/jEdit/tags/jedit-4-2-pre4/jars/QuickNotepad/users-guide.xml

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<!-- QuickNotepad 2.0 help documentation -->
<!-- Copyright (C) 2001 John Gellene	 -->

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<article id="QuickNotepad">
	<articleinfo>
		<author>
			<firstname>John</firstname><surname>Gellene</surname>
			<affiliation><address><email>jgellene@nyc.rr.com</email></address></affiliation>
		</author>
		<copyright><year>2001</year><holder>John Gellene</holder></copyright>
		<legalnotice><title>Legal Notice</title>
			<para>
				Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
				under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
				any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
				<quote>Invariant Sections</quote>, <quote>Front-Cover Texts</quote> or
				<quote>Back-Cover Texts</quote>, each as defined in the license. A copy of
				the license is included in the file <filename>COPYING.DOC.txt</filename>
				included with the jEdit distribution.
			</para>
		</legalnotice>
		<title>QuickNotepad 4.2</title>
	</articleinfo>

<simplesect><title>Introduction</title>
<indexterm><primary>QuickNotepad</primary></indexterm>
<para>
	This plugin provides a dockable <quote>scratch pad</quote> for writing
	and displaying notes, to do lists or similar items as unformatted text.
	The text is automatically saved upon closing the plugin or exiting
	jEdit. It can also be saved manually. The user can change the file to be
	displayed during the current editing session. The path of the default
	notepad file can be changed as a user option. Finally, the text file can
	be copied to a new, untitled jEdit buffer so that it can be edited by the
	main program.
</para>

<para>
	The <citetitle>jEdit Plugin Guide</citetitle> details the development
	and design of QuickNotepad. It is a simple but functional dockable plugin
	that incorporates the basic elements of the jEdit plugin architecture.
</para>

<para>
	The file <filename>changes42.txt</filename> in the plugin's source
	code details the changes that were made to the plugin to conform to
	the new plugin API for jEdit version 4.2.
</para>

<para>
	The file <filename>changes40.txt</filename> in the plugin's source
	code details the changes that were made to the plugin to conform to
	the new plugin API for jEdit version 4.0.
</para>
</simplesect>

<simplesect><title>Operation</title>

<para>
<indexterm>
	<primary>QuickNotepad</primary>
	<secondary>shortcut keys</secondary>
</indexterm>
	When QuickNotepad is activated, it loads and displays the file stored in
	its properties as unformatted text. The text can be edited using the
	keyboard and mouse. The text area component recognizes the following
	basic editing shortcuts:
</para>
<!-- Limitations on xsltproc's capabilities require a blank column between -->
<!-- the two columns of data to provide spacing for the table.       -->
<informaltable align="center" frame="none">
	<tgroup cols="4" align="left">
		<colspec colnum="1"/> <!-- blank column -->
		<colspec colnum="2"/>
		<colspec colnum="3"/> <!-- blank column -->
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		<tbody>
			<row>
				<entry>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</entry>
				<entry>Cut</entry>
				<entry>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</entry>
				<entry><keycombo action="simul"><keysym>Ctrl</keysym><keysym>x</keysym></keycombo></entry>
			</row>
			<row>
				<entry>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</entry>
				<entry>Copy</entry>
				<entry>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</entry>
				<entry><keycombo action="simul"><keysym>Ctrl</keysym><keysym>c</keysym></keycombo></entry>
			</row>
			<row>
				<entry>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</entry>
				<entry>Paste</entry>
				<entry>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</entry>
				<entry><keycombo action="simul"><keysym>Ctrl</keysym><keysym>v</keysym></keycombo></entry>
			</row>
			<row>
				<entry>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</entry>
				<entry>Select All</entry>
				<entry>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</entry>
				<entry><keycombo action="simul"><keysym>Ctrl</keysym><keysym>a</keysym></keycombo></entry>
			</row>
		</tbody>
	</tgroup>
</informaltable>

<para>
	QuickNotepad ignores function keys and other combination key presses.
</para>

</simplesect>

<simplesect><title>Toolbar buttons</title>

<para>
	Three buttons above the text area provide file management operations:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
	<listitem>
		<para>
			<guilabel>Choose notepad file</guilabel> - this button opens a file selection
			dialog permitting the user to select a different file to view in the
			text area. If a new file is selected, the old file is
			auomatically saved. The selection is valid only for the current
			editing session; to change the default QuickNotepad file for future
			sessions, use the <link linkend="options">options dialog</link>.
		</para>
	</listitem>
	<listitem>
		<para>
			<guilabel>Save notepad file</guilabel> - this button causes QuickNotepad to
			write the contents of the text area to the designated notepad file. To
			save the text to another file name, use the <guilabel>Copy notepad to
			buffer</guilabel> operation.
		</para>
	</listitem>
	<listitem>
		<para>
			<guilabel>Copy notepad to buffer</guilabel> - this button causes the
			contents of the text to be written to a newly created,
			untitled buffer in the main text editing area.  This operation
			does not alter the QuickNotepad text area or write its text to
			storage.  Further changes to either the QuickNotepad text area or
			the new buffer will not affect the other.
		</para>
	</listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>
	These operations are listed in the menu which appears for
	QuickNotepad under the <guimenu>Plugins</guimenu> heading.  They can
	also be made the subject of keyboard shortcuts in the
	<guilabel>Plugin Shortcuts</guilabel> pane of jEdit's options dialog.
</para>

<para>
	One other operation is available as a keyboard shortcut. <guilabel>Bring
	QuickNotepad to front</guilabel> activates the plugin and makes visible
	if it is currently hidden in a docking window.
</para>

</simplesect>

<simplesect id="options"><title>Options</title>
<indexterm>
  <primary>QuickNotepad</primary>
  <secondary>options</secondary>
</indexterm>

<para>
	There are three options which can be set
	using the pane for QuickNotepad in the <guilabel>Plugin
	Shortcuts</guilabel> section of the general options dialog:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
	<listitem>
		<para>
			A checkbox governs whether the name of the notepad file will be
			displayed in the toolbar panel above the text area. Even if the file
			name display is enabled, if the plugin is displayed to the left or right
			of the main editing area, the notepad file name will likely be partially
			or completely hidden.
		</para>
	</listitem>
	<listitem>
		<para>
			A text field and adjacent button allow the user to choose the path of
			the default notepad file by typing its name or opening a file chooser
			dialog. This file will be loaded (and the old file saved) once the
			plugin's options settings are committed.
		</para>
	</listitem>
	<listitem>
		<para>
			A third button shows the name, size and style of the font used by the
			QuickNotepad text area.  Pressing the button summons a font chooser
			dialog for making a new selection.  The text area will be
			redrawn with the new font once the change is committed.
		</para>
	</listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</simplesect>

<simplesect><title>Legal notices</title>

<para>
	The QuickNotepad plugin is released under the GNU General Public License
	(either version 2 or any later version, at the user's option). A copy
	of the GPL is available in the <filename>COPYING.txt</filename> file
	in the jEdit distribution.
</para>

<para>
	The QuickNotepad plugin comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND;
	see section 11 and 12 of the GPL for details.
</para>

<para>
	Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
	under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
	any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
	<quote>Invariant Sections</quote>, <quote>Front-Cover Texts</quote> or
	<quote>Back-Cover Texts</quote>, each as defined in the license. A copy
	of the license is included in the file
	<filename>COPYING.DOC.txt</filename> included with the jEdit distribution.
</para>

</simplesect>

<simplesect><title>Feedback</title>

<para>
	Comments, bug reports and other feedback may be sent to the
	<ulink url="mailto:jgellene@nyc.rr.com">author</ulink> or the
	jEdit-users mailing list.
</para>

</simplesect>


</article>