Editable Macros

[ben_josephs]

You wrote earlier that it replaces "two periods with a single period followed by space", implying that it halves the number of periods, which it doesn't.

You probably meant to write that that it replaces a single period, if it's followed by another period, with a single period followed by space. Or, roughly, that it replaces two periods with two periods (with a space in between).

Your example shows this.

[ineuw]

You are correct. It's my mistake. What should have been written that it inserts a space between periods of an ellipsis, or any number of periods in a series.

My points are simply that both applications use the same Regex, and learned that using AutoHotkey with TextPad, one gets the best of both worlds. Like having one's cake and eating it as well.

[HerNameWasTextPad]

"Especially when there may be twenty or more steps to a macro involving a number of regex searches."

If I was in your situation, I would do the following:

(1) In a text file, notate (i.e., type) all of the commands of the entire macro. Let this text file be your "macro road map."
(2) Decide how you want to divide your macro up into an appropriate number of smaller, comfortable submacros and find a way to notate, in your macro road map, these quick-to-record subdivisions.
(3) Record each quick-to-record submacro, one at a time. Give each submacro an appropriate name and notate the names in your macro road map.
(4) Once all of your submacros have been recorded, record one last macro that calls, in the proper sequence, all of the already-recorded submacros.
(5) Should you find yourself in the position, one day, of having to make a small change to one of the small submacros, you can quickly and easily rewrite that smaller submacro in your macro road map and quickly and easily re-record it, without having to worry about messing with any other part of your overall macro. Depending upon how you decided to structure your set of submacros, as guided by your macro road map, you could find yourself with a significantly reduced amount of re-recording work. The "calling" macro that calls all of the smaller submacros will rarely need to be changed; but, even if it does one day need to be changed, that, too, will be a quick and easy re-record.

What is described above is a form of "top-down design." When I studied computer science, way back when, we focused on sequence, selection, iteration, recursion, algorithms, data structures, sound thinking, and--you guessed it--top-down design.

I have completely and utterly given up on Micros**t Windows [10] and am now running TextPad 4.7.3 on a Wine virtual desktop on Linux. I shall never go back to Micros**t. Even 4.7.3 without editable macros is much, much better than any other "advanced" text editor. Even an old TextPad is a veritable king of text manipulation--if you know what you're doing. So, don't wait for someone else to help you: Use your brain, with a vengeance, and help yourself. Countless times I have found myself saying, "TextPad to the rescue!"

Use your brain! One of the great things about TextPad is that TextPad ALLOWS YOU to use your brain.

[ineuw]

I used this method to assemble/chain macros exactly as HerNameWasTextPad, wrote it down. One important mention is that "Find" fails on multiple finds, but "Replace" always works.

[evildrome]

Hi All,

I'm in the same boat as dglane

"The most recent scenario involves text files that I receive in which I must do tons of replaces. The search/replace may vary from file to file but is largely the same."

For me, an editable script of search/replaces that could be executed against a text file would help me greatly.

And lets be honest, its trivial to add the functionality to read a script and send each command one at a time via the search/replace function.

Just to stop it being mind numbingly trivial you could jazz it up with a real time single step function so you could watch each change as it is executed.

I'd be grateful even for the most basic implementation of this.

Cheers,

Wilson.

[marinersk]

Though I believe that a macro editor could give TextPad an edge over competing editors, I believe also that, well, we really don't need one.

Here's what I do:

- Open a new text file in a second instance of TextPad
- Notate all of a macro's keystrokes in that text file

Yes, that's what we all do. That's called "recreating a macro". It's a long, laborious, error-prone task. Exactly the opposite of what use of computers, text editors, and macros are supposed to be.

We are asking for the ability to edit a macro.

It's the single most-requested feature, and yet nobody from the company will even answer the request.

[marinersk]

- TextPad is the best text editor around
- If Helios didn't put in a macro editor, then it probably had a good reason not to

It would be a mark of maturity if they'd explain that reason. A decade of silence sends exactly one message: We don't care about you, the customer.

- We don't need to understand what the reason is, we just need to figure out the best way to use the program as it currently stands

Clearly you don't understand how to service a customer's needs. That is the primary function of software.

- I'm still pissed off that TextPad doesn't make toast for me in the morning

That's an unreasonable expectation, given that TextPad never had toasting as part of its functional requirements.

When a software package gives you the ability to create and delete something, it is a reasonable expectation that one should have the ability to edit it.

It is especially true given that TextPad exists to edit text files -- you don't print out a copy and then type the whole document in again just to change one word. You edit it, and TextPad serves that function.

That such a software package then misses the mark, for so long, regarding macros, is ridiculous.

The ability to edit a macro is not an unreasonable expectation.

[marinersk]

So the solution is clear:

We need full-blown sequence, selection, iteration, and recursion, with low-level access.

Got that, Helios?

You might need to change the name, though, to something like "T++".

Then, I'll change my name to "HerNameWasT++".

As no one posted any of that but you, this post by you is pointless.

We're asking for the ability to edit macros.

[marinersk]

I have to admit: This is a lot of fun.

How about this?

Develop your own text-manipulation program using the language of your choice (so that you can have the ultimate set of custom features), set it up as a user tool, and call it from within TextPad.

This is at least a somewhat reasonable alternative.

However, the feature being requested is the ability to edit the macros which TextPad allows us to create and delete. All that's missing is the commensurate update feature.

The frustrating thing is that Helios remains silent on the issue.

Your silly responses add to the frustration.

[marinersk]

There are so many things that programs can do that folks never get around to discover because they are too busy creating and sending wish lists to developers.

You really have no understanding of efficiency, do you? Given the other amazing features of TextPad, I accepted the old wisdom of "not reinventing the wheel". I ceased writing my own text editor because TextPad was doing everything I was going to do and was ahead of me.

Efficiency. Use the wheel already present.

Now we find a flaw in the current wheel. Of course we would ask the keeper of the keys to consider making the adjustment. Otherwise, we're back to reinventing the wheel.

Which we'll do, if we have to. Or, at least, find another wheel, like NotePad++, which I suspect was modeled after TextPad in the first place. Probably to resolve the issues Helios wasn't addressing.

But we like TextPad. So it is our natural desire to support it as our first pick.

If that doesn't work, sure, we can move on. When the tool no longer serves the needs of its customers, the tool is abandoned.

"It would be great if I could just type "Alt+D" and have TextPad do my work for me, so that I can just go out and play golf instead. Can you implement the 'Do-My-Work-for-Me Function' Helios? Please?"

Write back when you grow up. Nobody is asking for this.

We just want to be able to edit our macros.

[marinersk]

Yes, voicing preferences is . . . preferable to voicing none.

And yet you ridicule anyone who does so.

Hypocrite.

[marinersk]

"If he didn't include Macro in Textpad, would we be so annoyed about its shortcomings?"

The foregoing is a very excellent hitting of the proverbial nail's head.

It's true. If we couldn't create macros, we wouldn't need to edit them.

But we can create macros. It follows we should want to edit them.

And, by the way, not everyone who uses TextPad is a programmer. So suggesting they go off and use a programming language to fill in the gap, while an interesting alternative, doesn't work for everyone.

But, then, you show no signs of understanding how real people function. So this will probably fail to get through to you as well.

[marinersk]

I am also on the list of folks who would pay for Macro Edit functionality.

I would even pay a surcharge above and beyond my 10-pack license upgrade fee. At one point, nearly a decade ago, I considered offering them $10,000 US to do it. (For the record, I am no longer in a position to do so.)

Now, I realize my petty $200 US won't matter much to Helios. But I have been withholding upgrading my license because the new version does not have the one thing I want added -- editable macros.

I gather they have a difficult problem -- it seems they used a library/embedded solution of some kind from a company or developer who is no longer available. And, being a smalltime software package, they didn't have the resources to demand and pay for escrow of source from that vendor.

So they now have a binary format macro file for which I suspect even they have no specs, and, like us, they've not been able to crack the code -- or at least, it hasn't been worth the time and effort to do so.

But it's been over a decade, and not only have they not addressed the issue, but I find no evidence they've ever responded to anyone's request -- not even to say 'No'.

I love TextPad. I really do. My fingers fly across its many time-saving features, including the creation and use of macros, nearly on auto-pilot after all this time. My entire world lives in text files, partially because it's the only file format I could count on working in all the various environments I've had to work in; partially because of all the tools I've written which know how to find stuff in text files the way I use them; and in no small part due to the fact that in my most-frequently-used environment of Windows systems, TextPad has become a veritable extension of my own fingers.

I love TextPad, and have stood by her side for a long time while friends and colleagues have moved to other tools.

As such, I dread having to change tools.

But maybe it's time.

Rest assured I will pay for no license upgrade until there are editable macros built in to TextPad. I know this is no threat -- it is not intended as such. Merely a statement of fact -- I'm not spending $200 to get nothing.

I do realize that with each passing version of Windows, I run the risk that the version of TextPad for which I am licensed may cease to function, forcing my hand.

The writing is on the wall.

I will remember TextPad fondly, should that day come.