VEDIT Changelog

What's new in VEDIT 6.24.2

• The update has improved support for Windows Vista and Win7 support
• The primary changes are:
• A new .CHM (HTML) help file replaces the older style .HLP file which is no longer supported.
• The default installation now installs VEDIT's main files in the c:\Program Files (x86)\vedit directory and all configuration (and other changing) files into a User's directory. However, a [Traditional] installation allows placing everything in c:\vedit, as before.
• Multiple users are supported on one computer where they can either share the same configuration or have separate configurations.
• A few serious/annoying problems under Vista/Win7 have been fixed. For example, now accesses the menus correctly. A few problems related to recording keystroke macros have not yet been corrected, but will be in future versions.
• New Directory Structure Partly to support Windows Vista/7 and partly to reduce the number of files in the VEDIT Home directory, a new directory structure with more subdirectories is now used. All files are now under either the VEDIT Home directory or the VEDIT User directory. The VEDIT Home directory can now be read-only as it only contains rarely changing files. The VEDIT User
• directory is always read-write as it contains the configuration, project and other changing files. In order to support multiple users, the VEDIT User directory can be specified relative to an environment variable.
• New vpw.ini The first file processed on startup is the new vpw.ini file in the VEDIT Home directory. It has only a few entries and specifies the location of the VEDIT User directory, either as an absolute location or relative to an environment variable. The VEDIT User directory contains the vedit.ini file which specifies the location of all directories and has many configuration and "history" parameters.
• Spell checker A spelling checker is now available via {MISC, Scribe (Spell check)}. It has an expandable dictionary of 100,000 English words and has provisions to support other languages in the future. Due to the many files, they are placed in their own directory vedit\macros\scribe. (Thanks to Scott Lambert for the Scribe system.)
• Wildfile macro The previous {MISC, Wildfile} function has been changed from a multi-step wizard to a dialog box with all options. It has also been moved from the {MISC} menu to the {SEARCH} menu. If the old method is preferred, rename the file wildfwiz.vdm to wildfilew.vdm. (Thanks to Pauli Lindgren for the wildfilew.vdm macro.)
• Find File and Open New {FILE, More, Find file and open} permits searching any portion of the file system for files whose name matches a wildcard string. Matching files are displayed in a window; double-clicking any file opens it. The search result window stays open so that additional files can be opened.
• Project support The new {FILE, Project, Quit project} allows closing a project without saving the current project "state" into the corresponding .prj and .dat files. However, any modified files will be saved with prompting.
• The new {FILE, Project, Set project directory} sets the new string variable CURRENT_PROJECT_DIR to the selected directory, which is typically the "root" of the project files with subdirectories. The only purpose for this function is to make several VEDIT features (macros) "project aware"; currently this includes wildfile and ctags.
• Box drawing mode {MISC, Box drawing mode} is now always available regardless of the font. Since the typical ANSI fonts don't have the graphic box-drawing characters of OEM fonts, the boxes are drawn with just: - | and +, or with = / and #. If a OEM font (such as VEDIT OEM or Terminal) is selected, the full set of box-drawing characters are available, but will probably not display properly in other programs, nor print properly.
• Unicode translation The new {EDIT, Translate, Unicode} can translate to/from both UTF-8 and UTF-16. It uses the new utf-conv.vdm macro.
• Match Paren The {GOTO, Matching ()} function (to match parentheses) has been improved so that parentheses within quoted strings no longer confuse it.
• {HELP, Status} Enhanced to also display the last modified date/time for the current file. Also displays the estimated/actual number of lines in the file. Note that you can access this item by double-clicking on the filename on the status line, or with the default hot-key of .
• Dashboard info The new {HELP, Dashboard} displays detailed information about VEDIT's installation, invocation, startup and configuration. This can be very useful for debugging related problems and this information may be requested if you contact Greenview
• for technical support. The information is also saved into the file dashboard.txt in the VEDIT User directory.
• Save config {CONFIG, Save config} no longer saves several word processing and programming parameters into the vedit.cfg file which can cause confusion when VEDIT is next run. These are "Display lines with word wrap", "Enable word wrap", "Right margin", "Left margin", "Auto-indent mode" and "Lower/upper case key conversion". These parameters can still be set via File-open configuration, which is preferred anyway. In the unlikely case these parameters are desired for all files, they can be enabled in the ustartup.vdm file (which overrides the vedit.cfg file). This also applies to the "Auto-save config" function and the Config_Save() command.
• Macro Language help The {HELP, Command at cursor} function is replicated in the right-click context menu. This makes it easier to access help for any macro language command.
• Execute buffer The new {MISC, Execute current buffer} executes the contents of the current buffer as a VEDIT macro. This is primarily useful when developing new macros. To reduce the likelyhood of accidentally trying to execute a text/data file as a macro, this function will only run if the current buffer has no file open or has a filename extension of ".vdm".
• Runshell macro The {MISC, Save and run programs} functions, which are implemented with the runshell.vdm macro, now save the last
• commands in the runshell.ini file in the USER_CFG directory. Useful default commands have been added, including opening Explorer in the directory of the current file and displaying the current directory in a new VEDIT buffer/window.
• Cfunc macro {MISC, More macros, Cfunc} (to outline a C program) has been improved and now includes pop-up help. This function is also available in the default {TOOLS} menu as {TOOLS, C function show/select}.
• Ctags support The "ctags" functions (to create and lookup a C program cross-reference) has been improved with both a nested "Lookup" function and a corresponding "Return" function. The ctags "Create" function now uses a much more flexible dialog box which has its own extensive built-in help. The functions are available in both the {MISC, More macros} sub-menu and the default {TOOLS} menu.
• Calendar A simple Calendar can be accessed with {USER, Show Calendar}. Press and to view other months. Press to close the calendar.
• FTP Support (Still considered beta-test in this version) New {FILE, Ftp} menu items allow opening an FTP site from which files can be edited, downloaded or uploaded. When an FTP file is opened for editing, it is first auto- downloaded into the vedit/ftp directory and edited there. When closed, it is auto-uploaded back to the FTP site. (Currently only works with some ftp servers.)
• FTP and Email menu items can be enabled/disabled with {CONFIG, Emulation, Show FTP and email menu items}.
• Email sending (Still considered best-test in this version) New {FILE, Send as email} sends the current buffer contents as a simple email message. First time (or when needed) the email must be configured by specifying the mail server and reply address; these are saved. Note: this function cannot send binary files; only text messages. (Since SMTP Authentication is not yet supported, this function will only work with locally connected mail servers that fully trust your workstation. We hope to improve this soon!)
• Command Macro Changes:
• Numeric Regs The number of numeric registers was increased to 256, range 0 - 255.
• BB_Normal BE_Normal (Technical) Return the Block_Begin and Block_End values such that BB_Normal < = BE_Normal and if Block_Mode(LINE) is set, expanded to the beginning of the first line and end of the last line.
• Buf_Last Returns the ID of the last user-selected buffer. It is used internally when a buffer/window is closed.
• Buf_Switch() New Buf_Switch(r,VALUE,size) option sets the allocated memory size of a new buffer to 'size' instead of the default (which is currently 128 Kbytes). The allowable range of values is 16K - 4Meg. (16000 - 4000000)
• Char_In_Quotes Returns TRUE (1) if the current char is within single or double quotes - i.e. within a quoted string. Note that it
• assumes a quoted string cannot cross a line boundary, as is customary in most languages. Command_Check() Command_Check("command") checks if 'command' is recognized in the currently running VEDIT as a command (returns 1), string value (returns 2) or Config() parameter (returns 3). If none of those, it returns 0.
• Date_Day Returns the current day of the month as a number. (1 - 31)
• Date_Month Returns the current month as a number. (1 - 12)
• Date_Year Returns the current year as a number, e.g. 2011. These new internal values simplify writing macros which use the current date.
• File_Est_Lines Returns the number of lines in the file. If the end of the file is currently in memory, it is the actual number of
• lines; else it is an estimated number of lines.
• Is_Font_OEM Returns TRUE (1) if VEDIT's display font uses the OEM (DOS) character set; this is usually not the case as Windows
• programs use the ANSI character set.
• Is_Win_UAC Returns TRUE (1) if running in Windows with User Access Control. This is currently Windows Vista, 7 and 8.
• Read_Ini(...) Reads a value from a standard format .ini file consisting of [Section] and Parameter=Value. If no filename is specified, it reads from the user-mac.ini file in the USER_CFG directory.
• Reg_Char_Value() Returns the numeric value of any 1, 2, 3 or 4 characters in a text register.
• Reg_Prep(r) Optimize (prepare) the VEDIT macro in T-Reg 'r' for faster execution by stripping extra whitespace and comments. 'r'
• can be the currently executing macro.
• System() The System() command has been updated to better support 32-bit and 64-bit Windows by no longer using 16-bit .pif
• files.
• Write_Ini(...) Writes a value into a standard format .ini file consisting of [Section] and Parameter=Value. If no filename is specified, it writes to the user-mac.ini file in the USER_CFG directory. If the specified file does not exist, it is created; if
• necessary, the section and parameter are created.
• USER_HOME New string has value of User's "Home" directory which stores the vedit.ini file and several subdirectories. The current user should have full read/write access to this directory. The value is set by the vpw.ini file, but could be changed by
• the vedit.ini file. It is often refered to as the "VEDIT User Directory".
• MACRO_DIR BACKUP_DIR The previous string variable "MACRO" has been renamed to "MACRO_DIR"; however the previous name will continue to work for the near future. Similarly for the previous PROJECT_DIR string variables "BACKUP" and "PROJECTS".
• VEDIT_DRIVE HOME_DRIVE USER_DRIVE These string values return the first two characters of the VEDIT_EXE, HOME, and USER_HOME strings, which are typically the drive letter and ":" (colon). This can be useful when VEDIT is run from a USB drive.
• SYNTAX_DIR New string has value of VEDIT's directory for .syn and .vtm files for syntax highlighting and template editing. The value is set by the vedit.ini file.
• CONVERT_DIR New string has value of VEDIT's directory for .tbl tables and other conversion files. The value is set by the vedit.ini file.
• FILE_CFG_DIR New string has value of VEDIT's directory for the .cft and .cfn files created by the file-open configuration process.
• The value is set by the vedit.ini file.
• CURRENT_PROJ_DIR New string value is normally empty but can be set with {FILE, Project, Set project directory} to a project's "root"
• directory which might contain project files and subdirectories. When set, it makes some of VEDIT's features (such as wildfile and ctags) more project aware.
• PROJ_NAME New string value returns the name of the current project, if any. It is similar to PROJ_CURRENT, but with the directory path and without the .prj extension.
• DBL_CLICK_MACRO New buffer-dependent string intended to contain the name of the (mouse) double-click event macro in T-Reg 116, if any. This value must be set by another macro or by the file-type specific configuration. It is used by the new Wildfile macro.
• INDENT_MACRO New buffer-dependent string intended to contain the name of
• the smart-indenting macro, if any. It is not currently used or fully implemented.
• BUFFER_GP1 New buffer-dependent strings that can be used for any purpose
• BUFFER_GP2 by user macros. Since each buffer can have a different value, it is useful for storing something specific to a buffer, file or file-type. Max length is 256 characters.