hi, i really love Textpad, but i again had to install damn UltraEdit because even the latest version of TextPad can only display files in hex, but im not able to do anything
I'd really like to be able to copy and paste in hex view - and Texpad could even go futher with two options like "copy text" and "copy hex values" - also an option for switching beween hex and acsii view would be nice!
The next thing that bothers me - i often close the whole app where i just wanna close one file and i cant set an option somewhere that prevents me from doing that :/ maybe an option for turning the application X into a file X as long as there are multiple files open ... or even a warning dialog like in FireFox can solve this ...
The last thing is the autosave which pops up a "save as" dialog for new files that have not been saved yet ... if i can exclude these files from autosave that would make me happy
Yeah, I've often wanted to be able to switch between HEX and ASCII view.
Currently you have to decide whether you want either HEX or ASCII when you load the file which is not ideal. Most other editors allow you to switch between the two view modes easily.
The ability to see a file in hex, (binary), should be a function of a dropdown under the View Tab. We should be able to swtich back and forth, depending on what we are looking for, and why.
Sure, the edit function would have to be built in, and that would be great, BUT the developer wouldn't have to do that right away. Just let the view toggle occur, and not allow changes while under hex view initially. Then later build in the editing under hex view.
Binary view unveils things in a file that you can't see otherwise. If you are trying to fix a file, by dropping out inadvertant CR/LF pairs for example, it is a pain to have use another editor to accomplish this.
"There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey."
-- John Ruskin
-- English critic, essayist, & reformer (1819 - 1900)
I've been an avid user and supporter of TextPad for many years. I have never seen a product that was more intuitive and powerful. Nevertheless, I am still waiting for a full edit capability in Binary mode. The ability to edit files in binary mode has been lacking for a long time, and I cannot fathom why it is not in the product yet! Is there a way to get this message to the TextPad powers that be? I don't know if they read these postings or not..
Just out of interest, in this day and age, what do people use hex editors for?
In my case trying to make sense of the content of obscure binary files but this is generally for viewing only. The last time I had to actually edit in anger was on a Psion to force memo recordings to use the D: drive to save recordings.
I currently am implementing an XML interface with another system. The trading partner on the other end is introducing binary characters at the head of the XML stream, which I manually had to remove in order to test the remainder of the file, while he figures out how to not send the characters. I have a need for binary about every 4 weeks. Some files are not ASCII. Not all documents are Notepad notes. In the real world, data comes in many flavors. Why have a binary viewer without an editor - the tool is an editor after all!
ninjalabs wrote:Just out of interest, in this day and age, what do people use hex editors for?
I work in the telecom industry and use hex editors on a regular basis to edit and verify messages that contain ascii and binary data, before they are ASN.1 encoded and transmitted.
Why have a binary viewer without an editor - the tool is an editor after all!
Yes, it is a text editor.
I agree integrated hex editor would be good, but there are other tools for that. (I have used HexCmp2). These other utilities can frequently be called from a Tool in TextPad.
If it was included that would be great, but I would prefer to let companies specialize in their own nitches. Suites and extra major features just complicate issues and disract development teams from their primary product.
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Just out of interest, in this day and age, what do people use hex editors for?
I have used it to modify TextPad macros. Very limited but somethings can be changed this way.
