Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!kcooper
From: kcooper@netcom.com (Ken Cooper)
Subject: edIt for VST OS/2 Ships!
Message-ID: <kcooperDCAMIB.2CL@netcom.com>
Keywords: edIt OS/2 Visual Smalltalk Cooper Peters editor VST
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 1995 22:30:10 GMT
Lines: 152
Sender: kcooper@netcom5.netcom.com


Cooper + Peters, the creators of WindowBuilder, are pleased to 
announce the release of edIt for Visual Smalltalk OS/2, bringing the 
tool made popular in VST Win32 to VST OS/2 users.

EdIt is a powerful, pluggable development tool that replaces the text 
panes in the browsers of a Visual Smalltalk image. In this way, edIt 
adds significant editing functionality to your environment, without 
forcing you to sacrifice the highly productive tools you're already
familiar with.

Here's what some of our users have been saying about edIt:

  "This add-on is a developer's dream.  It's like comparing a full 
   fledged word processing program to the DOS Editor.  The 
   productivity it adds is tremendous." 
                                              - Bob Biros

  "Look at edIt from Cooper and Peters. It's incredible." 
                                              - Bruce Gordon

  "I'll be surprised people are buying VST without buying edIt 
   along with it. It's like buying a Ferrari with a helm instead 
   of a steering wheel to save on price." 
                                              - Didier Besset

  "I have been really enjoying edIt. It makes the job of reading, 
   understanding, and working on code so much easier." 
                                              - Mark Johnson

  "We love this editor. It's about time we emerged from the 
   dark ages as far as editing Smalltalk source code is concerned." 
                                              - James Collins

  "I just installed [edIt]. It's great and I award it the 
   Smalltalk-add-on-of-the-year-prize!" 
                                              - Armin Zerfas


Below are a list of features edIt adds to your tool arsenal.

*** CONFIGURABLE SYNTAX COLOR HIGHLIGHTING ***
For easier reading and quick feedback on mistakes, edIt provides syntax 
color highlighting.  Smalltalk tokens such as comments, strings, 
keywords, etc. are displayed in different colors, bolded, and/or
italicized.  Color combinations are configurable.

*** AUTOMATIC VARIABLE DECLARATION ***
When you save a method, edIt detects undeclared variables, and opens 
an automatic variable declaration dialog to specify how you'd like them 
declared.  All variable declaration types are supported, including pool 
dictionaries.  edIt even provides suggestions for misspelled variable 
names.

*** BOTTOMLESS UNDO/REDO ***
With edit, you can undo and redo at will within a method.   You can 
even undo after you've saved a method, in case you make a change 
you're not happy with.

*** AUTOMATIC, CONFIGURABLE CODE FORMATTING ***
For easier code browsing and corporate standardization, edIt provides 
the ability to format code to a format you specify.  Several predefined 
formats are provided, and you can also create your own. 

*** CONFIGURABLE KEYBINDINGS ***
edIt adds extensive keyboard support to your image.  Standard key sets 
(such as Brief and Epsilon), are provided. In addition to the predefined 
sets, edIt allows you to bind keystrokes to methods in the editor as well 
as your browsers. 

*** CONFIGURABLE TOOLBAR & POPUP MENU ***
For common tasks, edIt provides a toolbar and a hierarchical popup 
menu. Both of these can be configured to execute any message you 
wish in the editor.

*** FRAMEWORK FOR EXTENSIBILITY AND CODE SHARING ***
edIt is easily extensible, and several useful extensions are already 
available. A public API is provided, and extensive support is provided 
to easily find and execute methods you've added.  In addition, edIt is
'package aware', which makes adding methods to a package manager 
easy.

*** CODE AWARE EDITING ***
edIt provides several useful features for dealing specifically with code, 
including:
    * Autoindent
    * Block indent/unindent
    * Comment filling 
    * Commenting/uncommenting of selection (including embedded comments)
 
*** VARIABLE AND TEXT COMPLETION ***
To minimize typing, and encourage meaningful naming, edIt can 
expand variable names as you type them. In addition, edIt can expand 
from a user defined glossary for commonly typed expressions (e.g. 
'Terminal bell').

*** HYPERTEXT SEARCHING ***
edIt is intelligently aware of your code.  When you click on a message 
send in a method, you can execute Senders on it immediately, even for 
multikeyword messages.  The same is true for Implementors and 
References.

*** ADJUSTABLE SEARCH SCOPE ***
With edIt, you can execute searches across methods.  Searches can be 
scoped against the current method, the entire image, a particular class, 
or a 'module' (if you have a package manager installed).

*** REPLACE IN SENDERS & IMPLEMENTORS SEARCHES ***
Using this facility, it is easy to change method or class names.
When you perform a Senders/Implementors/References search, you 
can replace the token you were searching for (including 
multikeyword messages). You can even optionally delete old methods 
in Implementors replaces.

*** REGULAR EXPRESSION SUPPORT ***
Text searches are now considerably more powerful;  you can use 
regular expressions to find patterns in your text (for example, to find the 
comments in your code).

*** KEYBOARD DRIVEN BROWSER NAVIGATION ***
edIt provides the ability to select any item from a browser listbox 
entirely with the keyboard, and with excellent feedback as you type. 
Selecting a class in a ClassHierarchyBrowser, for example, is as easy as 
1) pressing F3, 2) typing the beginning of the class name (until edIt's 
QuickList highlights the appropriate class), then 3) pressing return.  
You can just as easily select a method in a CHB, a variable in a 
Debugger, or an item in an Inspector.

*** UNOBTRUSIVE INSTALLATION AND REMOVAL***
Only two methods are altered in the base image, and you can unbind the 
component at any time to restore your image to a pristine state.

If you're still not convinced, try out our fully functional 30 day trial 
version.  You can download edIt from the Internet or Compuserve (or give 
us a call, and we'll send you a disk).  The Compuserve demo is available 
in the Third Party Library of the Digitalk forum, with the filename 
EDDEMO.EXE for Win32 and EODEMO.EXE for OS/2. The Internet demo (as well
as several edIt extensions) is available via anonymous FTP from the 
following address:
  
  st.cs.uiuc.edu:/ftp/pub/cooper/edIt/editdemo.exe 
                                  (or edtodemo.exe for OS/2).

edIt Win32 sells for $195. edIt OS/2 sells for $295, but as an 
introductory offer until September 1, 1995, we're slashing $100 (more 
than a third) off the price.  

If you would like a demo disk, or require additional information, call us 
at (303) 546-6828, or drop us email at 71571.407@compuserve.com.

Ken Cooper
Cooper + Peters, Inc.
