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The Aurora Macro Users Guide ──────────────────────────── This is the Aurora Editor Users Guide. It provides basic information on how to install, configure, and use The Aurora Editor. For complete documentation on the Aurora Macro Language (AML), see the Aurora Macro Language Reference (LANGUAGE.DOX). For complete documentation on all macro language builtin and library functions, see the AML Function Reference (FUNCTION.DOX). If you are viewing this document with Aurora, you can use the Users Guide Topics popup menu on the Help menu <f1> to jump quickly to any topic in the document. To transfer to the full AML Function Reference: move the cursor to a function name in this document and press <shift f2>. Note that most editor extension functions are not documented in the AML Function Reference. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Copyright (C) 1995 by nuText Systems. All rights reserved worldwide. No parts of this document may be copied in part or in whole, except as provided in the License in the accompanying documentation. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Acknowledgements ──────────────── Many sincere thanks go to all the people who have worked hard to make Aurora shine, with special thanks to: Rich Beerman, Bob Blackburn, Joe Hartman, Bill Markwick, Jeremy Sproat, and Mark Watts. Introduction ──────────── The Aurora Editor is a very powerful, elegant general-purpose text editor for IBM PC and compatible computers. Aurora is primarily oriented toward editing text files, program source, and binary files, but can also be easily used for word processing and file management tasks. The evaluation copy is fully functional. Many people who use computers spend a large portion of their time in a text editor. A text editor should be an attractive and fun place to be. It should be fast, flexible, and intuitive, with the power to provide almost any editing function needed. Limits should seldom be a concern. It should 'feel good' to be there. Aurora was designed with all these goals in mind. Aurora is programmed in its own macro language, the Aurora Macro Language, or 'AML'. AML is an object oriented, event driven language that is very powerful and easy-to-use. AML can provide a great deal of flexibility in extending and configuring the editor to suit your needs. In its current form, Aurora is a very powerful and flexible product. But it does not end there. Aurora is an ongoing project and will continue to be enhanced in many important and exciting new ways. Aurora is very reasonably priced, but it is not free. If you use Aurora beyond the 30-day trial period, you must register. Registering entitles you to free technical support, low cost upgrades, and access to the latest customer-only macros. See ORDERFRM.DOC for ordering and pricing information. Features ──────── Aurora offers you blazing speed, ease-of-use, and a full range of powerful features, including: * Easy-to-use: + Intuitive user interface + User-friendly menus showing key assignments + Comprehensive on-line help + Context-sensitive hot-keys to macro language help + Emulation of other popular editors/word processors + Helpful installation macro * Superb, elegant user-interface: + Best text-mode windowing available, FAST! + Multi-window, multi-file + Detachable pull-down menus, tool bar, controls, scroll bars + Many window styles + Ability to remember desktop layout, window and cursor positions + Huge virtual screen larger than the display * Huge capacity: + Lightning-fast ONE GIGABYTE virtual memory uses extended/expanded memory and disk. + Line length up to 16000 characters! + Simultaneous editing of many files + Shrinks to less than 1.5k when shelling to DOS * Extremely fast: + Displaying files + Loading and saving files + Searching + Cut, paste, and block operations * Powerful, easy-to-use macro language: + Exceedingly flexible and powerful macro language (AML) for extending and configuring the editor + Easy-to-learn + Object-oriented, event-driven architecture + Hundreds of functions + Over 3000 lines of macro source code included + Compilation support - cursor moves to directly compile errors + Editor is written in the macro language * FAST Color syntax highlighting: + Customizable for any programming language, or even text files + Configurable syntax, keywords, and colors + Highlighting of keywords on-the-fly with different colors * Complete MOUSE support for: + Windows - move, resize, minimize, maximize, scrolling + Menus + Marking blocks + Prompts, dialog boxes and controls * Folding and outlining capabilities + Open and closed folds + Nested folds + Automatic saving and loading of folds + Ability to search through, or skip folds + Export text without folds * Search and replace: + Regular expression search and replace + Incremental search + Find occurrences of a string + Count occurrences of a string + Scan files for a string + Find matching braces and parentheses * Useful, integrated file manager: + Multiple instances + Numerous commands - open, move, copy, delete, rename, run print, touch, change file attributes + Support for executing commands on marked files + Sort by filename, extension, size, date-time, DOS default order + Configurable and programmable * Deep undo-redo: + Unlimited multi-level undo and redo + Configurable + Programmable grouping of undoable/redoable commands * Fully configurable: + Customizable menu bars, pull-down menus, tool bar, prompts + Reassignable keys for editing, prompts, and the file manager + Programmable mouse + Numerous window and prompt styles + Editing preferences and colors + Commands * Word processing: + Left and right margins + LIVE wordwrap, standard wordwrap, autoindent + Paragraph reformatting + Centering and shifting of text + Word count macro included * Block commands: + Line, column, character, and stream marks + Copy, move, delete, overlay, indent, unindent, reformat, fill, save, changecase, + Center, left and right justify + Sorting * Printing: + Headers, footers, page numbers, and line numbers + Adjustable line spacing + Top, bottom, left and right margins + Printer initialization string + Ability to print to devices or files * Many other features, including: + Multiple clipboards with cut, copy, append, paste, paste-over + Bookmarks, quick bookmarks, cycle through bookmarks + Complete keyboard macro capabilities + Abbreviation expansions and typo-corrections as-you-type + International date-time formats, and thousands-separator + Binary mode editing with fixed line-lengths + Support for any 1 or 2 character line delimiter (CR, CR/LF, etc.) + Configurable prompts: - 4 different prompt styles: dialog boxes, one-line box, two-line box, command-line - moveable and resizeable - popup history windows - filename completion - copy and paste to and from prompts - reassignable keys + Support for running compilers and jumping to compiler errors + Optional cursor-line highlighting + Optional highlighting of modified lines + Default extensions when opening files + Popup ASCII-chart with character entry + Line and box drawing + 3 tab types - fixed, variable, and smart + Builtin entab and detab + 25/28/43/50-line EGA/VGA modes + Supports 132x25 and 132x43 video modes, and more System Requirements ─────────────────── To use Aurora in its most basic configuration, you will need an IBM PC or compatible computer with at least the following: - 490 kilobytes of memory - 1.5 megabytes of hard disk space for the complete installation, at least 300 kilobytes for minimal installation (A.EXE + A.X) - a diskette drive - a color or monochrome monitor - DOS 3.3 or greater In addition, The Aurora Editor/386 requires a 386 or above processor. Installation ──────────── Before using or installing Aurora, it is very important that you take a moment to backup all of the distributed files. If you do not backup, there will be no way to restore the original configuration files if you modify them. To install Aurora, copy the files from the distribution diskette(s) to the drive and directory of your choice, and uncompress them if they are compressed. Then simply enter 'A' or 'install' from the DOS command line and follow the installation prompts. You will be prompted to enter an installation path, which you may wish to add to your DOS 'PATH' for easier access. The installation path should not contain any other files or directories prior to installation. Do NOT install over an older version of Aurora. You will also be prompted for an editor 'style' to use. Each editor style uses keyboard and menu definitions which emulate another editor or word processor. Aurora currently supports the following editor styles at installation: - Aurora - Brief - QEdit/TSE - WordPerfect - WordStar/Borland IDE The Documentation ───────────────── Aurora is extremely configurable. Please note that most key and mouse definitions, menu definitions, configuration settings, and commands used in this documentation are defaults based on the 'Aurora' editing style at installation. You can customize almost all of these settings and definitions according to your own preferences. This documentation describes many editor 'commands'. Keep in mind that these commands are actually function calls to one of the following types of editor macro language functions: - builtin editor functions contained in A.EXE - macro library functions contained in LIB.X (no source code is provided) - editor extension functions contained in EXT.AML, (source code is provided) Editor commands are generally listed in the following format throughout this document: - command 'Menu Description' <key definition> For example, the command to display the 'open' prompt is listed as: - askopen 'Open..' <alt e> In some cases, command parameters may be included as part of the command. Some commands do not have default key assignments at installation time. For these commands, <key definition> is omitted. Also, some commands are not (by default) on the menus. For these commands the 'Menu Description' is omitted. This document describes Aurora from the end-user's perspective. Only the most commonly used commands accessible from the keyboard or the menus are documented here. Many, many more functions are available through the Aurora Macro Language (AML). Using the macro language, you can create almost any number of your own customized functions - see the Aurora Macro Language Reference (LANGUAGE.DOX) for details. Getting Started ─────────────── To start Aurora, just enter 'A' at the DOS command prompt. Note: If you prefer to start Aurora by another name, you can simply rename the file A.EXE to whatever you wish (such as E.EXE). Be sure to keep the .EXE extension. Do not rename any other files distributed with the editor. If this is the first time you are using Aurora, an edit window will be displayed showing the installation READ.ME file with an introduction to Aurora, and other important information. After browsing READ.ME, you can exit back to DOS by entering <alt q> or selecting 'Close' from the File menu. To edit your own file, enter a filename after the 'A' command at the DOS prompt. For example: C>a myfile.txt When an edit window is displayed, you are ready to begin editing. You can now use the cursor keys, <pgup>, <pgdn>, <home>, and <end>, and the mouse to move through the text. To explore some of the features and commands of Aurora, press <esc> or use the mouse to activate the pull-down menus. If you need on-line help at any time, just press <f1> to display the 'Help' menu. Exiting the Editor ────────────────── To exit the editor, keep pressing <alt q> to close each window you have opened. You can also close each window by clicking the left mouse button on the 'close icon' (≡) in the upper left corner of the window, or by selecting 'Close' from the File menu. If you have not saved any changes, you will be prompted to save them. A even quicker way to exit is to press <alt x>, or select 'Close All' from the File menu. This will automatically close all windows. Again, you may be prompted to save any changes. Windows ─────── Aurora provides an elegant, intuitive windowing environment which is easy-to-use for both first-time and experienced users. Windows are used to edit files, operate the file manager, and display menus, prompts, and dialog boxes. All windowing functions can be operated by using the menus, the mouse, or user-defined function keys. An editor window in Aurora looks and behaves much like an application window in a modern graphical user interface (GUI) environment, which allows for quick and easy operation by most first-time users. When you become more familiar with Aurora, you can even configure the window layout to your own preferences (see 'Window Styles'). Each window has a 'client area' (the main display area), optional title bars, menus, tool bars, scroll bars, and borders. The following is a sample edit window: Close Icon North Title Bar Status Line Tool Bar ─┐ │ │ │ │ │ North Title │ Menu Bar │ Min/Max/Restore Icons │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ▒▒▒│▒▒░░░░░░│░░░░░░░░░░│░░░░░░░░│░░░░░░░░░░│░░░░░░░░░░░░│▒▒▒▒▒ │ ▒▒ ≡ C:\DOC\NEWDOC.TXT ┴ * [20]│ C 12 L 153 of 321 └ ▒▒ │ ▒▒ File Window Block Search Fold Edit Clip Print Set▒▒ │ ░░ <≡> <?> <*> </> <-> <|> <o> <s> <F> <f> <r> ──────────┘ ░░ ░░ ░░ This is the edit window client area ▒───┐ ░░ ■░░ │ ░░ ▒░░ │ ░░ ░░ │ ▒▒▒▒▒■▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ │ ▒▒ ┬ │ ┌─ Aurora 2.0 ▒▒ │ ▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░│░░░░░░░░░░│░░░│░░░░░░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Corner │ South Title Bar │ South Title │ │ │ │ Border Horz Scroll Bar Vert Scroll Bar For edit windows, the file you are editing is displayed in the client area. File manager windows are similar in appearance to edit windows, but the client area displays a listing of files and directories (see 'The File Manager'). Aurora will allow any number of overlapping edit windows and file manager windows to be arranged on top of each other in a 'messy desk' style on your screen. Using Windows ───────────── Editor windows are easy to use with both the mouse and the keyboard. You can also execute most window commands from the Window menu on the menu bar. Here are several important window commands: - to activate a window with the mouse: Click the left mouse button on any visible portion of a window to bring the window to the top and make it the active or 'current' window. - winlist 'List..' <alt w> This command displays a menu which lists all the edit windows and file manager windows in your current session. To bring one of the listed windows to the top and make it the current window, use the cursor keys to position the highlighted bar over the window name and press <enter>. You can also select the window from the list by clicking the left mouse button on the window name. Note: the window list can also be displayed by double-clicking the left mouse button on the screen background. - close 'Close' <alt q> This command closes the current window and removes it from the screen. If you have made any changes, you will be prompted to save them. You can also close a window by clicking the left mouse button on the 'close icon' (≡) in the upper left corner of the window. If there is another window underneath the window to be closed, that window will become the 'current' window, otherwise you will exit the editor. - nextwindow 'Next' <ctrl a> This command cycles through all open windows in a forward direction. The bottommost window is placed on top of the current window and becomes the current window. - prevwindow 'Prev' This command cycles through all open windows in a reverse direction. The window underneath the current window becomes the current window, and the current window is moved underneath all other windows on the screen. Several commands can be used to move and resize windows: - to move or resize a window with the mouse: To move a window, position the mouse over the north or south title bar of the window and press the left mouse button. Then drag the window to a new location and release the left mouse button. To resize a window, position the mouse over one of the window borders or corners and press the left mouse button. Then drag the border or corner to the new location and release the left mouse button. - sizekey 'Move/Size' <ctrl f5> This command allows you to move and resize the current window using the cursor keys. The editor is placed in 'move/resize' mode, and the window border is highlighted. To move the window, press the cursor keys until the window has moved to the desired position, and then press <enter> or <esc> to stop. To resize the left and bottom borders of the window, use the cursor keys while the left or right <shift> keys are pressed down. Press <enter> or <esc> when you are finished. - maximize 'Maximize' <ctrl z> This command 'maximizes' the current window. The window is resized to fill the entire screen so that the borders are not visible. Windows can also be maximized with the mouse by clicking the left mouse button on the 'maximize icon' () in the upper right corner of the window, or by double clicking on the north or south title bar. - minimize 'Minimize' This command 'minimizes' the current window. The window is resized so that only the title bar is visible. Windows can also be minimized with the mouse by clicking the left mouse button on the 'minimize icon' () in the upper right corner of the window. - restore 'Restore' This command restores the size of a previously minimized or maximized window. Windows can also be restored with the mouse by clicking the left mouse button on the 'restore icon' () in the upper right corner of the window, or by double clicking on the north or south title bar. The editor also provides commands for arranging the windows on your screen. These commands will not arrange minimized windows: - cascade 'Cascade' <shift f5> This command will cascade all the windows on the screen. - tile 'h' 'Tile Horz' <shift f4> This command will horizontally tile all windows on the screen. The 'TileSplit' configuration setting affects the way windows are tiled (see 'Configuration - Window Options'). - tile 'v' 'Tile Vert' <shift f3> This command will vertically tile all windows on the screen. The 'TileSplit' configuration setting affects the way windows are tiled (see 'Configuration - Window Options'). You can use one of the following commands to edit the same file in more than one window. Note that these commands work only in edit windows: - copywin 'Copy' <ctrl c> This command copies the current window and cascades it with the original window. The new window will display the same file in memory as the original window. - splitwin 'h' 'Split Horz' <alt h> This command splits the current edit window horizontally. The new window will display the same file in memory as the original window. - splitwin 'v' 'Split Vert' <alt v> This command splits the current edit window vertically. The new window will display the same file in memory as the original window. Panning the Screen ────────────────── The physical screen that you see when you use Aurora is really only a small window into the 'virtual screen' actually used by the editor, in much the same way that an edit window can be a small window into a much larger file. Although your screen may only display 80 columns by 25 rows at one time, to Aurora the actual screen size is 64000 by 64000 characters! When the editor is initially started, the physical screen is located at column 16000 and row 16000 of the virtual screen. You can adjust this mapping of the physical screen to the virtual screen by using the video 'panning' commands: - to 'pan' through the screen using the mouse: Position the mouse over the screen background and press the left mouse button. Then just drag the entire screen to a new location and release the left mouse button. - pankey 'Pan' <ctrl f6> This command places the editor in a 'panning' mode which allows you to pan through the virtual screen using the cursor keys. When you have panned to the desired location, press <enter> or <esc> to stop. Window Styles ───────────── It's easy to configure the appearance of edit windows and file manager windows to suit your own preferences. You can specify whether or not windows will have permanent menu bars, tool bars, scroll bars, and title bars. You can also configure the location of the window title, status line, and control icons (see the configuration settings for 'Window Options'). The 'Style Toggle' command on the Window menu can be used to change edit window styles from within the editor: - togglestyle 'Style Toggle' <ctrl f7> This command toggles through about 12 common edit window styles. The styles of all open edit windows are changed immediately. To save the current edit window style, use the 'saveconfig' command ('Save Current Settings' on the Set menu). Note: this command only changes the style of edit windows, not file manager windows. Video Modes ─────────── The current video mode can be changed from within the editor by selecting a new video mode from the Video Mode submenu on the Set menu. The following video modes are supported: - 80 cols by 14 rows (vga only) - 80 cols by 21 rows (vga only) - 80 cols by 25 rows - 80 cols by 28 rows (vga only) - 80 cols by 43 rows (ega & vga only) - 80 cols by 50 rows (vga only) - 40 cols by 25 rows The following command can be used to toggle the video mode: - togglemode <ctrl f1> This command toggles back and forth between the 80 x 25 and 80 x 50 video modes. The 'VidCols' and 'VidRows' configuration settings are used to set the video mode automatically when the editor is started (see 'Configuration - Video Options'). Aurora will also operate in other special video modes supported by your video card (such as 132 x 43). To use these modes, set 'VidCols' and 'VidRows' to zero, and then set the video mode in DOS before starting the editor (see the documentation for your video card). An updated mouse driver may also be required to use the mouse properly in these video modes. Prompts ─────── A prompt is a special type of window where you can enter information requested by the editor. Aurora allows you to choose from among four different prompt styles: - Dialog boxes: Dialog box prompts contain controls such as edit fields, buttons, and check boxes. You can use the mouse or the <tab> and <shift tab> keys to move back and forth between the controls and enter information. Like edit windows and file manager windows, dialog boxes can be moved anywhere on the screen by using the mouse or keyboard. Dialog boxes can be closed by pressing <esc> or by clicking the left mouse button on the 'Cancel' button or the 'close icon' (≡). Pressing <enter> or clicking the left mouse on the 'Ok' button will enter information into the dialog box. - Two-line boxes: Two-line box prompts occupy four lines on the screen (one entry line, one title line, and two border lines), and appear immediately above or below the cursor position. Both the mouse and keyboard can be used to move the prompt anywhere on the screen. The left and right prompt borders can also be resized. Two-line boxes are closed by pressing <esc>, or by clicking the left mouse button on the 'close icon' (≡). Pressing <enter> or clicking the left mouse on the 'enter icon' (*) will enter a string into the prompt. - One-line boxes: One-line box prompts occupy three lines on the screen (one entry line and two border lines), and appear immediately above or below the cursor position. Both the mouse and keyboard can be used to move the prompt anywhere on the screen. The left and right prompt borders can also be resized. One-line boxes are closed by pressing <esc>, or by clicking the left mouse button on the prompt 'close icon' (≡). Pressing <enter> will enter a string into the prompt. - Command-lines: Command-line prompts appear as one line on the screen immediately above or below the title bar. The entire window client area remains visible. Command line prompts are closed by pressing <esc>, or by clicking the left mouse button on the prompt description. Pressing <enter> will enter a string into the prompt. Note that Aurora allows you to redefine how the keys and the mouse work within a prompt. See the sections 'Defining Keys' and 'Mouse Definitions' for more details. At installation, all prompts are configured to appear as one-line boxes. The 'PromptStyle' configuration setting can be used to change the default prompt style (see 'Configuration - Window Options'). To change the prompt style from within the editor, use the 'Prompt Style' command on the Window menu: - askprompt 'Prompt Style' This command displays a popup menu showing the available prompt styles and allows you to select the default prompt style. Prompt History ────────────── Prompt history is available in prompts which display a history tab () at the right edge of the prompt. These prompts will allow you to retrieve previously entered prompt strings, and will automatically add strings to the prompt history. The following commands can be used to retrieve prompt history from within a prompt: - prevhist <up> This command retrieves the previous item in the prompt history and places it on the prompt entry line. - nexthist <down> This command retrieves the next item in the prompt history and places it on the prompt entry line. - askhistory <pgup>, <pgdn> This command displays a popup menu of all history strings available within the prompt. A string can be selected with the mouse by clicking the left mouse button on the desired string, or by moving the cursor to the string and pressing the <enter> key. The history popup menu can also be displayed by clicking the left mouse button on the history tab () at the right edge of the prompt. If the configuration setting 'SaveHistory' is ON, the prompt history for all editor prompts is saved in the file HISTORY.DAT when you exit the editor, and restored when you restart the editor (see 'Configuration - Desktop Options'). File Name Completion ──────────────────── For prompts which expect filenames to be entered, you can use the 'File Name Completion' feature. File name completion allows you to display a picklist for a partially entered filename or filespec. To use this feature, enter enough characters in the prompt to identify a file specification for a file picklist, and then press the <tab> key (or <ctrl tab> in dialog box edit fields) to display the picklist. For example: Open> au <tab> (or <ctrl tab>) In the example above, entering 'au' at the prompt and pressing <tab> will display a picklist of all filenames in the current directory with 'au' as the first two characters. Entering the <tab> or <ctrl tab> keys without entering any characters will display a picklist for the entire directory. To find a file within the picklist, enter the first letter of the desired filename repeatedly until the cursor is positioned at the file. Menus ───── Aurora provides a flexible, intuitive menu system. Both edit windows and file manager windows use menu bars with pull-down menus. Pull-down menus allow easy access to many editor commmands, and also show the key definitions for most editor commands. The menus can be especially helpful when learning to use the editor. The following diagram illustrates a menu bar and a pull-down menu: ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ File Window Block Search Fold Edit Clip Print Set Macro Help │ └────────────────┬──┼───────────────────────────┬────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ Print <ctrl p> │ Menu Bar ───┘ │ Pull Down Menu ──────┤ Print Block <alt p> │ Menu Bar Item ─┘ Menu Item ───────────┼─Print Formfeed │ ├────────────────────────┤ │ Header/Footer.. │ │ Printer Settings.. │ └────────────────────────┘ There are several ways to access the menu bar and the pull-down menus: - using the mouse: Click the left mouse button on a menu bar item to display a pull-down menu. If you have configured the menu bar to be invisible (see the 'EditStyle' and 'FmgrStyle' configuration settings), you can click the right mouse button in the window client area to display the menu bar and the most recently selected pull-down menu. After the pull-down menu is displayed, click the left mouse button on the desired menu item to remove the pull-down menu and execute an editor command. - gotobar <esc>, <f10> This command highlights the most recently selected menu bar item. You can then use the <left> and <right> keys to change the highlighted item, and <enter> to display the pull-down menu for the item. Pull-down menus can also be displayed by entering the 'hot key' (the highlighted character) for the menu bar item. Pressing <esc> will exit the menu bar. - gotomenu <alt f10> This command displays the most recently used pull-down menu. You can then use the <left> and <right> keys to display the previous and next pull-down menus on the menu bar. After the pull-down menu is displayed, use the <up> and <down> keys to move the highlighted bar to the desired menu item and press <enter> to execute the command. Most menu commands can also be executed by entering the 'hot key' (the highlighted character) for the menu item, or by entering the function key (if any) associated with the menu item. Pressing <esc> from the pull-down menu will return you to the menu bar. Several other keys can be used within a pull-down menu: - <home> and <pgup> move the cursor to the first menu item. - <end> and <pgdn> move the cursor to the last menu item. - <space> moves the cursor the next menu item. Note that pull-down menus can be also detached from the menu bar and moved anywhere on the screen, just as you would move an edit window or file manager window. To move a pull-down menu with the mouse, position the mouse over the menu border and press the left mouse button. Then drag the menu to a new location and release the left mouse button. - gotomenu 'help' <f1> This command displays the help menu. If you wish, you can customize the whole menu system to suit your own preferences. You can change the menu bar, change pull-down menus, or create new pull-down menus (see 'Menu Definitions'). Is is also possible to configure the editor so that the menu bar is normally invisible and only displayed when the 'gotobar' <esc> or 'gotomenu' <alt f10> commands are entered, or when the right mouse button is pressed in the window client area. This will free up an extra line in the window for editing while still allowing you to use the menu system (see the 'EditStyle' and 'FmgrStyle' configuration settings). When you become more familiar with the editor, you may prefer to use function keys to execute commands instead of using the menus. If you define your own functions keys, you will probably also want to change the pull-down menus to show the new key assignments (see 'Menu Definitions'). The Tool Bar ──────────── Each edit window also has an optional 'tool bar' menu which can be displayed or hidden on demand. When displayed, the tool bar is located underneath the menu bar. The tool bar can be useful for executing commonly used commands with one mouse click. If you wish, you can redefine the tool bar to suit your own preferences (see 'Menu Definitions'). The following commands can be used to access the tool bar: - using the mouse: If the tool bar is not displayed, select 'Tool Bar' from the Window menu, or press <ctrl f8> to display the tool bar. Then click the left mouse button on a tool bar item to execute a toolbar command. - toolbar 'Tool Bar' <ctrl f8> This command displays or hides the tool bar in the current edit window. - gotobar2 <alt t>, (also <tab> on file manager windows) This command highlights the most recently used tool bar control on the edit window tool bar (if present), or the most recently used drive on a file manager window drive bar. After this command is entered, you can use the <tab>, <shift tab>, <left>, and <right> keys to move to other control or drives. Pressing <enter> will execute the tool bar control (or display the drive contents). Pressing <esc> will exit the tool bar or drive bar. The Status Line ─────────────── The status line is used by the editor to display information about a file in an edit window. The status line is normally displayed together with the file name and title bar controls on the window title bar and is usually updated after every editing operation. The status line can be configured to appear on the north or south title bar and can be right justified, left justified, or centered within the title bar (see the 'EditStatus' configuration setting). In the default configuration, the status line is right justified on the north title bar. The format of the status line is: SVTXLAWUMBDIR* [20] C 25 L 811 of 5382 │ │ │ │ └─── total lines in the file │ │ │ └────────── line number of the cursor │ │ └──────────────── column number of the cursor │ └───────── hex value of the character at the cursor │ ('EL' when beyond the end of a line) └─── Indicators: S - Smart Tabs ON V - Variable Tabs ON T - Translation ON X - Syntax Highlighting ON L - Live Word Wrap ON A - Autoindent ON W - Standard Word Wrap ON U - Undo ON M - Match Character ON B - Backup ON D - Draw Mode ON I - Insert Mode ON R - Record Mode ON * - indicates that the file has been modified For more information about each of the indicators, see 'Window Settings'. Creating and Loading Files ────────────────────────── Aurora can simultaneously edit almost any number of files, each of practically any size (the virtual memory size of the editor is One Gigabyte). Each file can be displayed and edited in one or more windows. Several commands can be used to edit new or existing files: - from the command line: After entering 'A' on the DOS command line, enter any number of new or existing files. For example: C>a myfile.txt newfile.doc *.h <enter> For each file specified, an edit window will be created. If the file exists, it will be loaded into the edit window. If the specified name contains wildcards (* or ?), or specifies a drive or directory, then a file manager window will be created listing all files and directories that match the file specification. - from a file manager window: You can select files to edit from the directory listing in a file manager window. The file manager also has other commands which allow you to manipulate files on disk (see 'The File Manager'). - opennew 'New' <ctrl n> This command creates a new edit window with the filename 'NEW.TXT'. The new edit window will contain one blank line. - askopen 'Open..' <alt e> This command prompts you for a file to open. You may enter a new or existing filename to create an edit window, or a directory name or wildcard specification to create a file manager window. If you press <enter> at the prompt without entering anything, a file manager window will be created for the current directory. You can specify 'open options' after the filename or directory name by entering a slash (/) character and one or more one-character option codes. The open options are: b - opens the file in 'binary mode' (see the 'askopenb' command below). This option is ignored when opening file manager windows. A binary line length can be specified after the option 'b'. For example: Open> myfile.txt/b20 In the example above, a file is opened with a fixed binary line length of 20 characters. If a binary line length is not specified, the 'BinaryLength' configuration setting is assumed. c - opens the file in a new window which is the same size as the topmost window and cascaded to the bottom and left of the topmost window. e - loads the file into the current edit window without discarding the existing file in the window. This option is ignored when entering a directory or wildcard specification. f - opens the new window in 'full-screen' mode (maximized, with all the borders visible). i - inserts the file after the cursor in the current edit window. If a directory or wildcard specification is entered, then the user is prompted to select a file. l - specifies a line in the file where the cursor should be placed after the file is opened. The line number is specified after the option 'l'. For example: Open> myfile.txt/l234 In the example above, a file is opened and the cursor is placed on line 234. h - tiles the new window horizontally with other windows on the screen after loading. n - minimizes the new window. p - ignores history (the last window and cursor position) when opening the file or directory. This option can be used to temporarily override the 'SavePosition' configuration setting (see 'Configuration - Desktop Options'). r - replaces the file in the current window with the new file. The previous file in the window is discarded. v - tiles the new window vertically with other windows on the screen after loading. z - maximizes the new window. Note that open options can also be specified when opening files from the DOS command line. For example: C>a myfile.txt/l350z In the example above, 'myfile.txt' is opened in a maximized window and the cursor is placed on line 350. - askopenb 'Open Binary..' This command works like the 'askopen' command above, except that files are opened in 'binary' mode. No characters in the file are interpreted as end-of-line delimiters. The entire file is loaded 'as is' into an edit window. Each line in the file will have the same fixed length, except possibly the last line. The configuration setting 'BinaryLength' determines the default line length (see 'Configuration - Open Options'). 'Open options' can be specified in this prompt (see 'askopen' above). - openlast 'Open Last' <alt z> This command re-opens the last edit window or file manager window that you closed. Note that you can press the <ctrl break> key to interrupt any of the above open commands in progress. This can come in handy if you have started loading a very large file by mistake, or if you just want to view the first part of a very large file, Files which are not loaded in binary mode will use the value of the 'LineDlm' configuration setting as the end-of-line delimiter. The default setting is '0D0A' (carriage return and linefeed). If the 'SavePosition' configuration setting is ON and the file you are opening was previously closed, the editor will automatically restore the window size, position, settings, and cursor position exactly as they were before you closed the window (see 'Configuration - Desktop Options'). Saving and Discarding Files ─────────────────────────── Aurora provides several important commands for saving and discarding files: - save 'Save' <f3> This command saves the file in the current edit window. If the file was loaded or created as a 'binary' file, it will be saved 'as is' with no line delimiter characters, otherwise each line will be appended with the line delimiter string specified in the 'LineDlm' configuration setting (see 'Configuration - Open Options'). If the 'Backup' setting is ON, any files with the same name on disk will be backed-up (see 'Window Settings'). - asksaveas 'Save As..' This command prompts you for a filename, and then saves the text in the current edit window under the filename you entered. - close 'Close' <alt q> This command closes the current window and removes it from the screen. The file displayed in the window is also closed. If changes were made without saving, you will be prompted to save them. If the 'SavePosition' configuration setting is ON, the editor will save the window size, position, settings, and cursor position. When the file is edited again, the editor will automatically restore position and settings as they were before you closed the window. - close 's' 'Save and Close' <ctrl x> This command saves the file in the current edit window, and then discards the file and closes the window. - closeall 'Close All' <alt x> This command discards all files and closes all windows in the current edit session, and exits the editor. If changes were made to any file without saving, you will be prompted to save them. If the 'SaveHistory' configuration setting is ON, the editor will automatically save the 'desktop' (window size, position, settings, and cursor position for all the windows in current edit session). If you re-enter the editor without specifying a filename after the 'A' command at the DOS prompt, the 'desktop' will automatically be restored, with all windows present as they were when you left the editor. - closeall 'Save and Close All' This command saves the files in all open edit windows and exits the editor. The following commands can be used to change the file you are editing without switching windows. This allows you to use the same edit window to edit many files. - nextfile 'Next' <ctrl del> This command cycles through all open files in a forward direction and displays them in the current edit window. - prevfile 'Prev' <ctrl ins> This command cycles through all open files in a reverse direction and displays them in the current edit window. - filelist 'List..' <alt-hyphen> This command displays a menu which lists all the open files in your current edit session. Modified files are listed with an asterisk (*) preceding the file name. To select a file from the list for editing, use the cursor keys to position the highlighted bar over the file name and press <enter>. You can also select a file from the list by clicking the left mouse button on the filename. If a new file is selected from the list, it replaces the old file in the edit window, without discarding it. The old file can be brought back into the current edit window by selecting it from the file list, or by using the 'nextfile' and 'prevfile' commands. Other File Commands ─────────────────── Other useful 'File' commands are also provided: - askinsert 'Open and Insert..' <alt i> This command prompts you for a filename, and then inserts the file after the cursor in the current edit window. You can also enter a directory name, a name with wildcards (*, ?), or just <enter> to select a filename from a file manager window. 'Open options' can also be specified in this prompt (see the 'askopen' command). - openword <ctrl ]> This command opens the filename at the cursor. The configuration setting 'CSetB' is the character set used to define a filename for this command (see 'Configuration - Character Sets'). - reopen This command refreshes the contents of the current window from disk. - askname 'Rename' <alt n> This command prompts you for a filename, and then changes the name of the current edit window to the filename you entered. Note that only the file within the editor is renamed, not the file on disk. The file manager can rename a file or directory on disk (see 'The File Manager'). - open '*.*' 'File Manager..' <f4> This command displays a file manager window for the current directory. - about 'About..' This command displays a dialog box showing the current version number of the editor, and the current date and time. - quickref 'qw' 'Function Quick Reference' <shift f1> - quickref 'fw' 'Function Reference' <shift f2> These commands display the AML Function Quick Reference and the AML Function Reference documents. Cursor Commands ─────────────── The editor provides a few simple commands that allow you move the cursor in both edit windows and file manager windows: - left <left> - right <right> - up <up> - down <down> These cursor commands move the cursor one line or one column at a time. If you attempt to move the cursor outside the window, the window will automatically scroll to display the new line or column. You can also move the cursor by clicking the left mouse button at new cursor location. - row (getviewtop) <ctrl home> This command moves the cursor to the top line displayed in the current window without scrolling or changing the cursor column. - row (getviewbot) <ctrl end> This command moves the cursor to the bottom line displayed in the current window without scrolling or changing the cursor column. - row 1 <ctrl pgup> This command moves the cursor to the first line of the file or directory listing without changing the cursor column. - row (getlines) <ctrl pgdn> This command moves the cursor to the last line of the file or directory listing without changing the cursor column. - lastpos <ctrl hyphen> This command moves the cursor to the previous cursor position. This command can sometimes be useful for moving back and forth over large distances in an edit window or file manager window. - adjustrow <center> This command scrolls the text up or down so that the cursor is placed at the center of the window, without actually moving the cursor from the current line. - adjustrow 1 <ctrl f9> - adjustrow (getlines) <ctrl f10> These commands scroll the text so that the cursor is placed at the top or bottom line of the window, without actually moving the cursor from the current line. The following cursor commands are only used in edit windows: - col 1 <home> This command moves the cursor to column one of the current line. - col getlinelen + 1 <end> This command moves the cursor one column after the last non-blank character of the current line. - prevword <ctrl left> - nextword <ctrl right> These commands move the cursor to the first character of the previous or next word. The configuration setting 'CSet' is the character set used to define a word for these commands (see 'Configuration - Character Sets'). - askrow 'Go to Line..' <ctrl j> This command will prompt you for a line number, and then move the cursor directly to the line you specified, scrolling if necessary. The column position of the cursor is not changed. Relative distances from the current cursor position can also be specified by enter '+' or '-' in front of the line number. For example: +117 or -1004. - askcol 'Go to Column..' This command will prompt you for a column number, and then move the cursor directly to the column you specified, scrolling if necessary. The cursor row is not changed. Relative distances from the current cursor position can also be specified by enter '+' or '-' in front of the column number. For example: +55 or -40. - gotomark 't' 'Go to Block Start' <ctrl b> - gotomark 'b' 'Go to Block End' These commands move the cursor to the top or bottom of the current marked block. If the marked block is in another edit window, that window will become the current window. - search 'f/f' 'Go to Next Fold' <alt 7> - search 'f/fr' These commands move the cursor to the next or previous top-level fold in the current edit window (see 'Folds'). - tabright <tab> - tableft <shift tab> These commands move the cursor to the next or previous tab stop. The location of each tab stop depends which tab type is in effect. The current tab type can be changed by using the Window Settings commands (see 'Window Settings'). Three types of tabs are supported. - Interval Tabs Interval tabs are tab stops which are placed at regular intervals across a line of text. The width of the interval is defined by the current value of the 'TabWidth' configuration setting. For example, when TabWidth is '8', tab stops are located at every 8th column position (columns 1, 9, 17, 25, etc.). Interval tabs are the default when the 'Variable Tabs' and 'Smart Tabs' settings are turned OFF. - Variable Tabs Variable tabs are preset tab stops placed at irregular intervals across a line of text. The position of each tab stop is explicitly defined by the 'VarTabs' configuration setting. For example, when the value of 'VarTabs' is '3 5 18 71', then tab stops are located at columns 3, 5, 18, and 71. Variable tabs are in effect when the 'Variable Tabs' setting is ON and the 'Smart Tabs' setting is OFF. - Smart Tabs Smart tabs are tab stops located at the beginning of words on the first non-blank line before the current line. Smart tabs are useful for aligning data with columns on the previous line. Smart tabs are in effect when the 'Smart Tabs' setting is ON. - gotoerror 'Go to Compiler Error' <alt f7> This command can be used together with the 'askruncap' <alt f8> command ('OS Capture..' on the Macro pulldown menu) to aid in running external compilers and locating compiler errors from within the editor. First use the 'askruncap' <alt f8> command to enter the command you use to compile or build your program. The 'askruncap' command will run your compiler and return the compiler output in an edit window. (Note: you can easily create your own customized commands to run your compiler and capture the output. See 'DOS Shell Commands' in the Aurora Macro Language Reference.) Then use this command to locate compiler errors. Just move the cursor to the line containing the error message in the compiler output, and enter the 'gotoerror' command. The editor will automatically open the source file containing the error, and place the cursor on the line where the compiler error occurred. Note: this command will recognize compiler error lines of the form: <text> FILENAME.EXT <text> LINENUMBER <text> : MESSAGE If your compiler does not generate error output in this format, you may be able to modify the 'gotoerror' function in EXT.AML to correctly parse the error output of your compiler. Knowledge of the macro language is required (see the Aurora Macro Language Reference). Bookmarks ───────── A bookmark identifies a column and row position in a file. Bookmarks are often used to mark a position in the file to which the cursor will later be returned. The editor provides several useful commands for working with bookmarks: - placebook 'Place Bookmark..' This command will prompt you to enter the name of a bookmark to set at the current cursor position. Bookmark names are global to all windows. You can return to the bookmark later using the 'cyclebook' or 'askbook' commands (see below). A bookmark is automatically destroyed when the file containing the bookmark is closed. - quickbook 'Quick Bookmark' <ctrl 2> This command places a bookmark at the cursor position without prompting you for a bookmark name. A unique bookmark name is automatically generated by the editor. - askbook 'Go to Bookmark..' This command prompts you to enter the name of a bookmark you have previously placed using the 'placebook' or 'quickbook' commands. The cursor will be moved to the bookmark position. If the bookmark is located in another edit window, it will become the current window. - cyclebook 'Prev Bookmark' <ctrl 6> This command goes to the previous bookmark without prompting. Entering this command repeatedly will cycle through all existing bookmarks in all windows. Scrolling ───────── The following commands can be used to scroll through both edit windows and file manager windows: - using the mouse: Use the vertical scroll bar for scrolling up or down, and the horizontal scroll bar for scrolling left or right. To scroll by one page, click the left mouse button on the portion of the scroll bar between the scroll bar thumb and the scroll bar arrows. To scroll by one line or column, click the left mouse button on the scroll bar arrows. Note that scrolling will repeat until you release the left mouse button. The configuration settings 'MouHold' and 'MouDelay' determine how soon and how fast scrolling will repeat. You can also scroll by pressing the left mouse button on the scroll bar thumb, dragging it to the desired position, and then releasing the left mouse button. - pageup <pgup> - pagedown <pgdn> These commands scroll the current window up or down by one page minus one line. - pageup -(getviewrows / 2) - pagedown -(getviewrows / 2) These commands scroll the current window up or down by one-half page. - rollrow -1 <ctrl up> - rollrow 1 <ctrl down> These commands scroll the current window up or down by one line. - rollcol -(getviewcols - 1) <f7> - rollcol getviewcols - 1 <f8> These commands scroll the current window left or right by one page minus one column. Modifying Text ────────────── Text can be entered at the cursor in an edit window by simply typing at the keyboard. Aurora also provides many easy-to-use commands for modifying the text in an edit window: - setting 'I' TOGGLE <ins> This command toggles the 'insert mode' for the current edit window. If the insert mode is ON, any characters entered will be inserted into the current line at the cursor. If insert mode is OFF, any characters entered will replace existing characters at the cursor. The insert mode can also affect the operation of several other commands, depending on the current configuration settings. See the section 'Configuration - Editing Options' and the configuration settings 'EnterIns', 'EnterOvl', 'TabShift', and 'BakOvl'. - delchar <del> This command deletes the character at the cursor. The characters to the right of the cursor will be shifted left by one column. If the configuration setting 'DelJoin' is ON and the cursor is beyond the end of the line, the next line will be joined to the current line at the cursor. - backsp <backspace> This command moves the cursor left one column and deletes the character at the new cursor position. The characters to the right of the cursor are shifted left by one column. If the configuration setting 'BakOvl' is ON and the insert mode for the current window is OFF, the characters to the right of the cursor position will not be shifted. If the configuration setting 'BakJoin' is ON and the cursor is at column one, then the current line will be joined to the end the previous line when executing this command. - delchar (getlinelen) 'Erase to End' <f6> - ovltext (copystr ' ' (getcol)) 1 <alt f6> These commands delete the characters from the current cursor position to the end or to the beginning the line. - delword 'Delete Right Word' <ctrl t> This command deletes all characters from the cursor to the end of the word at the cursor. If the configuration setting 'DelJoin' is ON and the cursor is at the end of the line, the next line will be joined to the current line at the cursor. - insline2 'Insert Line' <ctrl enter> This command inserts a new line after the line at the cursor. If 'AutoIndent' is ON, the cursor is moved to the first non-blank column of the previous line. If the previous line is blank, then the cursor is moved to the first non-blank column of the next line. If the next line is also blank, the cursor column does not change. If 'AutoIndent' is OFF, the cursor column does not change. - delline 'Delete Line' <ctrl backspace> This command deletes the line at the cursor. The text below the cursor is shifted up by one line. Note: the 'deleteblock2' <alt d> command will also delete the line at the cursor if no marked block currently exists and the 'DelLine' configuration setting is ON (see 'Marking Blocks'). - splitline2 'Split Line' <alt s> This command splits the line at the cursor. The text from the cursor to the end of the line will be moved to a new line inserted after the cursor. If 'AutoIndent' is ON, the beginning of the new line will be aligned with the beginning of the original line, otherwise the new line will begin at the left margin. - joinline 'Join Line' <alt j> This command appends the line below the cursor to the line at the cursor. If the cursor is positioned after the end of the line, the line is joined at the cursor position, otherwise the line is joined at the end of the current line. - insline (gettext) 'Duplicate Line' <alt 4> This command duplicates the line at the cursor. Note: the 'copyblock2' <alt c> command will also duplicate the line at the cursor if no marked block currently exists and the 'CopyLine' configuration setting is ON (see 'Marking Blocks'). - swapline 'Swap Lines' <alt 5> This command swaps the line at the cursor with the following line. - centerline 'Center Line' <alt 6> This command centers the line at the cursor between the left and right margins. - commentline 'Comment Line' <alt f1> This command 'comments out' the line at the cursor by prefixing it and optionally suffixing it with comment delimiters defined for the current file extension in EXT.AML. If the line is already commented-out, then the comment delimiters are removed. The cursor is moved to the next line without changing the column position. If no comment delimiters are defined for the current file extension, then the comment delimiter '>' is used. - enter <enter> This command executed when pressing the <enter> key. The effects of this command depend on the current insert mode and the configuration settings 'EnterOvl' and 'EnterIns' (see 'Configuration - Editing Options'). 'EnterOvl' specifies the action to take when this command is entered and insert mode is OFF. 'EnterIns' defines the action to take when this command is entered and insert mode is ON. You can choose one of the following values for both 'EnterOvl' and 'EnterIns': i - inserts a new line s - splits the line at the cursor and moves the cursor to the beginning of the next line If neither of these options are specified, then the cursor is moved to the beginning of the next line. - literal 'Enter Literal..' <ctrl [> This command prompts you to enter a character literally into an edit window. Any key entered is interpreted as a 'typeable' key, not a function key. You can use this command to enter any ASCII character into a file. At the literal prompt, hold down the <alt> key, enter the ASCII value of the character with the keypad keys, then release the <alt> key. Binary zeros (ASCII 0) can be entered by pressing <shift f1> at the literal prompt. Note: this command can also be used from within an editor prompt. - asciilist 'Ascii Chart..' <alt => This command displays a menu which lists all 256 ASCII characters and their decimal and hexadecimal values. You can select an ASCII character from the menu and enter it into the current edit window by pressing the <enter> key over the character or by selecting it with the left mouse button. Pressing <esc> cancels the ASCII chart. Note: the ASCII chart can also be used from within an editor prompt. - timestamp 'Date/Time Stamp' <ctrl k><t> This command enters the current date and time at the cursor as if it had been typed in. The date and time format is determined by the 'international' system setting (see 'Configuration - System Options'). - tabfile 'Expand Tabs' <ctrl k><x> This command expands all the tab characters in the current edit window. The tab width using during the expansion is determined by the 'TabWidth' configuration setting (see 'Global Settings'). - hiliteword 'Highlight Word' <ctrl \> This unique command highlights the word at the cursor, and all other occurrences of the same word in the current file. You will be prompted for the highlighting color to use. You can highlight any number of words, in as many colors as you wish. This command can be very useful for finding instances of a word in a document, or marking occurrences of variables, functions, or other identifiers in your program source code. Undo and Redo ───────────── The Undo and Redo commands are very advanced features of the editor. Undo and Redo allow you to backtrack and retrace modifications you made to the text in an edit window. This can be a valuable safeguard against accidental changes, or simply a convenient way for you to review your recent text changes. Editor commands which can be undone include: - any commands which modify text - folding command - block marking commands Cursor movement and scrolling commands can also be undone when they are associated with the above commands. Commands which can not be undone include file saving commands, and commands which make changes directly to files with the file manager. Note that the 'Undo' window setting must be turned ON to allow commands to be undone (see 'Window Settings'). These are the undo and redo commands: - undo 'Undo' <ctrl u> This command will undo the last change you made in the current edit window. The text will be restored to its original state and the window and cursor will be positioned as they were before the change was made. Entering this command repeatedly will continue to undo text changes in the reverse order you made them. The configuration setting 'UndoSize' specifies the maximum number of changes which can be undone (see 'Configuration - Editing Options'). - redo 'Redo' <ctrl y> This command will redo the last change that you have undone with the 'undo' command in the current edit window. Entering this command repeatedly will redo your text changes in the order you made them. Changes made with this command can also be undone with the 'undo' command. Note that the undo and redo commands are 'local' to the current file. You can use undo and redo in your current file without undoing any changes made in another open file. OS Shell Commands ───────────────── Aurora has several commands which allow you execute almost any DOS command or program from with the editor, and then return you to your editing session where you left it. These commands are available from the Macro menu. In order to leave the maximum amount of memory available for DOS programs, the editor will shrink down to less than 1.5K by swapping itself out to extended/expanded memory, or to disk. The OS Shell commands are: - shell 'OS Shell' <f9> This command passes control to the DOS program COMMAND.COM and allows you to enter commands just as if you were in a normal DOS session. When you are finished, enter the EXIT command to return to the editor. - askrun 'OS Command' <alt f9> This command will prompt you to enter a DOS command within the editor, execute the command, and then return you to the editor. You will be prompted to enter any key to return to the editor. - askruncap 'OS Capture' <alt f8> This command will prompt you to enter a DOS command, execute the command, and capture the output in a file. You will then be returned to the editor and the captured output will be displayed in an edit window. Note that the output of .BAT commands cannot be captured with this command. This command is especially helpful when used with the 'gotoerror' command ('Go to Compiler Error <alt f7>' on the Search menu). You can use the this command to capture the output from a compiler, and then use 'gotoerror' <alt F7> to locate compiler errors in your source code (see 'gotoerror'). Note: do not run any 'terminate and stay resident' (TSR) programs, (such as the DOS 'print' command), from within any of the OS Shell commands. These programs should be run before starting the editor. Marking Blocks ────────────── Marking areas of text and executing block commands are essential features of many text editors. A mark is a region of text which has been designated for a specific 'block' or search command, and is usually visible as a highlighted area in an edit window. Unlike the clipboard commands (see 'The Clipboard'), block commands directly manipulate text. Aurora provides commands to mark groups of lines, columns, and characters within your text, and also provides a rich set of block commands to operate on the text within a mark. There are block commands for copying, moving, deleting, shifting, reformatting, and more. Before you can use a block command, you must first create a mark. The editor has several different commands for creating marks: - markline 'Mark Line' <alt l> This command creates a new 'line' mark, or adjusts the size of an existing line mark. A line mark designates a group of one or more complete lines without specifying any column information. To mark a group of lines, just move the cursor to one end of the group of lines and enter this command, then move the cursor to the other end and enter this command again. The new line mark will be highlighted. To mark a group of lines using the mouse, double-click the left mouse button at one end of the group of lines, and with the left mouse button still down, drag the mouse to the other end of the group of lines and release the left mouse button. - markcolumn 'Mark Column' <alt b> This command creates a new rectangular or 'column' mark, or adjusts the size of an existing column mark. A column mark designates a rectangular area of text which spans one or more lines and one or more columns. To create a column mark, move the cursor to one corner of the desired rectangle and enter this command, then move the cursor to the opposite corner of the rectangle and enter this command again. The new column mark will be highlighted. - markchar 'Mark Character' <alt a> This command creates a new 'character' mark, or adjusts the size of an existing character or stream mark. To create a character mark, move the cursor to the beginning of the character stream and enter this command, then move the cursor to the end of the character stream and enter this command again. The new character mark will be highlighted. - markstream <shift> + cursor keys This command creates a new 'stream' mark, or adjusts the size of an existing character or stream mark. A stream mark designates a continuous stream of zero or more characters in the file. A stream mark is almost identical to a character mark (see above), but does not include the last character marked. To create a stream mark, move the cursor to the beginning of the character stream and hold the <shift> key down. Then move the cursor to the end of the character stream and release the <shift> key. The new character mark will be highlighted. To create a stream mark using the mouse, press the left mouse button down at one end of the character stream to be marked, and with the left mouse button still down, drag the mouse one character past the end of the stream and release the left mouse button. - destroymark 'Unmark' <alt u> This command will destroy the current mark. The mark will no longer be displayed. The 'MouMark' and 'MouMrkD' configuration settings specify the default type of mark created by single-clicking and double-clicking the left mouse button and dragging the mouse (see 'Configuration - Mouse Options'). However, no matter what 'MouMark' and 'MouMrkD' are set to, you can still always create the desired line, column, or stream mark by holding down the appropriate 'shift' key when single-clicking the left mouse button and dragging the mouse: <alt> - forces line marks <ctrl> - forces column marks <shift> - forces stream marks Aurora also provides some 'short-cut' marking commands for defining commonly used line and character marks: - markpara 'Mark Paragraph' <alt 3> This command creates a line mark which spans the 'paragraph' at the cursor. A paragraph is defined as a contiguous series of non-blank lines. - markword 'Mark Word' <alt 1> This command creates a character mark which spans the 'word' at the cursor. The configuration setting 'CSet' is the character set used to define a word for this command (see 'Configuration - Character Sets'). - markeol 'Mark to EOL' <alt 2> This command creates a character mark which spans the text from the current cursor position to the end of the line. The following block commands can be used with all marks created by the methods described above: - copyblock2 'Copy' <alt c> This commands inserts a copy of the marked text after the cursor. The text in the mark remains unchanged. You can copy a block of text within the same edit window, or between different edit windows. The mark itself is also moved to highlight the new text. Note: this command can also be used to duplicate the line at the cursor if no mark exists and the 'CopyLine' configuration setting is ON. - copyblockover 'Copy Over' <alt o> This commands overlays a copy of the marked text at the cursor. The text in the mark remains unchanged (if it does not overlap with the destination). You can copy-over a block of text within the same edit window, or between different edit windows. The mark itself is also moved to highlight the new text. - moveblock2 'Move' <alt m> This command moves the marked text after the cursor. You can move a block of text within the same edit window, or between different edit windows. The mark itself is also moved. - moveblockover 'Move Over' <ctrl m> This command moves the marked text over the text at the cursor. The original marked block is blanked-out, or partially blanked-out if it overlaps with new block at the cursor. The mark itself is also moved. You can use this command inside the same edit window, or between different edit windows. - deleteblock2 'Delete' <alt d> This command deletes the marked text and the mark itself. The mark must reside in the current edit window. You can restore the deleted text with the 'undo' <ctrl u> command. Note: this command can also be used to delete the line at the cursor if no mark currently exists and the 'DelLine' configuration setting is ON. - shiftblock 1 'Indent' <shift f8> - shiftblock -1 'Unindent' <shift f7> These commands shift the text in the current marked block left or right one column. They are useful for indenting or unindenting areas of text. - fillblock2 'Fill' <ctrl k><f> This command prompts you to enter a character string, and then fills the mark with the string you specified. - caseblock 'l' 'Lowercase' - caseblock 'Uppercase' <ctrl k> These commands will convert all characters in the mark to lower case or upper case. - caseblock 'lu' This command will toggle the case of each character in the mark. - formatblock2 'kr' 'Reformat' <alt r> This useful command will 'reformat' marked text. For columns marks, the text will be reformatted to fit between the left and right edges of the mark. For all other mark types, the text will be formatted to fit between the left and right margins. The reformatted text will always be left justified. You can also use this command without marked text. In this case, the 'paragraph' at the cursor is reformatted to fit between the cursor position and the right margin. A 'paragraph' is a contiguous series of non-blank lines. - formatblock2 'jr' 'Reformat Right' <alt y> This command will reflow text in the same way as the 'Reformat' command above, except that the reflowed text will be both left AND right justified. The editor may insert spaces between some words in the text to pad the line out to the right margin. - saveblock2 'Save..' <ctrl k><s> This command prompts you for a filename, and then saves the marked text in the file you specified. If the file already exists, you will be prompted to replace the file, append to the end of the file, or cancel the command. If the file containing the marked text is a 'binary' file, then no line delimiter is used when saving, otherwise each saved line is appended with the current value of the line delimiter 'LineDlm' configuration setting. Note that you cannot use the 'undo' <ctrl u> command to reverse the effects of this command. - sortblock2 'Sort' <ctrl k><o> This command sorts the all the lines spanned by the current marked block. For column marks, the area between the left and right edges of the mark is used as the sort key. For all other marks, the entire line is used as the sort key. Note that for column marks, all the lines spanned by the mark will be sorted, not just the area within the mark. If scroll lock is ON when this command is executed, the sort is in descending order, otherwise the sort is in ascending order. If insert mode is ON when this command is executed, the sort is case-insensitive, otherwise the sort is case-sensitive. - justblock2 'Left Justify' - justblock2 'Center' <ctrl k><c> - justblock2 'Right Justify' These commands left justify, center, and right justify marked text. For column marks, the left and right edges of the mark are used as left and right margins. For all other mark types, the current left and right margins are used. The centering command is useful for creating centered document titles. - print 'b' 'Print Block' <alt p> This command prints marked text using the current printer settings (see 'Configuration - Print Options'). The Clipboard ───────────── Text can be manipulated indirectly by using the 'clipboard' commands. These commands allow you to move or copy marked text to an internal file referred to as a 'clipboard'. At a later time, clipboard text can be copied to a new location in the same edit window, or even to a different edit window. As with the block commands, you can use the 'undo' <ctrl u> command to reverse the effects of clipboard commands. You can have any number of clipboards in an edit session. Each clipboard is identified by a unique name and is available to any edit window. One clipboard is always designated as the 'current clipboard', and is used by all the clipboard commands. When the editor started, the current clipboard is named 'clip'. The following clipboard commands operate on the 'current' clipboard: - cut 'Cut' <grey-> This command erases the contents of the clipboard and then moves marked text to the clipboard. The mark itself is destroyed. - cut 'a' 'Cut Append' <ctrl grey-> This command moves marked text to the end of the clipboard, without erasing the contents of the clipboard. The mark itself is destroyed. This command can be useful for gathering separate blocks of text and grouping them together in the clipboard. - copy 'Copy' <grey+> This command erases the contents of the clipboard and then copies marked text to the clipboard. The mark and its contents are unchanged. - copy 'a' 'Copy Append' <ctrl grey+> This command copies marked text to the end of the clipboard, without erasing the contents of the clipboard. The mark and its contents are unchanged. This command is useful for copying separate blocks of text and grouping them together in the clipboard. - paste 'Paste' <grey*> This command copies all the clipboard text after the cursor position in the current edit window. The contents of the clipboard are unchanged. - paste 'o' 'Paste Over' <ctrl grey*> This command copies all the clipboard text over the text at the cursor position in the current edit window. The contents of the clipboard are unchanged. - clear 'Clear' <ctrl grey/> This command erases the contents of the clipboard. The following command changes the 'current clipboard': - askclip 'Clipboard..' This command prompts you for clipboard name and changes the 'current clipboard' to the name you enter. The clipboard will be created if it does not exist. Entering any of the above clipboard commands will now refer to the new clipboard. When the editor is started, the current clipboard is named 'clip'. Folds ───── Folds are an advanced feature of the editor which allow you to escape the normal 'flat text' mode of editing. Using folds, you can impose a hierarchal structure on your text, giving it the appearance and behaviour of an electronic outline. Folds can also be useful for temporarily hiding lines of text, and may help to reduce unnecessary scrolling. Using folding commands, multiple lines of text can be 'folded together' and made to appear as one line in a window. Any number of folds of any size can be created. Folds can be nested by folding a group of lines which already contain other folds. The interior folds are referred to as 'subfolds'. Later when the outer fold is opened or destroyed, the inner folds are redisplayed. This allows you to create hierarchies of folds. Folds can also be opened for viewing or editing, and saved along with the text in a file. All folding operations are 'undoable' (see 'Undo and Redo'). A fold may exist in one of two states: 'open' or 'closed'. For closed folds, only the first first line in the fold is displayed. Closed folds are also highlighted and the number of lines in the fold is displayed at the end of the line. For example: This is the first line in a closed fold (123) In the example above, 123 lines of text appear as one folded line. Note that only the first line in a closed fold is accessible for editing. Lines hidden within a closed fold may be included or excluded from the search and replace commands (see 'Search and Replace'). Open folds are displayed as normal text. The first columns of the top and bottom lines in the open fold are highlighted to mark the fold boundries. The following is an example of an open fold of 5 lines: ░ First line of an open fold text text text ░ Last line of an open fold (The '░' character is used to indicate highlighted columns). Note that the text within an open fold can viewed and edited as normal text. When a file containing folds is saved, the folds are saved in the text as comments, using comment delimiters defined for the current file extension in EXT.AML. If no comment delimiters are defined for the current file extension, then the comment delimiter '//' is used. When the file is reopened, the fold comments are removed and the folds are restored. Fold comments are not saved in binary files. Many commands are available for manipulating folds. The effects of each of these commands can be reversed with the 'undo' <ctrl u> and 'redo' <ctrl y> commands: - foldline 'Fold Next Line' <alt 8> This command extends the closed fold at the cursor to the next line. If no closed fold exists at the cursor, then a new one-line closed fold is created. - foldline 'u' 'Unfold Next Line' <alt 9> This command shrinks the closed fold at the cursor so that the bottom line in the fold is displayed. - createfold 'Create Fold' This command creates a new one-line open fold at the cursor - destroyfold2 'Destroy Fold' <alt g> This command destroys the fold at the cursor. If no closed fold exists at the cursor, the smallest open fold (if any) containing the cursor is destroyed. The text within the fold is unchanged. - openfold 'Open Fold' <alt \> This command opens the closed fold at the cursor for viewing or editing. - closefold 'Close Fold' <alt \> This command closes the smallest open fold containing the cursor. - foldblock2 'Fold Block' <alt f> This command creates a new closed fold consisting of all the lines in a mark. Any 'subfolds' will be preserved. This command can also be used without a mark. In this case, the entire 'paragraph' at the cursor is folded. A 'paragraph' is a contiguous series of non-blank lines. - foldflat 'Fold Block Flat' This command is identical the 'foldblock2' command above, except that all existing folds within the marked block will be removed before the new fold is created. The new fold will not contain any subfolds. - foldblock 'ds' 'Destroy Block Folds' This command destroys all folds and subfolds within a mark. - foldblock 'os' 'Open Block Folds' This command opens all closed folds and subfolds within a mark. - foldblock 'cs' 'Close Block Folds' This command closes all open folds and subfolds within a mark. - foldall 'ds' 'Destroy All Folds' <alt 0> This command destroys all folds and subfolds in the current file. - foldall 'os' 'Open All Folds' <alt [> This command opens all closed folds and subfolds in the current file. - foldall 'cs' 'Close All Folds' <alt ]> This command closes all open folds and subfolds in the current file. - asksaveas 'x' 'Export without Folds..' This command prompts you for a filename, and then saves the text in the current edit window under filename you entered, without saving folds as comments in the file. - saveblock2 'x' 'Export Block without Folds..' This command prompts you for a filename, and then saves the marked text in the file you specified, without saving folds as comments in the file. If the file already exists, you will be prompted to replace the file, append to the end of the file, or cancel the command. Search and Replace ────────────────── Aurora provides a rich set of commands and options for searching and replacing character strings in files: - askfind 'Find..' <f5> or <ctrl f> This command prompts you for a character string to search for in the current edit window. The following 'search options' can also be specified at the search prompt a - finds all occurrences of the search string and reports the number of occurrences found. The cursor is not moved if this option is specified. b - limits the search to the current marked block. g - searches globally starting from the beginning or end of the file, depending on whether or not option 'r' is specified (see below). If search option 'b' is also specified, then the search starts at the beginning or end of the marked block. If this option is not selected, the search begins from the cursor position. i - ignores case during the search. For example, the search string 'apples' would find 'Apples' or 'APPLES'. r - searches in reverse. This option forces the search to proceed towards the beginning of the file. If this option is not specified, the search proceeds toward the end of the file. s - skips the interior lines of closed folds during the search. w - searches for 'whole words' only. For example, the search string 'at' would find ' at ' and '(at)', but not 'ate' or 'that'. This option can be useful for locating variables in program source code. x - uses regular expression searching. The search string is checked for regular expression characters (see 'Regular Expression Searching'). * - starts the search at the current cursor position, instead of the next character position. More search options are available through the macro language (see the 'find' function in the AML Function Reference). If you have configured prompts to appear as a dialog boxes, you can select search options from the 'search options' group box. You can also configure which options default to 'selected' when the dialog box is displayed (see the 'SearchOpt' configuration setting). If you have configured your prompts to appear as command-lines, one-line boxes, or two-line boxes, enter the search string at the prompt and press the <enter> key. For example: Find> Apples <enter> If you are entering search options, enter the slash character (/) after the search string and then enter the desired search options: Find> Oranges/irb <enter> After the <enter> key pressed in the example above, the editor will search for the string 'Oranges'. The search will be restricted to the current marked block, starting at the bottom of the marked block and searching toward the top, and case will be ignored during the search. If you need to include the slash character (/) or the backquote (`) character in the search string, precede it with the backquote (`) character, for example: Find> Ap`/p`/le``s/irb <enter> In the example above, the search string is 'Ap/p/le`s'. If you have configured your prompts to appear as a command lines, one-line boxes, or two-line boxes, default search options will be added by the editor if you have not specified any search options in the prompt (see the 'SearchOpt' configuration setting). To prevent default search options from being added, either specify your own options or just add a slash (/) to the end of the search string. Note that the Find and Replace prompts share the same prompt history. - askrepl 'Replace..' <ctrl g> This command prompts you for a character string to search for in the current edit window, and a another character string to replace it with. Note that any replacements made with this command can be undone with the 'undo' <ctrl u> and redo <ctrl y> commands. As with the Find prompt, 'search options' can be specified. The same search options used for the Find prompt (see above) can be specified for this prompt. If option 'a' is specified, all occurrences of the search string will be replaced, and the number of replacements will be reported. If option 'a' is not specified, then you will be prompted to verify each replacement. Each time the search string is found, you will be prompted with: Replace (Yes/No/All/One/Reverse/Undo/Quit)? You can select one of the replace/verify options by entering the first character of the desired option: - y (Yes) Replace and continue searching - n (No) Do not replace and continue searching - a (All) Replace all remaining occurrences without prompting - o (One) Replace and do not continue searching - r (Reverse) Do not replace and change the search direction - u (Undo) Undo the last replacement - q (Quit) Cancel the search Entering any other character or function key will cancel the replace command. If you have configured your prompts to appear as a dialog boxes, you can select search and replace options from the 'search options' and 'replace options' group boxes. You can also configure which options default to 'selected' when the dialog box is displayed (see the configuration settings 'SearchOpt' and 'ReplaceOpt'). If you have configured your prompts to appear as a command-lines, one-line boxes, or two-line boxes, enter the search string at the prompt followed by the slash character (/), the replace string, and another slash character (/). Then press the <enter> key. For example: Repl> apples/oranges/ <enter> In the example above the editor will replace the first occurrence of the string 'apples' with the string 'oranges', prompting you for the replacement. Note that the terminating slash is required. Search and replace options can be entered after the last slash (/) character. For example: Repl> apples/oranges/irga <enter> In the example above, the editor will replace all occurrences of the string 'apples' (ignoring case) with the string 'oranges'. The search will proceed from the bottom of the file to the top of the file and you will not be prompted for any replacement. If you need to include the slash character (/) or the backquote (`) character in the search or replace string, precede it with the backquote (`) character, for example: Repl> app`/les/ora`/nge``s/ <enter> In the example above, the search string is 'app/les' and the replace string is 'ora/nge``s'. To replace the search string with a 'null' or zero length replace string, use two adjacent slashes after the search string. For example: Repl> apples//a <enter> In the example above, the editor will delete all occurrences of the string 'apples' from the cursor position to the end of the file. If you have configured your prompts to appear as command-lines, one-line boxes, or two-line boxes, and you have not specified any search or replace options, then the default search and replace options will be added by the editor (see the 'SearchOpt' and 'ReplaceOpt' configuration settings). To prevent default options from being added, either specify your own options, or specify a blank option (ASCII 32). If you have configured your prompts to appear as command-lines, one-line boxes, or two-line boxes, you you can also enter any Replace command in the Find prompt. This allows you to use only one prompt for both the Find and Replace commands. Note that the Find and Replace prompts share the same prompt history. - findlast 'Repeat Last Find/Repl' <ctrl l> This command will repeat the last find or replace command you entered, without prompting you for search or replace strings. - askscan 'Scan Files..' <ctrl s> This command allows you to scan a directory, or a group of files designated by a wildcards (* and ?), for a character string. You will be prompted for the directory or wildcard file specification, and for a search string and search options. The following search options can be specified in the Scan prompt: i - ignore case during the search w - search for 'whole words' only x - use regular expression searching See the 'askfind' command above for a description of these search options. After the file scan has completed, a file manager window will be displayed showing all the files in which the search string was found. Position the cursor to the file you wish to browse or edit, and press <enter> or double-click the left mouse button if you are using the mouse. The file will be opened and the cursor will be positioned at the first occurrence of the matched search string. You can use the 'findlast' <ctrl l> command to find other occurrences. If you have configured your prompts to appear as a dialog boxes, you can select search options from the 'search options' group box. You can also configure which search options default to 'selected' when the dialog box is displayed (see the configuration setting 'SearchOpt'). If you have configured your prompts to appear as a command-lines, one-line boxes, or two-line boxes, enter the search string at the scan prompt: Scan> apples <enter> In the above example, the editor will search all files in the current directory for the string 'apples'. To specify another directory, enter the search string followed by a slash character (/) and the directory or wildcard specification. For example: Scan> apples/c:\doc\*.txt <enter> In this example, the editor will search all files with the extension '.txt' in the directory 'c:\doc' for the string 'apples'. To enter search options for the scan, enter a slash (/) after the directory, followed by the desired search options. For example: Scan> apples/c:\doc\*.txt/i <enter> In this example, the editor will search all files with the extension '.txt' in the directory 'c:\doc' for the string 'apples', ignoring case during the search. As with the Find and Replace commands, if you need to include the slash character (/) or the backquote (`) character in the search or replace string, precede it with the backquote (`) character. If you have configured your prompts to appear as command-lines, one-line boxes, or two-line boxes, default search options will be added by the editor if you have not specified any search options (see the 'SearchOpt' configuration setting). Note that if you have mistakenly initiated a time-consuming file scan, you can use the <ctrl break> key to interrupt the scan command. - isearch 'Incremental Search' <ctrl i> This command allows you to search for a string one character at a time. This is often a time-saver, since only a portion of the search string is usually entered before it is found. After entering this command, you are prompted to enter the first character in the search string. If the character is found, the cursor is moved to the first occurrence of the character and you are prompted to enter the second character in the search string. If the two-character string is found, the cursor is moved to the first occurrence of the two-character string, and you are prompted to enter the third character in the search string. The incremental search proceeds in this fashion until <esc> or <enter> is pressed. Incremental searching uses the default search options specified in the configuration setting 'SearchOpt'. The following function keys have special meaning when used within an incremental search: <backspace> Backs up by one character in the search, moving the cursor to the previous search string. <ctrl b> Moves the cursor to the first occurrence of the current search string in the file. <ctrl n> Searches forward for the next occurrence of the current search string. <ctrl p> Searches in reverse for the previous occurrence of the current search string. - askfindo 'Find Occurrences' <ctrl h> This command displays a popup menu showing all the lines in a file where a search string is found. Like the Find command, this command prompts you for a search string and search options. The same search options used for the Find prompt (see above) can be specified for this prompt. The search string and and search options must be specified as they would be for a command line Find prompt. For example: Find> oranges/iw <enter> After the <enter> key pressed in the example above, the editor will search for the string 'oranges', ignoring case and searching for whole words only. A popup menu will be displayed showing each line where the string was found. If the first line in the menu, 'Select this line to edit occurrences', is selected by pressing <enter> or using the mouse, then the menu is closed and a new edit window is opened containing all the lines in the menu. If any other line in the menu is selected, the menu is closed and the cursor is moved to the location in the file where the selected line was found - gotomatch2 'Find Matching Char' <alt f3> This command finds the matching parenthesis (), brace {}, square bracket [], or angled bracket <> for the character at the cursor. If the character at the cursor is not one of these characters, then the cursor is moved to the next parenthesis, brace, or bracket, if one exists. This command can be very useful for balancing expressions in programming languages. Printing ──────── Aurora provides commands for printing the contents of the current window, and printing marked text within an edit window. Using the file manager, you can mark groups of files for printing and print directory listings (see 'The File Manager'). All the print commands use the current printer settings to format output to the printer (see 'Configuration - Print Options'). The following print commands are available: - print 'Print' <ctrl p> This command prints the entire contents of an edit window or file manager window. Printing can be aborted by pressing <ctrl break>. - print 'b' 'Print Block' <alt p> This command prints a marked block of text. The marked block need not reside in the current window. Printing can be aborted by pressing <ctrl break>. - printstr (char 12) 'Print Formfeed' This command ejects a page by sending a formfeed (ASCII 12) character to the printer. The 'printstr' command can be used to send any control character sequence to the printer. For example: printstr (char 13 10) The above command sends a carriage return and linefeed to the printer. - askprthdr 'Header/Footer..' This command allows you to change the current print header/footer string. If no header/footer string is specified, the filename and the current date and time are used. - askprint 'Printer Settings..' This command displays a dialog box which allows you to change the current printer settings. The following printer settings can be changed: - Print options: header and footer page numbers line numbers eject when done - Printer device or filename - Page size (lines per page) - Line spacing - Copies - Printer initialization string - Margins (top, bottom, left, right) For more information about the printer settings, see 'Configuration - Print Options'). Window Settings ─────────────── For each edit window there are individual settings such as 'Word Wrap' and 'AutoIndent' which can be switched ON or OFF at any time during an edit session. You can change these settings from the Settings menu, or define keys to change the settings. Each edit window has a private copy of the settings. If you change a setting in one edit window, the same setting is not changed in other edit windows. This feature can very convenient when switching back and forth between edit windows with different settings. For example, one window might contain program source code with Word Wrap OFF, while another window might contain documentation with Word Wrap ON. If the configuration setting 'SavePosition' is ON, then window settings for each file are 'remembered' across edit sessions (see 'Configuration - Desktop Options'). When an edit window is closed, these settings are saved along with the window sizes and cursor positions. The settings are restored the next time the file is edited. Most window settings can be toggled by executing commands from the Set menu: - setting 'A' TOGGLE 'AutoIndent' The AutoIndent setting is useful for word processing and general editing. It aligns the beginning of newly inserted lines with the previous line or next line, thus saving you keystrokes. If AutoIndent is ON and a new line is inserted, the cursor is moved to the first non-blank column of the previous line. If the previous line is blank, then the cursor is moved to the first non-blank column of the next line. If the next line is also blank, the cursor column does not change. The AutoIndent setting can affect the following commands when a new line is inserted: - insline2 'Insert Line' <ctrl enter> - splitline2 'Split Line' <alt s> - enter <enter> AutoIndent also changes the column that words are wrapped to when Standard Word Wrap or Live Word Wrap are ON. - setting 'B' TOGGLE 'Backup' If Backup is ON and the current file is saved, the previous version of the file on disk will be saved in a backup file. The new backup file will replace any existing backup file. If a backup directory has been defined with the configuration setting 'BackupDir' (see 'Configuration - Save Options'), then the backup file will be moved to the specified backup directory. If 'BackupDir' is not specified, then the backup file will remain in the same directory as the file, but the file extension will be changed to the value specified by the 'BackupExt' configuration setting. The default backup extension is 'BAK'. - setting 'D' TOGGLE 'Line Draw' <ctrl d> This setting can be useful for creating boxes, charts, and other text mode drawings. When Line Draw is ON, the cursor keys can be used to draw lines using the text mode graphics characters. - submenu 'Linestyle' The LineStyle submenu allows you select the line style used to draw lines with the cursor keys when Line Draw is ON. You can choose any of the following values: - Single - Double Horizontal - Double Vertical - Double - Eraser - setting 'M' TOGGLE 'Match Character' This setting can be useful for entering expressions in program source code. If Match Character is ON and the characters (, [, or " are entered, the editor will automatically enter the matching character ), ], or ". - setting 'S' TOGGLE 'Smart Tabs' The Smart Tabs setting can save you time when entering data in columns. If Smart Tabs is ON, and the 'tabright' <tab> command is is entered, the cursor will move to the column of the next word on the first non-blank line before the current line. Entering the 'tableft' <shift tab> command will do the same in reverse. Note that if Smart Tabs is ON, the Variable Tabs setting will be ignored. - setting 'X' TOGGLE 'Syntax Highlighting' This command toggles syntax highlighting ON or OFF in the current edit window. A syntax highlighting 'object' must be defined for the current file extension in the file SYNTAX.AML. See 'Configuration - Syntax Highlighting'). - setting 'T' TOGGLE 'Translate' <alt f4> The Translate setting allows you to expand abbreviations and correct commonly misspelled words or typos as you enter characters into your text. You can also define macros that are executed whenever the name of the macro is entered as a word in your text. When Translate is ON, the editor will automatically check each word you type to see if it exists in a special user-defined translation lookup object in the file TRAN.AML. If the word is found, it will be replaced with substitution text that you have defined in the object (see 'Translation'). - setting 'U' TOGGLE 'Undo' This setting enables or disables the Undo/Redo feature for the current edit window. Disabling Undo/Redo can increase performance and decrease memory utilization for editing operations which extensively modify the current file (for example, performing a global search and replace through a multi-megabyte file). - setting 'V' TOGGLE 'Variable Tabs' This setting allows you use the preset tab positions specified in the 'VarTabs' configuration setting (see 'Configuration - Word Processing Options'). If this setting is ON, and the 'tabright' <tab> command is entered, the cursor will move to the next tab stop specified in the 'VarTabs' configuration setting. Entering the 'tableft' <shift tab> command will do the same in reverse. Note that if Smart Tabs ON, the Variable Tabs setting will be ignored. If both Variable Tabs and Smart Tabs are OFF, then regular interval tabs are used. - setting 'W' TOGGLE 'Word Wrap' Word Wrap can make word processing tasks easier by allowing you to type freely without having to press <enter> at the end of each line. If Word Wrap is ON, and you are typing beyond the right margin, a new line is inserted after the current line. The word you are currently typing, and any characters following it, are moved to the next line. The cursor is placed in the same relative position in the word as it was on the previous line. If AutoIndent is ON, the beginning of the new line is aligned with the first non-blank character of the previous line, otherwise the new line begins at column one. - setting 'L' TOGGLE 'Live Word Wrap' <ctrl w> Live Word Wrap automatically formats your text as you type, and is very useful for many word processing tasks. When Live Word Wrap is ON, the text from the current line to the end of the current paragraph is automatically reformatted by the editor while you are typing, or when you enter the 'delchar' <del>, 'delword' <ctrl t>, and 'backsp' <backspace> commands. If Live Word Wrap and standard Word Wrap are both ON, then the standard Word Wrap setting is ignored. This allows you to keep standard Word Wrap ON by default and activate Live Word Wrap only as you need it. Global Settings ─────────────── Aurora provides many configuration settings which are global to all windows. These settings are implemented as macro language variables defined in the configuration file CONFIG.AML, and can be modified as configuration settings (see 'Configuration'). Several of these global settings can also be modified during an edit session from the Set menu. If you wish, you can also define keys which display the current values of these settings and prompt you to enter new values. The following section describes commands which can be used to change global settings during an edit session: - asktabw 'Tab Width..' This command allows you to view and change the TabWidth setting from within the editor. TabWidth specifies the distance between tab stops for Interval Tabs. For example, a TabWidth of 8 would place tab stops at columns 1, 9, 17, 25, etc. The installation default for TabWidth is 8. The TabWidth variable is also used as the tab width for the 'tabfile' <ctrl k><x> command ('Expand Tabs' on the Edit menu). - asktabv 'Variable Tab Stops..' This command allows you to view and change the VarTabs setting from within the editor. VarTabs is a string of column positions specifying the current variable tab stops. For example, if VarTabs is '5 19 41 45', and Variable Tabs is ON, then tab stops would be placed at columns 5, 19, 41, and 45. The installation default for VarTabs is '4 8 16 24 50 72'. - asklmarg 'Left Margin..' This command allows you to view and change the LMargin setting from within the editor. LMargin is used as the default left margin for the following block commands when used with line marks: - Left Justify - Center <ctrl k><c> - Right Justify - Reformat <alt r> - Reformat RJust <alt y> The following commands and window settings also use LMargin: - Center Line <alt 6> - Split Line <alt s> - Enter Key <enter> - Word Wrap - Live Word wrap The installation default for LMargin is 1. - askrmarg 'Right Margin..' This command allows you to view and change the RMargin setting from within the editor. RMargin is used as the default right margin for all of the commands listed for the LMargin setting (see above), except for the Enter Key. The installation default for RMargin is 72. - askbinary 'Binary Line Length..' This command allows you to view and change the BinaryLength setting from within the editor. BinaryLength is the default fixed length of each line in a file when the file is loaded in binary mode. The installation default for BinaryLength is 64. - askdelim 'Line Delimiter..' This command allows you to view and change the LineDlm setting from within the editor. LineDlm is the default end-of-line delimiter used when loading and saving files in non-binary mode. LineDlm can be one or two bytes long. If the line delimiter is two bytes long, only the last byte is actually used as the line delimiter during file loading. However if the first byte is found immediately before the second byte, it will be not be included on the line. The installation default for LineDlm is 0D0A (hexadecimal carriage return and linefeed). You can save and restore all the current global settings with the following commands: - recompile 'Recompile the Editor' <alt f2> This command must be used whenever you wish to restore the settings in CONFIG.AML, or when changing any editor configuration .AML file. This command actually recompiles all of the editor macro language source .AML files and regenerates the editor boot macro A.X. The .AML files include: COLOR.AML - color definitions CONFIG.AML - configuration settings DEFINE.AML - compile-time declarations, constants, functions EXT.AML - editor extension source code MAIN.AML - the main macro source file MOUSE.AML - mouse definitions SYNTAX.AML - syntax highlighting definitions SYSTEM.AML - system settings TRAN.AML - translation sample definitions Note that if you have previously used the 'saveconfig' command (see below) to save global settings, these settings will revert back to the defaults defined in CONFIG.AML after this command is entered. - saveconfig 'Save Current Settings' This command saves all the current global settings, including the settings described above, printer settings, the current window style, prompt style, and the current video mode in the file A.X. This command works the same as the 'recompile' <alt f2> command above, except that configuration variables are taken from the current edit session, instead of CONFIG.AML. Key Macros ────────── A Key Macro is a recorded sequence of keystrokes which can be played back on demand. This feature can be very useful in situations where the same sequence of keystrokes are entered over and over again. Aurora will allow you to record and play key macros of virtually any length. Once a key macro has been recorded, you can assign it to a key of your choice, or just keep it in a temporary 'scrap' area. Key macros can saved and loaded on demand, or the editor can be configured to automatically load and save all your key macros when you enter and exit the editor (see the 'SaveMac' configuration setting). The key macro commands are: - setting 'R' TOGGLE 'Record Toggle' <ctrl r> This command will toggle the record mode ON and OFF. When the record mode is ON, all keystrokes you enter will be recorded until the record mode is turned OFF. After a key macro has been recorded, it resides in a temporary 'scrap' area until it is assigned to a key or erased. If the record mode is turned ON and there is already a key macro in the scrap buffer, the old scrap macro is erased before recording the new key macro. - playkey 'Play' <ctrl e> This command will execute the key macro in the scrap buffer. - erasekey 'Erase' This command will erase the key macro in the scrap buffer. - erasekey 'a' 'Erase All' This command will erase all current key macros, including any key macros that were assigned to keys and the key macro in the scrap buffer. - askopenkey 'Open..' This command prompts you for a file of previously saved key macros, and then loads the key macros in the file. If conflicts exist between key macro assignments in the file and current macro key assignments, the key macros in the file will replace the current key macros. - asksavekey 'Save..' This command prompts you for a filename, and then saves all current key macros in the filename you specified. All macros will be saved, including any key macros that were assigned to keys and the key macro in the scrap buffer. - assignkey 'Assign to Key..' This command prompts you to assign the current 'scrap' key macro to a function key of your choice. When the key macro has been assigned, it is removed from the scrap buffer. Note that you cannot assign a key macro to a 'multi-key' such as '<ctrl k><k>'. The following command is not a actually a key macro command, but you can use it to repeat a key macro any number of times: - askrepkey <ctrl q><q> This command repeats a sequence of keystrokes for a user-specified number of times. You will be prompted to enter a key (or keys) and the number of times to execute the specified keys. Macro Commands ────────────── Other macro commands available from the Macro menu are: - opencfg 'config' 'Configuration..' This command opens the file CONFIG.AML for viewing or editing. CONFIG.AML contains the editor configuration settings. - opencfg 'keys' 'Keys..' This command opens the file KBD.AML for viewing or editing. KBD.AML contains the editor keyboard definitions. - opencfg 'tran' <alt f5> This command opens the file TRAN.AML for viewing or editing. TRAN.AML contains the editor text translation definitions. - 'Macro Utilities' This command displays a popup menu of various macro language utilities supplied with the editor at installation. - askeval 'Macro Expression..' <ctrl v> This command prompts you for a macro language expression, and then evaluates it. This prompt can be very useful for testing macro functions and expressions without assigning them to keys or menus. See the Aurora Macro Language Reference for complete documentation on macro language functions and expressions. - askrmacro 'Run Macro..' This command prompts you for the name of a compiled macro language file, and executes it. If no file extension is specified, then '.X' is assumed. When the macro is finished executing, the macro is discarded. - askimacro 'Include Macro..' This command prompts you for the name of a compiled macro language file, and executes it. If no file extension is specified, then '.X' is assumed. When the macro is finished executing, the macro code remains resident in the editor. - askcmacro 'Compile Macro..' This command prompts you for the name of a macro language source file, and compiles it. If no file extension is specified, then .AML is assumed. The compiled file is placed in the same directory as the source file, but with the extension '.X'. The File Manager ──────────────── The File Manager is one of Aurora's most useful features. You can use it to list files in a directory, and select one or more for editing. You can also use it to mark several files and then perform a file management command on all the marked files, such as Copy, Delete, Print, and others - all without leaving the editor. Any number of file manager windows can be open at one time. Each file manager window is independent of any other windows. For example, you could have one file manager window showing a directory on drive C and another file manager window showing a different directory on drive D. File manager windows are similar in appearance to edit windows, but display a directory listing instead of file text. File manager windows also have a drive menu bar immediately below the main menu bar where you can select disk drives (network disk drives are highlighted). Note that file manager window borders, title bars, title bar controls, menus, and scroll bars all work the same as they do for edit windows. The following is an example of a file manager window: Close Icon North Title Bar │ │ │ North Title │ Menu Bar Min/Max/Restore Icons │ │ │ │ │ ▒▒▒│▒▒░░░░░░│░░░░░░░░░░│░░░░░░░░│░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░│▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒ ≡ C:\DOC\*.* ┴ │ └ ▒▒ ▒▒ File Window Mark Command Sort Print Macro Help ▒▒ ░░ <> <A> <C> <D> <E> ░░ ░░ ..\ ░░ ░░ SUBDIR2\ 11-02-94 11:54:pm A ▒───┐ ░░ DEMO1 .BAK 31,092 11-11-94 4:11:am A ■░░ │ ░░ DEMO1 .C 13,317 10-26-94 4:15:am A ▒░░ │ ░░ HELLO .TXT 2,030 12-06-95 7:33:pm A ░░ │ ▒▒■▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ │ ▒▒ 114,732 bytes in 14 files (4,321k free) │ Volume DriveC ▒▒ │ ▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░│░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░│░░░░░░░│░░░░░░░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Corner │ │ South Title Bar │ │ │ │ │ │ South Title Border Horz Scroll Bar Vert Scroll Bar For each file, the file manager displays the following information: - the filename and extension - the file size (in bytes, or 1k increments) - the date and time the file was last modified - the file attributes: A=archive, H=hidden, R=readonly, S=system The south title bar of the file manager window displays the total number of files in the directory, the total size (in bytes or k) of all the files, the amount free space on the current disk drive, and the volume name of the current disk drive. Opening a File Manager Window ───────────────────────────── There are several ways to open a new file manager window: - When starting the editor on the DOS command line, enter the name of a directory, or a name with wildcard characters (* or ?) after the 'A' command used to start the editor. For example: C>a *.* - displays a listing of the current directory C>a . - displays a listing of the current directory C>a c:\txt - displays a listing of the 'c:\txt' directory C>a c:\txt\a*.* - displays a listing of the 'c:\txt' directory of all filenames beginning with 'a' C>a myfile.txt . - opens an edit window for 'myfile.txt' and a file manager window for the current directory - Enter the 'askopen' <alt e> command ('Open..' from the File menu) to bring up an Open prompt, and then enter the name of a directory, or a filename with wildcard characters (* or ?). If you press <enter> from an Open prompt without entering a name, the editor will open a file manager window for the current directory. - Enter the 'File Manager..' <f4> command ('File Manager..' from the File menu) to open a file manager window for the current directory, - From an edit window, position the mouse on the title bar and press the right mouse button to create a file manager window for the current directory. Changing the Drive and Directory ──────────────────────────────── It is usually not necessary to open a new file manager window for each directory you wish to display. You can use a single file manager window to display any drive or directory on your computer. To change the drive displayed in a file manager window: - using the mouse, click the left mouse button on the desired drive letter on the drive menu, or - using the keyboard, press the <tab> key and then enter the drive letter, or - using the keyboard, press the <tab> key repeatedly until the desired drive letter is highlighted, and then press <enter> To change the directory displayed in a file manager window: - using the mouse, position the mouse cursor to the desired directory and double-click the left mouse button, or - using the keyboard, position the cursor to the desired directory and press <enter>. To display the parent directory using the keyboard: - enter the 'fup' <ctrl backspace> command, or - position the cursor to the directory '..\' and press <enter>, or - use the <tab> key to select the '' icon on the drive menu and then press <enter> To display the parent directory using the mouse: - click the left mouse button on the '' icon on the drive menu, or - double-click the left mouse button on the directory '..\' To move to a file within a directory using 'hotkeys': - press the first letter of the desired filename. Repeat to find successive occurrences. File Manager Commands ───────────────────── A large set of commands are provided to manipulate the file at the cursor in a file manager window. You can execute these commands by selecting them from the file manager Command menu, or by entering a keyboard command. Unless otherwise indicated, file manager commands will also operate on 'marked' files. You can mark one or more files, and then execute a single file manager command for all the marked files (see 'Marking Files' below). The file manager commands are: - fopen 'Open' <e>, <o>, <z>, <enter>, <ctrl enter> This command opens the file and displays it in an edit window for viewing or editing. You can also open the file by double clicking the left mouse button on the file. <enter> only opens the file at the cursor, even if multiple files are marked. This can be useful for viewing files as they are being marked. If the left or right <shift> key is held down, the new edit window will be vertically tiled with all existing windows on the screen. <o> is similar to <enter>, except that multiple marked files can be opened. A separate edit window is opened for each file. <ctrl enter> is similar to <o>, except that the file manager window is closed after all edit windows are opened. Note that the editor can be configured so that the file manager window is always closed whenever a file is opened from it (see the 'FmgrQuit' setting in 'Configuration - Open Options'). <e> is similar to <o>, except that multiple marked files are loaded into only one edit window. <z> is similar to <e>, except that the opened window is maximized. - fopen 'b' 'Open Binary' , <y> This command opens the file in binary mode. The BinaryLength configuration setting is used as the default fixed line length (see 'Global Settings'). opens a separate edit window for each file. <y> loads multiple marked files into only one edit window. - openkey2 (getffile) 'Open Key Macro' <k> This command opens a key macro file. The file must be a valid key macro file. If any conflict exists between old and new key macro assignments, the new key assignments will replace the old key assignments. - fmove 'Move..' <m> This command prompts you for filename or path, and then moves the file to the location you specified. You can specify a fully qualified filename, or just a drive or directory. Subdirectories cannot be moved. - fcopy 'Copy..' <c> This command prompts you for filename or path, and then copies the file to the location you specified. You can specify a fully qualified filename, or just a drive or directory. Subdirectories cannot be copyied. - fdelete 'Delete' <d>, <del> This command deletes the file. Empty directories can also be deleted. The editor can be configured to delete files with or without user confirmation (see 'Configuration - Confirmation Options'). - frename 'Rename..' <n> This command changes the name of the file. You will be prompted for the new name. You can also use this command to change directory names. This command ignores any marked files and only operates on the file or directory at the cursor. - frun 'c' 'Run' <r> This command runs the program or batch file at the cursor. Your DOS command interpreter must be capable of executing the file. Usually this means that the file must have a .COM, .EXE, or .BAT extension. - fprint 'Print' This command prints the file using the current printer settings (see 'Configuration - Print Options'). The contents of a directory can also be printed with this command. - fattr 'Attributes..' <a> This command prompts you to change the attributes of the file. Directory attributes can also be changed. - ftouch 'Touch' <t> This command changes the file's date and time to the current date and time. Directories cannot be 'touched'. Other file manager commands are: - fmkdir 'Create Directory..' This command prompts you for a directory name and creates a new directory. - askscan 'Scan Files..' <ctrl s> This command allows you to scan a directory or a wildcard file specification for a character string. See 'Search and Replace' for a complete description of this command. Marking Files ───────────── Using marked files is a convenient way to execute a single file manager command on many files in a file manager window. For example, you can mark 20 files, and then copy them all to another directory with only one copy command, instead of copying each file individually. Marked files are indicated by a '' character to the left of the filename. When files are marked, the total number and the total size (in bytes or 1k increments) of all the marked files is displayed on the file manager window status line. To execute a file manager command on marked files, simply mark the files using any of the commands listed below, and then enter the desired command. The file manager will automatically detect the presence of marked files and execute the command on the marked files instead of the file at the cursor. The following commands can be used to mark and unmark files: - fmark 'Mark Toggle' <space> This command will toggle the current marked state of the file or directory at the cursor. If the file is already marked, it will be unmarked, otherwise it will be marked. You can toggle the marked state of a range of contiguous files or directories by holding the <shift> key down while using the <up> or <down> cursor keys. - using the mouse: To toggle the marked state of individual files, hold the <ctrl> key down while clicking the left mouse button on the file at the cursor. To toggle the marked state of a range of files, press the left mouse button down and hold the <shift> key down while dragging the mouse over files in the file manager window. - fmark 'ma' 'Mark All' <alt m> This command will mark all the files in the current file manager window. Directories will not be marked. - fmark 'ua' 'Unmark All' <alt u> This command will unmark all files and directories in the current file manager window. File Manager Sorting ──────────────────── The order in which files are sorted in the file manager can be changed by selecting the desired sort order from the Sort menu, or by entering a keyboard command. The configuration setting 'FmgrSort' specifies the default sort order when a new file manager window is opened (see 'Configuration - Open Options'). These are the file manager sorting commands: - fsort 'n' 'Name' <alt n> This command sorts the file manager listing by filename in ascending order. - fsort 'e' 'Extension' This command sorts the file manager listing by filename extension in ascending order. - fsort 's' 'Size' <alt s> This command sorts the file manager listing by file size in descending order. - fsort 'd' 'Date-Time' <alt d> This command sorts the file manager listing by file date and time in descending order. - fsort 'o' 'OS Default' <alt o> This command displays the file manager listing using the DOS default order (no sort). Configuration ───────────── Aurora is a very configurable editor. A wide range of configuration settings are available for controlling the video device, the mouse, window appearances, editing preferences, printing, the desktop, and much more. Configuration settings are stored in CONFIG.AML as macro language variables, and are thus available to macro language functions and programs. You can quickly open the configuration file for editing by selecting the 'Configuration' item from the Macro menu. To change a configuration setting, simply use the editor to locate the configuration variable in CONFIG.AML and type in the new value. Then save it <f3>, and execute the 'recompile' <alt f2> command ('Recompile the Editor' on the Set menu). You must exit and re-enter the editor for the new configuration setting to take effect. The following sections describe each of the configuration variables. Acceptable values for each variable are shown in brackets after the variable name. Multiple values are separated by a slash (/), and value ranges are indicated with a hyphen (-). Video Options ───────────── VidCols [0/40/80] Sets the number of video columns to be displayed when the editor is started. If zero is specified, the current number of DOS columns is used. The installation default is 0. VidRows [0/12/14/21/25/28/43/50] Sets the number of video rows to be displayed when the editor is started. If zero is specified, the current number of DOS rows used. The installation default is 0. VidStr Specifies the string used to fill the video background. The string may be 0-50 chars long. This setting can be used to create interesting background patterns. The installation default is '░'. If this setting is null or not specified, the screen background will not be changed. Whatever is on the screen when the editor is started will become the video background. Mouse Options ───────────── Mouse [y/n] Enables or disables the mouse. A text mode mouse driver (such as MOUSE.COM, MOUSE.SYS, etc.) must have been previously installed. A special mouse driver may be required to operate the editor in video modes with 132 or more columns. The installation default is 'y'. MouseOpt [d/r] Sets various mouse intialization options. You can specify any of the following options: d - hide the mouse after each keystroke and re-show the mouse when the mouse is used r - reverse the left and right mouse buttons. The installation default is no options. MouSenX [0-64] Sets the mouse sensitivity on the x-axis. The installation default is 6 (the mouse driver default is 8). MouSenY [0-64] Sets the mouse sensitivity on the y-axis. The installation default is 13 (the mouse driver default is 16). MouDST [0-128] Sets the mouse speed-doubling threshold. The installation default is 57 (the mouse driver default is 64). MouDouble [0-1000] Sets the mouse double-click sensitivity. This setting specifies the time interval in milliseconds below which two consecutive mouse button clicks are treated as a 'double-click'. The installation default value is 300. MouHold [0-1000] Specifies the amount of time in milliseconds that the left mouse button can be held down on a scroll bar before repeating the scrolling operation. The installation default is 300. MouDelay [0-1000] Adjusts the amount of delay to use when scrolling with the mouse. A value of zero is no delay and 1000 is a one second delay. Using a value of zero on faster computers may cause the mouse to scroll too fast. In this case, 16, 24, or 32 are recommended. The installation default is zero. MouMark [k/l/s] Sets the default type of mark created by clicking the left mouse button and dragging the mouse in an edit window. You can specify one of the following options: k - column marks l - line marks s - stream marks MouMarkD [k/l/s] Sets the default type of mark created by double-clicking the left mouse button and dragging the mouse in an edit window. See 'MouMark' above for a description of valid options. Word Processing Options ─────────────────────── TabWidth [0-15999] Sets the number of columns between tab stops for regular interval tabs. The installation default is 8. VarTabs Specifies a string of column positions to use for variable tab stops. The installation default is '4 8 16 24 50 72'. LMargin [1-16000] Sets the default left margin. The installation default is 1. RMargin [1-16000] Sets the default right margin. The installation default is 72. Open Options ──────────── OpenOpt [c/e/f/h/n/v/z] Sets the default size and placement of new edit windows and file manager windows on the screen, and also determines if new edit windows are created. The following options can be specified: c - new windows are cascaded to the bottom and left of the current window and have the same size as the current window. e - new edit windows are only opened if no edit windows currently exist or the current window is a file manager window. f - new windows are sized to fill the screen (maximized, but with the window borders visible). h - new windows are tiled horizontally with other windows on the screen. n - new windows are minimized. v - new windows are tiled vertically with other windows on the screen. z - new windows are maximized. The installation default is 'f'. Note: if the editor is configured to remember previous window sizes and positions, this setting applies only to new windows which are not 'remembered' from previous sessions (see the 'SavePosition' configuration setting). LineDlm Specifies a default line delimiter string of 1 or 2 bytes to be used when loading and saving non-binary files. The installation default is 0D0Ah (hexadecimal carriage return and linefeed). BinaryLength [1-16000] Sets the default line length to use when loading files in binary mode. The installation default is 64. TruncLength [0-16000] Sets the length at which lines are truncated when loading files. A value of zero indicates that the maximum line length (16000) should be used. The installation default is zero. Default File Extensions ─────────────────────── Default file extensions can save you time by allowing you to open a file without specifying an extension. For example, if '.TXT' is one of your default file extensions, you only need to enter 'ABC' at an open prompt to open the file 'ABC.TXT'. To specify default file extensions, set the configuration variable 'DefExt' to a list of your favorite file extensions, separated by one or more spaces. When loading files, the default extensions are 'tried' in the order they are listed. For example: set DefExt "c h txt" Using the example above: if a filename with no extension is specified at an open prompt, the editor will first try to open the file with the extension '.C', then the extension '.H', and finally the extension '.TXT'. The default file extensions at installation are: 'c h cpp doc dox aml txt asm pas inc bat'. Save Options ──────────── BackupDir Sets the path where backup copies of a file are to be placed when saving the file. The 'Backup' window setting must be ON for files to be backed up. If this setting is null, then the backup copy is placed in the same directory as the saved file, but with the extension defined by the 'BackupExt' configuration setting (see below). The installation default for this setting is null. BackupExt Specifies the file extension to use when backing up files in the same directory as the saved file. The 'Backup' window setting must be ON for files to be backed up. The installation default is 'BAK'. SaveOpt [e/t/x/z] Specifies various options to use when saving files. You can use any of the following options: e - entab the file using the tab width specified by the TabWidth setting t - trim trailing blanks x - do not save fold comments if folds are used in the file z - append a ctrl-z (ASCII 26) character to the end of the file The installation default is 't'. AutoSave [0-2147483] Specifies the number of seconds between automatic saves for the current file. A value of zero disables Autosave. The installation default is zero. Note that automatic saves will occur only if the current file has been modified since the last save. FoldSign Specifies the fold comment signature to use when loading and saving files with folds. The installation default is " [fold] ". Editing Options ─────────────── DefaultSet [a/b/d/i/l/m/s/t/u/v/w/x] Specifies the window settings to turn ON for new edit windows which are not 'remembered' from previous sessions. You can specify any of the following settings: a - Autoindent b - Backup d - Draw Mode i - Insert Mode (also in prompts) l - Live Word Wrap m - Match Character s - Smart tabs t - Translate u - Undo v - Variable tabs w - Word Wrap (standard) x - Syntax Highlighting The installation default is 'abiux'. UndoSize [0-2147483647] Specifies the maximum number of editing commands that can be undone with the Undo and Redo commands. The installation default is 300. HistSize [0-1000] Specifies the maximum number of previously entered prompt strings (prompt 'history') which can be retrieved for each prompt. The installation default is 50. If the configuration setting 'SavePosition' is ON, this setting also determines the maximum number of edit windows and file manager windows that will remember their sizes, positions, and settings. Note: if the configuration setting 'SaveHistory' is ON, and HistSize set to very large values, it can lengthen the amount of time it takes to enter and exit the editor. Don't set HistSize much higher than you really need. ClipName Sets the default clipboard name. The installation default is 'clipboard'. EnterIns [i/s] Specifies the default <enter> key behaviour when insert mode is ON. You can choose one of the following options: i - inserts a new line and moves the cursor to the beginning of the new line. s - splits the current line at the cursor and moves the cursor to the beginning of the next line If no options are specified (null), the cursor is moved to the beginning of the next line, without inserting any new lines. The installation default is 's'. EnterOvl [i/s] Specifies the default <enter> key behaviour when insert mode is OFF. See the 'EnterIns' configuration setting above for a list of available options. The installation default is null. TabShift [y/n] Specifies whether or not text is to be shifted left or right with the cursor when the insert mode is ON and the 'tabright' <tab> or 'tableft' <shift tab> commands are entered. The installation default is 'y'. DelJoin [y/n] Specifies whether or not the 'delchar2' <del> and 'delword' <ctrl t> commands should join lines when the cursor is at the end of a line. The installation default is 'y'. BakJoin [y/n] Specifies whether or not the 'backsp' <backspace> command should join the current line with the previous line when the cursor is at column one. The installation default is 'y'. BakOvl [y/n] Specifies whether or not the 'backsp' <backspace> command should overlay columns with blank spaces when insert mode is OFF, instead of shifting text to the left. The installation default is 'n'. InsAbove [y/n] If this setting is 'y', then block commands such as Copy, Move, and Paste will insert blocks above the line at the cursor, otherwise blocks will be inserted after the cursor. The installation default is 'n'. CopyLine [y/n] Specifies whether or not the 'copyblock2' <alt c> command should duplicate the current line if no marked block exists. The installation default is 'y'. DelLine [y/n] Specifies whether or not the 'deleteblock2' <alt d> command should delete the current line if no marked block exists. The installation default is 'n'. CurHigh [y/n] Specifies whether or not the line at the cursor should be highlighted in edit windows. The installation default is 'y'. LineStyle [0/1/2/3/4] Sets the default line drawing style used when Line Draw is ON. You can choose one of the following values: 0 - single line 1 - double horizontal line 2 - double vertical line 3 - double line 4 - erase The installation default is 0. MultCopy [y/n] Specifies whether or not the editor will allow you to edit more than one copy of the same file at the same time. The installation default is 'n'. SearchOpt [b/g/i/r/s/w/x] Sets the default search options to use for all the Find, Replace, and Scan prompts. The following options may be specified: b - marked block only g - global search i - ignore case r - search in reverse s - skip closed folds w - whole words only x - regular expressions The installation default is 'i' ReplaceOpt [a] Sets the default replace options to use for Replace prompts. The following options may be specified: a - replace all occurrences without prompting EOTLine Sets the string to use as the 'End-of-Text' line in edit windows. If null is specified, the default End-of-Text Line is: '≡≡≡≡≡≡ End of Text ≡≡≡≡≡≡'. The installation default is null. ExitOpen [y/n] Specifies whether or not the open prompt is to be displayed when closing the last window in an edit session. If 'n' is specified, closing the last window will return you to DOS. The installation default is 'n'. Note: the open prompt will not displayed when using the 'closeall' <alt x> command. Window Options ────────────── EditStyle [h/m/n/s/v/2] Sets the default window features to be displayed for edit windows. You can choose any of the following options: h - horizontal scroll bar m - menu bar n - north title bar s - south title bar v - vertical scroll bar 2 - tool bar The installation default is 'hmnsv'. EditTitle [n/s/l/c/r] Sets the location of the edit window title. You can specify one of the following options: n - north title bar s - south title bar You can also specify one of the following options: l - left justified c - centered r - right justified The installation default is 'nl'. EditStatus [n/s/l/c/r] Sets the location of the edit window status line. See 'EditTitle' above for valid options. The installation default is 'nr'. EditCtls [n/s] Sets the location of the edit window title bar controls. You can specify one of the following options: n - north title bar s - south title bar The installation default is 'n'. FmgrStyle [h/m/n/s/v] Sets the default window features to be displayed for file manager windows. See 'EditStyle' above for valid options. The installation default is 'hmnsv'. FmgrTitle [n/s/l/c/r] Sets the location of the file manager window title. See 'EditTitle' above for valid options. The installation default is 'nl'. FmgrStatus [n/s/l/c/r] Sets the location of the file manager window status line. See 'EditTitle' above for valid options. The installation default is 'sl'. FmgrCtls [n/s] Sets the location of the file manager window title bar controls. See 'EditCtls' above for valid options. The installation default is 'n'. PromptStyle [c/d/1/2] Sets the default prompt style to use for all editor prompts. One of the following styles can be specified: c - command lines d - dialog boxes 1 - one line boxes 2 - two line boxes BoxStyle [f/i/o/0/1/2/3/4/5/6] Sets the window border style for one and two-line box prompts. You can specify one of the following options: f - flat i - inward 3D effect o - outward 3D effect You can also specify a border type from 0 to 6: 0 - blank 1 - single line 2 - double horizontal 3 - double vertical 4 - double line 5 - solid 6 - blank The installation default is 'i1'. DlgStyle [f/i/o/0/1/2/3/4/5/6] Sets the window border style for dialog box windows. See 'BoxStyle' above for valid options. The installation default is 'i1'. TileSplit [1-5] This setting is used to configure the window 'Tiling' commands. It specifies the maximum number of tiles which can exist on the screen before they are split in both horizontal and vertical directions. The installation default is 3. MenuCursor [i/o] This setting allows the video hardware cursor to be displayed on the editor menus and the file manager (helpful for blind users). One of the following options may be specified: i - display the hardware cursor using insert mode size o - display the hardware cursor using overstrike mode size If no options are specified (null), the hardware cursor is not displayed. The installation default is null. File Manager Options ──────────────────── FmgrOpt [d/h/k/1] Specifies various file manager display options. You can use any of the following values: d - display subdirectories h - show hidden and system files k - show file sizes and totals in 1k increments 1 - display directories first when sorting by name The installation default is 'dh1'. FmgrSort [d/e/n/o/s] Sets the default sort order for file manager windows. You can use one of the following values: d - sort by date and time in descending order e - sort by extension in ascending order n - sort by name in ascending order o - no sort (OS default order) s - sort by size in descending order The installation default is 'n'. FmgrQuit [y/n] Specifies whether or not a file manager window is to be automatically closed when a file is opened from it. The installation default is 'n'. Print Options ───────────── PrtDev [prn/lpt1/lpt2/lpt3/lpt4 or filename] Sets the default printer device. If a filename is specified, all printing output will be routed to the file. The installation default is 'prn'. PrtPag [0-65535] Specifies the lines-per-page of printed output. This includes the top and bottom print margins (if any). After the specified lines per page have been printed, a formfeed character (ASCII 12) will be sent to the printer and a new page will be started. If this setting is zero, printing will be continuous. The current printer settings for top margin, bottom margin, header, footer, and page number will be ignored. If you already have special printer control characters embedded in your text, it is probably best to set PrtPag to zero. The installation default is 0. PrtSpace [0-65535] Sets the number of lines to advance after printing each line of output. A value of 1 generates single-spaced output, 2 generates double-spaced output, and so on. The installation default is 1. PrtCop [0-65535] Sets the number of copies to print. The installation default is 1. PrtIni Specifies a device-specific control string to be sent to the printer before each print command. The installation default is null. PrtTop [0-65535] Sets the number of blank lines to precede printed output at the top of each page. This value is included in the 'PrtPag' setting (lines per page). This setting is ignored if 'PrtPag' is zero. The installation default is zero. PrtBot [0-65535] Sets the number of blank lines to follow printed output at the bottom of each page. This value is included in the 'PrtPag' setting (lines per page). This setting is ignored if 'PrtPag' is zero. The installation default is zero. PrtLeft [0-255] Sets the number of blank columns to precede printed output on each line. The installation default is zero. PrtRight [0-65535] Sets the column position at which to truncate each printed line. This column position is relative to column zero of the printed output, not the file being printed. If zero is specified, lines are not truncated. The installation default is zero. PrtOpt [e/f/h/l/p/s] Specifies various default print options. You can use any of the following options: e - ejects a page after printing. f - prints a footer at the bottom of each page. The default footer is a left justified string consisting of the filename being printed and the current date and time. The footer uses 2 or 3 lines of the printed output, depending on whether or not an optional separator line is specified. This option is ignored if 'PrtPag' (lines per page) is zero. h - prints a header at the top of each page. The default header is a left justified string consisting of the filename being printed and the current date and time. The header uses 2 or 3 lines of the printed output, depending on whether or not an optional separator line is specified. This option is ignored if 'PrtPag' (lines per page) is zero. l - prints the line number in the file at the beginning of each line of printed output. p - prints a right justified page number on the header and footer lines. If no header or footer are specified, a blank header line is assumed. This option is ignored if 'PrtPag' (lines per page) is zero. s - prints a separator line after the header line and before the footer line. The installation default is 'ehps'. Desktop Options ─────────────── SavePosition [y/n] Specifies whether or not edit window and file manager window sizes, positions, settings, and cursor positions should be saved when the window is closed and restored when the window is re-opened. The installation default is 'y'. Note: the 'HistSize' setting determines the maximum number of windows that will 'remember' their sizes, positions, etc. SaveDialog [y/n] Specifies whether or not the positions of dialog boxes and named popup menus will be saved when they are closed and restored when they are re-opened. The installation default is 'y'. 'SavePosition' must be 'y' for this setting to be active. SaveHistory [y/n] Specifies whether or not prompt history and window sizes, positions, etc. should be saved in the file HISTORY.DAT when exiting the editor and reloaded when restarting the editor. The installation default is 'y'. SaveMac [y/n] Specifies whether or not all current key macros should be saved in the file A.MAC when exiting the editor, and reloaded when restarting the editor. The installation default is 'n'. BootOpt [d/f/n/o] Specifies what to do when the editor is loaded without specifying a filename or directory after the 'A' command on the DOS command line. One of the following options may be specified: d - restores the previous desktop layout. The 'SaveHistory' configuration setting must also be set to 'y'. f - opens a file manager window for the current directory n - opens a new file o - displays an open prompt The installation default is 'd'. Character Sets ────────────── The 'character set' settings are used to define the characters which constitute a 'word' for some editor commands. Characters sets are defined by creating a string containing all the characters in the character set. Character ranges can be abbreviated by using hyphens (-). The default character sets are: CSetA Defines words for commands operating on normal text. The installation default is: a-zA-Z0-9_. CSetB Defines words for commands operating on file names. The installation default is: a-zA-Z0-9_()\-./\\@{}~:^!#$%&`'. CSet This is the default character set used for most editing operations. You should set the value of this setting to other character sets such as CSetA or CSetB above. The installation default is CSetA. Translation Options ─────────────────── TranObj Specifies the name of the macro language object to be used for Text Translation. This variable can be changed dynamically through the macro language. The installation default is 'tran'. TranCSet Specifies the character set used to define a word for Text Translation. This variable can be changed dynamically through the macro language. The installation default is 'a-zA-Z0-9_;'. Confirmation Options ──────────────────── ConDel [y/n] Specifies whether or not you wish to be prompted when files are deleted. The installation default is 'y'. ConRpl [y/n] Specifies whether or not you wish to be prompted when files are replaced. The installation default is 'y'. ConTch [y/n] Specifies whether or not you wish to be prompted when files are touched. The installation default is 'y'. Border Options ────────────── Shadow [0-5] Sets the thickness of the 'shadow' on the right and bottom window borders. Specifying a thickness greater than one may provide better 3-D contrast in higher video modes. The installation default is 1. BorderStyle [0-6] Specifies the border style to use for edit windows and file manager windows. You can choose one of the following border styles: 0 - expanded borders 1 - single line 2 - double horizontal 3 - double vertical 4 - double line 5 - solid 6 - blank If 'expanded borders' is specified, you can configure other aspects of the border appearance with the BorX, BorY, and BorO configuration settings (see below). The installation default is 0 (expanded borders). BorX [0-10] Sets the left and right border thickness for expanded borders. The installation default is 1. BorY [0-10] Sets the top and bottom border thickness for expanded borders. The installation default is 1. BorO [0-10] Specifies the amount of 'overlap' to use on expanded border corners. The installation default is 2. Colors ────── Editor colors are defined in the file COLOR.AML. You can change the colors for the screen background, edit windows, file manager windows, prompts, dialog boxes, and dialog box controls. For each color setting, colors are defined using the 'color' macro. For example: color brightblue on gray In the example above, the background color is set to bright blue characters on a gray background. See the file COLOR.AML for a list of all the color settings and their default values. Syntax Highlighting ─────────────────── Syntax Highlighting is an editor feature which automatically colors characters, words, and phrases in your text. This feature can be used to highlight the source code of many different programming languages, or even text files. Using a few simple functions and statements, you can easily configure how elements in your text are highlighted. Syntax highlighting for several different file extensions is defined in the file SYNTAX.AML. You can modify the definitions for these extensions, or add your own definitions for new file extensions. Note that all syntax highlighting definitions are actually source code written in Aurora's macro language. They are compiled and embedded in the file A.X when the 'recompile' <alt f2> command ('Recompile the Editor' on the Set menu) is entered. For complete information on how to configure syntax highlighting, see the Aurora Macro Language Reference, the 'syntax' function in the AML Function Reference, and the configuration file SYNTAX.AML. System Options ────────────── The file SYSTEM.AML contains a few important system settings which are set once and used throughout the editor: blink [ON/OFF] Enables or disables the video blink mode. Disabling the video blink mode allows you to use the higher intensity background color attributes (128-255). The installation default is ON. cursorsize [overtop] [overbot] [instop] [insbot] Sets the hardware cursor size for both insert and overstrike modes. See SYSTEM.AML for a description of the parameters and their default values. enhancedkbd [ON/OFF] Enables or disables use of the enhanced keyboard keys. The installation default is ON. speaker [ON/OFF] Enables or disables the PC speaker. The installation default is ON. international [dateformat] [datesep] [timeformat] [timesep] [thousandsep] Sets the international date and time formats and the thousands separator used throughout the editor. See SYSTEM.AML for a description of the international parameters and their default values. maxems [-1 to 67108] maxxms [-1 to 32767] These settings specify the maximum amount of extended memory (XMS) and expanded memory (EMS) in kilobytes which the editor may use when conventional DOS memory is exhausted. An XMS or EMS-compatible driver must have been previously installed prior to starting the editor. If the amount specified is -1, or is more than the memory available, then the maximum available memory will be used. If zero is specified, then usage of XMS or EMS memory will be disabled. The installation default is -1 (available maximum) for both XMS and EMS memory. Aurora does not require XMS or EMS memory to operate, but their presence can speed up many editing operations when you are working with single or multiple files which are larger than the amount of available conventional memory. When no more conventional memory is available, the editor will first try to use XMS memory, then EMS memory, and then swap to disk if XMS or EMS are not available. Note that it can be sometimes be useful to restrict the amount of XMS or EMS memory used by the editor to less than the available maximum. The editor will use only as much XMS and EMS as it needs. However, if you are editing large files and executing programs from within the editor that use XMS or EMS, these programs may not run correctly if Aurora has already allocated all the available XMS or EMS. swapfiles [primary] [secondary] Specifies the swap file names to be used for the primary and secondary swap files. The installation default is 'c:\aurora@1.swp' for the primary swapfile, and 'd:\aurora@2.swp' for the secondary swapfile. The secondary swapfile should always be on a different drive than the primary swapfile, and is only be used when there is not enough space on the drive containing the primary swapfile. memoptions [o] Specifies memory usage options. The following option can be specified: o - allows edited files to remain open (in DOS). Specifying this option can greatly increase the loading performance for very large files. Note that specifying this option may sometimes cause temporary files to be created. Key Definitions ─────────────── Note: in reading through the following sections on the keyboard, mouse, menus, and text translation, it may be helpful to refer to the Aurora Macro Language Reference. Aurora's key definitions are contained in the file KBD.AML. You can quickly open this file for editing by selecting the 'Keys' item from the Macro menu. Note that all key definitions are actually source code written in Aurora's macro language. They are compiled and embedded in the file A.X when the 'recompile' <alt f2> command ('Recompile the Editor' on the Set menu) is entered. Each key definition is really just a function defined within a macro language 'object' associated with a specific type of window. There are objects for edit windows, file manager windows, and prompt windows. When a key is pressed in one of these windows, the key function is called in the object associated with the window. For example: object edit key <alt e> askopen key <alt q> close . . In the example above, two keys are defined to work within an edit window: <alt e> displays an open prompt, and <alt q> closes the edit window. To change the definition of a key, simply use the editor to locate the existing key definition in KBD.AML, and then change the key name and function definition according to your preferences. The key name must be a valid key name recognized by the editor (see the Aurora Macro Language Reference - Appendix A for a list of valid key names). Then save KBD.AML <f3>, and execute the 'recompile' <alt f2> command ('Recompile the Editor' on the Set menu). You must exit and re-enter the editor for the new key definition to take effect. To add a new key definition, you must first decide in what type(s) of windows you would like the key to be active. Then select a macro language 'object' based on the window type. You can choose from the following objects: edit - edit windows only fmgr - file manager windows only edit_fmgr - edit windows and file manager windows prompt - edit windows, prompts, and edit controls win - movable or sizeable windows mon - all windows After you have selected an object, locate the object in KBD.AML and enter the new key definition anywhere within the scope of the object definition. You must use a key name which the editor recognizes. For example: // edit windows only object edit . . key <f3> save // insert a new key definition . . When you have entered the new key definition, save KBD.AML <f3>, and execute the 'recompile' <alt f2> command ('Recompile the Editor' on the Set menu). You must exit and re-enter the editor for the new key definition to take effect. If you change keyboard definitions, you will probably also want to change any menu definitions which show the old key definitions. Multi-Key Definitions ───────────────────── Aurora allows you to define 'multi-keys'. A multi-key is a combination of keys that act as one function key. By using multi-keys, you can greatly expand the number of available function keys, or help to make Aurora behave like another editor or word processor. A multi-key name is formed by simply joining all of its constituent key names together. For example: <ctrl k><q> <alt x><alt y><alt z> <f11><f1><a> To use a multi-key in a key definition, you must first define the multi-key 'prefix'. The multi-key prefix is the multi-key name without the last key. For example: <ctrl k><q> // prefix is <ctrl k> <ctrl k><alt y><alt z> // prefix is <ctrl k><alt y> <f11><f2><a> // prefix is <f11><f2> A multi-key prefix is defined by using the 'prefix' function. For example: // define the prefix <ctrl k> key <ctrl k> prefix <ctrl k> // define the prefix <ctrl k><alt y> key <ctrl k><alt y> prefix <ctrl k><alt y> Once the appropriate prefixes have been defined, multi-key names can be used in key definitions. For example: object edit . key <ctrl k><q> close // close the file key <ctrl k><alt y><alt z> save // save the file . . Note that when a function key is used as the first key in a multi-key prefix, it can no longer be used as a 'normal' function key. Multi-keys have one restriction: you cannot assign a key macro to a multi-key. The following key prefixes are defined by default at installation: <ctrl k> <ctrl o> <ctrl q> Menu Definitions ──────────────── Aurora has a fully configurable menu system. You can redefine the menu bars, pull-down menus, and even the edit window tool bar to suit your own preferences. Menu definitions are contained in the file MENU.AML. Like key and mouse definitions, all menu definitions are actually source code written in Aurora's macro language. They are compiled and embedded in the file A.X when the 'recompile' <alt f2> command ('Recompile the Editor' on the Set menu) is entered. When new edit windows and file manager windows are created, the editor automatically calls the functions 'EditMen' and 'FmgrMen' to define menu bars for the new windows. The file MENU.AML contains modifiable definitions for each of these functions. For example, the default definition for the function 'FmgrMen' (the file manager menu bar) is: function FmgrMen menubar '' 1 // description menu item "&File" "fmgrFile" item "&Window" "fmgrWindow" item "&Mark" "fmgrMark" item "&Command" "fmgrCommand" item "&Sort" "fmgrSort" item "&Print" "fmgrPrint" item "Se&t" "fmgrSet" item "M&acro" "editMacro" item "&Help" "editHelp" end end In the 'menubar' statement above, the 'item' keyword defines the description of each menu bar item and the name of the pull-down menu associated with the item. The ampersand (&) character is used to indicate the highlighted character (and the 'hot key') for the menu bar item. The edit window toolbar is also defined by using the 'menubar' statement. For the toolbar however, the 'item' keyword indicates a command (or commands) to execute, not a pull-down menu. For example: menubar '' 2 // description command item "<&&≡>" toolbar item "<&&*>" open "*.*" item "<&&/>" copywin . . end Note that highlighted characters are indicated with two ampersands (&&) in the example above. This indicates that the window title bar control color is to be used, not the menu highlight color. To define a pull-down menu, use the 'menu' statement. For example, the following 'menu' statement defines the Mark menu for file manager windows: menu "fmgrMark" // description command item " Mark &Toggle <space>" fmark item "─" item " &Mark All <alt m>" fmark "ma" item " &Unmark All <alt u>" fmark "ua" end In the example above, the 'item' keyword defines each menu item description and the command(s) to be executed when the item is selected. The (&) character is used to indicate the highlighted character (and the 'hot key') for the menu item. If the item description is a hyphen (-), a separator line is created on the menu. You can use the 'submenu' command to call a submenu from a pull-down menu. For example: menu "fmgrSet" . . item " &Video Mode.. " submenu "Fonts" . end In the example above, when 'Video Mode' is selected, the submenu 'Fonts' is displayed. The 'Fonts' menu should have been previously defined with the 'menu' statement. In the file MENU.AML, you can modify any menu bar or menu definition you wish, except for the first twelve lines of the edit window Set menu (the window settings). Aurora expects these menu items to remain the same. When you have completed your changes to MENU.AML, save it <f3>, and execute the 'recompile' <alt f2> command ('Recompile the Editor' on the Set menu). You must exit and re-enter the editor for the new menu definitions to take effect. Mouse Definitions ───────────────── Aurora's mouse definitions are contained in the file MOUSE.AML. Like key definitions, all mouse definitions are actually source code written in Aurora's macro language. They are compiled and embedded in the file A.X when the 'recompile' <alt f2> command ('Recompile the Editor' on the Set menu) is entered. You can redefine the behaviour of the mouse in the same way as you would redefine the keyboard. Just as the editor calls a key definition function when a key is pressed, it will also call a mouse definition function when you click a mouse button or move the mouse. As with keyboard definitions, mouse definitions are placed in an object associated with a specific window type, and must use a valid mouse event name recognized by the editor. For example: object edit . // close the window if the left mouse button is pressed function <lbutton> close end . . For more information about mouse definitions and mouse event names, see the Aurora Macro Language Reference. Translation ─────────── Text Translation is an editor feature which allows you to expand abbreviations and correct commonly misspelled words or typos as you enter characters into your text. You must define each abbreviation or word and the substitution text in a special 'translation object'. You can also define macros that are executed whenever the name of the macro is entered as a word in your text. Translation definitions are contained in the file TRAN.AML. Like key and menu definitions, translation definitions are actually source code written in Aurora's macro language. They are compiled and embedded in the file A.X when the 'recompile' <alt f2> command ('Recompile the Editor' on the Set menu) is entered. Translation can be turned ON and OFF by using the 'Translate' <alt f4> command on the Set pull-down menu. When translation is ON, the indicator 'T' appears on the status line. When translation is ON, the editor will automatically check each word you type (in a case-sensitive manner) to see if it exists in a special user-defined translation object in the file TRAN.AML. If the word is found, it is replaced with the corresponding substitution text you have defined in the object. The following is an example of a translation object: // translation table object object tran // Word: Replace with: // ──── ──────────── set "adn" "and" set "asap" "as soon as possible" set "etc" "et cetera" set "i*" "I" set "recieve" "receive" set "teh" "the" . . Using the sample object above, if translate is ON and you type in the word 'teh', it is immediately replaced with the word 'the'. Similarly, 'adn' is replaced with 'and', and 'asap' is replaced with 'as soon as possible'. In the examples above, 'teh', 'adn', and 'asap' are translated as soon as the last character in the word is entered. However, this can be a problem if the word being translated is also found at the beginning of other words. To prevent translation from occurring until a word delimiter character is entered, attach an asterisk (*) to the end of the word in the translation object. For example: set "i*" "I" In the example above, translation will not occur when you type 'i'. It will only occur when you type 'i' and enter a word delimiter character (such as a space, comma, or period), or when you press <enter>. The translation object may also contain macro language function definitions. These macros will be called when translation is ON and the function name is entered as a word in your text. For example: // translation table object object tran . . function "bip*" beep 800 200 end function bop beep 100 200 end Using the examples above, if translation is ON, and you enter the word 'bop', you'll hear a low beep. If you enter the word 'bip' followed by a space, you'll hear a high beep. For complete documentation on macro language functions, see the Aurora Macro Language Reference. The following configuration settings are associated with translation (see 'Configuration - Translation Options'): TranObj - the current text translation object TranCSet - the character set used to define a word for translation lookup Command Line Options ──────────────────── Command line options can be specified after the 'A' command when starting Aurora from the DOS prompt. You can use command line options to execute macros or to control various aspects of your editing environment. To specify a command line option, enter a hyphen (-) followed by the option and any option parameters. The following command line options can be specified: c - compiles the macro source file immediately following the option 'c' (with no spaces in between). More than one file can be compiled by specifying multiple 'c' options. For example: C>a -cd:\aurora\test.aml -cabc.aml In the example above, the macro files 'd:\aurora\test.aml' and 'abc.aml' are compiled. e - executes the macro function immediately following the option 'e' (with no spaces in between). The macro is executed after any edit windows or file manager windows are opened. If more than one -e option is specified, each macro function is executed in the order it is specified. <Event> names must be enclosed in double quotes. For example: C>a myfile.txt -esetup -e"<shift f1>" In the example above, the macro function 'setup' is called and the <shift f1> key is simulated after 'myfile.txt' is opened. k - forces the editor to use color attributes. m - forces the editor to use monochrome attributes. x - executes the compiled macro file immediately following the option 'x' (with no spaces in between). If more than one -x option is specified, each macro file is executed in the order it is specified. If this option is not specified, then the default macro file A.X is executed. Note that if option 'x' is specified, A.X is not automatically executed, and must be explicitly specified. C>a -xc:\aurora\a.x -xc:\aurora\test.x In the example above, Aurora is started from DOS command line and the macro files 'c:\aurora\a.x' and 'c:\aurora\test.x' are executed. Performance Tips ──────────────── Aurora is one of the fastest editors currently available. However, the following tips may help you get the utmost in performance: Use the maximum available conventional memory: Configure DOS so that the maximum amount of conventional memory (below one megabyte) is available to the editor. This will decrease the likelihood that the editor will use slower XMS or EMS memory, or swap to disk. Use a disk cache program: Using a disk caching program such as SMARTDRV can greatly enhance overall editor performance, including the initial loading of the editor, loading and saving files, executing DOS programs from within the editor, and general virtual memory performance. Use XMS or EMS memory if available: Using XMS and/or EMS memory can greatly increase performance when editing large files, and when executing DOS programs from within the editor (see 'Configuration - System Options'). Turn off 'SaveHistory' and 'SaveMac' Turning off these two configuration settings in CONFIG.AML can reduce the amount of time it takes to enter and exit the editor. Note that turning off 'SaveHistory' will prevent the editor from remembering window positions and sizes, cursor positions, etc. across edit sessions. Disable Undo/Redo when making large-scale modifications If you are working with a very large file, and you are performing global 'search and replace all' operations, or modifying large blocks of text in the file, you may get significantly better performance if 'Undo' is disabled on the Set menu.