.TH "xe" "8" "2001" "Xenon 1\&.0\&.0" "" 
.PP 
.SH "NAME" 
xe \- a text editor for X
.PP 
.SH "SYNOPSIS" 
.PP 
\fBxe\fP
[\fB-display\fP \fIdisplay name\fP]
[\fB-geometry\fP \fIgeometry spec\fP]
[\fB-v\fP]
[\fB-nofork\fP]
[\fB-orphan\fP]
[\fIfilename\fP]
.PP 
.SH "DESCRIPTION" 
.PP 
\fIxe\fP is a lightweight, fast and simple text editor for X\&. The user 
interface consists of a fairly standard layout, with a menu bar along the
top of the window, a scroll bar on the left side and the rest filled with
the text area\&.
.PP 
Some simple searching and editing functions are available\&.
\fIxe\fP is able to open multiple files, however the file selection user
interface is quite crude at the moment\&.
.PP 
The command keys of the menu commands as well as the key
mapping of most text field operations are configurable via X resources\&.
\fIxe\fP has a configuration file of its own: \fI~/\&.xerc\fP which is read at 
startup, see the section \fBSTARTUP\fP\&.
.PP 
\fBNote\fP: whenever this man page refers to the \fIAlt\fP key it refers to
the X Mod1 modifier\&.
.PP 
.SH "OPTIONS" 
.PP 
.IP "\fB-display\fP \fIdisplay name\fP" 
Run on a specific display other than what is specified
in the \fIDISPLAY\fP environment variable\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fB-geometry\fP \fIgeometry spec\fP" 
Provide a custom position and size for \fIxe\fP when it
starts up\&. The format of the geometry string is the standard X geometry spec,
with the \fIwidth\fP and \fIheight\fP parameters providing the number of rows
and columns of the text field\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fB-v\fP" 
Prints out version number and exits\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fB-nofork\fP" 
By default \fIxe\fP forks itself into the background\&. The
\fI-nofork\fP option prevents this behavoir\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fB-orphan\fP" 
If runOnce is enabled (in the \fI\&.xerc\fP file) this option
disables it, making \fIxe\fP create a new process each time it is run\&.
.IP 
.PP 
.SH "STARTUP" 
.PP 
Upon startup \fIxe\fP reads in \fIfilename\fP as specified on the command line\&.
If no file was given, then xe opens an empty window with the name
"Untitled"\&. If there is some kind of error reading from \fIfilename\fP, a
blank window is opened anyway and an error message appears in the centre of
the screen\&.
.PP 
Configurable options are read in as follows:
.IP "\fIX Resources\fP" 
First the standard X resource files and command
line options are read\&. see the section \fBX RESOURCES\fP for a complete
description of the X resources recognised by \fIxe\fP\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fI~/\&.xerc\fP" 
Then, various global options are read in from the
\fI\&.xerc\fP file in the home directory of the user ID that \fIxe\fP was
launched under\&. These options apply to specific parts of \fIxe\fP and
all of these options may eventually end up as X resources\&. See
the section \fBXERC\fP for a complete description of these options\&.
.PP 
.SH "MOUSE" 
.PP 
The mouse functions as expected for a mouse-based editor\&. The following
operations are defined in the text area\&.
.PP 
.IP "\fILeft Button\fP" 
positions the caret in the text area, clearing any
selection\&. Clicking and dragging extends the selection from the initial
position, combined with the \fIShift Key\fP this extends an already 
existing selection\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fIMiddle Button\fP" 
operates the same way as the Left Button, except
that whole words are selected instead of single characters\&.
Combining with the \fIAlt Key\fP, the caret is positioned and when the
button is released, the current \fIX Selection\fP is inserted at that
position\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fIRight Button\fP" 
pans the text around in 2 dimensions, following
the mouse pointer and auto-scrolls off the top or bottom of the text\&.	
.PP 
The scroll bar works as expected\&. The \fIMiddle Button\fP moves the scroll
handle to the centre of the position clicked\&.
.PP 
In text fields, the \fIMiddle Button\fP pastes from the X Selection without
needing the Alt modifier\&.
.PP 
.SH "KEYBOARD" 
.PP 
The keyboard works in the standard way\&. Normal characters are inserted,
defined text area operations such as caret movement, and selection etc
can be invoked, as well as command keys defined by the menus\&.
.PP 
The various text operations and menu commands, with their default keys
are described below\&.
.PP 
.SH "X RESOURCES" 
.PP 
The X resources documented here are the only ones supported by \fIxe\fP at
the moment\&. Future versions will recognise more of them\&.
.PP 
A form of X resource that \fIxe\fP uses is \fIKey Spec\fP which is used to
specifiy a key with a combination of modifiers\&. The format of this is:
[ \fImodifier modifier\&.\&.\&.\fP ] \fI<key>\fP where \fImodifier\fP can be one of
\fIShift\fP, \fIAlt\fP or \fICtrl\fP and \fI<key>\fP is an X \fIkeysym\fP name,
without the leading XK_\&. The list of X keysyms can be found in the
file \fI/usr/include/X11/keysymdef\&.h\fP\&.
.PP 
.IP "\fBgeometry\fP" 
Specifies the position and size (in lines and columns)
of all top level windows\&. Same as the \fB-geometry\fP flag\&.
.PP 
\fBMenus\fP
.PP 
The only resource recognised by menu items is \fBkey\fP, which takes a
value of the form \fIKey Spec\fP:\fI<string>\fP where \fIKey Spec\fP is the
command key used and \fI<string>\fP is the label that represents the
key in the menu\&. The menus, with the resource name for each menu item,
the default value of the \fBkey\fP resource and a description of each
menu item are shown below\&.
.PP 
\fBFile Menu\fP - \fB*mainWindow\&.menuBar\&.file\fP
.PP 
.IP "\fBnew\fP (Alt n:n)" 
Creates a new "Untitled" editor window\&.
.IP "\fBopen\fP (Alt o:o)" 
Prompts for a filename (with a crude-looking
file chooser) and opens it in a new editor window\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBclose\fP (Alt w:w)" 
Closes the current editor window\&. \fBNote\fP, this
command doesn\'t prompt when the file is unsaved\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBreopen\fP (Alt Shift r:r)" 
Re-reads the file from the disk,
discarding any changes\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBsave\fP (Alt s:s)" 
Saves the text\&. Prompts for a filename if
the window is "Untitled"\&. The file is written to disk even if the
text hasn\'t been modified since last save\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBquit\fP (Alt q:q)" 
Quits the program\&. The user is only prompted
if when there are unsaved editor windows open\&.
.PP 
\fBEdit Menu\fP - \fB*mainWindow\&.menuBar\&.edit\fP
.PP 
.IP "\fBundo\fP (Alt z:z)" 
Un-does the previous operation\&. An operation
consists of the change of selection (including caret position)
or the insertion or removal of text by any means\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBredo\fP (Alt r:r)" 
Re-does the the operation that was last undone\&.
All redo events are cleared when a new operation is performed\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBcut\fP (Alt x:x)" 
Copies the selected text into the \fIxe\fP clipboard
and then deletes the text\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBcopy\fP (Alt c:c)" 
Copies the selected text into the \fIxe\fP clipboard\&.
\fBNote\fP, this clipboard is not the X clipboard but a separate buffer
that is shared among all \fIxe\fP processes\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBpaste\fP (Alt v:v)" 
Inserts the text in the \fIxe\fP clipboard
in place of the current selection\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBclear\fP" 
Deletes selected text\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBselectAll\fP (Alt a:a)" 
Selects all of the text\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBxpaste\fP (Alt p:p)" 
Same as \fIpaste\fP but gets the data from the X
clipboard (the X client that holds the X selection)\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBtabToggle\fP (Alt t:t)" 
Toggles the tab width between the two
set up in the \fI\&.xerc\fP file\&.
.PP 
\fBSearch Menu\fP - \fB*mainWindow\&.menuBar\&.search\fP
.PP 
.IP "\fBfind\fP (Alt h:h)" 
Brings up the \fIFind\fP dialog box\&. The search
string, search direction, case sensitivity and type of search can be
entered here\&. Pressing the Ok button will execute the search\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBfindAgain\fP (Alt g:g)" 
Repeats the previous search, using all the
previously set parameters\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBfindForward\fP (Alt f:f)" 
If some text is selected and the
selection is only on a single line, the search string is replaced with
this text and the next occurence is searched for\&. Otherwise, \fIfindAgain\fP
is performed with the search direction set to forward\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBfindBackwards\fP (Alt b:b)" 
The same as \fIfindForward\fP except
the search direction is always set to backwards\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBjumpTo\fP (Alt j:j)" 
Brings up the \fIJump\fP dialog box\&. A line
number can be entered here\&. Choosing Ok will cause the cursor to
jump to the beginning of the given line\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBbraceMatch\fP (Alt m:m)" 
Selects the text encompassed by the
closest set of closed braces around the current cursor position\&.
.IP 
.PP 
\fBWindow Menu\fP
.PP 
This menu contains a list of all editor windows currently opened by the
current running process of xe\&. The name displayed is the same as the
window\'s icon name\&. X resources can\'t be set on individual menu items
in this menu at the moment\&.
.PP 
\fBText\fP - \fB*mainWindow\&.text\fP
.PP 
The various resources with their default resource and description are
shown below\&. All these resources take a \fIKey Spec\fP as their value\&.
X resources are not supported by text fields at the moment\&.
.PP 
.IP "\fBup\fP (Up)" 
Move the caret up one line\&.
.IP "\fBdown\fP (Down)" 
Move the caret down one line\&.
.IP "\fBleft\fP (Left)" 
Move the caret left by one character\&.
.IP "\fBright\fP (Right)" 
Move the caret right by one character\&.
.IP "\fBextend_up\fP (Shift Up)" 
Extend the selection up one line\&.
.IP "\fBextend_down\fP (Shift Down)" 
Extend the selection down one line\&.
.IP "\fBextend_left\fP (Shift Left)" 
Extend the selection left by one
character\&.
.IP "\fBextend_right\fP (Shift Right)" 
Extend the selection right by one
character\&.
.IP "\fBprev_word\fP (Alt Left)" 
Move the caret left by one word\&.
.IP "\fBnext_word\fP (Alt Right)" 
Move the caret right by one word\&.
.IP "\fBextend_prev_word\fP (Alt Shift Left)" 
Extend the selection left
by one word\&.
.IP "\fBextend_next_word\fP (Alt Shift Right)" 
Extend the selection right
by oe word\&.
.IP "\fBstart_line\fP (Ctrl Left)" 
Move the caret to the beginning
of the line\&.
.IP "\fBend_line\fP (Ctrl Right)" 
Move the caret to the end of the line\&.
.IP "\fBextend_start_line\fP (Ctrl Shift Left)" 
Extend the selection to the
beginning of the line\&.
.IP "\fBextend_end_line\fP (Ctrl Shift Right)" 
Extend the selection to the
end of the line\&.
.IP "\fBpage_up\fP (Page_Up)" 
Move caret up a page\&.
.IP "\fBpage_down\fP (Page_Down)" 
Move caret down a page\&.
.IP "\fBhome\fP (Home)" 
Move caret to the beginning of the file\&.
.IP "\fBend\fP (End)" 
Move caret to the end of the file\&.
.PP 
The following colours can be set using X colour names\&. These resources
also apply to \fB*mainWindow\&.textField\fP\&.
.PP 
.IP "\fBbackground\fP (grey85)" 
.IP "\fBforeground\fP (black)" 
.IP "\fBlineNumColour\fP (blue)" 
.IP "\fBactiveColour\fP (red)" 
.IP "\fBinactiveColour\fP (grey50)" 
.PP 
.SH "XERC" 
.PP 
The \fI\&.xerc\fP file contains token-value pairs on each line\&. A # symbol
causes the rest of the line to be ignored\&. The token-value is separated
by any whitespace\&. Here is a list of all recognised tokens with their
default value in parentheses:
.PP 
.IP "\fBwindowName\fP (%m*%%F%r [view-only]%)" 
Format string for the title
of the top level windows\&. This string can contain any character along
with special option strings which are substituted with various things:
.IP 
\fI%m<string>%\fP <string> is shown when the text is modified\&.
.IP 
\fI%r<string>%\fP <string> is shown when the text is read-only\&.
.IP 
\fI%F\fP full path name of file being edited\&.
.IP 
\fI%f\fP filename without path component of file being edited\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBiconName\fP (%r[ %%m*%%f%r ]%)" 
Format string for the icon name of all top
level windows\&. Same format as \fIwindowName\fP\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBlines\fP (30)" 
The initial height in lines of the text area\&.
.IP "\fBcolumns\fP (80)" 
The initial width in characters of the text area\&.
.IP "\fBfont\fP (-b&h-lucidatypewriter-medium-r-normal-sans-12*)" 
The font that is displayed in all text widgets\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBbreakChars\fP (=(),*\&.;{}[]<>""-+/&|~^?!:)" 
The characters that are
used as boundaries for word selection\&. Whitespace and newlines are
implicit boundaries\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBlineNumbers\fP (true)" 
Display of line numbers\&. Can be true or
false\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBautoIndent\fP (true)" 
Auto indent causes initial whitespace from
the current line to be copied onto the next when the \fIenter\fP key is
pressed\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBtab\fP (8)" 
Sets the tab width of the text area\&.
.IP "\fBtabToggle\fP (4)" 
Sets an alternate tab width, switched to using
the \fITab Toggle\fP menu command\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBsoftTab\fP (4)" 
Sets the tab width the tab key uses\&. If its width
is less than the current tab width then the columns are filled up
with spaces\&. Spaces are collapsed into tabs when the tab is wide enough
to fill the necessary space\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBmaxUndos\fP (100)" 
This is the maximum number of keystrokes and
selection events that are saved by each text area\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBscrollTimeout\fP (0\&.03)" 
Time interval in seconds between
successive scroll steps when auto scrolling\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBscrollAccel\fP (1\&.0)" 
Controls auto-scroll acceleration\&. A lower
number increases acceleration\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBscrollAmt\fP (2)" 
Configures the number of lines scrolled when
using the up and down keys to scroll beyond the bounds of the visible
text\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBrightScroll\fP (false)" 
Causes the scrollbar to appear on the
right hand side of the window if set to true\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBrunOnce\fP (false)" 
When false, running xe creates a new process
each time\&. When true, a new window is opened in a currently running
process with the same client IP number and userid as the original
process\&.
.IP 
.IP "\fBusePlanemask\fP (true)" 
When true, xe uses the X planemask
to draw selection hilights\&. If selection highlights are slow, then hardware 
planemasks are not supported on your graphics card by X\&. You can improve
performance of selection hilights by setting this value to false, such that
the planemask isn\'t used\&.
.IP 
.PP 
.SH "FILES" 
.PP 
\fIxe\fP reads in the standard X resource files as well as its own
configuration file: \fI~/\&.xerc\fP\&.
.PP 
.SH "SEE ALSO" 
.PP 
X(1)
.PP 
.SH "DIAGNOSTICS" 
.PP 
\fIxe\fP reports file-open errors in dialog boxes\&. Some other more obscure
errors may happen and these are printed to \fIstderr\fP\&. 
.PP 
.SH "BUGS" 
.PP 
There are quite a few bugs in \fIxe\fP, most of which are not serious, that
is they are mostly redraw/display related and don\'t affect the content
of the text being edited\&. For a semi-complete list of bugs see the
\fBBUGS\fP file that comes with the \fIxe\fP distribution\&.
.PP 
.SH "AUTHOR" 
.PP 
Ben Ross (ben@proximity\&.com\&.au)
.PP 
Brian Murray - provided some excellent C++ classes\&.