'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:

• Merely opening a file in the Editor doesn't overwrite anything, and thus cannot corrupt files. Saving a file, however, will completely overwrite the existing file and has the potential of corrupting the file even if no modifications to it where made.
• While the "text content" of files should be preserved (when they are being saved by the Editor), their precise binary content may be altered. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO EDIT ANY FILES OTHER THAN PLAIN TEXT FILES.
• Make backups of important files prior to any attempt to edit them with this Editor.
• Due to differences in 'TEXTAREA' implementations among different browsers, the Editor has certain options settings that should be tailored to fit the browser in use. The Editor's default settings (when shipped) should work well with most browsers, and in particular, with Netscape Navigator, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and Sun's HotJava. If you wish to use the Editor with any other browser, it is recommended that you first invoke the Editor's options setting form (click 'Options') and study the information and options available there.
• With most Windows browsers (including both Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator for NT/95) there is a restriction of about 24-30 Kilobytes on the size of files that can be edited. Moreover, since every file saving operation involves sending the entire file back and forth, editing large files is not recommended even if the browser does support it (as is usually the case with UNIX browsers). Note that large files can be edited by downloading them, editing them with a local text editor, and then uploading them back. 's 'text mode' options for both uploading and downloading files can be used to support such on operation across different platforms.

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.