StrongED queries

Moved this discussion here from the Important software compatibility notice thread to avoid polluting that thread with something entirely unrelated.

Looks like Kappa is the closest equivalent to what I’m using with Zap.

You can use StrongFont (bottom of the download page) to convert Zap fonts to StrongED fonts. Then you can use the exact same font as with Zap. Man was it?

Please note that StrongED 4.69f8

Hmmm, mine’s 4.69b5. ;-)

An upgrade to 4.69f8 is recommended, especially if you running in ARMv7 strict mode.

Automatically switch to ASM display for code files (module, absolute, etc)?

As Steve Drain has already pointed out, that’s how it’s set up by default.

StrongED uses ModeWhen files to determine which mode to use. Like in Zap’s Types system this is done on filetype and/or pathname and/or the content of the first 1kB. Click Adjust on a mode in the Modes menu to open its ModeWhen file. A Shift click will open the mode’s ModeFile.

You can force the use of a specific mode by adding a (comment) line near the start of a file (within first 1kB) that contains:

StrongED$Mode = <ModeName>

Turn off that blinking red highlight?

Global choices → Display → Flash caret so it’s easier to locate

Colourise code depending on what the element is, rather than just what the instruction is?

Not possible at the moment. The colouring is hardwired and based on the 3 bits that were used in ARM2/3 to decode instructions. At that time (early 90s) that worked fine but for todays ARMs something more fine grained is needed.

Most likely, put the output from Debugger_disassemble through the syntax colouring code so that it’s coloured just like an assembler source file.

I notice also that when reading a module from memory, the address on the left shows the last four digits of the address and all of the link addresses are absolute.

Just showing 4 digits is a ‘bug’ in the supplied Dump mode. You can change it to the full 8 digits using Mode choices → LineNos → Width.

For example, the first branch of the ZeroPain init code in Zap is BL &00001A00 while StrongEd shows it as BL &201DC734. Is it possible to change the addresses to be relative to the start of the code?

As it happens that’s one of the things I’m currently looking at. I’m not entirely sure yet how this is going to work but it should be possible in the next test release.

For the moment, you can get round this by saving the grabbed module and loading it back in. A start address of 0 will then be used, but you can’t regrab the module any more to get a fresh copy (which can be useful if it stores data internally).

Edit: forgot to mention StrongFont.

Colourise code depending on what the element is, rather than just what the instruction is?

Not possible at the moment. The colouring is hardwired and based on the 3 bits that were used in ARM2/3 to decode instructions. At that time (early 90s) that worked fine but for todays ARMs something more fine grained is needed.

Most likely, put the output from Debugger_disassemble through the syntax colouring code so that it’s coloured just like an assembler source file.

If anyone is interested; this has now been done. The latest test release StrongED 4.70a9 now uses the syntax colouring code giving the user much more control over how the disassembly is coloured. The condition code can be shown in lower case to make it easier to spot.

The colouring has also been extended to cover the ARMv7 and VFPv3 instructions sets.

For example, the first branch of the ZeroPain init code in Zap is BL &00001A00 while StrongEd shows it as BL &201DC734. Is it possible to change the addresses to be relative to the start of the code?

There is now a new function to allow the address shown to be toggled between the address a module (etc) was grabbed from and the address set in the line number configuration.

The latest test release

Speaking of test releases – whatever happened to Transient 2.08b with TrapDelete?

whatever happened to Transient 2.08b with TrapDelete?

It is still where the developer said it was.

It is still where the developer said it was.

Indeed it is, but I was wondering when/if it was likely to be put out as a formal release.
Extremely useful in that you can hit the Delete key (or Ctrl-K I suppose¹) and have the deletion go to the recycle facility with a quick and easy restore and Shift-Delete will do a permanent delete.

¹ Never liked the Ctrl-K version, I think not advertising it and allowing it to wither is a good idea.

The condition code can be shown in lower case to make it easier to spot.

Hurrah!

Indeed it is, but I was wondering when/if it was likely to be put out as a formal release.

The problem with Transient is that it is written in BASIC. While this was fine for the original version, the latest stable release (v2.07) already struggled as BASIC doesn’t offer advanced data types.

Transient 2.08b has to handle all the restore data for deletions too and doing this in BASIC is getting very uncomfortable. To move it forward it really needs to be written in a different language.

Lua seemed like a good option when Stephan Kleinert said he was working on toolbox support but nothing has materialised. So, Transient 2.08b is in limbo until I make a decision on where to go.

So, Transient 2.08b is in limbo until I make a decision on where to go.

Perhaps you could put it in a more obvious location and then work on Transient 3.0 in the new build?
Those of us “in the know” have 2.08b in regular use but it deserves a wider audience.