[nabs-l] Fwd: EdSharp 3.0 and FileDir 3.6 released

[David Andrews]

>
>EdSharp, an editor, and FileDir, a file manager, are free, open source
>applications that are feature-competitive with most commercial
>equivalents.  Unlike such alternatives, they incorporate screen reader
>usability as an integral part of their designs.  Below are the latest
>improvements, tested under Windows XP and Vista.
>
>Jamal
>
>  EdSharp 3.0
>http://EmpowermentZone.com/edsetup.exe
>
>When saving text to a file, EdSharp now checks whether any character has a
>Unicode number greater than 255, which means that more than one byte is
>needed to represent it.  If so, the file is saved with a UTF-8 encoding,
>the most common form of Unicode for storing files on disk.  Otherwise, the
>default encoding of the computer is used, e.g., Latin 1.
>
>Several enhancements are designed to increase the efficiency of managing
>indentation with a screen reader.  The need is motivated by coding in the
>Python language.  Although a friendly language in other ways, its
>"significant white space requirement" is inherently challenging to
>nonvisual users.  Indentation is a recommended style in most programming
>languages, but in Python, it is required for the code to run.  Other
>languages, moreover, often have utilities for automatically reformatting
>code according to common conventions.  In Python, a change in indentation
>denotes the end of a code block rather than a keyword like EndIf, or a }
>symbol.  Thus, when reading normally by line with a screen reader, the
>structure of code is not indicated.  Instead, one often has to check the
>indentation to clarify logical understanding.
>
>The EdSharp commands to find a matching right brace, left brace, or to
>check brace balance have been reassigned from key combinations with the B
>key to ones with bracket keys:  Control+Shift+RightBracket,
>Control+Shift+LeftBracket, and Alt+Shift+RightBracket, respectively.  To
>eliminate key conflicts, the EdSharp installer includes a checkbox to
>remove previous settings, which is checked by default.
>
>You can now press Control+B to go to the next code block, or
>Control+Shift+B to go to the previous one.  A block is defined as lines
>with the same or greater indentation/nesting.  Control+I and
>Control+Shift+I have a similar purpose, but they move to the next or
>previous change in indentation, so they stop at nested blocks.  EdSharp
>skips blank or commented lines with these commands.
>
>Thus, Control+I will stop at a nested block, whereas Control+B will not,
>since it continues past lines with greater indentation.  For example, if
>the cursor is inside a loop block, then Control+I will go to the line at
>the closing of the loop where a lower level of indentation resumes.  In
>Ruby, this would be the line with the word "end".  In Python, it would be
>the first line of code following the loop, since the change in
>indentation, itself, indicates the end of the loop.
>
>The related query commands, Alt+B and Alt+I, help you understand code
>groupings without moving the cursor.  They are examples of a new EdSharp
>feature where a key can have an alternate action if pressed twice in a row
>without moving the cursor.  Alt+B says the rest of the current block,
>beginning at the current line.  When toggled with a second press, it says
>the whole block, including lines prior to the current one, if any.  Alt+I
>says the indentation level of the current line.  When toggled, it reads
>the text of the preceding line with less indentation, which is typically
>the statement that introduced the current block, e.g., an if, for, or
>while statement.  These commands are best learned by experimenting with
>familiar code.
>
>Use the Infer Indent command, Alt+RightBracket, to hear what indent unit
>the current document seems to be using.  EdSharp looks at the first line
>that starts with a space or tab character.  If this key is pressed again
>without moving the cursor, that sequence of space or tab characters is
>configured as EdSharp's IndentUnit setting.  This makes it easy to use the
>same indentation style as a file you have opened.
>
>Other keys with alternate actions spell a message when pressed a second
>time.  These include Say Open Windows (Shift+F4), Selected Text
>(Shift+Space), Chunk (Shift+Backspace), Path (Alt+P), and Clipboard
>(Alt+Apostrophe).
>----------
>
>FileDir 3.6
>http://EmpowermentZone.com/dirsetup.exe
>
>The unzip-related commands have been transformed into broader, unarchive
>commands that work with almost any archive format, including .rar, .tar,
>.gz, .bz2, .chm, .cab, and .wepm (a Window-Eyes script package that is the
>same format as .cab).  FileDir does this with the free 7Zip utility behind
>the scenes, which is also available independently at
>http://7zip.com
>
>Although any archive may be viewed or extracted, it is still the case that
>only a zip archive may be created or modified.
>
>The What command, invoked with a question mark, now says the number of
>items in an archive or subfolder before saying their names.  As before,
>the Output Text command, Shift+O, converts other file formats to text.  It
>now does this with an updated conversion tool (GetText.exe).
>
>Inquire Differences, Alt+Shift+I, is a new command for comparing files in
>two folders.  The current folder is considered the source.  You are
>prompted for a target folder.  FileDir generates a report in structured
>text format and prompts you for where to save it.  The default name is
>Report.txt in the current folder.  The report contains three sections:
>common target files, missing target files, and additional target files.
>The first section lists target file names that also exist in the source
>folder, and indicates whether each is newer, older, or current (a time
>stamp comparison), as well whether it is larger, smaller, or equal (a size
>comparison).  The second section lists file names that are missing in the
>target folder.  The third section lists additional file names found in the
>target folder.
>
>For maximum functionality of FileDir under Windows Vista, you may wish to
>configure it to "run as administrator."  One way of doing this is by
>modifying the FileDir shortcut on the desktop.  Press Alt+Enter to open
>its properties, choose the Advanced button, and mark the checkbox to
>require administrative priviledges.  Otherwise, for example, the ability
>to view or change files under the directory tree
>C:\Program Files
>will be considerably restricted.
>
>----------
>End of Document