[StrongED] StrongED 4.70a1 available

[Fred Graute <fjgraute@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

The first alpha release of StrongED 4.70 can found on the website:
http://www.stronged.iconbar.com/archives/releases/se470a1.zip

The release comes with BaseMode and an updated version of Dump Mode.
All other modes can be downloaded from the modes database, they are
the same as those for 4.69.

This being the first alpha and the changes made mean that this is not
for the faint-hearted as there is a real chance of serious bugs being
present. I do hope though that some of you are brave enough to give
4.70a1 a try in order to get it properly tested and debugged.

Pressure points are:

 - First and foremost the changed Scan code needs to be absolutely bug
   free as it's one of the corner stones of StrongED. Bugs here can
   affect pretty much everything. No special testing needed, simply
   using 4.70a1 should reveal any bugs quite quickly.

 - The reworked block editing needs to be tested thoroughly. The same
   goes for the updated TrimLines function. The changes made could also
   impact on Search and Replace, so keep an eye on that too.

 - The new bitmap format and control/tab display. Does it all work?
   Is it now clearer how to change control/tab display?

 - The Dump mode additions need testing too. Any unwanted side effects?

As always, all feedback is welcome and appreciated!

Cheers,
Fred.


Changes in StrongED 4.70a1 (from 4.69f3)
========================================

 - The format of bitmap fonts has been changed. The special characters
   for control and tab characters are now contained in the various font
   styles themselves and no longer require the CtrlTab style.

   The Font section of the Mode Choices has gained an addition option
   that is used to decide if special characters should be used.
   Please note that outline font and system font display always use the
   same mapping as special chars off.

   With special chars off the mapping used is:

   Controls     0x00 -> 0x40 ... 0x1F -> 0x5F (@ABC..)
   Tabs         0x09 -> 0x2D, 0x3E            (--->)

   With special chars on the mapping used is:

   Controls     0x00 -> 0x00 ... 0x1F -> 0x1F (mini hex numbers)
   Tabs         0x09 -> 0x100 - 0x104         (old dotted line)

   The fonts that come with 4.70a1 are all in the new format. If you've
   altered or added fonts in StrED_cfg then you'll need to convert them
   to the new format using StrongFont 1.07a.

 - Scan code altered so it no longer relies on self-modifying code. This
   means that StrongED is now free of self-modifying code.

   The Scan code is responsible for working out where the start and end
   of the current wrapline are. The information is cached so we don't
   have to re-scan while working on the same line. It underlies pretty
   much all of StrongED so any bugs here can affect almost all of
   StrongED's functionality.

 - Block editing made much faster (noticeable with large selections). The
   amount of speed up depends on the size of the selection but on the
   test file used the difference was considerable. Inserting a character
   on each line in a 1.4MB file took 4.69 8m9s, 4.70 took 1.3s.

 - The TrimLines function has been given the same treatment as BlockEdit
   and is also much faster.

 - Colours used for visible newlines are now configurable. New syntax
   colouring group (Newlines) added to Colours section of Mode Choices.

 - Dump mode has been extended; it can now display in DoubleWord mode
   (8 bytes, 64 bit). The memory dump section can be displayed as binary
   in addition to the hexadecimal display.

   For this two new buttons have been added to the toolbar. The button
   for double word display works exactly like Byte, Word etc buttons.
   The button for binary display acts as a toggle. It turns display in
   binary on and off (except in ASCII mode which doesn't have a memory
   dump).


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