Newbie:Backspace key should move to line above

[Sergeant]

Hello,

just downloaded your great editor.

One question:
If I use the BS key the cursor stops at the beginning of the current line.

What I want is, that the cursor then moves to the end of the prior line
(as for example the Windows XP editor does).

How I can achieve this behaviour in Zeus?

Many thanks for any hint!
Regards
Sergeant

[jussij]

You will need to need to remap the keyboard mapping as follows:

1. Options, Editor Options menu
2. Select the Keyboard Mapping section
3. Edit the currently active keyboard mapping
4. Remap the backspace key to use BackspaceEx function
5. Apply the changes

Cheers Jussi

[arighauks]

I must say I was rather stunned to find out that when using the mouse to highlight text within multiple lines, it highlighted the block, instead of the lines in the selection. So if I'd placed the mouse cursor in front of the "T" in the first line (of the sample text, see below) and dragged it so it'd be positioned in front of the "v" in the third line I'd have a selection across 3 lines "T-t-e"... After a lot of annoyance I found how to change this (as well as the backspace issue above, and a few other things), and now I've actually grown to love this editor! Don't plan on parting with it any time soon (at least not for Ruby, RoR).

I actually have a few suggestions and questions though:

1. I'd like to be able to use the settings of my favorite editor so far (which is Intellij IDEA (for Java)) so I'd like to be able to load a "preference-file" (I could actually make the preference file myself). (a preference file would keep all the keyboard mappings and such, and it'd be in XML og .ini style, easy for users to change outside of Zeus)

2. For future releases I'd like to recommend that this editor would be equipped with a tutorial/hint system for newbies. That way the trouble for all the new users (accustomed to multiple different IDE's or editors) switching editors would be minimized. (I was actually wondering, for about the first 10 days of my using this editor, whether this was just a crap editor or if it just had some poor defaults)

3. About the tempates (which I love), is there any way of making the cursor fall into a template somewhere in the middle instead of always after all the code, as in between html opening and closing tags. (See "Sample code" below)

4. Is there a way to change the template placing key, to eliminate the possibility of inadvertedly invoking a template when you're maybe just typing in some text.

5. And last, I think that usability could be greatly enhanced by adding more tooltips here and there (for example, I don't know the difference between Unix text and OEM text, I don't know what "PTSC tab control" is (so I don't know if I like it on or not) and I bet that (at least) a few people don't know what EOL means) (also I'd actually like to know what CUA stands for, and what's the difference between that and "Ragged CUA")

Thanks for your time

Sample text:
1. This is some test text
2. this is more text
3. even more

Sample code:
<div>"cursor-is-placed-here"</div>

[jussij]

After a lot of annoyance I found how to change this (as well as the backspace issue above, and a few other things), and now I've actually grown to love this editor! Don't plan on parting with it any time soon (at least not for Ruby, RoR).

I think you describes a common problem new users have with Zeus

Zeus offers so many features and configuration options it is difficult to documentation them all and impossible to add every feature to a menu item

The end result is it definitely takes more time and effort to get started with Zeus, but I think that once you get over the initial learning curve, using Zeus can be most enjoyable

a preference file would keep all the keyboard mappings and such, and it'd be in XML og .ini style, easy for users to change outside of Zeus)

The Zeus configuration files date back to the days of Windows 3.0 and as you will have noticed it is a binary file format. In those early days these binary files worked well (ie where fast loading on slow machines), but they are definitely showing their age

The longer term plan is to replace these binary files with a more user friendly XML type of file format.

I was actually wondering, for about the first 10 days of my using this editor, whether this was just a crap editor or if it just had some poor defaults

I am sure this is a common new user response to Zeus

One reason new users find Zeus so difficult relates directly to the configuration modal that it uses. Zeus by design tries very hard to not get in the way of the programmer and as such things like compiler command lines, installation directories etc are all left up to the programmer to configure.

While this a very powerful configuration model, for new users this approach can be very confusing

3. About the templates (which I love), is there any way of making the cursor fall into a template somewhere in the middle instead of always after all the code

Just use the \c Place cursor here once expansion is complete option. For
more details do as follows:

1. Help, Help Contents menu
2. Search Index for Templates keyword
3. Select the Expansion Field

4. Is there a way to change the template placing key, to eliminate the possibility of inadvertedly invoking a template when you're maybe just typing in some text.

Zeus has a CharQuote function that sort of does this. For example lets say you have a template word called test. To have the space bar not trigger the template you would need to type Ctrl+Q, Space.

Naturally you could also put these commands into a simple macro script:

Code: Select all

import zeus

def key_macro():
    zeus.screen_update_disable()
    zeus.CharQuote()
    zeus.write(" ")
    zeus.screen_update_enable()
    zeus.screen_update()

key_macro() # run the macro

and bind the macro to some alternative space key.

Code: Select all

5. And last, I think that usability could be greatly enhanced by adding more tooltips here and there

While the I am one of the first to admit the Zeus documentation is not as good as it should be, I think one problem is people don't take the time to use it.

For example if you bring up the Zeus help and search the index for PTSC keyword you will find a description of this feature.

Similarly for help on other aspects of the Editor Options dialog you could once again search for the index and it would list the keyword Editor. Selecting this keyword then displays a Editor Options Dialog category and this help panel describes this dialog.

Don't get me wrong. I agree totally that this is an area where Zeus needs to be greatly improved. But I also think the situation is as bad as it could be

Cheers Jussi

PS: Terms that I could not find in the User only help

• CUA - Microsoft term call Common User Access
• Ragged CUA - This is CUA marking but the unlike CUA marking that marks all the way to the right edge, ragged marking only draws to the end of the line