Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!bu-cs!dartvax!eleazar.dartmouth.edu!earleh
From: earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: More than 32k into a TextEdit window?
Message-ID: <15574@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Date: 14 Sep 89 17:02:28 GMT
References: <10417@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Sender: news@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU
Reply-To: earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton)
Organization: Thayer School of Engineering
Lines: 35

In article <10417@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU
	(Brian Kendig) writes:
>How do I get more than 32k into a TextEdit window?  If I can't squeeze it
>all into my TextEdit record, how can I simulate having it all there -
>especially with the scroll bars?  Sample code would be greatly appreciated.

The following is quoted from Technical Note #203 "Don't Abuse the
Managers."  The words "text editor" may be substituted for "word
processor" everywhere.

  In order to perform the operations required of a word processor it is
  necessary to use QuickDraw extensively. The expected Macintosh selection
  approach with autoscrolling, typing over selected text, cut/copy/paste,
  and so on are best implemented using QuickDraw directly. How the text is
  stored internally is the primary determining factor on how the word
  processor will perform.

  Don't be fooled by how easy it is to implement simple editing in an
  application. TextEdit is not a word processor.

This is a pretty heavy-duty chunk of sample code you want here, to be
sure.  It has been done, but most of the good implementations I have
seen are in products for which one cannot acquire the source code.

I suggest you start off from scratch here, with a linked list of Handles
to store lines or paragraphs of text.  Gradually work your way up to a
sophisticated memory management scheme so that the text is readily
accessible to the display routines in your program.  Finally, write a
text display module which implements the full Macintosh interface for
text.  In order to avoid annoying limits, give your program the ability
to swap unseen portions of documents to disk when memory gets tight.
(This is optional, but it greatly increases the capabilities of any text
editor.)

Earle R. Horton