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Expand/Collapse blocks of text
Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2003 11:08 pm
by CJ
This feature is found in a few text editors, especially HTML editors such as Macromedia HomeSite.
What I suggest is having buttons in the gutter on the left that we can use to collapse the selected block of text and then later expand the block.
This little screen capture is from a text editor called Komodo:
http://www.activestate.com/Komodo/start892.html.
hide/show text
Posted: Thu May 01, 2003 9:42 pm
by foo
That a must have for me...
Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 6:03 pm
by rpb
displaying or excluding all lines that match a regexp/search string would be good. Then being able to refine the currently displayed selection of lines with additional searches.
Stuff
Posted: Tue May 27, 2003 1:29 am
by diek
CJ,
Greetings from the Canada's other coast. It would be nice. The cost of Komodo is $295.00 for 2.3 Professional Edition,hopefully if Helios decides to implement the feature it will not increase the price that dramatically.
diek
Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2003 7:15 pm
by daveqr
How ironic is it that a tool targeted towards users of open source software costs $295?
Re: Expand/Collapse blocks of text
Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 8:57 am
by zootfroot
CJ wrote:This feature is found in a few text editors, especially HTML editors such as Macromedia HomeSite.
I agree! I was just going to post a new thread on this subject. It would be a
GREAT addition to this fine product and would certainly help me work more productively!
Two observations...
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2003 9:48 am
by JonK
Firstly, this fits quite nicely alongside the "highligh matching bracket" functionality that's being asked for: if you're already maintaining a stack of "brackets" (be it {} pairs, or <tag> </tag>) internally, you can automagically generate folding points from these.
However, I'd also like the ability to fold at arbitrary points - it's the one thing I'd need to ditch Word as an outliner. Oh, and I'd like my fold points to be namable and persistent. Off the top of my head, this could be implemented transparently using a second stream in the .txt file (though this would require NTFS).
Comments?
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 9:58 am
by MiddleOfNowhere
As far as I'm concerned, an outlining mode is the only thing still missing from Textpad.
However, as JonK said, it would be important that it also supports folding at arbitrary points.
It should have Collapse/Expand Current/All nodes - and keyboard navigation would be important to work effectively. And drag + drop should move everything in a folded branch.
And if you do it, Helios - please ensure that folding status is stored with the file...
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 11:41 am
by MudGuard
please ensure that folding status is stored with the file...
Absolutely
NOT!
Textpad is a text editor, not a word processor...
In the textfile NOTHING must be stored besides the text.
If folding status were stored within the text file, it would ruin the text files.
What should a browser do with folding information within a html file?
Or a perl interpreter with folding information within a perl file?
...
Folding status should be stored in the workspace, NOT in the text file.
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 12:44 pm
by MiddleOfNowhere
MudGuard wrote:
In the textfile NOTHING must be stored besides the text. [...] Folding status should be stored in the workspace, NOT in the text file.
OK, for the sake of, err, ASCII purity - you're right.
And the workspace will do. As long as it is stored *somewhere*.
I was simply getting carried away ... Thinking of large, complex documents, e.g. in DocBook, where it would be much easier if you could jump exactly to the section where you left off.
Maybe we could point the Helios team to a few top-notch Outliners, just to give them some inspiration?
E.g. I used to work with
Action Outline, which has a simple and effective GUI. I just didn't want
another format to store my files.
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 2:06 pm
by JonK
MudGuard wrote:Textpad is a text editor, not a word processor... In the textfile NOTHING must be stored besides the text.
If folding status were stored within the text file, it would ruin the text files. What should a browser do with folding information within a html file? Or a perl interpreter with folding information within a perl file?
Folding status should be stored in the workspace, NOT in the text file.
See my previous comment about using an additional stream - thereby being completely transparent to your browser/Perl interpreter/Notepad.exe/whatever. Read up on Structured Storage (
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us ... frame=true) on the MSDN if you're interested in how this works: if you're not interested in the hows and whys then trust me, it
does work transparently.
Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2003 7:16 pm
by SanctimoniousApe
JonK wrote:See my previous comment about using an additional stream - thereby being completely transparent to your browser/Perl interpreter/Notepad.exe/whatever. Read up on Structured Storage (
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us ... frame=true) on the MSDN if you're interested in how this works: if you're not interested in the hows and whys then trust me, it
does work transparently.
Sure, as long as you're using NTFS (as you noted earlier). While this may not be a problem for some, much of my work is stored on NFS and SaMBa shares, so it's useless. The workspace files make much more sense.
Never mind that hidden data as described smacks of more MS Big Brother techniques. MS would rather hide things from you than have them readily accessible (file streams, the registry, Palladium...). Thanks, but no thanks.
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2003 3:07 pm
by webmasta
This would be a winna!! ... thumbs up for this feature.
Nah...
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2003 3:22 pm
by JonK
SanctimoniousApe wrote:... hidden data ... MS Big Brother techniques... rather hide things from you than have them readily accessible ... Palladium...
Tin-foil hat? Mine's the one over there ----> thanks
(really, is RegEdit any more difficult to use than vi and the mess that is /etc. And as for these so-called "hidden" streams - tried "type myFile.txt:1"?)
Problem with workspaces is that you've then tied your text file to both a second file and, by extension, you've baked in a path - which sucks even harder if you want to share the file. Way I see it, if you artificially hobble yourself, then don't complain that you can't get the benefit of advanced features. If you like *nixen then use vi. Making folding require NTFS is like making transparent dialogs require W2K or better.
Re: Nah...
Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2003 7:01 am
by Frank Fesevur
JonK wrote:Making folding require NTFS is like making transparent dialogs require W2K or better.
I assume you mean "Making folding remember its state requires NTFS".
Regards,
Frank