ray62202
Member
I have been trying to get text clips working in PN v2.1.4.2191 with the C/C++ scheme. I've only recently installed PN, so I've been trying to search the forums for others with the same problem with text clips. All the posts I've found have been for pretty old versions of PN.
Is there a tutorial on TextClips? Not that YouTube video please, I can't make heads or tails of what is happening in it. Can someone give a quick C/C++ example that I can try to see if it works?
simon
PN Developer
Have you seen this:
http://pnotepad.org/docs/text_clips
An example of a simple C++ class template:
class ${1:ClassName}
{
public:
${1}()
{
}
${0}
};This should let you type into ClassName, replicate it into the constructor, and finally place the cursor in the body for more definitions.
Let me know if you need more help or aren't seeing this work.
ray62202
Member
Thanks, Simon,
I guess I need to clarify my question. How do you operate text clips?
From the documentation I've seen, they may work like: type the shortcut letters (in the file), then press Ctrl+Alt+Space, and the shortcut expands to the clip text.
Have I misunderstood text clips?
For example, in my old editor (not to be named), I would type "ifs" and press spacebar. I had programmed this to expanded "ifs" into the following:
if (ret == SUCCESS)
{
}
Is this what text clips are for? I cannot find ANY documentation on what the existing shortcuts are for use in C/C++. If I don't know any of the existing shortcuts, I can't get a text clip to expand. I think PN will do what my old editor did, but I don't know how to get started.
simon
PN Developer
That's just what clips are for!
It seems there might be a problem with Ctrl-Alt-Space for some reason, but as of 2.1.4 you can now press Tab to expand the clip, so if you've added your ifs clip then just type ifs and press tab.
Let me know if that doesn't work for you!
ray62202
Member
I can't try Tab or Ctrl+Alt+Space it on anything since I don't know ANY of the existing clip shortcuts to try it on. That's the whole point of this thread, I CAN'T GET ANYTHING TO WORK, and I have no examples to try. How many ways do I have to ask the same question?
How can I add an "ifs" clip to something I don't know about? I pointed this out in the first post that I've only just recently installed PN. I'm very disappointed at the lack of basic documentation and support here. As a developer, you have to help the new users if you expect them to continue using your product.
I was sick of the useless feature-bloat of the high-end editors I'd been using, and I'd hoped that PN was a decent replacement with good features. I'm still evaluating PN, and I'm not convinced that it is worth using since I can't get highly advertised features to work. I'm not impressed yet.
Sorry to be so harsh about this, but an editor is a central tool to my profession. It has to work properly and save me time, not cause me endless frustration.
simon
PN Developer
Text Clips are added/edited/removed from the Text Clips Window, you can bring this up by doing View | Windows | Text Clips. You'll see something like this:
The drop-down box at the top lets you select the scheme you want to view, in your case that will be C++. Then you will see a list of available clips. Shortcuts for clips (e.g. your ifs) are a new feature in 2.1.4, and not all schemes have updated clips for this yet - including C++. This means that while you see a list of clips, they don't have shortcuts yet. You can double-click on any clip to insert it, this was the limit of the old functionality.
To create a new clip, click on the Plus sign at the bottom of the text clips window, this will bring up the clip editor window where you can assign a user-friendly name, a shortcut, and the text for the clip. Once you've added the clip, the shortcut you specified should be instantly available in all C++ files.
You can also edit all the pre-canned clips to add shortcuts that work for you.
Much of this was in the help link I pointed you to at the top, I have now clarified this page further:
http://pnotepad.org/docs/text_clips
As a developer working on Free software in my spare time, I have to balance time spent on developing features, time spent on documentation and support, time spent on planning and learning, and finally the time I spend on the "real life" that I'm supposed to have. I'm trying to improve the documentation, screencasts, and other ideas more but it all has to fit into the small time I have left for working on side projects.
Open source projects like Programmer's Notepad have to rely not only on the developer but also on the community to help with user education. Hence forums and free-to-edit wikis that everyone can contribute to.
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