========== QSTART.TXT ========== The Willow Creek Programmer's Editor (WE) is a powerful multi-window programmer's editor with an extensive set of text manipulation tools. WE is shareware. This means that you can try a fully functional and documented trial copy for free, but you must pay a registration price of $49 if you find yourself using it regularly. There are several benefits to registering WE beyond knowing you did the RIGHT THING. See REGISTER.TXT for details and registration instructions. Willow Creek Software, the producer of WE, is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). See later in this document to obtain technical support. =================== Quick Start with WE =================== To install WE see INSTALL.TXT. To start WE either type "WE" on a line by itself to see a directory list to pick a file from, or type "WE file file file ..." to start WE and load one or more files at the same time. You can also use wildcards for any "file" on the command line to pick from a directory list of matching files. Each file opened will be displayed in a separate window on the screen, arranged one above the other. Here are the basic WE commands. Miscellaneous: Esc - Display main menu. F1 - Extensive online hypertext help. NOTE: F1 while inside help will display an introductory help message. Cursor movement: Arrows - Move the cursor around. Enter - Move to beginning of next line. Home/End - Move to either end of current line. PgUp/PgDn - Move up or down one page. Ctrl/Home - Move to top of file. Ctrl/End - Move to bottom of file. ^Z / ^W - Scroll up/down without moving cursor. Editing: Del - Delete current character. Backspace - Delete previous character. ^R - Delete (remove) current line. ^E - Delete from cursor till end of line. ^B - Break line in two at cursor. ^A - Append line below to end of current line. Ctrl/Enter - Insert blank line above current line. Shift/Enter - Insert blank line below current line. File/Window control: ^X+^O - Open window and load file. ^X+^Q - Abandon file changes and close window. Esc+'F'+'C' - Save file and close window (menu command). F6 - Switch to next window. ^X+^Z - Zoom/Unzoom current window. Most of the documentation for WE is in the online help, which is very detailed and complete. ====================== Unusual Features of WE ====================== Here are a few features of WE which you might not think to look for: * File search path WE will search for all input files in a variety of directories. Each window has its own private search path, and there is also a global search path that applies to all. This is very convenient if you keep notes and other information in disk files for reference, and use those notes while in various different directories. * File names imbedded in text WE can open a file by reading the file name imbedded in the text of the current window at the cursor position. This is handy when you keep lots of little note files scattered about your computer. You can imbed the names of these files in places where you might want to refer to them, them as a form of hypertext link. And with the file search path you don't have to list the directory each file is in. This is also very handy for error and log files of compilers and utilities that include filenames in their output. * Marking text WE has unusual text marking and manipulation capabilities. First, text is marked character by character instead of with begin/end markers. This means that you can mark many pieces of text in different places in the file and then work with them all at once. Collect them all together, delete them all, whatever. WE has a rich set of marking and unmarking commands to conveniently mark the text you want. * Block oriented commands WE has a number of commands that allow you to make the same change to each line is a set of adjacent marked lines of text. Shift everything after the cursor column left or right, insert a string or incrementing number at that column, append/delete at end of line, etc. * Smart indenting WE can help format your "C/C++" source code, by performing some simple syntax analysis of the text in the line or two above the cursor when you push ENTER, and indenting the following line. * Configurable keys The keyboard is completely configurable in WE. This is ordinary enough, but WE goes a little further by providing a number of alternative actions for the ENTER key. Everyone has their own personal choice for what the ENTER key should do, and with WE you can pick your own. There's even a special mode switch available while you're editing to control whether ENTER will insert a line or just move to the next line. * Window locking If you have lots of windows open you may want to keep one or two on the screen while you flip through the rest for reference as you work. WE has a special feature designed to do just this. * Brace {} insertion WE can enclose any line, blank or otherwise, with {} braces and indent it properly, all with a single command. This combined with smart indenting saves tons of keystrokes, and allows you to create any desired indenting and block structure in your source code with ease. * Powerful wildcard text searching WE has a powerful facility to do various types of text searches in all files matching a wildcard. The search log is automatically loaded into a window so you can point to the file names with the cursor and open them. * Simple paragraph formatting WE has simple paragraph formatting capabilities to help you keep notes in text files. ================= Technical Support ================= Registered users of WE can obtain technical support in several ways. 1. Through Compuserve. Send eMail to Tim Yaukey, ID 71001,315. 2. Through US Mail. Send correspondence to: Willow Creek Software P.O. Box 2874 Amherst, MA 01004 There is currently no restriction on the amount of technical support you may obtain, though Willow Creek Software reserves the right to change this policy in the future. Willow Creek Software guarantees that registered users will ALWAYS receive free technical support for 3 months after registering. ================= The ASP Ombudsman ================= This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 USA, FAX 616-788-2765 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.