Easy Binary/ASCII mode switch

[corsika]

Hi all,

I've been doing some editing of data files that I want to view in ASCII, but always open in Binary mode by default. There's a number of different file extensions, so defining them all to open default as ASCII would be a rather time consuming process (if it's possible at all, I didn't see a way to do it, but I imagine it can be done.)

What I don't see, though, is an easy way to go from ASCII mode to Binary mode, short of re-opening the files from inside Textpad. I understand the philosophy of not making buttons/features/item selections by default simply because Textpad allows the user to define those things in a manner that suits them the best, so it makes sense that there isn't an "easy-button" on an action bar.

Any ideas that might speed up the process of opening these files, preferably one that doesn't involve Textpad itself being open at the time of opening them (i.e. to open them from a regular folder window) ?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide,

Merrill

P.S. My company has a license for version 4.6, so if this was solved in a later version I'm not aware of it.

[miked]

From the command line, if you specify a line number not in hex after the filenam then it will open in text mode.

e.g. TEXTPAD.EXE "picture.jpg"(0) //opens in text mode

If you specify the line number in hex it will open the file in binary mode.

e.g. TEXTPAD.EXE "Read me.txt"(0x00) //opens in binary mode


I'm not sure how this will help you directly but if you can figure out some way of adding an item to your explorer right click menu which starts textpad and adds (0) after the filename then this will guarantee it opening in text mode.

Hope this is of some help.

By the way, your 4.6 licence allows you to upgrade free to 5.x (This doesn't help your problem though)

[corsika]

Thanks for your response, miked!

Perhaps the most insightful part is about the upgrade we're currently having an issue where when we open files directly from a particular server, Textpad locks up - an upgrade is the kind of thing that 'magically fixes' those kinds of problems.

Anywho - That actually does help - if I could create links in the right click menu for both then I could easily pick before opening the file.

Doesn't help much if the file is already opened, but it would solve the problem if I can create those links.

Thanks again!

- Merrill

[talleyrand]

It's been some time, but a dusty corner of my brain recalls something about an older version of TextPad and a virus scanner not playing well together. I think the resolution was to disable the scan for file changes but yeah, upgrading certainly won't hurt.

[corsika]

I actually couldn't find the option to disable the checks...

However, we were setting up a new machine, so I downloaded the newer version, and just for kicks I installed it on my machine and tried loading a file up from that troublesome server. Sure enough, works like a charm =D

Thanks!