Here are some UEDIT enhancements that I have developed and used.  You'll
notice that I didn't come anywhere near offering a "complete" UEDIT
customization.  When I ordered the Extras disk myself I ended up picking and
choosing a few features from assorted different people's config files; none
of them really hit the spot in all the areas I wanted.  By the same token, I
would assume that if I shipped off my complete configuration it would be
found wanting in various ways by people.

Feel free to take what I've come up with and put in your own changes as they
suit you.  In particular, I think my method of Marking/Moving/Deleting/
Copying text should make life much easier for anyone who adopts it.

*************

MARKING TEXT:

As someone who believes word processing speed is important, I really shudder
at some of the methods people use to move around their document, mark
text, etc.  Pressing arrow keys, function keys, or, worse yet, SHIFT plus
function keys, etc., is nonsense if you're serious about word processing
efficiently.

As you may have guessed, I use WordStar commands to move around.  [Cntl-f =
forward one word, cntl-a = back one word, etc.]  I've come up with an equally
speedy method of marking text.  I would DIE if I couldn't configure a program
to act like this!

To MARK text: ctl-L at beginning or end (either can be marked first -- the
computer can figure out which is the beginning and which the end.)  Marked
text is hilighted.  
(Mnemonic is "Location", I guess, but I really chose it because Ctl-L is
particularly easy to hit.)

To MOVE marked text to cursor position: ctl-M

To COPY marked text to cursor position: ctl-K

To mark text for DELETION: press ctl-N to mark at both ends, at which time
area is shown in reverse video.
If you want to go ahead and delete the text marked in reverse video,
press ctl-N a third time.
(Mnemonic = No, or None, or Na Na Na, Hey, Hey, GoodBye, or something . . .)

IMHO, these methods for marking/moving/copying/deleting text are an
improvement on other techniques I've seen because:
 
	- They're FAST on the fingers!  You don't have to take your touch-typing
	fingers off the keys to hunt for arrow keys, function keys, etc.

	- They're easy to remember (fewer keys, too)

	- With deletion, you get one last chance to see exactly what you're
	deleting before you go thru with it.  If you don't want to, you can clear
	all regions and go on your way.

To implement this, throw my "Marking" file into one of your config files.

Also take a look at the "Clear" function I use . . . I use number variables
n66 and n67 for the Marking shenanigans, and these should be cleared when you
clear your hilite and reverse video areas.
	
*********

BOOKMARKS:  I've gotten used to using the text reader MuchMore, where
Bookmarks are set with the function keys, and found my fingers kept reaching
for the function keys in UEDIT in order to set bookmarks or goto different
places.

Of course the function keys are used for various other important functions in
UEDIT, so I used the Tilda key as a 3-way "sticky" shift key.

In other words:

Pressing a Function Key under normal circumstances gets you the same function
it always did.

In order to SET a bookmark, press the Tilda key twice ("SET . . . {F-Key}"
is message in message bar.) and press a function key.  One of the locations
locC thru locJ will be set.  The function keys will return to normal.  (And a
message in the message bar confirms this.)

To GOTO various bookmarks, press the Tilda key ONCE ("GOTO . . . {F-key}")
and then press any function keys.  As long as you continuously press function
keys you will GOTO different preset locations.  As soon as you move the
cursor the function keys will revert to normal usage at the next press.

F1 is always set to the BEGINNING of the file.  F10 is always set to the END.

If you accidentally GOTO someplace when you didn't want to, CTL-1 will get
you back to where you were before the GOTO.

This seemed like the best solution to me -- it combines ease of use (not
having to stretch your hand to hold down one or more shift key; easy access
to multiple bookmarks) without getting in the way of any other UEDIT
functions (unless, of course, you're using locC thru locJ for something.)

In order to implement this, you'll need to:

Insert the special Tilda and Ctl-tilda ( = regular tilda character ) commands
in one of your Config files.

Insert the Template.Fx Bookmark code at the BEGINNING of each F-key
definition.  If the special GOTO or SET Bookmark conditions are not met,
control drops thru to the normal function key code, whatever that may be.

My F5 definition ("Clear") is included so you can see how this should be done.

************

ProPage Conversion:

My ALT-P command does various conversions so that text may be imported into
Professional Page.


Strip VT100 Code:

ALT-V strips VT100 codes, converting the proper codes to LineFeeds, Hi-Lite
On and Off.  After a VT100 online session, I use UEDIT to clean up the
capture buffer, which is then MUCH more readable using MuchMore than it would
be otherwise.

These last two conversions might run into problems because I may have
tinkered with the UEDIT search commands a bit . . . but you can build on the
raw UEDIT code to customize your own if you want.


PROBLEMS:

The "Strip VT100 Code" works just fine.  The search and replace goes on for
quite a while, and the "Done!" message pops up.  A few seconds later the
message line changes to ". . . 1" and UEDIT is dead.  LeftAmiga-Escape does
nothing, and pressing the right mouse button CRASHES THE COMPUTER!

((NOTE:  This bug no longer exists.  Ignore this discussion of Uedit hanging
or crashing or whatever.  It is NEVER supposed to!  And this bug was fixed as
soon as it was discovered.  Uedit V2.6e & later do not have this bug.))

If you keep away from the right mouse button, then after a few minutes UEDIT
recovers, and everything proceeds normally.

The UEDIT docs mention massive Search and Replaces as eating up a lot of
memory that UEDIT will recover later.  The problems are that 1) the message
line doesn't say what's happening, and 2) the right mouse button will crash
the machine (pointer freezes).

The Search and Replaces use up a LOT of memory -- stripping codes from a 250
kByte Capture Buffer eats up several Meg!  


SUGGESTIONS FOR MORE ENHANCEMENTS:

On my PC I use PC-Write that I have customized.  Of course, UEDIT gives me
much more power to customize, and I really appreciate that!  One feature PC-
Write has that I haven't found yet in UEDIT is the ability to automatically
renumber items.

As an example of this feature's usefullness, I use PC-Write to make up all my
tests.  (I'm a teacher.)  For each question I put a certain control
character.  Just before printing, these control chars can be converted to
numbers that increment in sequence throughout the test.  If I decide to add a
question, or combine parts of two tests, I never have to worry about manually
renumbering.  (The control character stays on as part of the number even
though it doesn't print.)

Now a command could be written to do this, but I've haven't had the time to
get around to it myself.  If someone got this function to work I'm sure a lot
of people would appreciate having it.


Roger Hand

rhand@well.sf.ca.us    CIS: 73520,3506       PLink: Roger Hand