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When I select a block of text, and start typing, it's invariably because I want to do a "Fill Block" operation.
Is there some reason that this is not how TextPad behaves? I do this sort of column-insertion a *lot* (maybe it's just me?), especially for commenting lines of code.

In SlickEdit, for example, one selects a column-block using the right-mouse button (I don't have to reach for [ALT] or do Ctrl-Q,B), and then I just type "//" to comment a group of lines of C or Verilog.

With TextPad, I have to make the block selection and then open the Fill Block dialog (and I can't even map this to a keyboard shortcut), then type the characters, and then [ENTER] to exit the dialog.
For [TAB] & [BKSPC]/[DEL], TextPad does the obvious multi-row insert/delete, but for other characters, it doesn't.

Would some TextPad users find the block-typing behaviour objectionable? That is, does anyone ever make a block selection for any reason *other* than to do a "Fill Block" operation (or a block tab/delete)?

This one feature is the #1 reason I shelled out the crazy price for SlickEdit (and CodeWright before it). It's a tiny thing, but it's a monster time-saver.

When I make a block selection it's usually to copy or paste, but I wouldn't find your block-typing proposal objectionable. It sounds like a good feature.

Incidentally, you can map the Fill Block dialog to a keyboard shortcut: in the Keyboard preferences, assign a shortcut key to the EditFillBlock command.

It would be good if TextPad could record a macro that includes the input to the Fill Block dialog. That way, you could record one that inserts "//" which might solve some of your problems. Unfortunately, when I tried it it only brings up the dialog and doesn't perform the fill.

Andrew