Column Indenting
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 4:37 am
Hi all.
A few years ago i suggested a crazy idea of being able to indent columns by placing and/or dragging a marker in a column ruler similar to MS Word. Well i thought i would ask again, just in case any one changes their mind and because everyone has probably forgot about it. Here is the original post.
What would happen is when you click on the ruler (i will call it the "column header"), i line will be drawn vertically where you click. Then as you drag the mouse, if the line reaches any non-whitespace characters or certain other characters, then all characters from that point until the end of each line will move with the cursor. In other words, TextPad will insert spaces/tabs in all lines for the distance the mouse is moved.
Here is a pic (gif amination) of how it would work:
It can be configured to move comments, identifiers, etc. So you can align all comments on each line.
It would add either spaces or tabs, depending on what is configured in the preferences.
If you want to go one step further, TextPad could even remove spaces/tabs if the cursor is moved back, but only until it hits a non-whitespace char (you don't want to go deleting actual text!).
I would really like to see these ideas implemented, there is so much more that you can do with text editing (especially for code) so why don't editors do it? TextPad can be much more powerful yet still be simple and fast.
I am not entirely sure how this feature will work, or even if it is possible, but i will try to explain more about what i want and discuss possible implementations if anyone is willing to back this feature.
thanks
A few years ago i suggested a crazy idea of being able to indent columns by placing and/or dragging a marker in a column ruler similar to MS Word. Well i thought i would ask again, just in case any one changes their mind and because everyone has probably forgot about it. Here is the original post.
What would happen is when you click on the ruler (i will call it the "column header"), i line will be drawn vertically where you click. Then as you drag the mouse, if the line reaches any non-whitespace characters or certain other characters, then all characters from that point until the end of each line will move with the cursor. In other words, TextPad will insert spaces/tabs in all lines for the distance the mouse is moved.
Here is a pic (gif amination) of how it would work:
It can be configured to move comments, identifiers, etc. So you can align all comments on each line.
It would add either spaces or tabs, depending on what is configured in the preferences.
If you want to go one step further, TextPad could even remove spaces/tabs if the cursor is moved back, but only until it hits a non-whitespace char (you don't want to go deleting actual text!).
I would really like to see these ideas implemented, there is so much more that you can do with text editing (especially for code) so why don't editors do it? TextPad can be much more powerful yet still be simple and fast.
I am not entirely sure how this feature will work, or even if it is possible, but i will try to explain more about what i want and discuss possible implementations if anyone is willing to back this feature.
thanks