Our New locale: 456 W. Main Street, Suite M - Mesa, Arizona 85201
November 2006 Topic Links
Purchase your copy of the Multi-Edit v9.10 User Manual!
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For the last time we are offering the Multi-Edit User Manual to be purchased at the incredible price of $10.00 US dollars. (That's $3.00 for the Manual and $7.00 for shipping)
This month ONLY (official end date is November 30th, 2006) you can purchase a hard copy of the Multi-Edit 9.10 printed manual for only $3.00!
International users will need to contact one of our distributors for shipping outside North America.
Visit our secure Online Ordering Form:
https://www.multieditsoftware.com/meorderOr send an email to:
The MESI Sales Desk: sales@multieditsoftware.comOr call us toll free:
1-877-910-2700 extension 1!
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Welcome to the Multi Edit Software Newsletter...
Another INFO packed Newsletter...
- Chad W. Williams
Welcome to November's edition of The Developer News!
Office Closure Notice
Multi Edit Software, Inc. is moving! November 15th through November 17th Multi Edit Software, Inc. will be moving to our new location and will be unavailable via phones and email as we work to relocate. We will be back up and operational on Monday November 20th 2006. Our new address is noted below for your records and has also been updated on our website.
Multi Edit Software, Inc.
456 W Main St
Suite M
Mesa, Arizona(AZ) 85201Our website will remain live for all operations i.e. orders, evaluations and the forums. During this time if you require any assistance or need to place an order for a network license, submit a PO or your purchase will exceed $1500.00, please contact our Preferred Reseller, Programmers Paradise at (800) 445-7899. Know that any of their Customer Service Reps will be happy to help.
Multi-Edit 9.10 Printed Manuals Final Inventory Blowout
This is your last chance to order your copy of the printed manual for Multi-Edit 9.10. Pick up your copy today for only $3.00 per book with $7.00 UPS Ground shipping. This offer is good only through November 30th, 2006 so be sure to grab one today before they are gone forever.
Multi-Edit 2006 Manual
The Multi-Edit 2006 manual is available in an Adobe .pdf document from our downloads page: http://www.multiedit.com/downloads.php Please note the Hard Copy is in production and you can expect your prepaid copy to be in the mail before the end of the year.
Want to get more out of Mult-Edit?
This issue we have two very informative Multi-Edit articles from Sean Hughes and Stephen Wiebelhaus. Learn how to get the most out of your editing with the use of Multi-Edit Projects and Tagging!
Chad Williams, CEO
Multi Edit Software, Inc.
Chad Williams: chadw@multieditsoftware.com
Development Updates from the VP
- L. Dan Hughes
Exciting things are in the pipeline, so be on the lookout for our next installment of The Developer News.
Utilize your patience and know that it will be worth it!
Until then, keep coding!
Dan Hughes, VP
Multi Edit Software, Inc.
Dan Hughes: danh@multieditsoftware.com
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Using Tags within Multi-Edit
- Written by Stephen Wiebelhaus
What is a tag?
Tags are a means of locating key programming constructs. These may be methods, functions or modules, depending on what that particular language calls them. Tags make it easy for the programmer to quickly locate the definitions of methods, within a program. They can be useful on single file programs, but are especially useful in large projects where there are many source files in use.
Why use tags?
Tags work better than simply searching for a method name. When searching, for a method, all references to that method would be returned as results to the search. The user would then have to look through all those references to find the definition. With tags, finding the definition is as easy as right-clicking the function being referenced, then clicking Find tag under cursor (hotkey Shift + F11).
Multi-Edit will then open the file containing the definition of the method and place the cursor on the first line of the definition. If a tag was defined more that once, then clicking Tags | Find Again (Ctrl + F11) will proceed to the next definition. To just go to a particular method definition, just click Tags | Prompt for tag..., in the prompt type the name of the method, click OK.
Recent method searches will appear in the dropdown box for convenience. Now, let's see how easy it is to create tags.
How to create tags
Creating Tags is simple; there are a few possible scenarios for adding files. If there is only one file that needs to be tagged, all that need to be done is click on 'Tags' in the main menu, then click 'Scan tags for current file'. Tags will be created for the active window file.
To create tags for a project, first open the project, click on Tags | Scan Project, from the main menu. The Project Tag Scan window will popup showing the progress of the search through all project files looking for tags.
To create tags for a particular folder, click on Tags | Wildcard tag scan.... To the right of the directory field there's a button, it's the Browse button, click it, then browse to the location of the folder you wish to search for tags. Just below the directory field, is the Filespec field. In here you can type the file extensions to add. Example, for adding all C#, and C++ files, enter ".cs;.cpp"
Wondering what tags are currently loaded?
Click on Tags | List tagged files... This will display a list of tagged files related to the current window.
Select the file you're interested in, then click Browse. This will show all the tags Multi-Edit found for that particular file.
What if a new method is added?
When writing programs, we often add new methods. It is generally not necessary to rescan entire folders or projects in this case. After declaring a new method, just click on Tags | Update tags for current file (Alt + Shift + F11).
What if I switch projects?
Multi-Edit will also remember which tags file to use. For instance, say you have a C# project open. Then open a Java file, and scan its folder for tags. While the Java window is active, you list tagged files. Multi-Edit will list tagged files for the folder containing the Java file. Now you click on a C# file window, do the same list tagged files. Multi-Edit will show you the files tagged for the C# project. Multi-Edit can remember which tags have been located even after closing, or opening a different saved project because the tag list file is saved along with the project information.
Wish to see all methods easily?
Want an easy way to see methods names, use the Collapse option. Click on View, make sure Collapse is checked, it will open in the Tool Pane. By default, the collapse is set to collapse code on search terms. On the left side of the pane, there's a radiobox for tags, click it, also make sure active is checked, in the middle top of the collapse pane. It turns on and off the collapse feature. The code will be collapsed into method signatures, with a small box labeled + or - on the left side. The plus minus box will open or close that method's definition. This will make it easy to glance through all the methods defined in a file.
This is very useful for finding methods when unsure of the exact title. Also, it's useful to check for method overloading. Getting the most out of using Tags Multi-Edit tags are very useful and can save users a lot of time. Although we've covered most tag topics briefly in this article, more information on these features and more can be found within the Multi-Edit Help file and user guide. Have fun programming.
Be sure to visit and query me in the Forums
(http://www.multieditsoftware.com/forums/)
for any further questions/comments!Stephen Wiebelhaus
Multi-Edit DeveloperAs always, any suggestions for a future programming article are always welcome at the following email address: stephenw@multieditsoftware.com
------------------------------Multi-Edit Partners----------------------------
Programmer’s Paradise is a reseller of select, quality computing products and services to software developers and other IT professionals.
The company operates in the United States and Canada, marketing technical software for microcomputers, servers and networks. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Lifeboat Distribution Inc., it distributes products to dealers and resellers in the United States and Canada. The company's catalogs are full color magalogs, combining product announcements and advertisements with informative articles, interviews and event schedules. Programmer's Paradise specializes in offering a particularly wide selection of programming languages, tools, utilities, libraries, development systems, interfaces and communication products.
Programmer's Paradise, Inc.
1157 Shrewsbury Ave.
Shrewsbury, New Jersey 07702-4321
Telephone: 800-441-1511
Fax: (732) 460-9317
website: http://www.programmersparadise.com
------------------------------Multi-Edit Partners----------------------------
“Our goal is to become the most trusted and respected IT provider in our Industry...”
Wayside Technology Group, Inc. is committed to the highest level of dedication to integrity, responsiveness and service to its customers, partners, shareholders and suppliers. We firmly believe that if we focus on niche market segments we can continue to exceed the expectations of our customers and partners. Progress so far has been excellent. We were ranked #7 on Fortune’s "FSB 100" list for 2006 and achieved the #8 position on BusinessWeek's "Hot Growth Companies" list earlier this year.
Wayside Technology Group, Inc.
1157 Shrewsbury Ave.
Shrewsbury, NJ 07702
Phone: (732) 389-0932
Fax: (732) 389-1207
website: http://www.waysidetechnologies.com
------------------------------Multi-Edit Partners----------------------------
Using Projects within Multi-Edit
What is a Project?
Projects are the organizational unit that groups files together for processing.
A project consists of a tree list of files cornered around a base directory. Once files are added, there are many things that can be done which are covered in detail within this article.
Why use Projects?
Projects can assist you in your editing tasks in a variety of ways. One benefit, when you have a particular set of files within a project, you can open any of those files readily. Instead of using the file prompt to open and locate the files, you can use the Project Pane. You also have the ability of building your project easily within Multi-Edit and can even tag an entire project or certain files within it, with a single click.
Setting up your Project
We'll now provide you with the steps on creating your own project from scratch.
Step One: Click on the Project | Create Project…
from the Multi-Edit menu and the following dialog will appear.
Step Two: Title your project by inputting the title into the Project Name field. In our example the screenshot reflects this as the "WinList" project.
Step Three: Select the Root folder of the project which will be the Base directory of your project. In the screenshot example we've used the path of "D:\Dev\Mesi\MeX\Addons\Winlist". In every project Base directory you'll find a file which reflects the project name, for example Winlist.mep. This file is created when setting up your project and will contain what files are included in the project. When selecting the "Auto add files", all files matching the extension(s) that are noted in the "Extensions to add" field will be automatically added to the project file list.
When the "Include subfolders" option is checked Multi-Edit will search the subfolders of the project's base directory for any and all extensions that are noted in the "Extensions to Add" field.
Step Four: In the "Extensions to add:" field you can add extensions which you intend to have included in your project. In the above example, we are including all *.s; *.sh file extensions.
Step Five: When you have completed the naming of your project and have selected the Base directory of your project as well as any options, click the OK button to complete you project setup. Selecting/Configuring the Project Options
We'll now take some time to walk through the properties options for your newly created project. We'll begin with clicking the Project | Properties menu selection. The information pertaining to the tabs in this dialog is discussed below.
Root Directory: This field is for designating where your project root directory is located. The Root Directory settings would only need to be changed if you have moved the project list file from its original location.
Tags Directory: This field allows you to define a different default path for your tag files to reside in. You only need to set this path if you prefer that your tag files for the project reside somewhere other than the default location which is within Project's Root Directory.
Search Directories: The Search Directories field allows you to define where you would like Multi-Edit to search for files when selecting to use the "Open file under cursor" option. To utilize more than one directory, simply separate them by semi-colons.
The various fields located within the Tools tab within the project properties are intended for setting up various compilers to be used within the project. These fields can also be used to call third party programs such as Windows Notepad, Debuggers, Code Beautifiers and even batch files.
Multi-Edit provides basic FTP functionality for use with Projects. Unlike full fledged FTP programs, you will need to define the directory associations between the server paths and the local paths prior to using this feature. More information on Multi-Edit's FTP options can be found in the Help file under the topic FTP Properties.
The WebLair tab is used to configure options specific to Web Editing projects. It is not necessary to configure the Common Code Directory within this dialog if your project will not use any HTML files. Common Code Directory This field is used to specify the directory in which all common code fragment files are to be placed. For more information on Common Code, please see the Help file topic: Common Code Manager.
The BSC Browser is a Multi-Edit Add-On, which allows you to use Microsoft Visual C++ browse information (.BSC files) within Multi-Edit.
More information on using the BSC Browser can be found in the Help file under the topic: What is the BSC Browser?
The Options tab is used to define additional options to be associated with your project.
Synchronize Projects to Sessions Selecting this option will enable the function that causes the Project Manager to switch to the session with the same name when switching projects.
Open Project files adds to History When selected, Multi-Edit will add the files in the View | Project dialog when they are opened. If this option is not selected, when a file is opened that is in the View | Project dialog it will not show in the File History.
Hide Project dialog on file open Selecting this option will enable the function that will cause the project file open operations to hide the project pane after the open is complete.
List selection follows selected file Selecting this option will enable the project view to select the file in the project file list that is currently being edited.
View Project dialog on Project open When selected, opening a project will result in opening the View | Project dialog.
Adding and listing files in your Project Adding files to Multi-Edit is as easy as a click of the mouse! To add a file which is currently being edited, right-click the mouse button then click Add current file to project. If you take a moment to view the status bar in the lower left of Multi-Edit, you'll see the message "File added to project!".
If you instead wish to add all the *.c files from a directory to your project, simply follow the steps listed below.
Step One: Open up Multi-Edit. Step Two: Click on View | Project Step Three: Right-click on the Root folder in that top portion of the dialog Step Four: Select "Add files Wizard" Step Five: Select Include subfolders to include files within the subfolders Step Six: In the Extensions to add field insert your extension *.c Step Seven: Click the Ok button Your project will now contain all the files with the extensions you've defined.
In the bottom portion of the Project View dialog double-click any file and it will open within an editing window. Single clicking the file, will open the file inside the Preview Pane, if you have checked the option Auto-show Preview pane for supporting dialogs. This option can be found under Tools | Customize | Windowing | Tool Pane. The file will also open in the Preview Pane if that pane is already opened.
Getting the most out of using your Project
Multi-Edit provides numerous features for use with projects such as Build, Make, Debug, Notebook and even project tagging. Although we've attempted to cover all these features on some level in this article, more information on these features can be found under Project topics within the Multi-Edit Help file.
Sean Hughes
Member of ME Support
As always, any suggestions for a future tech article are always welcome at the following email address: support@multieditsoftware.com
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Copyright © 2006 Multi Edit Software, Inc. All rights reserved.Multi-Edit, the Multi-Edit "packaging"and logo,
are trademarks of Multi Edit Software, Inc.
All other brands and products are trademarks of their respective holder(s).Multi Edit Software, Inc. 3370 N. Hayden Rd. #123 PMB 712 Scottsdale, Arizona 85251