Boxer: A Shortcut to Revising Text
Sometimes text files need revisions that are easy to describe but difficult to accomplish.
The simple solution may not be an expensive word processing program but an inexpensive shareware text editor called Boxer.
For instance, suppose the boss wants a few changes in the report you’ve worked on for a week that is chock full of beautiful tables of numbers imported from dozens of spreadsheets.
It sounds so simple. Just move the annual sales column ahead of the quarterly sales columns in the tables on half a dozen pages.
You could go back into your word processing program and re-create the tables in the desired order if they weren’t too long. Or you could go to the spreadsheets, revise those tables and then import them into the document again.
Or you could use Boxer and simply cut and paste the desired columns of numbers in the order the boss wants.
Boxer is a text editor for IBM and compatible PCs written by David R. Hamel, Route 2-74, Temple, N.H., 03084, (603) 924-6602. Because it is shareware, you can get it free from bulletin boards or friends or for $5 from Public Software Library, P.O. Box 35705, Houston, Tex., (800) 242-4775.
If you like it and decide to keep using it, Hamel asks $35 for the basic registration or $50 to also get a printed manual and a free upgrade to the next version.
Text editors have been around for decades. They are what programmers use to write all the software that the rest of us run on our computers. In fact, Hamel used earlier versions of Boxer to write subsequent versions. What distinguishes Boxer from a host of other text editors is its up-to-date design, complete with mouse support and pull-down menus, and its versatility.
One example is its ability to manipulate portions of vertical columns of text within a file. Most word processing and editing programs can manipulate only blocks of text that span the full width of the screen.
Once a block of columns has been marked, Boxer can sort their contents line by line alphabetically or numerically. An example might be a mailing list that had been sorted by last name. You could rearrange it alphabetically by state by highlighting the columns containing the state names and invoking the sort command.
Boxer will also calculate the total and the average of a marked group of numbers.
Opening multiple files simultaneously for editing is easily done, as is positioning them in separate windows on the screen and moving quickly from one to another, copying, cutting and pasting text among them.
Total size of the files is limited by the amount of available random access memory you have, so you cannot use Boxer to edit huge database lists, for instance. And the files that you edit must be in text file format, also known as ASCII files.
Search and replace routines offer a wide range of pattern matching commands that allow you to find virtually any word, phrase or number you want and in any file currently being edited. A menu of past searches is stored so that you can easily pick a previous one to do again. Unfortunately, text replacement has more limitations than the search routine. You cannot insert new lines into a file as part of the replacement text.
Boxer is not a word processing program. It doesn’t do fancy text formatting, although it will do some of the basics and does allow you to place printer control codes within the file to invoke boldface or italic type--if your printer does that and if you know what codes will make it happen.
It is an excellent programmer’s editor, with the ability to run popular compilers from Microsoft, Borland and others from within Boxer. One helpful feature for programmers is a search routine that detects whether all the pairs of parentheses and brackets used to contain program instructions have been properly closed. A missing closing parentheses or bracket is a common source of failure in programming.
Perhaps the most impressive feature is how well the program anticipates what command you’ll want next. Each time you use the pull down menus, for instance, the last command you used is automatically selected again. You can easily interrupt it and move to another menu choice, however.
The frequently used menu items can be invoked with Alt followed by another key that has been mnemonically assigned for easy remembering. Hit Alt E to choose from a list of files to edit, Alt Q to quit, Alt M to mark a block of text, for instance.
If you really botch things up while working with a file, you can undo up to the last 512 changes or additions that you have made during the current editing session.
Another nice feature is one that allows you to draw lines and boxes in your files. Combine that with the cutting and pasting of small portions of the text and you can publish organization charts fairly easily.
The organization chart for Boxer’s publisher contains only one box right now. So if you’ve got an idea about how the program could be improved, you can be sure that your letter will reach the guy who can do something about it.
Computer File welcomes readers’ comments but regrets that the author cannot respond individually to letters. Write to Richard O’Reilly, Computer File, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, Calif. 90053.
