Jext : Editor


# Overview #

         The Jext text area will be familiar to anyone who's used a modern text editor. To add text, simple click in the area and enter your desired text. Beyond this basic usage, the Jext text area has many other useful features which are described below.


# Popup menu #

         A press on the mouse right button will open the text area's popup menu. The popup menu contains many items from the Edit menu as well as a few of other menus like Search or Tools. Using the popup menu can increase your productivity.


# Key shortcuts #

         As a matter of fact, Jext's text area can manage several key shortcuts which will greatly help you writing your text. Shortcuts make selecting and moving text easier. Here is the list of them:

  • C+UP:  Goes to previous line, if one exists, starting at the first non-white character.
  • C+DOWN:  Goes to next line, if one exists, starting at the first non-white character.
  • C+LEFT:  Jumps to beginning of previous word. A word can be delimited by a whitespace as well as by other signs like braces, dots, etc...
  • C+RIGHT:  Jumps to beginning of next word.
  • C+DELETE:  Deletes next word.
  • INSERT:  Switches between insert and replace modes. Insert mode is the default. While in replace mode, each character typed will overwrite the one under or above the caret (depending on which caret, block or line respectively, you choose).
  • HOME:  Goes to beginning of the current line. If Smart HOME/END option is activated, pressing this key twice will place your caret at the top of the visible text and pressing it three times will place your caret at the beginning of the document.
  • C+HOME:  Jumps to the beginning of the document.
  • END:  Jumps to the end of the current line. If Smart HOME/END option is activated, pressing this key twice will place your caret to the bottom of the visible text and pressing it three times will place your caret at the end of the document.
  • C+END:  Jumps to the end of the document.
  • C+TAB:  Browses through opened document to the right.
  • CS+TAB:  Browses through opened document to the left.
  • S+[LEFT | RIGHT | UP | DOWN]:  Selects a part of the text. Each S+LEFT or S+RIGHT press will select a supplementary character whereas S+DOWN and S+UP will select a supplementary line. This can be combined with the C key. For instance, SC+LEFT will select previous word.
  • C+[MOUSE LEFT BUTTON]:  Move the mouse while holding those keys down to do a rectangular selection.


# Hyper Typer #

         The standard Jext distribution comes with a plugin called HyperTyper. This plugin helps you to save lots of time and typing. It is very easy to use: you define an abbreviation which stands for a string of text, type the shorthand sequence (the abbreviation), press ESCAPE (this expansion key can be changed in plugins options) and automagically, HyperTyper expands the shorthand sequence into the text you've defined. The defaults are mainly designed for Java programmers, but because HyperTyper is so flexible, it's suitable to whatever line of work you're in. To add/remove/edit shorthands, click on Plugins-HyperTyper-Manager Window. Transient abbreviations are lost when Jext is closed whereas persistent ones will be available in the next session.
         To add a new sequence, simply select some text to be stored as expanded text and press C+F5 (or click on Plugins-HyperTyper-Create Sequence). A new window appears which allows you to modify the selected text, to choose the type of the abbreviation (transient or persistent), and to give it an abbreviation.


# Gutter #

         On the left of the text area, you can see a thin grey line which stands for the gutter. Double-clicking it or clicking then dragging it will show it. The gutter offers basicaly line numbering of the text area and highlights line numbers every 5 lines. The gutter can be customized in the options menu.

Previous  |  Index  |  Next  ]


by Romain Guy
Last update: 05/05/2000
Generated by Gaïa v1.4