PROLIX
Version 1.10
Program Documentation
May 9, 1996

Software and documentation copyright (c) 1995, 1996 by Eric Schreiber
All rights reserved

License
-------
Prolix is released as Freeware for private, non-commercial use. Individuals
may use Prolix free of charge, and are encouraged to give copies to friends
and associates.

Bulletin board systems and online service operators are welcome to make
Prolix available to their users, so long as the archive contents are kept
intact and there are no specific charges to download the archive.

Commercial organizations wishing to use Prolix or include it in any software
package or collection should contact Eric Schreiber for pricing and terms.
"Commercial" means any business, government, religious, educational or not-
for-profit organization.  See the "Contacting the Author" section at the end
of this file for contact information.


Disclaimer
----------
Although care has been taken to ensure that Prolix does what this document
states, Prolix is provided "as is", without warranty or guarantee of any kind,
either expressed or implied, as to the fitness for a particular purpose or
quality or performance of this program.

In no event shall Eric Schreiber be liable to you or anyone else for any cost
or damages, including, but not limited to, any lost profits, lost savings or
lost income which may result from the use or inability to use Prolix.

I just hate it that such disclaimers are necessary.


Introduction
------------
Prolix is a Windows text editor, useful for writing source code, modifying
autoexec and config files, editing nodelists, notes to Mom, and so on.

I started out writing Prolix for my own use.  I needed a Windows text editor
that could handle really big files comfortably, and I'd tried about a half
dozen that were already out there. I didn't like any of them very much; Some
had graceless interfaces that didn't appeal to me, some had features that
weren't even remotely related to text editing (like sound effects), and some
required annoying external files (dll's and vbx's) to run.

So, I set out to write my own, and here it is.  I like it, and I hope you do
as well.


Features
--------
o  Can handle files up to 16 megabytes in size.

o  Multiple Document Interface - can open numerous files at the same time.

o  16 kilobytes of undo and redo buffer, which works in discrete steps.

o  Speedbar containing buttons for the most common tasks.

o  Can use any fixed font for displaying text.

o  Up to ten visible bookmarks can be set during editing.

o  Right-click context menu for common tasks and accessing bookmarks.

o  Search and replace functions.

o  Support of Drag-and-drop file opening, and file manager associations.

o  Clean, uncluttered design.

o  "Split" window mode, allows two views of the same editor file.  Handy
   when you need to refer to another place in the document.

o  EXE is entirely self-contained - no external DLL's or VBX files are
   required.

o  User can define start-up screen size and position.

o  Several keyboard commands familiar to users of older text editors, and
   Wordstar command compatibility.

o  Floating hints on Speedbar controls (can be disabled).

o  All the usual Windows functionality.


Installation
------------
Installing Prolix is quite simple:

o  Put the prolix.exe file in any directory you want, such as c:\windows.
   There are no other files required.

o  From the Program Manager, open the group window that you want Prolix to
   appear in.

o  From the File menu, choose New.

o  In the New Program Object dialog box, select the Program Item option,
   and click the OK button.

o  In the Command Line field, type in the complete path and filename where
   you put Prolix, such as "c:\windows\prolix.exe".

o  Click the OK button.

The Prolix icon will appear in the group window. Prolix will create a default
configuration file (prolix.cfg) the first time it's run. It doesn't touch any
existing .ini files or otherwise modify your system configuration in any way.


Using Prolix
------------
Most of the functions in Prolix are obvious, so I won't go into detail about
them.  However, a few aren't immediately apparent.

In addition to opening files with the File|Open menu and the Speedbar, Prolix
supports Drag-and-drop.  When Prolix is running, highlight one or even several
files in File Manager, then drag them onto the Prolix window.  Prolix will
open an editor window for each of them.

Prolix can also be used with the "Associate" feature of the File Manager, so
that when you double click a .txt file, for example, a new copy of Prolix will
run and automatically open the file.  Check your Windows documentation for
information on setting up Associations in File Manager.

Lastly, Prolix can load files listed on it's command line.  This means you can
call it from other programs, and feed it the files you want to edit.  If only a
single file is specified on the command line, Prolix automatically maximizes the
edit window for that file, saving you the effort.

Although Prolix was not written as a Windows 95 application, it has been
tested under Win95 to some extent, and ran without problems.


Beta team
---------
Special thanks to the people who beta tested Prolix for me and provided
valuable comments and ideas - Doug Bora, Chris Gramer, Jim Hargrove, Ulrich
Hermans, Dan Jones, George Roberts, and Dave Stephans.


Contacting the author
---------------------
If you wish to contact me for any reason, I can be reached in the following
ways:

o  Internet   eric@kobayashi.com

o  WWW        http://www.kobayashi.com/maru

o  Fidonet    Eric Schreiber at 1:115/327

o  BBS        The Aircrash Bureau, Chicago IL (312) 278-1195

o  Voice      (312) 278-1196


Revision History
----------------
1.00 October 21, 1995

     Initial release

1.01 November 18, 1995

     Added Ctrl-O keyboard command for File| Open

     Bugfix to allow F4 (Search | Go to) to work without having to
     first pull down the Search menu

1.02 December 1, 1995

     The default Insert-mode text cursor changed to a horizontal underline
     to make it more obvious which character position was being affected.

     No longer strips whitespace preceding an end-of-line (CR/LF) character.
     This will make Prolix more useful for editing large files that may
     contain line-length-sensitive data.

     Bugfix to correct a GPF condition on some Windows 3.10 systems when
     Prolix was first run.

1.03 January 26, 1996

     Minor feature added: if Prolix is started with a single filename on
     the command line, the editor window containing that file will be
     maximized. This will save the user from having to click the max icon
     when loading single files for editing, and is useful for situations
     when Prolix is called by another program, such as an offline mail
     reader.

1.10 May 9, 1996

     Many minor cosmetic changes
     Updated contact info
     Total remake of status bar (no visual changes)
