Re: CLIP's test of virtue -- and memory immunization ?

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Si Wright  on Thu, 9 Dec 2004
18:50:55 -0800 (PST)

Jon:

I'd like to get to the bottom of this, but frankly, I'm stumped. Has *anybody*
else seen this? System crashes using CLIP?

The only thing that stands out is this:

> The file I was pasting to is 7.4 kb. Another
> document of about 1.5 MB was open, too, but I'd never
> had any trouble with it before.

1.5Mb! That's huge. That's encyclopedia size - a couple thousand full-text
pages. XyWrite will go bananas at about 2.3 - 2.6Mb (sum size of all open
files in various XyWrite windows), and I can only speculate that Editor may get
flakier as it approaches that number (never done any tests). I don't have any
*text* file that large on my whole computer. So, trying to simulate, I loaded
a couple of 750Kb text files, then a small file, and starting Pasting like
crazy, top bottom everywhere, all files. Normal.

Try it without a 1.5Mb file open in another window. It's possible that there
simply isn't enough conventional DOS memory available in your session to run an
external program like CLIP.EXE. Have you reproduced this with a variety of
texts, or always with the same ones? CLIP may well use extended or XMS memory,
I don't know, but you should allot some in Properties.

7Kb XPL memory usage when you're standing still is OK -- not something to write
home about, but OK. "Easy" immunization against memory problems is, well, a
relative term. I imagine that you have a number of programs or keystroke
sequences loaded on ordinary Save/Gets (macros) when you start up -- probably
they are what is gobbling up that amount of memory (not small, as macros go).
In general, the technique is to move those routines off macro keys and into an
XPL library, where they consume zero memory but operate identically (no
perceptible difference from the standpoint of user). I've been meaning to
write a FAQ about this for the longest time, but...

In fact, we don't know that memory has anything to do with it. A couple of
things:

What code do you have assigned to your dedicated Clip and Paste keystrokes?
Command "IDKEY" and then hit those respective keys, and you'll see
your KBD file code...

How about Clipping (exporting)? Can you Clip successfully from XyWrite to an
external app (Notepad)?

There are a zillion little potential snags. In person I could probably nail it
in a flash, but at a distance there are so many niggling possibilities. It's
hard to debug long distance. My suspicion is that something is off in your
setup or system.

If it crashes again, look in Editor's directory for a file called CLIP.TXT, and
see if it consists only of the text you were trying to Paste, or perhaps
"something else" besides. Drop to DOS when running normally (load up the files
in several windows) and command
"MEM /C |MORE" to see how much available memory you've got.

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------