Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!olivea!mintaka!spdcc!tauxersvilli!alphalpha!nazgul From: nazgul@alphalpha.com (Kee Hinckley) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo Subject: Re: DM in OSF Message-ID: <1991May15.162601.9939@alphalpha.com> Date: 15 May 91 16:26:01 GMT References: <9105081641.AA28800@cel.cummins.com> <1130004@hpcndjdz.CND.HP.COM> Organization: none Lines: 57 In article <1130004@hpcndjdz.CND.HP.COM> jason@hpcndjdz.CND.HP.COM (Jason Zions) writes: >>Suggestions for INPUT PAD >>abilities (input editing, undo/redo, cut/paste, and simple >>but powerfull text editing) would make the transition much >>easier and bring new/improved funtionality to the OSF >>environment. > >I admit to only passing knowledge of the use of the DM, so bear with me for >one tyro question. Could you explain what editing features you'd like that >you can't get with ksh in an xterm or hpterm window with a good cut-buffer >manager? I suspect "undo" may be hard, but I may not understand what it >does. As for input editting, ksh can be made to behave like either vi or >emacs. (I know, not everyone prefers one of those two. But most know how to >use one or the other.) First of all the transcript is a read-only editor. Anything you can do in the normal editor you can do there. That includes search, cut, copy, scrolling.... Secondly, all of this is doable from the keyboard, and using keyboard macros. So I can make it so that a mouse click not only copies the selected text, but also brings up an editor on it. Or I can make a keydefinition that takes a wildcard, searchs backwards for one of any of my standard prompts followed by text that matches that wildcard, grabs the text, inserts it in the input buffer and leaves it there ready for me to edit. This is very akin to the search mechanisms in ksh, however ksh has one major drawback - it's ksh. In other words all those nice nifty features disappear the minute I'm in ed, or dsee, or any other command-line program or program that prompts for input. With the DM these features are available all of the time. A lot of the niceness of the DM comes from it having pad, editor and wm functionality all in one. That's what gives you the ability to copy a file name and bring up and editor on it in a particular location on the screen - all with one keydef. The other thing that people tend to like is that all the input is buffered in a separate location. You can put it on hold and go back and edit commands which haven't executed yet (or not put it on hold and type fast :-). You never get the input and the output confused. The korn shell tries to do this, but only on a one line case, and it can't do anything when it isn't waiting for input. The thing to do is find an Apollo and ask for help on dm/commands. Then take a look at the primitives and start to think about what you could do with them in an integrated environment. Things like calling icons up by name, or tagging a group of windows with a name and iconizing them all at once, or better yet, unmapping them all together and then remapping them when you want them. And you can do everything from the keyboard, no need to use the mouse unless you want to. mwm+xterm's just doesn't cut it in comparison. They're a good 5 to 6 years behind in the technology. -- Alfalfa Software, Inc. | Poste: The EMail for Unix nazgul@alfalfa.com | Send Anything... Anywhere 617/646-7703 (voice/fax) | info@alfalfa.com I'm not sure which upsets me more: that people are so unwilling to accept responsibility for their own actions, or that they are so eager to regulate everyone else's.