Re: XyWrite and XML

[cld@xxxxxxxx (Carl Distefano)]

Reply to note from "J. R. Fox"  Wed, 04 Jun 2003
10:18:47 -0800

> Here, Ctrl-I inserts a Tab.

My copies of XY4.KBD and XY4-3.KBD are both dated 2-19-1993, and
both call frame ITALIC.

> But I can't stand the CUA conventions, and checked the box NOT
> to use it, in setting up Xy-4, if that makes any difference.

Interesting. Maybe that explains it.

> When you're talking about the .DLGs, you're necessarily
> referring to stuff that happens via the drop-down menus, right
> ?

No, the menus are in MNU, the only type of Help file that isn't
practical as a repository for XPL -- because its frames can't be
called from the KBD file or CMline, only via func SH (which summons
the top-level menu, File, Edit, View, etc.). All the other Help-
file types -- DLG, HLP, and U1-U4 (-U9 in XyWin and later) -- work
fine as XPL launchpads. You can just as easily add your personal
programming to DLG or HLP as to U2, though there are strong reasons
not to, related mainly to housekeeping: the U# files, particularly
U1 and U2, are expressly reserved for user programming. (Also, U2
is the only file type that supports "Command Override", user
modifications to native commands and functions -- something we
discourage, because it's liable to make XPL programs unstable).

When Robert and I first decided to pool our code into a single Help
file, we debated U1 vs. U2. Frankly, U1 would have been the natural
choice, the first in the U# series dedicated to user|third-
party|special-use programming. We went the other way, mainly for
its subliminal invitation to the entire Xy-community ("You too!") to
fold in routines of your own creation.

> A good XPL routine with conditions-testing could probably do
> [italics] much better.

ITALIC, in DLG, *is* an XPL routine. It just has a bug in DF block
mode. I have some private code that will fix that. Maybe one of
these days I'll get around to adapting it. Vita brevis.

--
Carl Distefano
cld@xxxxxxxx
http://users.datarealm.com/xywwweb/