========================= Chapter 12 TECHNICAL INFORMATION ========================= All text editors have limitations - CED tries to put them out of the reach of normal use. Here are some of the important limitations: Maximum document size: as much memory as you have Maximum number of views: ten Maximum line length: 1024 characters The characters interpreted as end-of-line (EOL) characters are the ASCII values: 0-8 and 10-13. The characters interpreted as white space characters are TAB (ASCII 9), SPACE (ASCII 32), and EOL characters. To force a space character that will not be stripped out by LAYOUT mode if on the end of line, and will not be considered a word separator, use ALT-SPACE. CED is designed to work with either PAL or NTSC monitors (or high-resolution cards when they become available). CED will use any keymap set using the standard SETMAP function. So if you prefer using a Dvorak keyboard or a german style keyboard - no problem. The CLI command: 1> SETMAP USA1 will set your keyboard to Dvorak. Remember that the SETMAP command must be done BEFORE CygnusEd Professional is run. Page 99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- When a file is loaded, it is all loaded into memory at once. This has an obvious speed advantage when editing, but the drawback is that the file size cannot exceed available memory. Because the Amiga has a lot of memory this should not be a problem for most users. CED will automatically dissociate itself from the CLI it is run from. This means entering: 1> CED myfile will load CED and then return control immediately to the CLI - you do not need to 'RUN' it with the RUN command. You can also use EndCLI with CED still running and the CLI will be removed. However, if you want any DOS commands that you run from CygnusEd Professional (using the DOS/ARexx interface) to be able to use the CLI window for input and output you should specify -keepio on the command line. There are a few minor problems that may occur when you are using CygnusEd Professional that are not directly related to CygnusEd Professional, they merely occur because CygnusEd Professional lets you push your system to its limits. The first problem is a hardware problem that occurs with overscan screens. When an overscan screen is at a certain position the two columns of characters along the right edge may flicker and display the wrong information. This is a hardware problem and can be solved by using preferences of CTRL-SHIFT-LEFT ARROW to shift the screen one pixel to the left. The second problem happens occasionally if you have two interlaced screens and one non-interlaced screen all open at once. What happens is that when one of the interlaced screens comes to the front it is either non-interlaced (showing only the top half) or it is completely scrambled. At this point you can still escape by typing Left-AMIGA n to bring the WorkBench screen to the front and then dragging the WorkBench screen down a bit. If you click on the scrambled screen instead then your system will probably crash. Page 100 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================ Chapter 13 ED - THE CygnusEd Professional ACTIVATOR ============================================ The ED command provided on the disk is a small (1.5K) utility which will summon CED or pass additional files to CED. When CED is not running, ED (when run from the CLI) will run a copy of CED and pass CED its filename(s). For example: 1> ED myfile1 myfile2 will call up a new copy of CED and pass it "myfile1" and "myfile2" as two new files to load. When CED is running, ED will not run an additional copy of CED, but will pass the filename(s) to the existing CED. If CED is dormant (not on-screen, but waiting for a HOTKey), then ED will awaken it with the file(s) specified. If CED is active with one or more files already on-screen, then ED will open additional views with the extra files in them, but will leave the original views active. A special ED command line is the form: 1> ED myfile -STICKY Page 101 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The -STICKY option is valid only at the end of the command and only when exactly one filename is given. Normally, ED will pass the file name(s) to CED and return immediately, allowing other programs to run in the normal multitasking mode. The -STICKY option overrides this and will not release ED until the user quits out of the file specified (in this case, "myfile1"). This is designed to be used in command files where you want the execution of the batch file or command script to wait until the user has finished editing a particular file. ED will return (using the sticky option) when the user either quits out of the file, clears the file or loads a new file in over top of the old one. ED is very useful in command files. For example, a command file which assembles a program may produce an error file and return an error status when there are errors. The following script will automatically put the error file in the editor if errors are present: ; This batch file called WORKPROJ will continually run until ; the file PROJECT.ASM will assemble without any errors ; Asm >Project.err Project.asm -oproject.o If Error Ed Project.err -STICKY Execute Workproj Endif ; The Assembly worked - exit batch file Due to a limitation in the current release of ED, ED will not invoke CygnusEd Professional if ED was started from the WorkBench and CEDPro was not already running. However, invoking ED from the CLI will cause CEDPro to being running if it was not already either dormant or running. To run ED from the WorkBench, you can click on the file you want to edit, and then while holding the shift key down, double click on the ED icon. Alternatively you can use the SET ICON TOOL NAME menu option in CygnusEd Professional to set the default tool name to C:ED so that double clicking on the file name will run ED which will then pass the file name to an already running CygnusEd Professional. When ED runs CygnusEd Professional it looks for it under just the name 'CED'. If you call it E or CygnusEd Professional then ED will not be able to find it. However, ED will have no trouble finding CygnusEd Professional, by any name, if CygnusEd Professional is already in memory (either running or dormant). Page 102 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================== Chapter 14 RecoverCedFiles - DISASTER INSURANCE ======================================== Because the Amiga is a multitasking operating system, many users run several programs at one time. Unfortunately, the Amiga architecture does not provide secure error trapping in all cases. This produces the famed "Guru Meditation" error. When a program produces this error, all other programs (including CED) will stop. You then have to reboot the computer. When a machines "crashes" this way, all the data is considered lost. If you were making changes to a file in CED and did not save the file before the crash, then those changes are lost. Fortunately, we have provided a helpful utility program called RecoverCEDFiles. This program will scan all the memory trying to find the CED files as they were in memory when the system crashed. When it finds each file, it will report which file it found, the size and the number of changes that were made since the last time it was saved. If you want to save the file, you can specify the filename to save it under using the standard file requester. Page 103 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a system crash, all memory is returned to a "free memory pool". This means that the memory that was being used by the CED file buffers is no longer protected. Because of this, the memory may become polluted or the file may be lost entirely. To be sure to be able to recover the files after a system crash, run RecoverCEDFiles as soon as possible after you reboot the computer. To improve your chances of safely recovering the files, halt your startup sequence by typing CTRL-D and then run RecoverCEDFiles IMMEDIATELY! WARNING: It is possible that a file in memory may have been damaged, perhaps completely wiped out, during a crash. If this happens, RecoverCEDFiles may still recover the file, and let you save it to disk. However, what it is recovering may be garbage. It is VERY important that you save any recovered files to a temporary file name and that you verify that the file is intact before copying it over your previous copy. To run RecoverCEDFiles from the CLI, just enter: 1> RECOVERCEDFILES To run RecoverCEDFiles from the workbench, double click on its icon. RecoverCEDFiles does take a few seconds to run. About one second for every megabyte of memory you have. While it is searching memory it locks out all other tasks, including Intuition. This means that your mouse pointer freezes while it is looking. DON'T PANIC. This is normal and should only last a few seconds. Page 104 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================== Chapter 15 TECHNICAL SUPPORT SERVICES ============================== 15.1 Technical Support Should you run into any problems with the supplied disk or manual or have questions pertaining to the operation of CygnusEd Professional contact: ASDG Incorporated 925 Stewart Street Madison, Wisconsin 53713 (608) 273-6585 If you are reporting a problem with the editor software, please provide a description of what functions you where doing when the problem appeared. Please provide as many details as possible - this will greatly aid our software team in correcting the problem quickly. 15.2 Network Support ASDG staff is available to answer your questions and assist you in solving problems relating to CygnusEd Professional on three major computer networks. Page 105 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The Byte Information eXchange 2. Compuserve 3. UseNet On BIX and Compuserve, ASDG support is rendered in formal support areas. On BIX type join asdg The formal support group on Compuserve is still in the process of being set up at the time of this writing. Support on UseNet is informal. Page 106