Does UltraEdit have a Minimap like Sublime Text?

No, UltraEdit v18.20 does not have such a feature as this "feature" is in my point of view and in some other power users not really useful. It is more a promotional gimmick than a really useful feature. The text in the minimap is too small to be readable, especially when active file contains several hundreds of code lines.

UltraEdit has the function list view listing all functions and highlighting always the name of the function within the caret is set. The function list view can be a flat list or a hierarchical list (tree). The function list view can display the functions alphabetically sorted or as present in the active file. Regular expressions for finding strings of interest displayed in the function list view can be defined by the user to customize the information shown in function list view. So it is possible to use it also for other useful data than function names. It is even possible to see a list of all functions of a project.

UEStudio has even more features for common programming languages like C/C++/C# or PHP. It has additionally a classviewer and some more IDE specific features.

All those features are for programmers more useful than the graphical scroll bar named minimap.

Update: A feature named Document Map was introduced with UltraEdit v22.00 and can be enabled/disabled via View - Views/Lists - Document Map. I have not changed my opinion regarding this feature, but other users of UltraEdit really like it.

The minimap is mainly a gimmick designed to get graphic designers interested in their product, as a minimap is more applicable to graphics work. It actually takes up valuable space on the screen when working with a text file, however, since it is, as Mofi pointed out, useless on a file that would have to page down more than 3 times to reach the end.

I have numerous projects with files over 100,000 lines, with some over a million lines of code. Therefore, the minimap would be as welcome to me as a Water Buffalo in my bathtub.

On the other side of the coin, however, if all my text files were small enough to make the minimap readable, then it would just be too easy to hit page-down/page-up to get to the code I would need, and the minimap would still be useless, as the code would be small enough I could remember where everything is.

I use the MetalScroll extension for VisualStudio and actually it's very useful.

As well as showing the overall structure of the file it adds a line change marker down the left hand side of the map and shows breakpoint placement markers down the right hand side. Hovering over the mini map shows a quick preview of the text under the thumb area.

This functionality is very helpful when you've changed a constant definition at the top of a file, added an attribute to the bottom and changed some functions in the middle. The change markers let you very quickly navigate to the parts of the file you've edited, which I find helps enormously when working with large text files.

I personally would like to see something like MetalScroll added to UltraEdit.

If you feel such a feature to be useful to you, you should submit it to IDM as a feature request, as these forums are not regularly monitored by IDM and are user-to-user forums.

I, personally, do not feel I would benefit from it.

Change markers and navigating changed lines are already a part of UltraEdit/UEStudio.

Using my widescreen monitor and UE in split-pane mode to see multiple parts of the same file at the same time, I find it more useful to have the actual sized text on my left for reviewing that top-of-file that I've been editing, while still viewing and editing the middle of a file in the next pane. I can view up to 4 panes side by side without loss of text width using UE in my dual-monitor set up, which means I don't have to look at a thumbnail preview that I wouldn't understand or that might lead me to the wrong section of code. 2 panes on a single monitor with plenty of room left over, which is more than enough for most tasks. I don't need a small preview to help me to jump back and forth between sections I'm editing, as I can have them all open at once in multiple tabs and/or panes.

If you're taking up a project to fix the code of someone else, that preview structure might be completely meaningless to you.

I suppose it's all about being used to working a certain way. I believe my way using the power of UltraEdit is more efficient. If I need to locate a constant I've changed quickly, I can easily view/navigate changed lines without the need for a MetalScroll.

I, personally, use the function list with custom markers so all my code's structure can be clearly seen on the right side. It's semantically readable, much better than a simple function list, so yes, it's a good point to have it.

BUT.

Minimap is cool. In Ultraedit sometimes I use the zoom feature (Ctrl+Wheel) to get an overview of the code, and this is not too convenient so YES, I would highly appreciate if IDM decided to build a functionality like that. Viewing a file from birds eye has many advantages:

1. You can remember places visually and navigate in your code really easy.
2. It's much faster than PgUp/PgDn and more accurate than scrollbar.
3. A LOT easier to see bookmarks / follow bookmark jumps visually.
4. Right now, any motion that goes more than one screen a time = losing track. With Minimap it's not.
5. With find/highlight feature, it's a programmer's dream. You can see the occurrences all over the file.
6. You can use it for documenting your business logic (I usually do but I need extra tools for it now)

UltraEdit is quite cool without it, no doubt.
But it would be a hyperspace jump. Really.

Agreed. Sublime's minimap is not a gimmick. I can recognise patterns of code and spot them using the minimap even if I don't remember the name of the function for example. I wouldn't give up function list to have it but I'd take it as an extra.

I'm getting older (started programming in 1979) and my eyes are not suitable for tiny displays. That said, using a graphical map as a clickable jump point is interesting from the ease-of-use point of view.

Otherwise, like rhapdog, I find using multiple views in a multi-monitor setup much more useful. I use two at work and three or more at home (it's three right now as I dismounted monitor #4 to use on a spare computer to edit video). I can have all of the important bits of code on the screen(s) at the same time. Monitors are dirt cheap these days and the value added to my work makes it a no-brainer to have as much screen real estate as I can get. I'm even looking at getting one or more of the new WQHD monitors (2560x1440). Compared to the $799 I paid for my first VGA monitor they are a steal even without adjusting for the inflation difference between 1987 and today.

Guys I just wanted to say that I F*CKIN LOVE THE DOCUMENT MAP FUNCTION!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for this!!!!!!

The Document Map may have a limited audience, but I do find it very useful, particularly when I view/edit long XML files. In most cases, the sections of the XML file are formatted in a predictable way, so the Document Map lets me easily see visually how the sections are formatted so I can navigate right to where I need to be quickly.

Of course i more frequently just use "Find" but sometimes, it's nice to be able to scroll through the document at a high-level to get a good visual view of things.

YMMV, of course.

Jim Barr

I'm just glad I can close it to get rid of it with the new update. Too bad about the update not working for me, but it wasn't that hard to download a new UE_ENGLISH.exe and upgrade that way, even if it thought I was a new user. And this update supposedly fixes that issue anyway (so I wasn't going to wait forever to see if it would recover...) I can see it being useful sometimes, but most of my text editing, yeah, just a bunch of greeked lines isn't what I would call being too helpful. So I'll turn it on when I like, and keep it closed otherwise.