Minor UltraEdit features I am missing in HippoEdit

[Thiadmer]

Hello everyone,

I am using UltraEdit 9.2 as my "work horse" for editing (C/C++/assembler code, mostly). New releases of UltraEdit do not offer significant features for programmers. Version 9.2 comes of age, though; I am evaluating HippoEdit now. It has been very fluid, but I have some wishes:

1) One thing that I like in UltraEdit is the help file integration. I have help files for the C library, the Win32 API and others. In UltraEdit, I can select a word, press F1, choose which help file I believe this word is in, and get the help file opened at the location of the keyword.

I have not been able to do the same thing (yet) in HippoEdit. More precisely, I have not succeeded in getting the help file opened at the selected word.

Also, in HippoEdit, I can assign a shortcut to a help file, but that is not what I want; if I have 8 help files, I will have trouble remembering the shortcuts.

There is a work-around: I can build a small tool that opens the help file and assign that tool the shortcut Ctrl-F1. Maybe someone else has already done something similar; I have not looked.

2) I am switching projects all the time. UltraEdit closes the files in a project when closing the project. I do not see that option in HippoEdit. It is very convenient, though.

3) HEX mode. Granted, perhaps it is stupid to edit HEX files in a standard text editor, but it is convenient to just be able to use the editor that you use every day to edit an occasional hex file too.

4) I find the help file of HippoEdit a bit terse. That of UltraEdit is quite extensive.

What I would wish for a future release of HippoEdit are that point 4 is addressed and point 2 as well (as it does not seem complicated to add, and it is convenient). Point 1 is what keeps me switching to UltraEdit today when I need to get work done, but I can work around it (with some initial effort). Point 3 is "nice to have", but there is an easy work-around: get a proper HEX editor in addition to a good text editor.

Regards, and keep up the good work,
Thiadmer Riemersma

[alex]

Hi Thiadmer,

welcome on forum and thank a lot for feedback and feature comparison.

1) The feature is exist, but I think you just overlook it: Help->Syntax Help->Manage Help.
You can define syntax related contextual help (same way as for tools), define shortcuts, pass arguments as current word open help as inside of HE as outside. In such way you can integrate as online help (url) or compiled help file (*.chm). Never tried with *.hlp file. Probably will not work.
I think you can even overwrite default F1 shortcut by shortcut defined for context help. You can use same shortcut for different syntaxes (help items).
There is no way to search for several context items on one shortcut.

2) Yes, this is a good feature and rather easy to implement. Maybe for 1.49 I can add only closing of the files from project and for 1.50 can evaluate reopening of files when project is open... But I think this should be optional. This feature was already requested, but I am not sure that all users will like it...
As workaround, you can use workspaces instead of projects (File->Workspaces) - they are much more powerful. Workspace integrates open project, open files, tool windows layout, recent/input history etc (check Workspaces->Properties).

3) HEX editor was already requested and I have it on my todo. The feature is good, but requires significant effort for development (in right way). Also I would like to have as a plugin. So can be added not earlier than 1.50 release.

4) This is a pain point. I know. The help file is VERY weak and outdated. The best place to find an information is searching on forum :/. But help file development is also big thing.. I will try to go through and extend it for 1.50 release. Hope so.

Best regards,
Alex.

[Thiadmer]

Never tried with *.hlp file. Probably will not work.

That explains it. The help files that I am using are still .hlp files.

Forget what I said about projects: using workspaces solves the problem.

Thanks,
Thiadmer

[alex]

Ok, I will check how much effort is to open *.hlp files with keyword, of will be not complex will add the feature to 1.49.
Otherwise 1.50. But I am not planning to invest too much there - because *.hlp files are outdated style, and with time my effort for this feature will be lost.

With open/close of project files, I still think this can be an option for people who does not want to use workspaces - I will evaluate this then only for 1.50. In 1.50 it is possible to include several projects in one aggregate, maybe in this case ability to reopen files from all included projects will be useful.

[swbrains]

I will second the HEX edit mode.  It was in PSPad which I was using prior to HE and it is indeed helpful from time to time.  I tend to work with a lot of small flat text data files, and it's nice to be able to edit them in hex and visibly see what line-end characters exist (CR vs CRLF, etc.) as well as tabs vs. spaces, and other things like that.

[alex]

Yes, I have in my todos simple HEX view already. But definitely would not go in something experienced. There are a lot of professional dedicated HEX editors that can do what ever you like.
But for features you have described, you do not need to have HEX mode: just enable View->Editor->White Space.