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- What's New in BBEdit 4.0
- ====== === == ====== ===
-
- This document describes the feature enhancements and bug fixes that
- have been added since version 3.5.
-
-
- Feature Additions
- ======= =========
-
- BBEdit 4.0 incorporates the following improvements:
-
- Syntax Coloring for Easier Reading
- ------ -------- --- ------ -------
- With the release of version 4.0, users can have BBEdit automatically
- color keywords to make source code and HTML documents easier to read.
- Users can specify which colors BBEdit uses to highlight language
- keywords, comments, string constants, and HTML tags. BBEdit offers
- syntax coloring for all of its supported languages, now including Java
- as well as C, C++, Object Pascal, Rez, 68K assembler, Fortran, Tcl,
- Perl, HTML, ScriptX, GuideScript, and TeX.
-
- Java Support
- ---- -------
- BBEdit 4.0 includes support for Java, making it an excellent companion
- for the Java development environments by Symantec, Metrowerks, Sun
- Microsystems, and Natural Intelligence.
-
- Web Site Scripting with Frontier 4.0
- --- ---- --------- ---- -------- ---
- BBEdit now includes full integration with Frontier 4.0, the advanced
- scripting system from UserLand Software, which is supplied on the
- BBEdit CD-ROM. This combination of BBEdit and Frontier provides "Web
- Site Scripting", a powerful system for HTML authoring and web site
- management. Web Site Scripting features include:
-
- - an extensible Glossary database -- any keyword typed in "double
- quotes" is expanded to its glossary definition automatically.
-
- - automatic substitution of HTML escape sequences -- instead of
- having to write complicated HTML escape sequences to display
- special characters, simply type the characters as you would
- normally, and the appropriate escape sequences are inserted
- automatically.
-
- - URL and e-mail link generation -- when you type a URL or e-mail
- address, the macro processor will construct the correct HTML
- anchor tags for you.
-
- - one-key processing and previewing of pages.
-
- Even Newer Features!
- ==== ===== =========
-
- In addition to the improvements listed above, BBEdit 4.0.1 features the following:
-
- Enhanced HTML Editing
- -------- ---- -------
- BBEdit 4.0 includes version 2.1 of the "BBEdit HTML Tools". This improved
- version of the popular HTML authoring tools offers a floating tool palette
- for easy access to HTML markup tags, enhanced HTML checking and previewing
- capabilities, and the ability to insert image and anchor links by simply
- dropping the appropriate image or HTML file into an HTML document's window.
- The HTML Tools also feature "PageMill Cleaner", which is useful for
- correcting several errors in the HTML code generated by version 1.0 of
- Adobe PageMill.
-
- Editing via FTP
- ------- --- ---
- BBEdit 4.0.1 features two new commands on the File menu: "Open from FTP
- Server" and "Save to FTP Server". These commands make it easy to edit
- text files residing on a remote FTP server (including Web servers which
- are accessible via FTP).
-
- Multiple Undo
- -------- ----
- BBEdit 4.0.1 gives you the ability to undo more than just the last
- change you made to a file. Because the "Undo" command no longer changes
- to "Redo" when you have undone an action, there is a new "Redo" command
- on the Edit menu. To reverse the effects of an Undo, choose the "Redo"
- command.
-
- And a Host of Other Changes
- === = ==== == ===== =======
-
- The BBEdit 4.0 package encompasses a number of other enhancements over
- previous versions, including:
-
- - Support for Metrowerks' CodeWarrior 9
-
- - Even more Drag & Drop capabilities
-
- - Support for PowerTalk 1.5.
-
- Additionally, BBEdit 4.0 is even faster than previous versions, thanks
- to several internal performance enhancements.
-
- Other Improvements Since BBEdit 3.5
- ===== ============ ===== ====== ===
-
- Spell Checking
- ----- --------
- BBEdit now offers integrated spell checking, via the "SpellWright"
- spell-check engine. By using the "Check Spelling" command under the Text
- menu, you can locate and correct duplicate words and incorrect
- spellings. In addition, the built-in spell checking is HTML-aware: when
- checking an HTML document, the spell-check system will skip over HTML
- markup tags, allowing you to easily check your Web page content.
-
- In addition to the integrated spell checking, BBEdit can also interact
- with external spell checkers which support the "Word Services Suite",
- such as "Spellswell", by Working Software, Inc.
- <http://www.webcom.com/~working/>.
-
- Enhanced Extensions
- -------- ----------
- As of version 3.5.2, BBEdit features significant enhancements to its
- extension interface. These enhancements make it possible for properly
- written BBEdit extensions to offer floating tool windows for easier
- access to plug-in functionality. These enhancements are documented in
- the newest version of the BBEdit Extension Developer's Kit, which is
- included on the BBEdit CD-ROM, and which is available from our Web
- site <http://www.barebones.com/updates.html#tools>.
-
- Improved Scripting Support
- -------- --------- -------
- BBEdit now supports the Apple Event Object Model conventions for
- referring to text in an editing window. In general terms, the object
- model provides access to items in an application as individual objects,
- or "elements". In the context of BBEdit, support for the Object Model
- makes it possible for you to refer to the contents of an editing window
- as individual elements: characters, words, and lines.
-
- Previous versions of BBEdit (3.5.1 and earlier) did not offer this level
- of access to the text, and so performing script-based text
- transformations with BBEdit was difficult. With support for the object
- model, the possibilities are greatly expanded.
-
- As always, you should refer to BBEdit's script dictionary for the
- details about what objects and commands are supported. The changes
- described below will be of special interest to script writers who have
- already written scripts to control BBEdit. As the result of Object Model
- support, your scripts may require some changes in order to work with
- BBEdit 4.0.
-
- - Words, lines, and characters within a specific window can now be
- individually accessed, as in:
-
- get character 1 of line 3 of window 1
- set line 3 of window "untitled" to "abcdef"
-
- - the "window" class has been split into two classes: "window"
- and "document". The "document" class is a superset of the "window"
- class: in addition to the properties specific to a window on the
- screen, the document class contains the properties describing
- an open editing or browsing document window. In most cases,
- you can use "window" and "document" interchangeably.
-
- - The following window properties are obsolete and are no longer
- supported:
-
- character count (use "count of characters in document 1")
- word count (use "count of words in document 1")
- line count (use "count of lines in document 1")
-
- - the "send to back" and "exchange with next" events are no
- longer supported. Instead, set the "index" property of the
- given window:
-
- set the index of window 1 to (count of windows) -- send to back
- set the index of window 2 to 1 -- exchange with next
-
- - the "get search string" event is no longer supported. Instead,
- access the "search string" property of the application:
-
- get the search string -- gets the search string
- set the search string to "my new string" -- sets the search string
-
- (the "replace string" property of the application carries over
- from BBEdit 3.5.1.)
-
- - In the current scripting implementation, most of BBEdit's
- transformation commands still operate on the front document window,
- and do not accept a window or text reference. In the future, this
- will be expanded so that you can, for example, Zap Gremlins on a
- specific range of text.
-
- What's Fixed in BBEdit 4.0.1
- ====== ===== == ====== =====
-
- The following minor enhancements are new as of BBEdit 4.0.1:
-
- + BBEdit's scripting implementation now supports the 'exists' event.
-
- + BBEdit now recognizes files written in TeX (Donald Knuth's
- typesetting language), and provides syntax coloring and PopupFuncs
- navigaton for those files. If you are updating from BBEdit 4.0, you
- will need to go to the "Function Popup" section of the Preferences
- dialog and add a file suffix mapping for TeX source files.
-
- + When performing a multi-file Compare, BBEdit now offers the option
- to suppress the listing of files which are byte-for-byte identical.
- If you choose not to suppress these files, BBEdit 4.0.1 will dim
- those files' entries in the Differences window.
-
- + The performance of multi-file Compare options should be somewhat
- improved, thanks to internal optimizations.
-
- + BBEdit now uses a more up-to-date interface to Internet Config, so
- that it can correctly detect when Internet Config has not been
- properly installed or configured.
-
- + The obsolete "Hot List" setting has been removed from the "HTML"
- section of the Preferences dialog, and settings have been added to
- control whether HTML tags are inserted in upper or lower case.
-
- + BBEdit no longer discards Undo information after a document is
- saved; this is useful for undoing changes to an HTML document after
- previewing it (for example).
-
- + We have changed the way that BBEdit stores information when
- dragging documents to other applications. This should improve
- the ability of other applications to recognize items that are
- dragged from within BBEdit.
-
- + There is a new standard extension: "BinHex Fixer". This extension
- is designed specifically for correcting BinHex files that arrive
- without line breaks (usually as the result of an uploading glitch).
- To fix such a BinHex file, open it in BBEdit, and choose "Fix BinHex
- File" from the Extensions menu. Note that this extension is designed
- for correcting a specific type of defect, namely, the omission of
- line breaks. If the BinHex file is otherwise damaged or incorrectly
- generated, the BinHex Fixer will not be able to correct it.
-
- The following reported problems have been corrected in BBEdit 4.0.1:
-
- - We have integrated new software from Aladdin Systems, which
- fixes a crash when trying to perform multi-file searches when
- StuffIt SpaceSaver is installed.
-
- - BBEdit no longer attempts to open a printer driver until it's
- actually ready to print. This works around several third-party
- printer and fax driver bugs which would cause crashes or performance
- problems (particularly with Virtual Memory turned on).
-
- - the Fortran function scanner should no longer be confused by
- parentheses in quoted strings inside of FORMAT statements.
-
- - The list of saved Grep patterns will no longer become scrambled
- after deleting patterns from the list.
-
- - BBEdit's scripting dictionary has been updated to correct problems
- with the syntax of the "Zap Gremlins" scripting command, and to
- correct problems with accessing the 'selection start line' and
- 'selection end line' properties of a window.
-
- - BBEdit's syntax coloring no longer gets confused by HTML comments
- containing multiple dashes at the end of the comment.
-
- - Fixed a bug which would cause BBEdit to crash when trying to print
- on Power Macs running Quickdraw GX.
-
- - You will no longer see a "Directory Not Found" message when trying
- to insert a glossary entry from the keyboard while File Sharing is
- running.
-
- =end=
-