Copyright: Copyright© 1999 Symantec Corporation.  All rights reserved.
Citation: Copyright© 1999 Symantec Corporation.  All rights reserved.


Configuring the ASPECT Editor

  Related Topics

The ASPECT Editor’s default settings were selected to be compatible with Windows Notepad. However, depending on the kinds of text files you work on with the editor, you may want to take advantage of its other options. For example, if you’re working on source files for ASPECT or other programming languages, you may want to change the way the editor handles tab characters.

Select the File | Preferences command to display the Preferences dialog.

The Preferences item only appears on the File menu if you have at least one document window open.

Startup Group

The options in the Startup group determine the features the ASPECT Editor displays, and whether the editor creates a new document window whenever you run it:

New file at startup

Enable this check box if you’d like the ASPECT Editor to open an untitled document window automatically when it first loads. If this check box is disabled, you’ll have to manually load an existing file or create a new one.

Show Action Bar

This check box controls the display of the editor’s Action Bar at start-up. Turning off the Action Bar allows the editor to display additional lines of text.

You can toggle the Action Bar from within the editor at any time by selecting Window | Action Bar from the menus.

Large Icons

Enable this check box to display the editor’s large Action Bar icon buttons. Turning off the large icon buttons on the Action Bar allows the editor to display additional icon buttons without scrolling.

You can toggle the button size from within the editor at any time by selecting Window | Large Action Bar from the menus.

ToolTips

This check box controls the display of the Action Bar help text when the editor is first loaded. You can toggle the help text from within the editor by selecting Window | ToolTips from the menus.

Options Group

The settings in the Options group determine the editor’s handling of text you type, and its response to the <Enter> key:

Insert Mode.

Enable this check box if you’d like the ASPECT Editor to insert characters you type at the cursor position. If the Insert Mode check box is disabled, characters you type will overwrite existing characters in the document.

You can toggle insert mode from within the editor by pressing the Insert key; the fourth status line field reports "INS" if insert is on or "OVR" if it’s off.

Large Cursor.

This check box controls the size of the editor’s cursor. The larger cursor may be easier to see if you’re using the editor on a laptop. If the check box is enabled, a large block cursor is displayed. Otherwise, the cursor is a vertical line.

Auto Indent

This check box determines the editor’s response to the <Enter> key. If it’s enabled, the editor responds to the <Enter> key by placing the cursor on a new line beneath the first non-space or non-tab character in the previous line. If Auto Indent is disabled, the cursor always returns to the beginning of the new line.

The Auto Indent feature can be a great convenience if you’re writing ASPECT scripts or other kinds of programming source code.

Spacing Group

The options in the Spacing group determine how the editor handles tab characters in a file:

Tab Size.

This edit field determines how many character spaces the ASPECT Editor inserts each time you press the <Tab> key. The default is 8 spaces, but you can specify any value from 0 to 80, inclusive.

Convert Tabs to Spaces.

If this check box is enabled, the ASPECT Editor saves files without tab characters by substituting spaces for each tab character. The number of spaces substituted for each tab character are determined by the Tab Size setting.

Right Mouse Button Group

The options in the Right Mouse Button group determine the ASPECT Editor’s response to a right mouse button click:

Nothing.

Select this option button to have the ASPECT Editor ignore the right mouse button.

Topic Search

Select this option button if you want the right mouse button to display the ASPECT on-line help topic for the word under the mouse cursor.

Goto Line.

Select this option button if you want the right mouse button to bring up the Goto Line dialog, where you can specify a line number in the current file.

Next Window.

Select this option button to have the right mouse button move the cursor and the active focus to the next open file. This is a convenient choice if you usually edit several files at once.

Screen Font... Button

You can also select the screen font used by the editor to display text by clicking on Screen Font. See Setting the ASPECT Editor's Screen Font for more information.


Editing Multiple Documents with the ASPECT Editor

  Related Topics

The ASPECT Editor supports the Multiple Document Interface (MDI), which allows you to open and edit more than one document at a time. You’ll find this feature quite useful if you need to reference one file as you edit another, or if you need to copy portions of text from one file to another.

Each file you open in the editor will be displayed in its own window. These document windows behave much like application windows. For example, in Windows you can switch quickly between tasks by pressing <Alt><Tab>. In the ASPECT Editor, you can switch quickly between document windows by pressing <Ctrl><Tab>. The table below lists the document control actions available in the editor:

To Do This...	Do This...
Switch to a different document window.	If the document window is visible, click on it with the mouse. Otherwise, select the file you want from the Window menu. You can also use <Ctrl><Tab> to cycle through the various document windows.
Minimize a document window.	Click on the document window’s down arrow button, located on the right end of its title bar.
Maximize a document window.	Click on the document window’s up arrow button, located on the right end of its title bar.
Restore a minimized document window.	Double click on its icon, or select the document from the Window menu.
Tile the open document windows.	Click on the Tile button on the Action Bar, or select one of the Tile options from the Window menu.
Move a document window.	Click and drag on its title bar, just as you would an application window in Windows itself. Note that you cannot move a document window outside of the ASPECT Editor’s main window.
Resize a document window.	Position the mouse cursor over an edge or corner of the document window; the mouse cursor will change to a double arrow indicating the directions you can stretch or shrink the window. Drag the window to its new size.
Close a document window.	Press <Ctrl><F4>, or double click on the document window’s control button on the left end of its title bar. If you have unsaved changes in the file, the ASPECT Editor will prompt you before closing the file.


For the ASPECT Programmer

  Related Topics

If you’re working on a script, you’ll find that the ASPECT Editor was designed to streamline your task. Its ASPECT support features include:

•	Direct access to the ASPECT Compiler.

To compile the script displayed in the active window, click on the Compile Action Bar button, or select Tools | Compile... from the menu. The script will be saved as necessary, and the compiler will open and attempt to compile it.

If the script doesn’t compile successfully, you can switch back and forth between the editor and the compiler window to investigate and remedy any errors or warnings the compiler reported.

•	Direct access to the Compiler Options dialog.

You can control how the ASPECT Compiler processes your script by selecting Tools | Compile Options... from the menu.

The selections you make in this dialog from within the editor will also affect the settings of scripts compiled within Procomm Plus itself, with the exception of the unsaved additional arguments.

•	Direct access to the Dialog Editor and the User Window Editor.

By copying to and pasting from the Windows Clipboard, you can easily import dialog box and User window source code directly from their respective editors.

You can also copy source code from the ASPECT Editor and paste it into these utilities. This is very convenient if you want to "fine tune" a dialog box or User window statement group and preview your changes in an editor!

•	Direct access to on-line help script topics.

If you know the name of an ASPECT command but are not certain of its usage or syntax, place the editor’s cursor on it and click on the right mouse button. The editor automatically opens the help system with the command’s description displayed!

This is the ASPECT Editor’s default response to the right mouse button. See Topic Search.

•	Editor settings to simplify your script-writing task.

Most ASPECT programmers prefer to use an indention of three spaces. By allowing you to specify the number of spaces represented by a tab character, the ASPECT Editor allows you to quickly indent by using the <Tab> key.

The Auto Indent feature can also save keystrokes. For more information, see Auto Indent.

•	Editor features to assist you in debugging scripts.

When the ASPECT Compiler encounters an error or warning condition, it reports the problem with a brief description and the line number in which it appears. You can quickly view the problematic line of source code by pressing <Ctrl><G> in the editor, specifying the line number and pressing <Enter>.

Procomm Plus also makes the ASPECT Editor very accessible. You can open it from the Terminal window’s Compile / Edit ASPECT File dialog. To open the editor and create a new, untitled window, click on New. To open the editor and edit the file currently selected in the dialog’s File Name list box, click on Edit.

If you have specified a different editor in the Editor name and path field in the Data, Data Options, Paths panel in Setup, that editor will be called instead of the ASPECT Editor from the Compile/Edit ASPECT File dialog.


Opening a File with the ASPECT Editor

  Related Topics

By default, the ASPECT Editor opens with a new, untitled window. If you’re creating a new file, you can begin working immediately. If you want to edit an existing text file, you can open it by selecting File | Open to display the File Open dialog.  Because the ASPECT Editor was designed for creating scripts, its File Name pattern defaults to the ASPECT source file extension of .was. To specify a different pattern for your search, enter it in the File Name field and press <Enter>. You can also choose from a variety of file types by clicking on the List Files of Type list box.

When you’ve located the file you want to edit, highlight it with the mouse or cursor bar, then click on the OK button to accept it and close the dialog. You can also double click on a filename to accept it. The editor loads your selection and makes it the active window.


Running the ASPECT Editor

  Related Topics

You can launch the ASPECT Editor in several different ways:

•	By clicking on the ASPECT Editor icon in the Procomm Plus Utilities group available from the Start menu.

•	By clicking on the ASPECT Editor icon in the Tools-related Action Bar in the Terminal window.

•	By selecting Tools  | Scripts | ASPECT Editor menu item in a Procomm Plus communication window.

•	From within the Compile/Edit ASPECT File dialog. For more information, see For the ASPECT Programmer.

By default, the ASPECT Editor window opens with a new, untitled file.

The ASPECT Editor’s Action Bar allows you to select its most-frequently used menu commands with a click of the mouse. See The ASPECT Editor Action Bar® and Menus for a discussion of the Action Bar and the menus.


Saving a File with the ASPECT Editor

  Related Topics

To save changes you’ve made to a file, select File | Save from the editor menu, or click on the Action Bar’s File Save button. To save a file under a new filename, or to save an untitled file, select File | Save As... to display the File Save dialog.  Type in the name for the new file, and click on OK to save it. If you enter the name of a file that already exists in the current directory, the editor will prompt you to confirm before it overwrites the older file.


Setting the ASPECT Editor's Screen Font

From the Preferences dialog, click on Screen Font... to open a standard FontSelect dialog.

The FontSelect dialog will only display fixed-pitch screen or TrueType fonts available on your system. You can select a Font and its Size by clicking on their respective list controls.

Your Screen Font selection does not affect the font used when you print from within the ASPECT Editor.


The ASPECT Editor

  Related Topics

The ASPECT Editor is a feature-rich text editor that is capable of handling very large text files. While it was designed specifically for ASPECT programmers, it is also an excellent general purpose Windows editor for any ASCII text file!

If you’ve used Windows Notepad, or other Windows-based text editors, you’ll find the ASPECT Editor very familiar. Even if you haven’t used other Windows editors, you’ll find the ASPECT Editor easy to learn.

Running the ASPECT Editor

Opening a File with the ASPECT Editor

Saving a File with the ASPECT Editor

Editing Multiple Documents with the ASPECT Editor

Using the ASPECT Editor

The ASPECT Editor Status Line

Configuring the ASPECT Editor

For the ASPECT Programmer

The ASPECT Editor Menus and Action Bar®


The Aspect Editor Action Bar® and Menus
The ASPECT Editor Menus and Action Bar®

  Related Topics

Action Bar Button	Menu | Item	Description
	File | New	Opens a new, untitled text file window.
	File | Open	Displays a standard File Open dialog, allowing you to select and open an existing text file.
	File | Close	Closes the active text file. If you have made changes but haven’t saved them, the editor will prompt you before closing the file.
	File | Save	Saves the current text to a disk file. This command is disabled if the text file you’re editing has not yet been saved with a filename. <F2> is the keyboard shortcut.
	File | Save As...	Opens a standard File Save dialog, where you can specify a new filename and/or location for the active window’s file.
	File | Print...	Prints the file in the current editor window to the selected Windows printer.
	File | Print Setup...	Opens a standard Print Setup dialog, where you can specify printing characteristics like paper orientation, printer fonts and paper size.
	File |  Preferences...	Opens the Preferences dialog, which is explained in Configuring the Editor.
	File | Exit	Exits the ASPECT Editor. If you’ve modified an open text file and haven’t saved the changes, the editor will ask whether you wish to save the file before closing it. <Alt><X> is the keyboard shortcut.
	File |  1, 2, 3 or 4	The editor remembers the filenames of the last four files you’ve edited. To reload one of them, simply select it from the File menu.
	Edit | Undo	Reverses the effect of the last action you performed. This command is useful if you happen to make a mistake and want to restore deleted text. <Ctrl><Z> is the keyboard shortcut.
	Edit | Redo	Reverses the effect of the last Undo command. <Ctrl><Y> is the keyboard shortcut.
	Edit | Copy	Copies the selected text from the file and places it in the Windows Clipboard. <Ctrl><C> is the keyboard shortcut.
	Edit | Cut	Deletes the selected text from the file and places it in the Windows Clipboard. <Ctrl><X> is the keyboard shortcut.
	Edit | Paste	Copies text from the Windows Clipboard and places it in the active ASPECT Editor window. <Ctrl><V> is the keyboard shortcut.
	Edit | OEMKeys	Toggles the editor's handling of characters with ASCII values greater than 127. If this menu item is checked, these characters will be entered as their OEM symbols. Otherwise, their ANSI symbols will be used.
	Find | Find...	Opens a dialog where you can specify a search string of up to 31 characters. The search is performed in the active document from the current cursor position onward. <Ctrl><F> is the keyboard shortcut. You can force a case-sensitive search, or limit the search to only those whole words that match the string by selecting options within the dialog.
	Find | Repeat Last Find	Repeats the last Find... command you executed. <Ctrl><L> is the keyboard shortcut.
	Find | Replace...	Opens the Replace dialog where you can specify a string of up to 31 characters to be searched for and replaced with another string you specify. The search is performed in the active document from the current cursor position. You can force a case-sensitive search, or you can limit the search to only those whole words that match the string by selecting options within the dialog. If your search string is found, you can choose to Find Next, Replace or Replace All by clicking the appropriate buttons.
	Find |  Line Number...	Allows you to jump directly to a particular line in the current text file. <Ctrl><G> is the keyboard shortcut.
	Tools |  Compile...	Saves the current text file to disk and attempts to compile it as an ASPECT script. If the script compiles successfully, the resulting file is saved with a .wax extension. If the script you’re compiling has not yet been given a filename, the editor prompts you for a name and location. If you’re editing an existing file, the text is automatically saved to the same file.
	Tools | Compile Options...	Opens the Compiler Options dialog, where you can specify settings to be used by the compiler when it’s called from the editor. The selections you make in this dialog from within the editor will also affect the settings of scripts compiled within Procomm Plus itself, with the exception of the unsaved additional arguments. For complete details on the Compiler Options dialog, see "Compiler Options" in the ASPECT on-line help file.
	Tools | Dialog Editor...	Launches the Dialog Editor. You can cut and paste dialogbox blocks between the two editors by using the Windows Clipboard.
	Tools | User Window Editor	Launches the User Window Editor. You can cut and paste uwincreate blocks between the two editors by using the Windows Clipboard.
	Window |  Action Bar	Toggles the display of the editor’s Action Bar.
	Window |  Large Action Bar	Toggles the display of the editor’s Action Bar between small buttons and large buttons.
	Window |  ToolTips	Toggles the display of the Action Bar help text.
	Window | Tile Horizontal	Displays or "tiles" all of the open text windows within the editor workspace. The windows are displayed horizontally.  You can switch the active focus to another window by clicking once anywhere within it.
	Window | Tile Vertical	Displays or "tiles" all of the open text windows, with each window automatically sized to fit within the editor workspace. The windows are displayed side-by-side.  You can switch the active focus to another window by clicking once anywhere within it.
	Window |  Cascade	Displays all of the open text windows in the familiar overlapping style used often in the Windows 3.x Program Manager.
	Window |  Arrange Icons	Arranges all of the text windows you’ve minimized to icons neatly in the lower left hand corner of the editor workspace.
	Window |  1,2,3 ...	The editor lists all of the open file windows at the bottom of the Window menu. To make an open file the active window, simply select it from the list.
	Help | Contents	Opens the ASPECT Editor on-line help window.
	Help |  How to use Help	Opens the on-line help system with a topic explaining how to use the help system.
	Help | Script Reference	Opens the ASPECT on-line help system.
	Help |  Search for a Script Topic...	Opens the help utility to a Search dialog where you can search for ASPECT-related topics.
	Help | About ASPECT Editor	Opens a dialog that displays information about the program.


The ASPECT Editor Status Line

  Related Topics

At the bottom of the editor window is its status line, which has fields that report several important conditions:

•	The current line and column position of the editor cursor.

•	The status of the CapsLock key.

If the CapsLock key is "down," the second field on the status line will report "CAPS". Otherwise, it will be blank.

•	The status of the NumLock key.

If the NumLock key is "down," the third field on the status line will report "NUM". Otherwise, it will be blank.

•	Whether the editor is in Overtype or Insert mode.

If the characters you type will overwrite characters in the file, the fourth field will report "OVR". Otherwise, it will report "INS". You can toggle this setting by pressing the Insert key.

The status line fields are constantly updated as you work in the ASPECT Editor.


Using the ASPECT Editor

  Related Topics

The ASPECT Editor supports the standard Windows methods of text selection and cursor location, and adds its own functions as explained in the following table:

To Do This...	Do This...
Move left or right by a single character.	Press the left or right cursor keys, respectively.
Move left or right by a single word.	Press the left or right cursor keys while holding down the <Ctrl> key.
Move up or down a line.	Press the up or down cursor keys, respectively.
Move to the end of the line.	Press the <End> key.
Move to the beginning of the line.	Press the <Home> key.
Move down a page.	Press the <Page Down> key, or click beneath the scroll thumb on the scrollbar.
Move up a page.	Press the <Page Up> key, or click above the scroll thumb on the scrollbar.
Move to the end of the file.	Press the <End> key while holding down the <Ctrl> key.
Move to the beginning of the file.	Press the <Home> key while holding down the <Ctrl> key.
Move to a specific line in the file.	Press <Ctrl><G>. Specify the line number in the Goto Line dialog, then press OK.
Select a character.	Drag on it with the mouse cursor, or hold the <Shift> key down as you move over it with the <Left> or <Right> cursor keys.
Select a word.	Double click on it, or hold the <Shift> key down as you move over it with the <Left> or <Right> cursor keys.
Select a line.	Drag over it with the mouse, or hold the <Shift> key down as you move over it with the <Up> or <Down> cursor keys.
Select all text to the end of a line.	Drag over it with the mouse, or hold the <Shift> key down and press <End>.
Select all text to the beginning of a line.	Drag over it with the mouse, or hold the <Shift> key down and press <Home>.
Select all text to the end of the file.	Hold the <Shift> and <Ctrl> keys down, and press <End>.
Select all text to the beginning of the file.	Hold the <Shift> and <Ctrl> keys down, and press <Home>.
Select the entire contents of the file.	Press <Ctrl><Home>, then <Shift><Ctrl><Insert>.
Copy selected text to the Windows Clipboard.	Press <Ctrl><Insert> or <Ctrl><C>, or click on the Copy Action Bar button.
Copy selected text to the Windows Clipboard, and delete it from the file.	Press <Ctrl><Delete> or <Ctrl><X>, or click on the Cut Action Bar button.
Copy text from the Windows Clipboard to the current cursor location in the file.	Press <Shift><Insert> or <Ctrl><V>, or click on the Paste Action Bar button.
Undo the last action.	Press <Ctrl><Z>, or click on the Undo Action Bar button.
Redo the last Undo request.	Press <Ctrl><Y>, or click on the Redo Action Bar button.