Re: GoXy

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Harry Binswanger  on Fri, 04 Nov 2005
23:49:15 -0500


> Wasn't able to figure out how to change the name in a
> .LNK but I changed it in the .PIF, which is fine.

On the General tab in a LNK, both the General and Program tabs in a PIF -- the
topmost entry box on all tabs.

> Now I take it that I just do a little XPL to do FM and FD with synchronized
> files. The idea being that both iterations of Xy have *both* of the files
> to be compared open, but with different windows open in each, so that I'm
> looking at File1 in Xy 1 and File2 in Xy 2. Then when I hit the key to
> which I assign this XPL program, does the FM or FD, shells to DOS, runs
> GoXy with the keystrokes to have the other Xy do likewise, then puts the
> focus back on the first Xy.

Sounds about right, in general. As I said, I haven't tried to build such a
feature. You noted earlier that the documentation for Go was keyed to
WordPerfect. The reason is mostly historical dating back to 2004 and the
origins of Go, but another factor is that WP has a static keyboard. You *can*
alter it, but you can also hit a few keys and toggle between the default
(factory-issue) keyboard and any personal modifications users have made. In
other words, there are known, fixed keystrokes for every available function.
This makes it much easier to talk concretely about getting particular results
with Go. Little comfort to Xy users, I realize -- but that's one tradeoff for
KBD's flexibility (& no reliable way to revert to the factory keyboard).

And that's the reason I'm a bit reluctant to get into this arena. To answer
your specific questions, I need to know about the specific keystrokes assigned
in your KBD file. And that doesn't help anybody else. That also makes it hard
for me to hand you a public solution that "works":" it works for me, but maybe
not for you or anybody else. Broad undigested generalities and easy
assumptions are dangerous. Bottom line: I'm reluctant to assist development
of public scripts targeted at XyWrite. (I'm saying this at length now, to
avoid hours of agony later.) But make no mistake: GoXy is one powerful
utility. And tons of fun to use, too.

In U2 v118, I mainly use GoXy to operate *external* programs, not XyWrite
itself. For example, to get past the initial nag screen in Russell Lang's
GSView (Russell, BTW, doesn't care -- so we can skip the teeth-clenched outrage
about "immorality"). Another example, not actually in U2, but the kind of
development that I would support publicly: it would be trivial to write an XPL
routine that gets GoXy to open Microsoft Word, import a particular file in a
different (e.g. RTF) format, print it, then close Word and restore focus to
XyWrite -- all hands-off and automated, thereby providing a **different method
of solving Xy printing problems**. Your imagination and willingness to
construct scripts are the only constraints.

> Two question:

> 1. Since, each time, I need to run GoXy twice (to get back to my first Xy
> iteration), can I string this into one GoXy command line, or should I run a
> .BAT file in DOS with two GoXy lines?

Either. Or, write a GoXy script with all the commands, and call that from a
single iteration of GoXy. See "Scripts" in Go.TXT. Ummm, you're leaping in to
something fairly sophisticated right off the bat -- I hope you realize that?

> 2. Was there something about continually doing SAves in both Xy iterations?

Not applicable to a COMPARE routine, is it? You SAve when you get good and
ready, not before. Unless you're making changes as you compare, and want to
SAve them. In which case, wait for v118 and its DUO program. "Any day now."

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