General Settings for TextPad

The tag defines a multi-line text input control. The element is often used in a form, to collect user inputs like comments or reviews. A text area can hold an unlimited number of characters, and the text renders in a fixed-width font (usually Courier). Definition and Usage. The tag specifies an input field where the user can enter data. The element is the most important form element. The element can be displayed in several ways, depending on the type attribute. What is the best alternative to Textpad? Language integrations (like inline eval) for Clojure, ClojureScript, Javascript, Python, HTML, and CSS. While the settings have not changed much during upgrades to TextPad, some may differ slightly. These represent my settings as of January 2011 and should work in TextPad 4.7.3 thru 5.3.1, and for many sections I have listed only those boxes I have checked. Many other settings are available, so feel free to experiment with them.

From the Preferences dialog box under the Configure menu, you can change numerous settings in TextPad. While the settings have not changed much during upgrades to TextPad, some may differ slightly. These represent my settings as of January 2011 and should work in TextPad 4.7.3 thru 5.3.1, and for many sections I have listed only those boxes I have checked. Many other settings are available, so feel free to experiment with them. I do not explain the settings here, but the help system in TextPad provides considerable detail. See the 'Help' button on the Preferences dialog box.

Preferences Organized by Items in the Dialog Box

1. General	6. Associated Files	11. Language
2. Files	7. Backup	12. Macros
3. Editor	8. File Name Filters	13. Spelling
4. View	9. Folders	14. Tools Menu
5. Document Classes (e.g., HTML, Mplus, SAS, SPSS)	10. Keyboard

1. General

General Items

[x] Working folder follows active document

Put shortcuts to Texpad on:

[x] Program menu

[x] Context menu

[x] Send To menu

2. File

General Items

Number of recent files: 16

Number of resent workspaces: 10

Default file extension: txt

[x] Overwrite original files directly, when saving

[x] Open locked files read-only

While files are modified by another process:

( ) Prompt (x) Auto-reload ( ) ignore

[x] Check for file size changes

3. Editor

General Items

[x] Constrain cursor to text

[x] Enable drag and drop editing (can only change with no docs open)

Keystroke compatibility: Microsoft Applications

[x] Show keyboard shortcuts

[x] use Microsoft's conventions for mouse click

4. View

General Items

[x] Highlight the line containing the cursor

[x] Horizontal scroll bar

[x] Line numbers

[x] Popup names on the document selector

[x] Popup tips

[x] Verticle scroll bar

Visible white space:

[x] Tabs

5. Document Classes

You must close all documents to add document classes. The document classes below are those I use. Many TextPad users will not need all of these, and some people may add different classes.

Html Text Pattern

WARNING: at the bottom of the general settings page for most document classes, there is an option labeled 'apply these settings to all document classes.' Use this option with care. When checked, any changes to the current document class will propogate to ALL other classes defined, which may not be desired. There is no undo.

Default

Cascading Style Sheets

Data

(Setup not yet recorded here)

HTML

Mplus

Mplus Output

SAS

SAS Output

SPSS

SPSS Output

Syntax (TextPad syntax files) (Setup not yet recorded here)

Text

6. Associated Files

General Items

Include all file extensions which you want to associate with TextPad, such as .txt, .bat, .css, .htm, .html, .sas, .lst, .log, .sps, .lst, etc.

7. Backup

Html Text Pad

General Items

[x] Backup files before saving changes

Backup FILE.EXT as:

(o) FILE.EXT in folder: C:Backups

8. File Name Filters

Add filters as desired.

9. Folders

Change folders as desired.

10. Keyboard

Add or change keyboard bindings as desired. I have set my Analyze tool (see below), for example, to Alt-A. You can reassign nearly any key.

11. Language

User Interface Language:

English

12. Macros

Organize and edit macros as desired.

13. Spelling

Spell Checker Options:

[x] Auto correct

[x] Case sensitive

[_] Ignore capitolized workds (e.g., England)

[x] Ignore single letters

[_] Ignore words in capitals only (e.g., ASAP)

[_] Ignore words with mixed case (e.g., TextPad)

[x] Ignore words with numbers (e.g., Win98)

[x] Remember which workds to correct automatically

[x] Report doubled words (e.g., the the)

Suggestions for unrecognized workds

[_] Phonetic

[_] Split

[_] Typographical

14. Tools Menu

The tools options below include some redundancy. Under Preferences, the Menu Text is set on the Tools list, while the other options are set independently for each tool. To add a tool, from the Tools list, select Add and then Program.

The first option, Analyze, runs either SAS or Mplus, depending on the file extension. It runs a small Windows batch (.bat) or command (.cmd) file that picks the analyses type based on the file extension. This allows me to define one 'Analyze' key in TextPad without worrying about which program I need to run. I define Alt-A to run this 'Analyze' tool. The SAS and Mplus options that follow provide additional examples of how to setup tools.

Analyze (either SAS or Mplus)

Note. The file 'Analyze.bat' runs either SAS or Mplus depending on the file extension (.sas, .lst, .log for SAS or .mpi, .mpo for Mplus), making the next two tools unnecessary. Click on the Analyze.bat file above to see the contents of the file. The Command lists the batch file's location and name, with its arguments listed after Parameters.

The batch file takes as arguments, the file name ($File) and an execution priority for Windows (Low). The priorities are set using the Windows 'start' command within the Analyze.bat file. Without a priority listed here, it defaults to Low. If Analyze.bat did not use 'start' to set the priority, the analysis programs would consume nearly all of the CPU , making other work difficult. With a low priority, PCs generally allow for work on other tasks during lengthy analyses with very little impact on the time it takes for SAS or Mplus to complete their work. Options other than 'Low' include 'BelowNormal,' 'Normal,' 'AboveNormal,' and 'High.'

SAS System

Note. This particular command was created using the Add button and then DOS Command on the Tools list in preferences. This will enter cmd.exe in the Command box and gray out the box; you can't change this option once it is set.

Running SAS without the 'start' command (parameters section) consumes nearly all of the CPU time on a PC. The start command, added explicitly here, allows you to lower the priority so you can work on other tasks during long jobs. This only slightly lengthens the time for SAS to complete during normal work. Multiple SAS jobs, however, will slow each other down. Options other than '/low' include '/BelowNormal,' '/Normal,' '/AboveNormal,' and '/High.'

Mplus

SPSS

SPSSwin

Install INF

Textpad Html Formatter