Why is "Sort" grayed out?

[Researcher5]

I'm a 20-year user of VS, new to v22.
I open a text file, Select-All, go to the Tool menu, and Sort is grayed out.

Why is Sort grayed out?  How do I sort?

Thanks - Researcher5

[Dan]

I can't reproduce this.  What kind of file are you working with?  How many lines are selected?

[Researcher5]

When I open *any* file, Sort is grayed out (the only thing grayed out in the Tools menu).  Happens every time.
Sorry -- Selecting appears to be a red herring.
I can print all screens and send you anything you need.
Thanks - Researcher5

[Lee]

Is the file Read Only?  It would be disabled in that case, I can't recall if there are any others.

[Dan]

The only thing I see required for that to be on is that the current control is an editor control.  Lee is right, read only would certainly do it.

[Researcher5]

I'm actively writing to the file from another process/window.
Does that make it "read-only?"  I'd like to open, sort, and save sections of it to a new filename while it's actively being written to.  Sometimes the runs take 30-50 hours, so I'd like to open it and grab pieces during a run.

VS v9 has allowed this for years (open the live file, sort it, write the sorted file to a new filename)

Thanks - Researcher5

[Dan]

Check your File settings.  There is one for "load partially" above a certain size.  You might need to up it if the file is big enough.  It looks like the default is 8MB.

Just out of curiosity, what version are you upgrading from?

[Researcher5]

P.S.  Moment of head shaking -- why can't I sort a Read-only file?  Is there some setting I need to make to allow this?  (I have 100,000s of read-only text files on this computer.)

[Researcher5]

Dan, thanks for the right question:
I'm upgrading from v9, which has been stable and reliable for years, but looks awful on a 4k display.

I really want a v9 that looks great in 4k, and will pay you $1,000s for it.  I need *no* function in v22.

(An extremely happy customer who has turned unhappy.)

[Dan]

Well, we'll figure this out and turn you back into a happy customer I hope.

You can't sort read-only files because you can't type in them or perform other modifications either.  You can change the setting at the bottom right for the buffer, and then decline to change the file on disk.

What happens if you run "gui-sort" on the SlickEdit command line?

[Researcher5]

OK, found it:
- Load entire file ON
- Load partially OFF
- Count number of lines ON (great news: this never worked in v9)

[Researcher5]

"You can't sort read-only files because you can't type in them or perform other modifications either."

Yes, let's find a fix for that.

64GB of RAM, 8TB of Raid0 SSD, Xeon
I open 2GB files regularly.

Thanks

[Dan]

What happens if you run "gui-sort" on the SlickEdit command line?

To get to the SlickEdit command line click on the message line at the bottom of the editor (to the left of the line indicator and other indicators).  You can also you Esc in almost any emulation (certainly not Vim).

[jporkkahtc]

In: Tools > Options > Editing > General
There is the option "Protect read-only mode"
Turn that option OFF.

[Researcher5]

Thanks -- that worked (Protect read-only mode -- OFF).