EDT V2 NOTES AND INSTALLATION PROCEDURE RSX-11M Patch Kit "E" (or later) contains EDT version 2 for RSX-11M. The patch kit includes all files needed to install EDT version 2, as well as new documentation: the EDT Editor Manual (AA-J726A-TC) and the EDT Editor Reference Card (AV-J756A-TC). The patch kit contains the following files: ED2.CMD The command file to build ED2.TSK ED2.DOC A copy of the body of this description ED2BLD.CMD The TKB indirect file for normal ED2 ED2LIB.OLB The object library needed to build ED2 ED2OVBLD.CMD The TKB indirect file for overlaid ED2 ED2OVBLD.ODL The overlay description for overlaid ED2 EDTHELP.HLP The help text which describes how to use EDT version 2 EDTVT100.DOC Keypad function diagram for the VT100, suitable for framing EDTVT52.DOC Keypad function diagram for the VT52, suitable for framing ED2 is version 2 of EDT, the DEC Standard Editor. It is a complete rewrite of EDT version 1, but is essentially upwards compatible with it. (For additional information, see Summary of New Features and Technical Changes in the EDT Editor Manual.) The major addition to version 2 has been a keypad mode, which provides the VT52 or VT100 user with a window onto his file. Keypad mode is upwards compatible with KED, an editor which has become very popular on small DEC systems. Using the keypad allows EDT users to be more productive than if they just use line mode, but keypad mode demands more computer resources per user than line mode does. If you are familiar with either EDT version 1 or with KED, you should have no trouble using EDT version 2. Even if this is your first time using a computer-based editor you should be able to learn how to use EDT version 2 quickly from its comprehensive HELP text. To get started, just type HELP after invoking EDT. EDT version 2 has been named ED2 so that version 1 and version 2 can exist together on your system since there are a few examples in the RSX11M documentation set which require minor changes for EDT version 2. We did not wish to confuse those users who read the examples carefully and follow them exactly . Thus, you can install and use EDT version 2 without any impact on those who do not know of its existence. Alternatively, if you have a small user population that can easily be educated, you can install EDT version 2 under the name EDT, as it will be in the next major release of RSX-11M. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR EDT V2 1. A valid RSX-11M version 3.2 mapped system. 2. 23K words for each EDT user. 3. The full duplex terminal driver. 4. Executive AST support. 5. Unsolicited AST support (terminal driver AST support). 6. Get characteristics 7. Set characteristics. Read with Prompt is used if available, but it is not necessary. INSTALLING EDT V2 This EDT version 2 kit is installed as though it were a layered product Autopatch. That is, EDT version 2 is installed as follows: after copying the files from [245,200] on the distribution tape onto the system disk, execute ED2.CMD, by typing >@[245,200]ED2 The command file will ask you which configuration of EDT you want, the normal or overlaid. The normal configuration contains no overlays and requires about 32K words. The overlaid configuration fits in about 23K words, but it is our experience that the amount of overlaying we have done does not hurt perceived performance. When the task build is done the ED2.TSK file is left in [1,54]. You should copy it to your system UIC, and edit the startup file to install it. When this is done you can delete all files in [245,200]. NOTES ON EDT V2 FEATURES AND KNOWN PROBELMS During the field test of EDT version 2, there were many suggestions for improvements, which are being considered as a part of our future plans for EDT. Documented below are some clarifications to the operation of EDT version 2, and all the reported problems and restrictions. 1. There are some restrictions in the operation of Control C. 1. If you type Control C when inserting at the end of a line in keypad mode, the control C echos as ^C, messing up the screen. Removing this restriction will require improving the interaction between EDT and the operating system's terminal driver, a long-term project. The work-around is to type control W (refresh the screen) after a control C. 2. If you type control C during the EXIT command, EDT may leave a truncated output file. As documented, control C aborts the current operation. The operation in this case is writing the file. The only reasonable workaround is not to type control C during the EXIT command. 3. If you type control C to abort an operation, for example a long search, you should type EXIT and re-invoke EDT to continue editing the file. This requirement is imposed because the journal file is invalidated. That is, if there is a subsequent system crash and you need to recover the edit using the journal file, edits done after the control C may be wrong. This is because the journal consists of just a record of what was typed, and there is no way, within this structure, to record just when the control C was typed. (If the aborted operation does not modify text, it is sufficient to move the cursor to a unique location, such as the beginning or end of buffer, before proceeding.) 2. The fact that the WRITE command can be followed by a range specification is not documented in the manual. For example, WRITE file-spec SELECT writes on a file the current select range. 3. Hardcopy change mode is not described in the manual. 4. In hardcopy change mode, the setting of TRUNCATE, and the values of SHL and SHR, are not reflected in the text displayed. 5. In line mode commands, which take a multi-line range as argument, one of the conventions is that the first line in the range will become the current line once the command is complete. For example, TYPE =ABC 5:10 implies that after lines 5 through 10 have been typed, the current line will be line 5 in the buffer ABC. However, when the range is of the form ALL 'string', the current line becomes the first line of the buffer. This is because ALL 'string' is taken to mean WHOLE ALL 'string', and the first line of the buffer is the first line of the range. TYPE =ABC 5:10 ALL 'string' would leave the cursor on line 5, even if line 5 were excluded by the ALL phrase. 6. If you edit a file on an account to which you do not have write access, you should specify that the output and journal files are to be written on an account to which you do have write access. 7. If you redirect SY: to a device on which you do not have a directory, EDT is unable to open the input file. In addition, if you ignore the error message and insert a lot of text, you will find that EDT is also unable to open any output file, so your text will be lost. 8. The range specifier LAST is not very useful, as implemented. Instead, use ".", which is defined local to each buffer. 9. If you use the RESEQUENCE line-mode command from keypad mode (using 7) you must type control W to refresh the screen. This is because the informational message that the RESEQUENCE command prints causes the screen to scroll, thus making the screen wrong. 10. The word wrapping feature takes effect when WRAP has been set to no more than 2 less than the screen width. That is, the screen must be set to at least two wider than the word wrapping point that you want. For example, on a VT52 you can SET SCREEN 82 and WRAP 80, or SCREEN 80 and WRAP 78. 11. If you specify a version number on the input file, and do not specify an output file, output from the EXIT command will overwrite the input file. 12. If you specify a version number of -1 on the input file, and do not specify an output or journal file, EDT attempts to create a journal file with a version number of 177777. The workaround is to specify a journal file. 13. If you use the DECNET-11M program RMT to connect a terminal on one computer with EDT running on another, keypad mode will not work. The problem is with the RMT program, which cannot handle the multiple- character transmissions that VT52s and VT100s do when you strike a keypad key. This will be fixed in a future update to RMT. 14. EDT is quite large, even in its most overlaid form. If you have a small system, you may be better off with KED and/or EDI. [End of ED2 documentation file]