Feature suggestions

[DuckyDan]

Make it show the results of the last search and replace by striking out the found text, perhaps coloring it, then showing the new text in a color, and being able to jump from on occurance to the next quickly, with the option of right clicking and undoing a particular instance of the search and replace.

The ability to show tab or comma delimited format files where you can pick the delimiter and the colums automatically expand out to the larget length between tabs, instad of the x number of character thing. That way tab-delimited text would display in columns that are even without setting tabs and crap like that.

I use TextPad for processing big CSV data files or otherwise delimited formats, not for programming. Also for cleaning up crappy text file articles I like and want to keep. However, I personally would LOVE to see PHP stuff handled natively, as I am trying to learn that, so many people seem to be going to that too.


Needs better toolbar icons. Smooth ones like XP. and it should handle the gradiation in the tool bar and menu bar like good XP programs. Application icon is old and tired too.

[lionelb]

The ability to show tab or comma delimited format files where you can pick the delimiter and the colums automatically expand out to the larget length between tabs, instad of the x number of character thing. That way tab-delimited text would display in columns that are even without setting tabs and crap like that.

Not sure about that... ultimately TextPad is a (programming-oriented) text editor. I would not like TextPad to mess about too much with what I see on the screen - beyond syntax highlighting, of course .

I use TextPad for processing big CSV data files or otherwise delimited formats, not for programming.

Can you not use Excel or other spreadsheet? The tool should suit the data, surely...

[MudGuard]

Replace the separators with tab characters.
Set tabs as needed (you can set tabs on individual columns, not only equidistant).

If you need the same tab settings regularly, do it in a (new) document class.

[DuckyDan]

"Not sure about that... ultimately TextPad is a (programming-oriented) text editor. I would not like TextPad to mess about too much with what I see on the screen - beyond syntax highlighting, of course"

I bought it as a text editor, not a programming environment, and it's feature list I looked at it when I bought it years ago supported that. Make it optional on the search and replace dialog, like a "Preview results" button, that way it won't bother you.

"Can you not use Excel or other spreadsheet? The tool should suit the data, surely..."

Excel has a nasty habbit of being too helpful and changing data when you work on it. Such as trying to recognize date fields, quote issues and such. Text pad works great and won't change anything without specifically being told to.

"Replace the separators with tab characters.
Set tabs as needed (you can set tabs on individual columns, not only equidistant).

If you need the same tab settings regularly, do it in a (new) document class."

Why not be able to pick the delimiter as different tasks use different ones, and have it space it out based on currently displayed data? A new document class won't work because the field lengths vary by file.

[Jan Paul]

I personally would like to have those enhancements too.
I am also working a lot with CSV files and agree that a smoother way of working with delitimers and CSV will be a huge improvement.

In the mean time: look at http://home.hccnet.nl/s.j.francke/t2t/text2table.htm.
It has a program called CSVeD which is great in displaying and handling CSV files. I think you will like it.

Regards,
Jan Paul

[lionelb]

The ability to show tab or comma delimited format files...

Still don't like it... the implication is that TextPad support any (text-based) file format under the sun. That way lies creeping featurism & bloat. Such an approach might be feasible if TextPad had a plugin-style architecture - it doesn't.

Text pad is not a spreadsheet, nor should it try to be.

I've no problem with TextPad invoking external viewer programs (a la html/browser).

[DuckyDan]

No offence, but you not "liking" it has nothing to do with whether a new feature is a good idea. If the company is asking for ideas, you not "liking" it does not eliminate customers who would like it and take the time to post messages. Is is technically not feasable, too much coding? And I explained why Excel is not a good tool for this for the way Excel changes files and it's row number limitation. I can tell you ALL the people in my data processing group would be getting a license if it did this stuff, and nothing I do is unique. I love TextPad and will continue to use it, but someone not "liking" a new feature idea is a somewhat unprofessional way to approach ideas customers take the time to document and post.

[talleyrand]

First of all, unless the poster of a comment is Helios (Stephen) or ... I'm blanking on the other official account (I think Keith is bbadmin) it's just another person commenting on it, thus no official weight is given to their comments.

People here tend to take their editor very seriously. I know I laughed quite loudly and unprofessionally in a meeting with a new boss about standards where he said UltraEdit (ick) will be the office standard. That'd be akin to asking me to use Emacs in a unix environment. I'm trying to think what the enhancement they rolled out in TP, I think it was current line highlighting. IIRC, you had to have something set initially and it couldn't be the same as the background. Maybe a week went by before they rolled out the next revision which allowed it to be disabled completely. When you work with a tool 6-10 hours a day, you don't want changes to the core functionality which I think is what lionelb was trying to get across.

Personally, I don't really know if I'm sold on the idea as it's been explained thus far, but perhaps I could be if I investigated Jan Paul's tool and better understood how it would affect and enhance TextPad.

As it stands, if you feel there is room for improvement to TextPad, feel free to create a five-option poll in this forum (Enhancement Suggestions) and then the masses will vote on it. That's the standard way for users to users to vote and suggest features they'd like seen implemented in TextPad. You can look at other polls to see what the standard poll responses are. Go ahead and use that format otherwise, it won't show up in Jeffy's updated rank listings.

Another option that I've employed and I shudder to suggest it, is MS Access. Our database specialists clean data for a living and that's their primary tool. I can't say I care for it much as a database tool (mutters about stupid joining syntax) but it avoids the 65k line limitation that Excel has and OpenOffice, bless their hearts, implemented as well. That or you can always go the pleasingly painful route of writing an awk or perl/python script to process files.

[DuckyDan]

Poll here:

http://www.textpad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5742

Thanks

[lionelb]

No offence, but you not "liking" it has nothing to do with whether a new feature is a good idea.

Sorry if I came across as a bit spiky... please take my comments in the spirit intended - as random TextPad user X expressing a (personal) opinion. And whether a suggestion is a "good idea" or not is surely a function of the individual opinions of the user-base; hence the polls on this forum

The gist of my objection is that the enhancement suggestion goes against the ethos of TextPad as a "flat text" editor, displaying text "as is" and that for specialised data formats specialised tools are more appropriate.

By the way, I thought talleyrand's suggestion of converting CSV data via scripting to be a reasonable one which could, perhaps, be automated via macros (CsvToColumns and ColumnsToCsv or somesuch)... not that I'd have much clue how to do this myself