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Editing an IDF document

Contents

EscapeE Professional editions only

Existing IDF documents can be used like templates and re-purposed, without changing the original documents. The control file which built the IDF document can be edited in the IDF coding page of Console notebook. An area defined as a field may be treated as a clip region and copied to an IDF document.

1.	Open the document in the EscapeE window and its control file in the Source page of the Console notebook, see Viewing an IDF document.

2.	Click Save as... from the Source code window's tool-bar. Enter a new name for the file and click Save.

3.	You now have a copy of the original IDF document's code open in an IDF page of the Console. You may:

o	add more clips using the Copy & Add to IDF feature and field clips using Copy clip to control file. And/or

o	edit the code from the keyboard. Programmers: see IDF syntax. Non-programmers: see IDF editing tips.

4.	Click Save from the IDF tool-bar.

5.	When you've finished editing, click Close on the IDF tool-bar. The IDF document remains on-view in the EscapeE window.

There are hints to help novice Users get started in IDF editing tips; dip into the IDF when you need to add a new feature (see Elements and Attributes, Notes and Samples).

1.	Open the document in the EscapeE window and its control file in the Source page of the Console notebook, see Viewing an IDF document.

2.	Open the component file then display the definition of the field for copying in the Field dialog.

3.	Click Copy clip to control file button then OK to close the 'Field' dialog. The field's area is added as a clip to the IDF document (the component file is unaffected).

Hold down:	then click:
Ctrl	A	Select All.
Ctrl	B	Sets a checkpoint in the file which may be restored.
Ctrl Ctrl	C or Ins	Copy to clipboard, see also cut, paste.
Ctrl	G	Call the Go to page dialog.
Ctrl Ctrl	J or Enter	Select IDF statements for the current page, see also next page.
Ctrl Ctrl	N or PageDown	Move to Next page and select its statement, see also current page.
Ctrl	R	Undo editing to Restore file to its checkpoint state.
Ctrl Shift	V or Ins	Paste from clipboard, see also copy, cut.
Ctrl Ctrl Shift	X or Del or Del	Cut to clipboard, see also copy, paste.
Ctrl	Y	delete line.
Ctrl Alt	Z or Back	undo last update.

	left arrow	go one character left.
	right arrow	go one character right.
	up arrow	go up one line.
	down arrow	go down one line.
Ctrl	left arrow	go to previous word
Ctrl	right arrow	go to next word
	Home	go to start of line
	End	go to end of line
	PageUp	go to previous page
	PageDown	go to next page
Ctrl Ctrl	PageUp or Home	go to start of document
Ctrl Ctrl	PageDown or End	go to end of document

Tip: To open a file specified in the code shown in the IDF editor, just double-click on its text string (any options found in an associated INI file are applied). If the file is on display already, the appropriate clip-region (found in associated EE file) is shown outlined in red.

Links

IDF editor options

Creating an IDF document

Creating a data control file