Converting from Textpad
Submitted by on Wednesday, 2 November, 2005 - 17:41
I was a long time user of Textpad until I recently deserted to jEdit (See http://www.textpad.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6371 for more information). After a couple months I can report happily that even if Textpad comes out with a fabled version 5 with a bunch of cool new features, I doubt if it will come close to jEdit for me. So if there are any other Textpad refugees out there, I wanted to offer some quick hints for getting started with jEdit.
First of all, I should add a caveat: as a Notepad replacement, Textpad is still better than jEdit, because it opens really fast. As a develpment tool, though, jEdit is well worth the short delay. I should also explain that I use jEdit to develop ColdFusion, ASP.Net, VB.Net and Javascript and have yet to do any Java development with it. Another note: after leaving Textpad I also tried out Eclipse (which has a great ColdFusion plugin) for a while, but couldn't give up the powerful text editing features that Textpad and jEdit have.
Textpad Document Selector:
The Buffer List plugin is an improvement because it groups the files by directory.
Textpad workspaces:
Session plugin offers almost exactly the same functionality, as well as a handy toolbar that integrates with the Buffer List plugin.
Textpad tools:
The Console plugin offers a much more powerful interface for integrating external tools. Read the excellent documentation.
Textpad clip libraries:
I never used this feature much, but the Clipper plugin does the same thing.
Textpad block select mode:
Click and drag while holding down the ctrl key.
Textpad keyboard shortcuts:
Whatever it is, including all plugin commands, you can set up a shortcut for it in jEdit. See Global Options/Shortcuts.
Other plugins that I have quickly found indispensible are:
- Code Browser, for showing a function list using CTags. There is a textpad add-on that creates a popup window that shows a function list with ctags, but it never did the job for me.
- XML and Sidekick, for editing html and xml.
Of course, I'm just scratching the surface!
- David
First of all, I should add a caveat: as a Notepad replacement, Textpad is still better than jEdit, because it opens really fast. As a develpment tool, though, jEdit is well worth the short delay. I should also explain that I use jEdit to develop ColdFusion, ASP.Net, VB.Net and Javascript and have yet to do any Java development with it. Another note: after leaving Textpad I also tried out Eclipse (which has a great ColdFusion plugin) for a while, but couldn't give up the powerful text editing features that Textpad and jEdit have.
Textpad Document Selector:
The Buffer List plugin is an improvement because it groups the files by directory.
Textpad workspaces:
Session plugin offers almost exactly the same functionality, as well as a handy toolbar that integrates with the Buffer List plugin.
Textpad tools:
The Console plugin offers a much more powerful interface for integrating external tools. Read the excellent documentation.
Textpad clip libraries:
I never used this feature much, but the Clipper plugin does the same thing.
Textpad block select mode:
Click and drag while holding down the ctrl key.
Textpad keyboard shortcuts:
Whatever it is, including all plugin commands, you can set up a shortcut for it in jEdit. See Global Options/Shortcuts.
Other plugins that I have quickly found indispensible are:
- Code Browser, for showing a function list using CTags. There is a textpad add-on that creates a popup window that shows a function list with ctags, but it never did the job for me.
- XML and Sidekick, for editing html and xml.
Of course, I'm just scratching the surface!
- David
