General Questions

[flyte]

Hi All. I am a new SlickEdit user - using 12.0.2 on a Linux platform. Mainly editing in C++ within a large workspace with many projects. I have a few questions:

a) In Visual Studio, I was able to set a text editor color for any user type (i.e.: a class). I am not sure how to do this within SlickEdit. In the Color Settings dialog, I can set a color for "User Defined Symbol", but it seems that I then have to manually add all of my defined classes/types in the Color Coding Setup dialog. Is there a way that SlickEdit can automatically grab all of the defined types within the workspace? Shouldn't the tagged files make this work?

b) In Visual Studio, not only was I able to set a color for user types, but for different types of user types. For example, I could set a color for user defined enumerations, interfaces, etc. etc. Why can't I do this within SlickEdit?

c) How do people use dual monitors with SlickEdit? With Visual Studio 2005, I found my self creating two vertical tab groups that were sized to take up each monitor (split bar placed "between" the monitors", and then I was able to quickly and easily navigate thru open files. In SlickEdit, everything is a MDI and I always have to manually move and size each window to the corresponding monitors. Is there an easier way to do this?

Thanks for your help.

[chrisant]

a) In Visual Studio, I was able to set a text editor color for any user type (i.e.: a class). I am not sure how to do this within SlickEdit. In the Color Settings dialog, I can set a color for "User Defined Symbol", but it seems that I then have to manually add all of my defined classes/types in the Color Coding Setup dialog. Is there a way that SlickEdit can automatically grab all of the defined types within the workspace? Shouldn't the tagged files make this work?

That's a new feature coming in SE 14, which I believe is scheduled for this spring/summer.  You can download the beta and try it out.

b) In Visual Studio, not only was I able to set a color for user types, but for different types of user types. For example, I could set a color for user defined enumerations, interfaces, etc. etc. Why can't I do this within SlickEdit?

See previous answer.

c) How do people use dual monitors with SlickEdit? With Visual Studio 2005, I found my self creating two vertical tab groups that were sized to take up each monitor (split bar placed "between" the monitors", and then I was able to quickly and easily navigate thru open files. In SlickEdit, everything is a MDI and I always have to manually move and size each window to the corresponding monitors. Is there an easier way to do this?

I don't use dual monitors, but I recall that some folks have macros for automatically positioning windows.  SE does not yet support tab groups, and there have been some recent requests for that.  You might try a search in these forums for keywords like "dual", "multiple", "multimon", "monitor", "position", "window", "macro", etc -- maybe something will turn up.

[ScottW, VP of Dev]

As chrisant said, v14 may address your symbol coloring features. If you are on maintenance and support, you can download the beta version of that release from your registered products page on the SlickEdit website.

As for multiple monitors, you can stretch the SlickEdit window across both monitors. You can then split the edit window vertically and position the two windows so that they are aligned with the monitor split. You will likely want to set "Files per window" to "Multiple files share window" (on Tools > Options > Editing > Editor Windows). In that mode, you control the number of editor windows. All windows share the same list of buffers, since we don't have buffer groups yet.

You can move between the windows with next-window and prev-window. You can change the buffer in the selected window with next-buffer and prev-buffer. Use the keybinding dialog to find the default keybindings for these commands or set new ones (Tools > Options > Keyboard > Key Bindings).

You can also take advantage of that real estate by docking different Tool windows on the sides or multiple ones along the bottom. I use the following Tool windows a lot:

• Preview
• Projects
• Files
• Defs
• Backup History
• References
• Class
• Build

I wonder how long the multiple montior era will last. Is this just a brief interlude until we are all using 30" or larger monitors?

[flyte]

As chrisant said, v14 may address your symbol coloring features. If you are on maintenance and support, you can download the beta version of that release from your registered products page on the SlickEdit website.

I have to check with our purchasing dept. with respect to us being on maintance and support, but considering version 12.0.2 was released in 2007, it would suggest that this agreement would have expired.

As for multiple monitors, you can stretch the SlickEdit window across both monitors. You can then split the edit window vertically and position the two windows so that they are aligned with the monitor split. You will likely want to set "Files per window" to "Multiple files share window" (on Tools > Options > Editing > Editor Windows). In that mode, you control the number of editor windows. All windows share the same list of buffers, since we don't have buffer groups yet.

This menu option is not available in 12.0.2

[flyte]

As chrisant said, v14 may address your symbol coloring features. If you are on maintenance and support, you can download the beta version of that release from your registered products page on the SlickEdit website.

I have to check with our purchasing dept. with respect to us being on maintance and support, but considering version 12.0.2 was released in 2007, it would suggest that this agreement would have expired.

It looks like version 13 is available to me. Will this version offer the features I am looking for?

[chrisant]

The sophisticated coloring you asked about is a feature that is coming in SE 14.
So it is not available in SE 13.

[flyte]

Delighted that the Vertical Split option is available in 13 - this makes working with dual monitors a dream (just like in Visual Studio 2005).

With respect to user defined symbol coloring: How can I get the Options->Languages->C/C++->Color Coding->Tokens Tab, User Defined list auto populates with all of the symbols I have in my workspace? This would effectively allow me to have syntax coloring for User Defined Symbols work.

[hs2]

@flyte: Dynamic symbol based colors powered by SE tagging engine start with v14/SE2009. All earlier SE versions including the current release v13/SE2008 use static 'word' lists.
So 'user defined' really means that YOU have to define the appr. words (or loading a prepared list using the 'Get' button).

HS2