From: J.K.Wight@newcastle.ac.uk (Jim Wight)
Newsgroups: fj.mail-lists.x-window
Subject: Announcing release 3.0 of aXe (but possibly not for R4)
Date: 30 Jul 92 19:57:22 GMT
Distribution: fj
Organization: Workstation Div., Supermicro Systems Group, Sony Corporation

Via: uk.ac.newcastle; Thu, 30 Jul 1992 17:39:28 +0100
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 17:39:25 BST
Message-Id: <AA27652.9207301639.blagdon@uk.ac.newcastle>
Reply-To: J.K.Wight@newcastle.ac.uk

Version 3.0 of aXe (an X editor) is now available on export in
aXe-3.0.tar.Z. I would like to thank everyone who risked using the
beta version and kept me busy with problems to fix. Unfortunately I
haven't had time to take on board all of the many reasonable
suggestions for enhancements. Note that it is unlikely that I will be
responding to queries about this version until 10th August.

Some information describing aXe is appended for those who have not
come across aXe before.

For those who are familiar with version 2 the main changes are that
server mode is the default, optionally with a file selector as the
server window, support for multiple buffers, a new minibuffer
command that feeds the text buffer or selection to external commands
and simplified access to the minibuffer through a customisable menu.

WARNING: I have a major problem at R4 so this version may not work for
you. The distributed code builds and apparently runs on a Sun 3 SunOS
4.1.1 X11R4 (patchlevel 18) at the expense of having to dispense with
the brief help for the menu bar buttons, but it has not been tested to
any great extent.

aXe no longer uses Wcl and internally has been completely rewritten
using custom widgets, some of which are independently reusable in
other applications, e.g.

   AxeiiText - subclass of AsciiText implementing many new actions and
               providing mechanism in the form of callback lists for others.

   AxeText   - subclass of AxeiiText implementing one policy, viz. aXe's,
               for the unimplemented actions of AxeiiText.

   AxeEditor - familiar five component aXe window as a widget.

   AxeWindow - an AxeEditor in a window that deals with the WM size hints.

   ControlCodeSelector - subclass of XpTable providing a table of selectable
               control codes.

   FileNominator - simply the best file selector.

   ScrollingText - subclass of Porthole effectively providing a one line
               scrolling text widget.

   NumericPad - subclass of XpTable presenting a numeric keypad layout
               for the entry of numbers in octal, decimal or hexadecimal.

Unfortunately there is no detailed documentation for the widgets yet.


                              ...oooOOOOoo...


aXe is a simple to use text editor for X that represents a significant
improvement over xedit. Also built around the Athena Text Widget it
features, amongst other things,

   o multiple windows
   o multiple buffers
   o default menu interface
   o optional button interface, with choice and layout of buttons 
     under user control
   o minibuffer for expert use and access to external filters
   o provision for defining a keyboard macro
   o geometry specification and resizing in terms of characters
   o file selection via a browser
   o knowledge of line numbers
   o parenthesis matching
   o ability to change font
   o easy entry of control codes
   o xterm-like keymap feature
   o easy runtime setting of selected preferences (resources)
   o server mode
   o both brief and comprehensive on-line help
   o collection of reusable widgets that embody the functionality of aXe

aXe was developed on a Sun SLC under SunOS 4.1.1 running MIT X11
Release 5 (patchlevel 9) and has been ported to an Encore Multimax
running UMAX 4.3 in the same environment. An attempt has been made to
cater for Release 4 (patchlevel 18) but there is a major problem that
has yet to be resolved. I have no experience of porting to System V.

aXe is available by anonymous ftp from export.lcs.mit.edu (18.24.0.12)
initially, and probably in due course from several other ftp sites.
Check your nearest using xarchie.

Jim
---
J.K.Wight@newcastle.ac.uk
Department of Computing Science, The University,         Tel: +44 91 222 8238
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, United Kingdom.            Fax: +44 91 222 8232