> : Help: Text Editor:
Overview

's Text Editor provides a mechanism for editing remote text files. It is implemented using the following simple idea: Files are "opened" by having their content inserted in a 'TEXTAREA' field of an HTML form. They are saved by submitting the form such that overwrites the existing file with the submitted content.

While the idea is very simple and commonly used elsewhere, its implementation is not so trivial and must be used with care. Otherwise, file corruption can easily occur. A detailed description of some potential problems and workarounds is included in the Help page for the Editor's options setting form. As initial usage guidelines we should stress the following:


Usage

Since the Editor uses a browser-provided edit box, most of its features actually depend on the browser being used. In particular, things like the font being used, the way to 'Cut','Copy', and 'Paste' text, and whether or not the Editor has search/replace or even spell-checking capabilities are determined by the browser. In most cases (namely, with most browsers), the provided capabilities are fairly elementary, but yet sufficient for simple editing tasks. The Editor itself provides the following functions, which are available by clicking the appropriate buttons:

Save
Saves the current content of the Editor to the appropriate file. If the Editor had been invoked without specifying a file, then the first 'Save' operation would behave the same as 'Sava As', namely, it would prompt for a filename.

Save As
Prompts for a new filename and then Saves the current content of the Editor to this file.

Save+Exit
Saves the current content of the Editor to the appropriate file and exits the Editor (same as 'Save', but exits the Editor).

Reset
Restores the Editor's content to the state it has been in when the form was last retrieved, namely, to its state following the last 'Save' or 'Reload' operation.

Reload
Retrieves the file from the server (namely, from disk) and should have the same effect as 'Reset' unless the file had been modified from another Editor form or by another program.

Options
Invokes the Text Editor options setting form. Note that the file is NOT BEING SAVED, and it would be retrieved from the server once the options setting form is exited. That is, invoking 'Options' is also doing an implicit 'Reload'. If you want to preserve changes made to the file since it was last loaded, you should use 'Save' prior to invoking 'Options'. However, if you forgot to save the file, it can usually be recovered by using your browser's 'Back' button to go back to the form from which 'Options' was invoked.

Help
Appends this help page to the top of the Text Editor form. Note that the file is NOT BEING SAVED, such that invoking 'Help' is also doing an implicit 'Reload'. If you want to preserve changes made to the file since it was last loaded, you should use 'Save' prior to invoking 'Help'. However, if you forgot to save the file, it can usually be recovered by using your browser's 'Back' button to go back to the form from which 'Help' was invoked.

Exit
Exits the Editor without saving the file.