Text Editors

The following two editors are a replacement for Notepad. We prefer these editors to the standard Notepad because they can open more than one text file at a time and have extended functionality, which eases our development and support experience.

EditPlus

ES-Computing

EditPlus is a useful editor for programmers and Web developers. It provides syntax coloring for several common file formats such as HTML, CSS, ASP, JavaScript, and VBScript among others. Custom syntax files are available for Visual FoxPro and other file types. Like TextPad, EditPlus has a column-selection feature that is useful when you ‚ re working with data in SDF format. If you ‚ re doing Web work, EditPlus has a built-in Web browser so you can preview HTML and other Web- related files without switching to an external browser. More information is available at www.editplus.com . A 30-day evaluation version can be downloaded from this site, and the full version is US$30.

TextPad

Helios Software Solutions

TextPad has a ‚“block mode, ‚½ which is handy when editing text files saved with data in the SDF format. This mode allows you to select columns of data or text. We also use it to edit HTML files because the editor colorizes the tags. A separate file called FOX.SYN provides colorization of Visual FoxPro source code if you are developing any programs in support of your application onsite without VFP loaded. These programs can be executed using a product like FoxBox discussed earlier in this appendix. More information is available at
www.textpad.com . The evaluation copy of this software be downloaded from this site and the full version is US$27.