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From: dubois@uwmacc.UUCP (Bill Winkle)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: TextEdit Bugs
Message-ID: <261@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 15-Sep-86 17:05:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.261
Posted: Mon Sep 15 17:05:53 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 16-Sep-86 20:46:04 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: Brain-Dead Software
Lines: 108


This is a reply to an article on info-mac

> Date: Sun, 14 Sep 86 02:36 N
> From: <INFOEARN%HLERUL5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>
> Subject: RE:TextEdit Bugs


> I also have a third bug to add to the list.  It isn't a serious bug, but it's
> something you have to be aware of when you're programming with TextEdit.
> Several text editors, including MockWrite and MiniEdit from Macintosh Revealed,
> always make sure the edit window is completely filled with text, if possible.
> This means that they scroll their text down whenever empty space appears at
> the bottom after a cut or paste.  Part of checking how far to scroll down is
> looking at the value of nLines which tells you how many lines the TextEdit
> record has.

> However, if the caret is all the way at the end of the text record on an empty
> line, TextEdit doesn't consider this a line and therefore nLines is one too
> little.  This means that our text editor (MockWrite) will not scroll down far
> enough and the caret will be on a nonexisting and invisible line!  As soon as
> you type a character, TextEdit creates the new line, the text editor will see
> scrolling is necessary and your caret comes back into view.  But once you type
> a backspace, the line is destroyed and the caret vanishes again.

I don't think this is a bug in TextEdit, it's a bug in the programs
that use TextEdit.  I know that I consider Chernicoff's code wrong,
from looking at it (I haven't actually used it).  In any case, here's
a function I use to determine the number of display lines a text record
takes.  It may not be intuitive, but it's correct.  Programs that
fiddle with text should make sure to do similar tests.


/*
    Determine number of display lines needed for text record.
    If empty, need one line.  If there's a carriage return at
    the end, then need another line to allow placement of caret
    at beginning of last line plus one.
*/

DisplayCount (te)
TEHandle    te;
{
int        nLines, teLength;

    nLines = (**te).nLines;
    teLength = (**te).teLength;
    if (teLength == 0 || (*((**te).hText))[teLength-1] == '\r')
        ++nLines;
    return (nLines);
}


You run into a similar problem determining which line the caret
is actually in.  Again, it's not a bug in TextEdit, you just have
to be careful.  Again, I think (but cannot verify without testing)
that Chernicoff's code is wrong.  Here's what I use.  (This is a
dumb algorithm; it really should do binary search).


/*
    Return the line number that the caret (or the beginning of
    the currently selected text) is in.  Value returned is in
    the range 0..(**te).nLines.  If = (**te).nLines, the
    caret is past the last line.  The only special case to watch
    out for is at the very end of the text.  If the last character
    is not a carriage return, then the caret is on the (nLines-1)th
    line, not the (nLines)th line.
*/

GetCaretPos (te)
TEHandle    te;
{
int    i;
int    nLines;
int    teLength;
int    selStart;
int    lineStart;

    selStart = (**te).selStart;
    nLines = (**te).nLines;
    teLength = (**te).teLength;

    if (selStart == teLength)
    {
	if (teLength != 0 && (*(**te).hText))[teLength-1] != '\r')
	    return (nLines - 1);
	return (nLines);
    }

    for (i = 0; /* empty */; ++i)
    {
        if ((lineStart = (**te).lineStarts[i]) >= selStart)
            break;    /* succeeds eventually */
    }

    if (lineStart != selStart)
        --i;
    return (i);
}


I hope this saves someone some trouble.
-- 
Paul DuBois     UUCP: {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!dubois    |
                ARPA: dubois@easter                               --+--
                                                                    |
"If it works, I didn't write it."                                   |