Sirs,
First off, I must say: Thank You!
I have been a using TextPad for approximately 10 years. I have recommended it to dozens of friends, many of which are now also registered users. I have *loved* this product from day 1. At this point, I can honestly say I use probably every single advanced feature in this product including heavy use of macros, tools, and custom syn files. As a full-time contract developer, I use TextPad to code in a dozen languages and as an editor for many other specialized syntaxes including PHP, Perl, ASP-JScript, ASP-VB, WSH-VBScript, Python, Javascript, SQL, BAT/CMD, XML, HTML, CSS, MicroLynx, a tad C, and even BlitzMax. The point is to not only thank you but to indicate I have a lot of experience with this product and that my suggestion should bear a tiny bit of extra weight.
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The enhancement idea:
My one little idea for this post is to have the ability to define a third (and maybe even a fourth) comment colorings. This is to enable the experienced programmer to utilize specialized commenting conventions to heighten code readability.
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The reasoning / derived value:
Every language I code in, I fully leverage the Comments and Comments2 color highlighting. I comment certain types of comments one way, and certain other comments another way specifically to increase readability of the code. For example, comments at the beginning of a function look take on one color, and comments within the function take on another color.
Of course, most languages don't have three comment types. Here's what I do in the typical C-syntax language - I use an extended SingleComment of "///" for actual comments and SingleCommentAlt of "//" for code that is just commented out. However, there's only two colors to choose from. If I had my druthers, I could have a third color. For example, I use RED for function-heading or class-definition comments, and GREEN for regular code comments. But, I'd like to have my little "//" comments be in grey, not a choice of red or green. Hopefully this makes sense.
What I'd like to do is have a third color for code that is just commented-out, but when it is text that is not actually a "comment". I personally will assign it to just look greyed out, but of course many people will find different uses for this feature.
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Oh, and I don't suppose you've already considered adding up to "Namspace2=?", up to "[Keywords 9]", and different fonts like italics for all of the keyword types?!... =)
Yes, I know that enhancement requests can get crazy. But, I hope that this one would be a) relatively simple to implement, and b) have a very high value-added ratio when compared to the smallish work I should hope would be required.
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I sincerely thank again for an absolutely wonderful product!
··Z
Comments 3 = SingleCommentAlt2 + CommentStartAlt2
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