Down arrow to stay in the same column

Wolfje63 · Jun 07, 2005#12005-06-07T07:17+00:00

When I start on column 10 and do some editing, is there a way to go back to column 10 when I press arrow down?
Now UE stays on the last column edited and I have to go back to column 10 to start changing the next line.
Other text editors have these feature (on by default).
Maybe I have overlooked some setting?

surround19 · Jun 07, 2005#22005-06-07T23:29+00:00

Which editors are you talking about?

Usually you will get in the next line at the same column if you press the down arrow. That's what I expect.

Wolfje63 · Jun 08, 2005#32005-06-08T06:00+00:00

TextPad has this and it really is a very good feature.

deeptinker · Jun 08, 2005#42005-06-08T18:00+00:00

By default, UE keeps the cursor in the actual text. If I add text to a line that extends it to column 25, and the next line only has text to 18, then when I press the down arrow, the cursor jumps back to 19.

However, if you go the the Edit tab of the Configuration and turn on Allow positioning after line end, then the cursor will move straight down the page.

Is this what you wanted to do?

HTH,
Travis

pihes · Jun 08, 2005#52005-06-08T18:24+00:00

No deeptinker, that's not what Wolfje63 meant. Read again, he explained it very well.

I also use TextPad as my default editor. But I just downloaded UE, and I immediately noticed that this function Wolfje63 was talking about, is missing in UE. But I like UE so much more and it has a lot more functions, but I just refuse to use it because that function is missing.

I'm sure it would make a great improvement to UE if this function was added.

Wolfje63 · Jun 09, 2005#62005-06-09T08:59+00:00

Thanks Scorpion. Maybe you have to be a (former) TextPad user to really appriciate this kind of cursor behaviour.

I am stepping over from Textpad to UE because of the lack of functionality in TextPad and the fact they are taking their customers not serious enough to improve their product on a regular basis.

So far I have found some major and minor issues in UE over TextPad. However I am using UE as my default editor these days because I mainly use it as a programming editor.

The major issues are:
- Large textfiles are not handled very well (larger than 10Mb is a drag... allthough I have an up-to-date system: 2Gb memory);
A text file of 20Mb is taking UE 14-38 second to load (depends on memory or file mode). In TextPad it takes only 1 second!
- Very slow on sorting files (though the sort functionality is great!);
- This key-down functionality I have mentioned in this topic was a minor issue, but is becoming a major issue;
- The syntax highlighting works very good, though I think the way the language files are implemented in UE is very user-unfriendly (to say the least). TextPad is much easier to setup.

Why I like best in UE (and why I swithed to UE):
- UE is beeing maintained on a regular basis

;
- FTP included;
- Code folding;
- Autocomplete;
- Macro editor.

What's better implemented in TextPad (minor issues):
- Regular expressions;
- External help files (more than 4);
- External commands.

mjcarman · Jun 09, 2005#72005-06-09T13:27+00:00

Maybe you have to be a (former) TextPad user to really appriciate this kind of cursor behaviour.

Apparently. I'd find it horribly annoying if my cursor jumped to a different column when I pressed the down arrow.

Large textfiles are not handled very well [...] A text file of 20Mb is taking UE 14-38 second to load [...]

That's because by default UE makes a temporary copy of the file you're editing. If you go to Advanced->Configuration->General there are several options for controlling this. It's possible to disable this behavior for all files or only files above a certain size, with the drawback that all edits become permanent.

Wolfje63 · Jun 09, 2005#82005-06-09T17:59+00:00

mjcarman wrote:Apparently. I'd find it horribly annoying if my cursor jumped to a different column when I pressed the down arrow.

.
That's why I have asked if there was a setting for this. Because I understand that allthough this is extremely helpfull for me, somebody else may disagree

mjcarman wrote:That's because by default UE makes a temporary copy of the file you're editing. If you go to Advanced->Configuration->General there are several options for controlling this. It's possible to disable this behavior for all files or only files above a certain size, with the drawback that all edits become permanent.

Yes I know, thats why I made the following remark:

Wolfje63 wrote:...(depends on memory or file mode)...

And I mean with memory mode that the I have set the configuration to read the file into memory (14 seconds until I can do any editing). With disk mode UE first makes a local copy (38 seconds until I can do any editing).
So there is still a huge difference

ksuttles21 · Jul 10, 2005#92005-07-10T10:44+00:00

Wolfje63 wrote:When I start on column 10 and do some editing, is there a way to go back to column 10 when I press arrow down?
Now UE stays on the last column edited and I have to go back to column 10 to start changing the next line.
Other text editors have these feature (on by default).
Maybe I have overlooked some setting?

Yes, I just switched to UE, and the current behavior is horrid compared to TP.

Say this is your text:

this is line one
this is line two
this is line three

Change each line to "this is new line ..." (i.e. add "new" before "line")

Try it in TP. Try it in UE. Which is easier? For the purpose of this exercise, ignore copy/paste operations.

This is so bad, I wish UE would issue this as a hotfix. Yes, I'll email them directly. If you agree, then hopefully you will as well.

surround19 · Jul 10, 2005#102005-07-10T12:04+00:00

For this problem UE has an easier way: the Column Mode.

Go to Column Mode after "This is ".
Mark the three lines and write "new ".
And it is done.

ksuttles21 · Jul 10, 2005#112005-07-10T13:58+00:00

1. I disagree that this is easier. I want the cursor to stay in column whatever, just as TP does.

2. Speaking of column mode, I also like TP's method of Alt-LMB-drag to go into column mode, without having to explicitly switching to column mode (although that is an option too).

Don't get me wrong...I've switched to UE and like it over TP. But TP *does* do some things better. Like the two items above

mrainey56 · Jul 10, 2005#122005-07-10T15:50+00:00

No program can possibly have the "best" of everything, since we can't even agree on what the "best" is. What UE furnishes is a huge feature set combined with a large number of configuration options. Most of us find what we need and adapt to what's missing.

Missing features are often added in response to polite requests to IDM at [email protected]

ksuttles21 · Jul 12, 2005#132005-07-12T13:11+00:00

surround19 wrote:For this problem UE has an easier way: the Column Mode.

Go to Column Mode after "This is ".
Mark the three lines and write "new ".
And it is done.

Here's another example:

select(foo);
when(1) do something;
when(1) do something;
when(1) do something;
when(1) do something;
when(1) do something;
when(1) do something;
when(1) do something;
when(1) do something;
when(1) do something;
when(1) do something;
end;

Turn on overprint and change this to 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. It is MUCH, MUCH easier to do this if the cursor returns to the original column after making the change.

I'm making the switch to UE, as I do think it's better, but this one shortcoming is enough for me to continue having TP installed.

mrainey56 · Jul 12, 2005#142005-07-12T14:08+00:00

scott1,

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you - a person likes to use what he's comfortable with. But, for the example you used, I really think you ought to give column mode a second look. I use it all the time for renumbering array elements - go into column mode, select the numbers, hit the delete key, then use the Insert Number command to sequentially renumber the still-selected elements. Has saved me a LOT of time when working with large arrays, and has many other potential applications.