Workspace (tws) editing, log, browse, etc.
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 5:32 pm
I have been using TextPad for a very, very long time and love it. I feel that it almost defines a part of who I am.
Here's my beef, er, enhancement suggestion. I use workspaces extensively and often transfer them from one context to another. This can result in several problems. One is that if a file referenced in the tws is not in the same path or relative location and you don't have visual errors on (which are otherwise a bummer to have on, if you ask me), you have no idea what file is missing. At best, you carefully close the tws without saving and start sleuthing (either by opening it in text format or in its native context). Also, it's just a drag to go from one context to another and have to start over with all of your tws's even though files and directory structure are the same but the root is just a bit different for one, some or all of the files.
1. It would be great if there were a friendlier way to examine and edit tws files.
2. When a tws open generates an error (e.g., failure to find a file), it would be cool to put that into a text log file that one could open and examine.
3. When a tws fails to find a file, the user could be prompted with a browse dialog like you get when windows shortcut does'nt work.
4. When several files fail to open, the result in a single error that you can copy out of.
5. Here's another cool (I think) idea: it would be nice if you could have paths in a text-editable tws that contain variable definitions and references. I'm not really a programmer so I hope that doesn't sound foolish. Here's an example:
base="c:\bonzo"
. . .
[base]\files\lists\doc.txt
That way you can push workspaces around, e-mail them, etc., make a few quick edits and be up and running. Yeah, you might could do the same thing with just a search and replace but there are dangers to that and other applications of this.
Anyway, I will mostly defer a discussion of the best way to solve this problem (I hope that the problem at least seems real. btw, I'm sure there are other solutions I haven't yet imagined) to you software engineerish folks. I'm technical but I'm no programmer. I just play one on t.v.
Mucho Thankso
Here's my beef, er, enhancement suggestion. I use workspaces extensively and often transfer them from one context to another. This can result in several problems. One is that if a file referenced in the tws is not in the same path or relative location and you don't have visual errors on (which are otherwise a bummer to have on, if you ask me), you have no idea what file is missing. At best, you carefully close the tws without saving and start sleuthing (either by opening it in text format or in its native context). Also, it's just a drag to go from one context to another and have to start over with all of your tws's even though files and directory structure are the same but the root is just a bit different for one, some or all of the files.
1. It would be great if there were a friendlier way to examine and edit tws files.
2. When a tws open generates an error (e.g., failure to find a file), it would be cool to put that into a text log file that one could open and examine.
3. When a tws fails to find a file, the user could be prompted with a browse dialog like you get when windows shortcut does'nt work.
4. When several files fail to open, the result in a single error that you can copy out of.
5. Here's another cool (I think) idea: it would be nice if you could have paths in a text-editable tws that contain variable definitions and references. I'm not really a programmer so I hope that doesn't sound foolish. Here's an example:
base="c:\bonzo"
. . .
[base]\files\lists\doc.txt
That way you can push workspaces around, e-mail them, etc., make a few quick edits and be up and running. Yeah, you might could do the same thing with just a search and replace but there are dangers to that and other applications of this.
Anyway, I will mostly defer a discussion of the best way to solve this problem (I hope that the problem at least seems real. btw, I'm sure there are other solutions I haven't yet imagined) to you software engineerish folks. I'm technical but I'm no programmer. I just play one on t.v.
Mucho Thankso