Re: Edit multiple copies of a file

["Carl L. Distefano" CLDistefano@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to note from Harry Binswanger  Tue, 15 
Apr 97 10:12:43 +0000

Harry and Sherry: What I'm after in CALL2 is the convenience of
being able to edit two widely-separated parts of a file in
separate windows, rather than jumping back and forth within a
single copy of the file. The desiderata are that edits saved in
one window must be immediately reflected on screen in the other
window(s), and that in no case must changes pending in any window
(but not written to disk) be pre-empted by a disk save in another
window.

For example, you want to edit pages 5 and 35 of an article
simultaneously so that the tenor is consistent in both places.
Instead of jumping back and forth between the two pages in a
single window, CALL2 lets you edit page 5 in window 1 and page 35
in window 2, toggling as desired between alternate screens.
Executing the SAve2 function in either window saves the changes
to disk and updates the display in each window accordingly.

The key to avoiding unwanted overwrites in this situation is in
the error-checking. CALL2 does, principally, two things: (1) it
refuses to CAll a new copy of a file if changes in the current
copy (or any alternate copy) have not been saved; and (2) it
refuses to SAve changes made in the active window if the copy in
any other window has been modified but not saved. In other words,
it requires strict adherence to the sequence "edit page 5; save;
alternate screen; edit page 35; save; ...".

BTW, the original version of CALL2.PM failed to restore default
NW on exit; the current version corrects that error. So, if you
downloaded the earlier one, scrap it and DL it again, please.

> >A feature that's been on my wish list for some time is the 
facility to
> >edit two or more copies of the same file in different windows, 
so that
> >all windows are updated whenever changes are SAved in any one 
of them. 
>  
> A great idea, Carl. The key is the last line. Xy4 prevents 
multi-opens
> because they didn't think of that trick. Your pgm (I haven't 
tried it yet,
> so I'm assuming) would allow one to keep two portions of a 
longish article
> onscreen at once and not have to worry about overwriting the 
desired version.




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Carl Distefano * * * CLDistefano@xxxxxxxx
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