different
| top lines, the one chosen depending on which mouse button you press on the top
| line (and the state of the shift keys). The top line can also be moved to the
| bottom of the screen. Pop-up mouse menus that are available inside any window
| can be specified. Again, the mouse button you press and the state of the shift
| keys determines which menu is invoked. You can also specify the names and
| commands on pop-up mouse menus. Which mouse buttons will invoke the select,
| extend, copy, and move functions can be specified, as well as which commands
| are attached to which keyboard keys.
4.4.1 Point command numbers
Most of the options described in this section depend on the following list of
| Point commands and their associated command numbers. You will always specify
| Point commands by using their command numbers.
The Point commands and their command numbers are: Number Command -1 No action.
0 No action.
1 Enter a character. (Do not use this command number.) 2 Duplicate.
3 Extract.
4 Delete.
5 Quit-ask about files.
6 Set the value of the "debug" variable.
7 New window.
8 Beginning of file.
9 End of file.
10 Redraw screen.
11 Zoom window.
12 Top window.
13 Resize window.
14 Scroll up.
15 Scroll down.
16 Go to line number.
17 Close window.
18 Save as...
19 Search for string.
20 Replace.
21 Display Point debugging information.
22 Cancel.
23 Insert ASCII.
24 Redo last edit.
25 Undo last edit.
26 Select text.
27 Search for selection.
28 Top/bottom window.
29 Bottom window.
4.4. SPECIFYING MENUS, BUTTONS, AND KEYS 73
30 Execute the selection.
31 Do nothing.
32 Execute the DOS command interpreter.
33 Load file.
34 Move the cursor up.
35 Move the cursor down.
36 Move the cursor left.
37 Move the cursor right.
38 Hide window.
39 Extend the selection.
40 Undo multiple.
41 Move to the first (non-blank) character of the line.
42 Move to the last character of the line.
43 Simulate a click of the left mouse button.
44 Simulate a click of the right mouse button.
45 Mouse motion 1.
46 Mouse motion 2.
47 Save unsaved files.
48 Quit-save files.
49 Quit-discard edits.
50 Invoke user menu 1.
51 Invoke user menu 2.
52 Invoke user menu 3.
53 Invoke TOPLIST menu (the file in each window).
54 Save file.
55 Insert.
56 Go back.
57 Copy to scrap.
58 Show selection.
59 Unused command number.
60 Invoke user menu 4.
61 Delete, no scrap.
62 Exchange with scrap.
63 Unused command number.
64 Invoke help.
65 Invoke user menu 5.
66 Search backwards.
67 Invoke user menu 6.
68 Unused command number.
69 Copy.
70 Move.
71 Change the menu (Do not use this command.)
72 Close and save.
73 Load selected filename.
74 Move cursor one word (blank delimited) left.
75 Move cursor one word (blank delimited) right.
76 Begin/end macro.
77 Play back macro.
78 Select beginning of file.
79 Invoke user menu 7.
80 Invoke user menu 8.
74 CHAPTER 4. POINT OPTIONS
81 Change case.
82 New window from selection.
83 Find matching bracket: (, ), [, ], f, or g.
84 Go to selected line number.
85 Fill lines.
86 Toggle readOnly.
87 Cycle colors.
88 Exchange top windows.
89 Call overlay.
90 Execute and replace selection.
91 Find tagged string.
92 Find selected tag.
93 Find keyword.
94 Find selected keyword.
95 Unused command number.
96 Invoke User Menu 9.
97 Invoke User Menu 10.
98 Invoke User Menu 11.
99 Invoke User Menu 12.
100 Invoke User Menu 13.
101 Invoke User Menu 14.
102 Invoke User Menu 15.
103 Invoke User Menu 16.
104 Unused command number.
105 Set the autoSaveInterval option.
106 Set the autoScrollRate option.
107 Set the autoIndent option.
108 Set the borderColors option.
109 Set the centerMenus option.
110 Set the doubleClickDelay option.
111 Set the filePattern option.
112 Set the fileSort option.
113 Set the findWholeWords option.
114 Set the fsDirs option.
115 Set the fsMenu option.
116 Set the fsPatterns option.
117 Set the helpMode option.
118 Set the 43lines option.
119 Set the ignoreCase option.
120 Unused command number.
121 Set the linesOverFind option.
122 Unused command number.
123 Unused command number.
124 Set the msgColors option.
125 Unused command number.
126 Unused command number.
127 Unused command number.
128 Set the pathNames option.
129 Set the overType option.
130 Set the readOnly option.
131 Set the redefine option.
4.4. SPECIFYING MENUS, BUTTONS, AND KEYS 75
132 Set the reSearch option.
133 Set the rightMargin option.
134 Set the scrollDelay option.
135 Set the scrollRate option.
136 Set the searchMode option.
137 Set the smoothScroll option.
138 Set the tabWidth option.
139 Unused command number.
140 Set the topOnFind option.
141 Set the tagPattern option.
142 Set the tagString option.
143 Set the textColors option.
144 Unused command number.
145 Set the unixMode option.
146 Set the videoMode option.
4.4.2 Specifying keys
You can assign any of the Point commands to any key on the keyboard. Point uses
| the standard DOS keyboard handler so certain key combinations (e.g.,
| Ctrl-Cursor Up and Ctrl-Cursor Down) are not available. In addition, certain
| keys are intercepted by DOS before Point can see them.
To define a key in pt.ini, use a line of the form: kN=commandNumber where
| "commandNumber" is a Point command number as defined above and N specifies the
| key being defined. An upper case "K" can be used in place of the lower case
| "k". To define any of the 128 ASCII keys, let N be the ASCII character number.
| N must be specified in decimal. You can use any ASCII chart to find the
| character numbers. (There is one in Appendix G of the IBM PC BASIC manual). We
| include one here also.
ASCII Code Character ASCII Code Character
0 Ctrl-2 1 Ctrl-a
2 Ctrl-b 3 Ctrl-c
4 Ctrl-d 5 Ctrl-e
6 Ctrl-f 7 Ctrl-g
8 Backspace 9 Ctrl-i
10 Ctrl-Enter 11 Ctrl-k
12 Ctrl-l 13 Enter
14 Ctrl-n 15 Ctrl-o
16 Ctrl-p 17 Ctrl-q
18 Ctrl-r 19 Ctrl-s
20 Ctrl-t 21 Ctrl-u
22 Ctrl-v 23 Ctrl-w
24 Ctrl-x 25 Ctrl-y
26 Ctrl-z 27 Esc, Ctrl-[
28 Ctrl-" 29 Ctrl-]
30 Ctrl-6 31 Ctrl--
32 Space bar 33 !
34 " 35 #
36 $ 37 -
38 & 39 '
76 CHAPTER 4. POINT OPTIONS
40 ( 41 )
42 * 43 +
44 ' 45 -
46 . 47 /
48 0 49 1
50 2 51 3
52 4 53 5
54 6 55 7
56 8 57 9
58 : 59 ;
60 < 61 =
62 > 63 ?
64 @ 65 A
66 B 67 C
68 D 69 E
70 F 71 G
72 H 73 I
74 J 75 K
76 L 77 M
78 N 79 O
80 P 81 Q
82 R 83 S
84 T 85 U
86 V 87 W
88 X 89 Y
90 Z 91 [
92 " 93 ]
94 ^ 95
96 ` 97 a
98 b 99 c
100 d 101 e
102 f 103 g
104 h 105 i
106 j 107 k
108 l 109 m
110 n 111 o
112 p 113 q
114 r 115 s
116 t 117 u
118 v 119 w
120 x 121 y
122 z 123 f
124 j 125 g
126 ~ 127 Ctrl-backspace
If you want to define one of the other keys on the PC keyboard (such as PgDn,
| Del, cursor left,
| etc.), start N with the digit zero ("0") and follow with the extended code
| number of that key. A
| table of extended code numbers is in Appendix G of the IBM PC BASIC manual. We
| also list them
| here for your convenience. The initial '0' required in N is included so that
| Point will know this is an
| extended key code; and not an ASCII character.
Extended Code Character
4.4. SPECIFYING MENUS, BUTTONS, AND KEYS 77
03 NUL
015 shift-Tab
016-025 Alt- q,w,e,r,t,y,u,i,o,p
030-038 Alt- a,s,d,f,g,h,j,k,l
044-050 Alt- z,x,c,v,b,n,m
059-068 F1 through F10 (unshifted)
071 Home
072 Cursor Up
073 PgUp
075 Cursor Left
077 Cursor Right
079 End
080 Cursor Down
081 PgDn
082 Ins
083 Del
084-093 Shift- F1 through F10
094-0103 Ctrl- F1 through F10
0104-0113 Alt- F1 through F10
0114 Ctrl-PrtSc
0115 Ctrl-Cursor Left
0116 Ctrl-Cursor Right
0117 Ctrl-End
0118 Ctrl-PgDn
0119 Ctrl-Home
0120-0131 Alt- 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,-,=
0132 Ctrl-PgUp
Let us look at some example lines that might appear in pt.ini:
k059=7 -- "key{F1} key invokes "ptcom{New window}"index{New window}
k082=59 -- Ins key toggles overtype modes
k14=7 -- "key{Ctrl-n} invokes "ptcom{New window}"index{New window}
These lines redefine three keys. The F1 and Ctrl-n keys will invoke the New
| window command.
The Ins key will switch between overtype and insert modes.
4.4.3 Specifying menus
All menus in Point (top line menus, bottom line menus, and pop-up menus) are
| specified in the
| same way. You can define up to sixteen menus. The menus are numbered 1 to 16
| and their command
| numbers are:
78 CHAPTER 4. POINT OPTIONS
Menu# Command#
1 50
2 51
3 52
4 60
5 65
6 67
7 79
8 80
9 96
10 97
11 98
12 99
13 100
14 101
15 102
16 103
A menu specification starts with an open bracket ("[") followed by the menu
| number: [N where 1 <= N <= 16. It is followed by one or more menu item
| specifiers (described below) and then a close bracket: ]
A menu item is specified as a string in double quotes, an equal sign, and a
| command number: "command name"=commandNumber where "command name" is the name
| you want displayed in the menu. The "command name" can contain spaces and any
| characters, including any of the 256 characters in the IBM PC extended
| character set. The "commandNumber" is the Point command number as described
| above.
Although the "command name" can contain spaces, no spaces are allowed around the
| "=" or within "commandNumber".
A menu can contain up to 24 items (that is all that will fit on the screen or on
| a top line). The "command name"s can be as long or short as you want, although
| there is a limit of 4000 characters for all names in all menus.
The first menu item is treated differently than the other items, in that the
| "command name" of the first item is taken to be the title of the menu. If you
| do not want a title, use the empty string (""). Top line menus do not use
| titles, so their first item should be empty. Remember, though, that the first
| item is the title item even for top line menus.
The command number of the title item is the default command for the menu. This
| is the command that will be executed if you do not select a menu item.
| Normally it is defined as the null command.
Use a command number of -1, 0, or 31 for the null command. We will discuss this
| further when we look at specific menu types.
Menu specification lines might appear as follows:
4.4. SPECIFYING MENUS, BUTTONS, AND KEYS 79
[2 "Windows"=-1 "New Window"=7 "Close Window"=17 ] where the menu title is
| "Windows", and the menu contains the two commands New window and "Close
| Window". See the distributed ".ini" files for further examples of menu
| specifications.
4.4.4 Option setting commands
There is a command to set each Point option (commands 105 to 146). This allows
| the options to be put on a menu, attached to a key or attached to a mouse
| motion command. The text of an option setting command on a menu is not taken
| from the quoted text in the menu specification; for option setting commands
| the text this text is ignored and these strings should be empty to avoid using
| up menu space.
2 The text that appears in the menu is generated by Point and shows the present
| value of the option.
4.4.5 Top line menus
Specify a menu (as defined above) to be a top line menu with a line in pt.ini of
| the form: tXY=commandNumber where "commandNumber" is (as before) a Point
| command number. To specify a menu, use one of the menu command numbers: 50,
| 51, 52, 60, 65, or 67. You can use an upper case "T" instead of the lower case
| "t".
The "X" is the state of the shift keys you are requiring to invoke this menu.
| That is, it is a digit from 0 to 7 which is a shift key code. The shift key
| codes are: X Shift state specified 0 No Shift, Ctrl, or Alt key down.
1 Left or right Shift key (or both) down.
2 Ctrl key down.
3 A Shift key and the Ctrl key down.
4 Alt key down.
5 A Shift key and the Alt key down.
6 Ctrl key and the Alt key down.
7 A Shift key, Ctrl key, and Alt key down.
The "Y" is the state of the mouse buttons you are requiring to invoke this menu.
| The "Y" is also a digit from 0 to 7.
If you look at pt.ini you will notice that the text for the menu setting
| commands is empty.
80 CHAPTER 4. POINT OPTIONS
Y Button state specified 1 Left mouse button (only) down.
2 Right mouse button (only) down.
3 Left and right mouse buttons down.
4 Middle mouse button (only) down.
5 Left and middle mouse buttons down.
6 Right and middle mouse buttons down.
7 Left, right, and middle mouse buttons down.
The menu is invoked if both the shift state and the mouse buttons match the "XY"
| you specify.
To allow several different shift and mouse combinations, include several
| "tXY=commandNumber" lines in pt.ini with the same "commandNumber", one for
| each combination you want to allow.
It is possible to specify several different menus as top line menus. One will be
| the default (the one with the lowest "XY" as a hexadecimal number), and will
| be displayed first. If you move the mouse to the top line and press a button,
| the appropriate menu for that button (and shift state) will appear. No action
| will take place until you release the button. You can change buttons while on
| the top line to look at the menus available. If you move the mouse cursor off
| the top line before releasing the buttons, the default command of the menu
| will be executed. It is safest to make this a "do nothing" command. If you
| have only one top line menu, the menus and commands on it will be executed
| when you press the correct mouse button on the top line.
For example, the following line in pt.ini will use menu 1 (command number 50 is
| menu 1) as the top line menu: t01=50 If you specify a command number that is
| not a menu command as a top line menu, then that command will be executed when
| Point detects the specified shift and mouse button configuration when the
| mouse cursor is on the top line of the screen. Thus you can program certain
| commands to be invoked at the click of a mouse button on the top line. For
| example, to invoke the "New Window" command whenever you click the right mouse
| button on the top line, you specify: t02=7
4.4.6 Bottom line menus
You can choose to have your "top line" on the bottom of the screen if you wish.
| Specify bottom line menus in exactly the same way as top line menus, except
| use "l" (or "L") instead of "t" (or "T").
So you specify a bottom line menu as follows: lXY=commandNumber Everything else
| is the same as top line menus.
You cannot mix top line and bottom line menus. Whichever type Point sees first
| will prevail.
You will get error messages on menus that are not of that type (either top or
| bottom), and they will be converted to the type of the first menu encountered.
4.4.7 Pop-up mouse menus
You can also specify that a menu will pop up whenever you press certain shift
| and mouse button combinations, either inside a window or outside of any
| window. Specify a pop-up menu as follows:
4.4. SPECIFYING MENUS, BUTTONS, AND KEYS 81
bXY=commandNumber where the "XY" and "commandNumber" are as described in top
| line menus above. Remember that top line menus were invoked when the correct
| shift and mouse button combination was seen while the mouse cursor was on the
| top line of the screen. Pop-up menus are invoked when the correct shift and
| mouse button combination is seen and the mouse cursor is inside any window or
| outside all windows.
For example, the following lines in pt.ini will set up menu 1 (command #50) to
| pop up when you press the left mouse button, menu 2 to pop up when you press
| the right mouse button, and menu 3 to pop up when you press the middle mouse
| button (or both buttons on a 2-button mouse): b01=50 b02=51 b03=52
4.4.8 Assigning commands to buttons
The method described in the previous section can be used to assign any command
| (not just a menu) to a shift and mouse button combination. This is most often
| used to assign the select, extend, copy, and move functions to mouse buttons
| inside windows.
For example, the lines below assign select to the left mouse button, extend to
| the right mouse button, copy to Shift-left button, and move to Ctrl-left
| button:
b01=26 -- left button is select
b02=39 -- right button is extend selection
b11=69 -- shift + left button is copy selection to here
b21=70 -- ctrl + left button is move selection to here
4.4.9 Mouse sensitive window points
To determine which command is executed when a particular mouse button is clicked
| on a specific part of a window, you can set command lines in pt.ini. Use the
| strings listed below to designate the window positions and mouse buttons.
Note that they all have the form "wXYZ" where:
X is "t", "b" or "r" (for top,
| bottom or right)
Y is "l", "r" or "b" (for left, right or border)
Z is
| "l", "m" or "r" (for left, middle or right)
wtlm the middle button (or both
| buttons) on the top left corner of a window
wtll the left button on the top
| left corner of a window
wtrm the middle button (or both buttons) on the top
| right corner of a window
wtrl the left button on the top right corner of a
| window
wblm the middle button (or both buttons) on the bottom left corner of a
| window
wbll the left button on the bottom left corner of a window wbrm the
| middle button (or both buttons) on the bottom right corner of a window
wbrl
| the left button on the bottom right corner of a window
82 CHAPTER 4. POINT OPTIONS
wrbl the left button on the right border of a window wrbr the right button on
| the right border of a window Set the commands in pt.ini with lines of the
| form:
wtlm=88 -- exchange the top two windows
wtrm=88
wblm=88
wbrm=88
wtll=28 -- top/bottom the window
wtrl=28
wbll=28
wbrl=28
wrbl=27 -- search for
| selection

wrbr=66 -- search backwards for the selection
These lines also
| indicate the default commands: the middle button on any corner will swap the
| two top windows, the left button on the right border will search up for the
| selection and the right button on the right border will search down for the
| selection.
4.4.9.1 Usage hint: window corner commands
You might want to consider changing the middle button on the top left corner to
| the Select beginning of file command, which you may find that you use more
| often than the Exchange top windows command.
4.4.10 Interactively redefining keys and mouse buttons
The definition of any key, mouse button or mouse motion subcommand can be
| changed interactively.
This feature is accessed through the OTHERS menu item "Redefine...". When you
| select the option you are asked what type of action you want to redefine. To
| choose a mouse button or mouse motion subcommand, use:
k { to redefine a key
b
| { to redefine a mouse button
1 { to redefine a subcommand of the first mouse
| motion command
2 { to redefine a subcommand of the second mouse motion command
If you choose k, Point asks you to press the key you wish to redefine. Then it
| asks for the command to assign to that button.
If you choose b, Point asks you to press the mouse button you wish to redefine.
| Then it asks for the command to assign to that button. You can redefine a
| mouse button with a Shift, Alt or Ctrl key modifying it. (You can do this in
| pt.ini also.) Just press the Shift, Alt or Ctrl key and then click the mouse
| button.
If you choose 1 or 2, Point will ask you for the subcommand direction. Use
| either a compass direction (n, ne, e, se, s, sw, w, or nw) followed by the
| Enter key, or the Enter key alone to redefine the "No Motion" command.
After you have selected the action to redefine, Point will display a line of
| directions on line 24 of the display, and a command number and one-line
| command description on line 25. These are
4.5. THE FILE SELECTION SCREEN 83
the same one-line descriptions you will see if you have the helpMode option set
| to 1 or 2. The first command you see will be the command currently assigned to
| the action you specified.
You can scroll up and down through all the possible commands (presently there
| are about 90 Point commands) with the up and down cursor keys. (Left and right
| scrolls are possible also.) Or, you can jump directly to a command by typing
| its number. A one digit command number must be preceded by a 0 or followed by
| the Enter key.
When the display shows the command that you want, press the Enter key to
| complete the redefinition.
4.4.10.1 Usage hint: redefining keys and mouse buttons
This facility is useful when there is some Point command that you are going to
| use a lot during an editing session. This may be because of the kind of
| editing you happen to be doing. You can redefine a key or a mouse motion
| subcommand temporarily while you are doing this editing.
It is usually most convenient to redefine a key to a command they you are going
| to use over and over again. Sometimes it is most convenient to redefine one of
| the mouse motion subcommands.
4.4.11 Examples
The distributed .ini files contain examples of defined menus and functions
| assigned to top line menus and pop-up menus. They are also intended to be
| suggestions of ways to use the menu definition facilities effectively. You
| might start out using these distributed .ini files, and modify as you gain
| experience with them.
4.5 The File selection screen
It is possible to specify the file selection screen to make it as easy as
| possible for you to move around the directory tree and select files.
When the file selection screen comes up Point looks at the fsMenu to determine
| which menu to use as a file selection screen top line menu. This menu can
| include drop down menus.
The items on the menus are special file selection commands. There is a set of
| command number for file selection commands. This set of commands is different
| from the ordinary Point commands although we reuse the same numbers. Here is a
| list of the file selection commands:
1-20 | These specify the (up to 20)
| directories listed in the directory list in fsDirs. Selecting one of these
| commands causes that directory or drive to become the current directory or
| drive.
21-40 | These specify the (up to 20) patterns listed in the fsPatterns option.
| Selecting one of these commands changes the filePattern option to the
| specified pattern.
41-60 | These specify that a menu is to drop down. Command 41 causes menu 1 to
| drop down, command 42 causes menu 2 to drop down, etc. We allowed extra space
| for future menu expansion although Point currently only supports 10 menus.
61 | Set the fileSort to 0 implying that directories will not be sorted.
62 | Set the fileSort to 1 implying that directories will be sorted by filename.
63 | Set the fileSort to 2 implying that directories will be sorted by file
| extension then by filename.
64 | If there are too many filenames to fit on the screen this command will move
| to the next screenful of filenames. Otherwise it does nothing.
84 CHAPTER 4. POINT OPTIONS
65 | If there are too many filenames to fit on the screen this command will move
| to the previous screenful of filenames. Otherwise it does nothing.
66 | Set the filePattern option by prompting the user for a string.
67 | Cancel the load or new window command and return to editing.
68 | Change the drive and directory to the drive and directory that were current
| when you started Point. This is called the "Home" directory.
69 | Point will prompt for a new drive and/or directory.
4.5.1 Usage hint: file selection screen menus
Remember that the commands in the file selection screen menus use the same
| command numbers of the regular Point commands but they specify the special
| file selection commands listed above.
Other than that, file selection menu specifications are the same as other menu
| specifications.
Edit pt.ini to use the directories you frequently change to and the filePatterns
| you frequently use.
Appendix A Point usage hints
It will take time to develop your most comfortable style of
| use for Point, and it will depend on your own tastes. In this section we give
| some suggestions for using various Point features. These are not intended to
| be prescriptive, but are ideas about methods you can try, to see if you find
| them useful.
You will undoubtedly come up with other usage patterns in addition to those
| suggested here.
Usage hints can also be found throughout the manual, especially in Chapter 3.
A.1 Window placement
This is one of the most important choices you will make. Some people like
| windows that overlap very little or not at all (tiled windows). You might
| prefer having a full-screen window with a half-screen window (covering the
| lower half or the right half of the screen) on top of it. The hidden part of
| the full-screen window is rarely any trouble and is often useful. The /h and
| /v command line options start Point with this configuration.
Another pattern is to use mainly full-screen windows and look at only one at a
| time. If you have two such windows, you can switch between them easily with
| the TOPLIST menu, the Bottom window command, or the Top/bottom window mouse
| command.
If you have three or more full-screen windows, switch between them by using the
| TOPLIST menu, which lists all the windows from top to bottom and allows you to
| top any of them. Remember that you can select text in one window, switch to
| another window, and copy (or move) the text with a Copy (or Move) command. It
| is not necessary to see both windows simultaneously. Seeing only one
| full-screen window is not always as convenient as being able to see all the
| windows, but it does make up for the small screen on the PC.
Try the different initialWindows options to see which is best for you. Also try
| the "/h" and "/v" options to Point when you want to have horizontally or
| vertically split windows temporarily.
It is easy to adjust the size of a window from one of its corners, with the
| Stretch window command (click the right mouse button on any corner). Resize
| windows often so they are just right.
Try positioning windows side by side when comparing two pieces of text or
| copying from one window to another. Side by side windows are often more
| natural to use than above and below windows. The Stretch window command makes
| it easy to switch between side by side and above and below.
Suppose you want to find the definition (or another use) of a procedure. Try the
| following method:
Scroll the line containing the procedure name to the top
| of the window.
Select the procedure name.
85
86 APPENDIX A. POINT USAGE HINTS
Create a new window and position it three or four lines below the top of the
| window the procedure name is in.
Select the procedure name.
Search for the selection.
A.2 Some fast methods
There are several features built into Point that allow you to work quickly and
| avoid typing unnecessary text. In this subsection we will remind you of some
| of those features.
Try specifying the position of a new window with a mouse click which defaults
| the lower right corner of the window to the lower right corner of the display.
Use the Go back command. It is handy for switching between two places in a
| window.
Use the scrap buffer for rearranging text. Learn to use Exchange with scrap; it
| is useful for exchanging words and phrases.
Use the cursor arrow keys for small movements of the selection.
When you are done with a file, bottom it rather than closing the window. Often
| you need it again soon. If you get used to using the TOPLIST menu to move
| between windows, the extra windows on the bottom are no trouble.
Think about using keyboard macros whenever you have a repetitive editing task to
| do.
A.3 Copying text
Use Copy when you are already at the text you want to copy.
Use Duplicate to avoid retyping strings that appear on the screen. This is
| faster and eliminates the possibility of misspelling the text.
Use Duplicate when you are copying several pieces of text into one place. The
| advantage of Duplicate is that you do not lose the insertion point. Duplicate
| is especially useful when building up a line from pieces of nearby lines.
Use Copy to scrap, Delete, or Redo last edit to move the same text to several
| places.
A fast way to duplicate one or more lines of text is to select them (with a
| triple click) and then press F4 (duplicate) twice.
To create more than one copy of a line (or lines) of text: select the text,
| delete it, and insert it as many times as needed.
A.4 Redo and undo
If you are not used to Redo last edit and Undo last edit commands, become
| familiar with them.
Redo last edit can be used in many text editing situations. The Undo multiple
| command is useful for reversing a number of changes without having to start
| completely over.
A.5 Searching for strings
Repeated searches are easy if you keep the mouse cursor over the "next" command.
You can select text in one window and search for it in another with the Search
| for selection command.
Use Search for selection whenever possible to avoid retyping search strings. If
| you delete or change the string you searched for, and you need to search for
| the original string again, double click on "find".
A.6. USING THE MOUSE 87
The first click selects the find command and the second click accepts the
| default string (the one you just searched for).
A.6 Using the mouse
It is possible to do a lot of editing with the mouse without even using the
| keyboard.
Redefine the top line to contain the commands you use most frequently.
Use the feature that calls up the TOPLIST menu from inside any window by
| pressing the middle mouse button (or both buttons). This is a fast, easy, and
| accurate way to get to exactly the window you want. Also, it is an easy way to
| switch between two windows when there are three or more open windows.
When giving yes or no responses try using the left mouse button to say yes and
| the right mouse button to say no. Remember that the mouse cursor has to be on
| the bottom line of the screen for this to work.
For other responses, remember that the left mouse button acts like the Enter
| key. It will accept the default prompt or end a string. The right mouse button
| will copy the selection into the response string.
You can verify replaces (and saves) with the left mouse button and say no to
| them with the right mouse button. The mouse cursor must be on the bottom line
| of the display for this to work.
88 APPENDIX A. POINT USAGE HINTS
Appendix B
Point without a mouse Point was intended to be used with a mouse. But a person
| usually does not want to change editors constantly, and sometimes you work on
| PCs that do not have a mouse. For this purpose we have included a non-mouse
| interface.
If Point were exclusively a non-mouse editor, a custom interface optimized for
| that use would be appropriate. Since we are thinking of only occasional use of
| the non-mouse interface, we have chosen to make it as close as possible to the
| mouse interface.
You will use some of the PC keys to simulate the mouse. Some keys move the mouse
| and some simulate its buttons. The mouse button keys simulate mouse clicks
| rather than presses and releases.
Thus, it is not possible to hold down a simulated mouse button. Point has been
| designed so that this is not necessary.
B.1 Moving the mouse cursor
We use the obvious interface of the four cursor direction keys to move the mouse
| cursor one row or column. Ctrl-left arrow and Ctrl-right arrow move one word
| at a time to the left and right. A "word" for these purposes is a sequence of
| non-blank characters.
All these commands move the mouse cursor only. They do not affect the selection.
| You can use them to move the mouse cursor to the edges of a window, outside a
| window and to the top line.
B.2 Simulating the mouse buttons
The Gray+ key simuates the clicking (pressing and releasing) of the left mouse
| button. The Gray-key simuates the clicking (pressing and releasing) of the
| right mouse button.
B.3 Using mouse keys with a mouse
The mouse simulation keys also work if you are using a mouse, but they work
| differently. The cursor movement keys move the mouse cursor and the selection.
| This is normally what you want when you have a mouse, since it saves the
| additional keystrokes needed to move the selection after the mouse cursor is
| moved. Because the selection moves, the screen must be redrawn after each
| cursor movement command. This makes these commands somewhat slower.
89
90 APPENDIX B. POINT WITHOUT A MOUSE
Appendix C
Point quick reference guide
C.1 Function keys
Key Unshifted Shifted Alted or Ctrled
F1 Delete (To Scrap) Delete (Not To Scrap)
F2 Insert (From Scrap)
F3 Quit{Save All Files Quit{No Saves Quit{Ask About Saves
F4 Duplicate Text Copy to Scrap Extract text
F5 Find Selected Keyword Find Keyword Find Selected XTAG
F6 Search For Selection Search For String Search Backwards
F7 Go Back To Last Place Go To Selection Go To Line Number
F8 Redo Last Edit Find Matching Bracket Find XTAG (prompted)
F9 Undo Last Edit Undo Multiple GoTo Sel'd Line Number
F10 Redraw The Screen Load File{Sel'd File Name New Window{Sel'd FileName
C.2 Alt-letter and other keys
Key Command
Alt-a Insert ASCII character
Alt-b Bottom the active window
Alt-c Close the active window
Alt-d Execute DOS command interpreter
Alt-e Exchange with scrap
Alt-g Goto line number
Alt-h Get help
Alt-i Print debugging information
Alt-l Load a new file into the active window
91
92 APPENDIX C. POINT QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
Alt-m Begin/end macro
Alt-n New window { create a window
Alt-o Toggle insert/overtype mode
Alt-p Play keyboard macro
Alt-q Quit and ask about unsaved files
Alt-r Replace
Alt-s Save file in the active window
Alt-t Toggle 43 line mode (EGA only)
Alt-u Undo
Alt-w Write file with a new name
Alt-x Hide window
Alt-z Zoom the active window
PgUp Scroll up
PgDn Scroll down
Ctrl-Pgdn End of the file
Ctrl-PgUp Beginning of the file
Del Delete the selection to the scrap
Ins Insert from scrap
Backspace Delete the previous character
Ctrl-Backspace Delete the previous word
Esc Cancel command
Ctrl-Break Stop the current editor action
Home Move the selection to the first (non-blank) character in the line
End Move the selection to the last character in the line
Grey + Simulate a click of the left mouse button
Grey - Simulate a click of the right mouse button
Cursor keys Move the selection in that direction
Ctrl-left Move the selection one word (blank-delimited) left
Ctrl-right Move the selection one word (blank-delimited) right
C.3 Mouse command chart
Cursor Position Left Button Middle Button Right Button
Outside Windw TOPLIST menu
Inside Window Select text TOPLIST menu Extend selection
Any Corner Top/bottom the window Exchange the two top windows Stretch window
Top Border Make the window active Split the window vertical Move the window
Right Border Search backwards Split the window horizontal Search for sel
Left Border Scroll up Thumb by line Scroll down
Bottom Border Scroll left Thumb by column Scroll right
C.4. COMMAND NUMBERS BY CATEGORY 93
C.4 Command numbers by category
Number Command Window Management
7 New window
82 New window from selection
38 Hide window
17 Close window
72 Close and save Split window
10 Redraw screen
Window Positioning
12 Top window
29 Bottom window
28 Top/bottom window
11 Zoom window
13 Resize window Stretch window Move window
88 Exchange top windows
File Positioning in the Window
15 Scroll down
14 Scroll up
" Scroll left
" Scroll right
" Thumb vertical
" Thumb horizontal
8 Beginning of file
78 Select beginning of file And Move Selection
9 End of file
16 Go to line number
84 Go to selected line number
56 Go back
58 Show selection
Searching and Replacing
19 Search for string
27 Search for selection 66
Search backwards 20 Replace
83 Find matching bracket
91 Find tagged string
92 Find selected tag
93 Find keyword
94 Find selected keyword
94 APPENDIX C. POINT QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
Selecting Text
26 Select text
39 Extend selection
Inserting Characters
Insert character
23 Insert ASCII
Copying And Moving Text
69 Copy 2 Duplicate
70 Move
3 Extract
57 Copy to scrap
Editing Text
4 Delete
61 Delete, no scrap
55 Insert
62 Exchange with scrap
81 Change case
85 Fill lines
Redoing And Undoing Edits
24 Redo last edit
25 Undo last edit
40 Undo multiple)
File Commands
33 Load file
73 Load selected filename
54 Save file
47 Save unsaved files
18 Save as...
Quit Commands
5 Quit-Ask about files
48 Quit-Save files
49 Quit-Discard edits
Executing DOS Commands
30 Execute selection
32 Escape to a DOS command interpreter
90 Execute and replace selection
Macro Commands
C.4. COMMAND NUMBERS BY CATEGORY 95
76 Begin/end macro
77 Play back macro
Change Modes
22 Cancel
86 Toggle readOnly
Miscellaneous Commands
87 Cycle colors
6 Set the value of the "debug" variable
21 Display Point information
64 Invoke help
31 Do nothing
Invoke Menu Commands
50 Invoke user menu 1
51 Invoke user menu 2
52 Invoke user menu 3
60 Invoke user menu 4
65 Invoke user menu 5
67 Invoke user menu 6
79 Invoke user menu 7
80 Invoke user menu 8
96 Invoke user menu 9
97 Invoke user menu 10
98 Invoke user menu 11
99 Invoke user menu 12
100 Invoke user menu 13
101 Invoke user menu 14
102 Invoke user menu 15
103 Invoke user menu 16
53 Invoke the TOPLIST menu
45 Mouse motion command 1
46 Mouse motion command 2
Keyboard Cursor Movement Commands
34 Move the cursor up
35 Move the cursor down
36 Move the cursor left
37 Move the cursor right
41 Move to the first (non-blank)
character of the line
42 Move to the last character of the line
43 Simulate clicking the left mouse button
44 Simulate clicking the right mouse button
74 Move the cursor one word (blank delimited) left
75 Move the cursor one word (blank delimited) right
Option Setting Commands
96 APPENDIX C. POINT QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
105 Set the autoSaveInterval option
106 Set the autoScrollRate option
107 Set the autoIndent option
108 Set the borderColors option
109 Set the centerMenus option
110 Set the doubleClickDelay option
111 Set the filePattern option
112 Set the fileSort option
113 Set the findWholeWords option
114 Set the fsDirs option
115 Set the fsMenu option
116 Set the fsPatterns option
117 Set the helpMode option
118 Set the 43lines option
119 Set the ignoreCase option
121 Set the linesOverFind option
122 Set the makeBaks option
124 Set the msgColors option
128 Set the pathNames option
129 Set the overType option
130 Set the readOnly option
131 Set the redefine option
132 Set the reSearch option
133 Set the rightMargin option
134 Set the scrollDelay option
135 Set the scrollRate option
136 Set the searchMode option
137 Set the smoothScroll option
138 Set the tabWidth option
140 Set the topOnFind option
141 Set the tagPattern option
142 Set the tagMarker option
143 Set the textColors option
145 Set the unixMode option
146 Set the videoMode option
C.4.1 Simulated mouse command table
Key Mouse Function: Next key Sub-function
Left Move mouse cursor left 1 column.
Ctrl-Left Move mouse cursor left 1 word.
Right Move mouse cursor right 1 column.
Ctrl-Right Move mouse cursor right 1 word.
Up Move mouse cursor up 1 row.
Down Move mouse cursor down 1 row.
Home Move the mouse cursor to the first (non-blank) character of the line
End Move the mouse cursor to the last character of the line
Gray+ Simulate a click of the left mouse button
Gray- Simulate a click of the right mouse button
Appendix D
Point size limitations
Maximum number of windows | 255 in DOS 3.x; 20 in DOS 2.x
Maximum number of open files | 255 in DOS 3.x; 20 in DOS 2.x
Maximum number of buffers | 300
Minimum window size | 3 rows by 10 columns
Maximum line size | no limit Maximum input string | 100 characters
Maximum search string | 50 characters
Maximum replace string | 50 characters
Maximum number of menu characters | 4000 characters
Maximum number of undos | 100 97
98 APPENDIX D. POINT SIZE LIMITATIONS
Appendix E
Point development history and acknowledgments The main inspiration for
| developing Point came when I spent the 1982-1983 academic year on sabbatical
| at Xerox System Development Division in El Segundo, California. There I
| learned of the ease and simplicity of editing with a mouse. I had been using
| vi as a text editor for several years. After a while I realized that the Xerox
| editor I was using was 80% to 90% as powerful as vi while only using about 10
| commands (while vi has over a hundred). Once you learned to select text,
| scroll and use the copy, move and delete keys you already had a powerful
| editor.
At Xerox I worked with my good friend Gael Curry from whom I have learned many
| things well worth knowing. I also met at Xerox Bob Purvy and Larry Baer who
| both helped me learn the spirit of how things were done at Xerox. I am happy
| to count them among my friends.
After my sabbatical, I got an XT and started to learn how to use it. My Unix
| experience inspired my to first create a cshell like command interpreter after
| finding the MS/DOS one quite inadequate.
Then I started working on Point. Point evolved over several years with the help
| of a number of beta testers. Gary Vrooman was invaluable in the first year and
| much of the look and many of the useful features of Point are due to his
| suggestions. Later I got to know John Ciccarelli, first as a beta tester and
| then as a friend. He also offered bug reports and helpful suggestions too
| numerous to count.
The final version of Point benefited greatly from his useful and clever
| suggestions.
Point was originally written in Lattice C using Microsoft Word as a text editor.
1 Later I needed far pointers and so I switched to Microsoft C which I am still
| using.
2 Naturally I switched to using Point as a text editor as soon as I had a first
| version that was did not crash much. I am indebted to Guy Tiphane, Pierluigi
| Zapacosta and Giacomo Marini of Logitech, Inc. for believing in Point and
| distributing it with the Logitech mouse and Logitech Modula-2. I enjoyed
| working with everyone I met at Logitech particularly Enrica D'Ettore who was
| the Point liaison for some time.
1 I was so enamored with mouse editing that I was willing to put up with using a
| word processor (with no line numbers!) as a text editor.
2 Although Lattice C later added far pointers.
99
100 APPENDIX E. POINT DEVELOPMENT HISTORY AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Appendix F
Index 101
Index
*, 14
*.c, 44
.bak, 25, 51
.ini, 65, 83
43 lines, 28, 67
active window, 14, 19
ASCII, 20, 47
autoCreate, 50
autoIndent, 47, 68
autoSaveInterval, 69
autoScrollRate, 16, 46, 68
backslash, 28
backspace key, 20
backup files, 25
banner line, 13, 14, 24, 39
Begin/end macro, 33, 52
Beginning of file, 44, 45
Beginning of file and move selection, 45
Beginning of line, 52
blank space, 20
border, 14
double line, 19
borderColors, 53, 70, 71
Bottom window, 19, 37, 85
buffers, 35, 69
buttons
chording, 24
calling up a menu, 17
Cancel, 49
cancel, 56
carriage return, 15, 17, 28
case sensitivity, 28
centerMenus, 67
Change case, 23, 47
character mode, 16, 46
chording buttons, 24
Click left mouse button, 53
Click right mouse button, 53
Close window, 37
Close window and save file, 37
color.ini, 36
colors, 23, 53, 71
column numbers, 14
Copy, 16, 26, 27, 46, 47, 50, 85, 86
Copy to scrap, 48, 49, 86
copying text, 26
corners, 15
Ctrl-Break key, 26
current drive, 21
cursor
mouse, 23
Cycle colors, 53, 70, 71
default response, 21
Delete, 27, 48{50, 86
no scrap, 48
delete word, 20
directory
changing, 21
current, 21

Display Point information, 54
DOS, 25, 51{53
DOS file handles, 25
double click, 16
doubleClickDelay, 68
doubleClickRate, 16
Duplicate, 16, 26, 27, 47, 86
duplicate mode, 26
EDIT, 36, 47{50
EDIT II, 20, 47{49
editing space, 13
elevator, 14
End of file, 45
End of line, 53
end-of-line character, 15, 17, 28
Enter key, 20
Enter with mouse, 20
entering text, 20
escape characters, 28
Escape key, 21, 26
Escape to DOS shell, 52
102
INDEX 103
Exchange top windows, 38, 45, 82
Exchange with scrap, 48, 86
Execute selected command, 51
EXIT, 52
exit Point, 35, 51
Extend selection, 46
extending the selection, 16
Extract, 16, 27, 48
extract mode, 27
FILE, 36, 50, 51
file
loading, 21
read-only, 25
work, 24
file handles, 25
file pattern, 22
file selection, 21
filename, 13
filePattern, 22, 32, 43, 65, 66, 69, 70, 83, 84
fileSort, 69, 83
Fill lines, 49
Find keyword, 33, 44
Find matching bracket, 46
Find selected keyword, 33
Find selected tag, 33, 43, 44
Find tag, 33
Find tagged string, 43, 44
findWholeWords, 29, 40, 42, 44, 66
fonts, 11
fsDirs, 69, 83
fsMenu, 70, 83
fsPatterns, 70, 83
Go back, 45, 86
Go to line number, 45
Go to selected line number, 45
helpMode, 23, 53, 55, 67, 83
hidden windows, 19
Hide window, 19, 36
ignoreCase, 28, 40, 66
indent lines, 28
initialWindows, 18, 35, 67, 85
Insert, 48{50
Insert ASCII, 20, 47
insertion point, 20, 26, 27, 47
Invoke help, 53
Invoke the TOPLIST, 54
Invoke user menus, 54
joining lines, 17
keyboard macros, 33
keyword, 33
left border, 15
line feed, 15
line mode, 16, 26, 27, 46
line numbers, 14
line-feed, 15, 28
linesOverFind, 66
Load file, 50, 51
Load file from selection, 51
Load selected filename, 45
macros, 33, 52
makeBaks, 25, 51
maxFiles, 69
menu
escaping from, 26
menu commands, 25
menu line, 17, 21, 28
menu selection, 25
mouse, 54
cursor, 23
three-button, 23
two-button, 23, 54, 57
mouse button, 15
left, 15
middle, 15
right, 15, 16, 41
mouse buttons
chording, 24
mouse commands, 14, 25
mouse cursor, 23
Mouse motion, 23, 55{58
Mouse simulation, 52
mouse simulation, 24
MOVE, 36, 44{46
Move, 16, 27, 46{48, 50, 85
move text, 48
Move window, 39
msgColors, 70
New window, 36, 50, 77, 79
New window from selection, 36, 45
new-line, 17, 28
No motion, 23
null command, 78
options, 11, 79
OTHERS, 23, 37, 49, 51{53, 71, 82
104 INDEX
outdent lines, 28
overType, 14, 47, 68
overtype mode, 20
pathNames, 67
PATTERNS, 22
Play back macro, 33, 52
prompts, 20
pt.ini, 11, 23, 26, 36, 53, 57{59, 65, 69{71, 75, 77, 79{82, 84
pt.las, 35
ptexpert.ini, 36
ptlocal.ini, 65
pttemp.add, 24
quit Point, 35
Quit-ask about files, 51
Quit-discard edits, 51
Quit-save files, 51
RAM disk, 24, 35
read-only, 53
read-only files, 25
readOnly, 14, 25, 53, 69
redefine, 23
redefining keys, 23
Redo last edit, 27, 41, 49, 50, 86
Redraw screen, 37
regular expression, 40, 66
Replace, 28, 41, 44, 45, 49
Replace selected command, 52
Replace with verify, 41
reSearch, 66
Resize window, 18, 38
resize window, 14, 15
response
default, 21
rightMargin, 49, 68
SAVE, 13
Save as..., 51
Save file, 51
Save unsaved files, 51
scrap buffer, 27
screen colors, 23
scroll
vertical, 39
scroll bar, 15, 17
Scroll down, 39
Scroll left, 39
Scroll right, 39
Scroll up, 39
scrollDelay, 17, 68, 69
scrolling, 14, 17, 18
automatic, 16, 46
continuous, 17
horizontal, 18, 39
right, 18
speed, 17
with keyboard, 18
with mouse, 17
scrollRate, 18, 46, 68
SEARCH, 40, 42{44, 46
Search backwards, 43
Search for selection, 28, 41{43, 86
Search for string, 28, 40{42, 44, 45
searching, 40
for identifiers, 29, 40
for keywords, 33
for variables, 42
searchMode, 29, 40, 41, 43, 66
Select beginning of file, 82
Select text, 46
selecting text, 16, 46
selection, 16, 36, 46
by character, 16
by word, 16
end-of-line character, 17
extending, 46
Show selection, 46
smoothScroll, 17, 69
split
horizontal, 35, 37
vertical, 35, 37
Split window, 14, 37
Stretch window, 38, 40, 85
tab, 15
tabWidth, 67
tagPattern, 32, 33, 43, 44, 66
tags, 32, 43
tagString, 43, 66
text
copying, 26
entering, 20
text patterns, 40
textColors, 16, 23, 53, 70, 71
Thumb horizontal, 40
Thumb vertical, 39
thumbing, 14, 18, 39, 40
horizontal, 18
Toggle readOnly, 25, 53
top line, 13, 17, 21, 26
INDEX 105
Top window, 15, 37
top window, 54
Top/bottom window, 37, 54, 85
TOPLIST, 19, 36, 37, 54, 58, 67, 73, 85{87,
92, 95
topOnFind, 40, 66
triple click, 16
typography, 11
Undo last edit, 28, 50, 86
Undo multiple, 28, 50, 86
undoBack, 28, 50
undoSize, 27, 28, 50, 68
unixMode, 14, 68
UnNamed, 13, 24, 36
Usage hint, 11, 36{50, 52{54, 57, 59, 82{85
videoMode, 35, 67
wildcard, 41
window
active, 14, 19, 37
border, 14, 19
bottom, 19
hidden, 19, 36
move, 39
overlapping, 19
resizing, 18, 38
scrolling, 39
sizing, 18
split, 37
stretching, 18
thumbing, 39, 40
top, 19, 54
zoom, 19, 38
window corners, 15
window sizing, 18
WINDOWS, 36{38, 71
windows
initial, 35
WINDOWS II, 36
word, 20
delete, 20
word mode, 16, 26, 27, 46
work file, 24
workDrive, 24, 35, 69
XTAG, 32, 43
Zoom window, 38