Article Discussion: Review: UltraEdit Professional

Review: UltraEdit Professional If you have any comments or questions about this article then please post them here.

You can read the article here .

This was an mediocre attempt at reviewing a VERY good editor... however, I don't think the author was the right person for the job.
He left out some of the really advanced and GREAT features of Ultraedit, which IMO are the real reason anyone would want to use it.

He basically reviewed features that every other editor out there has, so why would anyone go out and get Ultraedit after his review.

I've been using Ultraedit for a few years now off and on, and I keep coming back. Just when I figure I may go with another editor for the lack of a feature or another editor does that feature better, Ultraedit comes right back with something for me.

On top of the author forgetting to mention certain things Macros, Case Changing, Integrated HTML Tidy, Project Management, and Function Lists just to name a few... He also screwed up and misrepresented the search and replace feature.

He goes on to say:
"I don't feel that this feature is 100% complete, however. I much preferred the earlier versions of UltraEdit in regard to the search and replace feature. In the earlier versions, when UltraEdit was done searching the document, the program popped up a box telling you how many replacements it made, in how many files, and asked if you wanted to close the search and replace dialog box."


Come on now... there is a checkbox that allows you to keep the window open after a search and replace, and at the bottom of the window shows the results. Come on, if you have been using it for over 3 years, you should know that.
Also, how could you say it is incomplete?? It does full regular expressions, Regular expression replace, and it even keeps a history of your regular expressions for later use.

This editor is awesome, but the review does not do it justice... I would have written this article but I didn't have time... Now that I think about it.. the 10 minutes I spent raving about the bad article, I could have spent at least starting my own.

-Wil

Hello laidback,

You said that I failed to review the following features:

• Maros -- what are they?
• Case Changing -- didn't know UltraEdit performed this
• Integrated HTML Tidy -- didn't know UltraEdit performed this
• Project Management -- forgot that one...I'll go back and do that
• Function Lists -- reviewed; see the part about "Syntax-Highlighting" You change the function lists through almost the same procedure

If you can tell me about these features and how to access them, I'd be happy to revise the review.

In regards to the search dialog box, I said that it was incomplete because I did not see the part where it said "X items replacted in Y files." And I liked it when the dialog box appeared that said "close window" because then you could keep it open or close it depending on the number of things it replaced.

Thanks for your criticisms! They're much appreciated.

-Corbb

laidbak, while we appriciate your feedback, please remember that were only human, and we dont actually get paid to write articles. But thanks for your comments, if you could give us, some explination of what the article left out, and im sure we can get it added to the article.

Regards
Ben Rowe
Devarticles Moderator

Hey, no worries... sorry if I came on a little strong... I guess I've been writting way too much over at www.angrycoder.com. Sorry.

Anyhow, I do appreciate a fellow coder writing about my favorite editor, and I'd be more than happy to give some pointers on the rest of its feature set.

-Wil

Webguy,

Macros are basically a recording of keystrokes that you define and are able to playback with the click of a button.
It can be as simple as recording some typed text, or as complex as moving to certain types of text, highlighting, cutting and pasting to another area, all automatically.

Changing Case -- Highlight some text, press variations of F5, ALT+F5, CTRL+F5, Shift, etc...

HTML TIDY -- http://www.ultraedit.com/downloads/...s.html#htmltidy

Function Lists -- For example... create a file with extension .php.
enter this function:

function usdate($date)
{
list($year,$month,$day) = split("-",$date);
return "$month/$day/$year";
}

or something similar...
open the function list, and it will now list:

function usdate($date)


Hope this helps...

-Wil

Hey Wil,

Ah, ok.

I just got a new computer and downloaded UltraEdit a couple months ago, and now have to go find my registration code. I'll add to the review as soon as I can find the code.

Thanks!

a bit of contradiction : )

lol

Please excuse my fast typing...forget to clarify things.

I got a new computer a few months ago, and had to re-install all the programs on it. Thus the statement I made about UltraEdit...still trying to find that code...

hehe!
: )

I am an 'editor junkie' (yes I know, I should look at getting a life). When I read your review I thought that UE Pro looked good and downloaded a copy for evaluation.

I use an editor for Web page development and as a general purpose word processor. I require a tool that is simple and intuitive and idealy extensible.

My current editor is TextPad which fits my stated requirements. I have developed my own Clip Libraries for HTML, CSS and Metadata.

Another good editor is NoteTab Pro .

UE Pro is a good text editor with some nice formatting features. In the quick time that I had it installed I was difficult to find the clip library feature and when I did its method of operation is tacky to say the least.

The toolbar customisation feature is very basic and not intuitive to use.

UE Pro did not seem to offer enough to make it worth the investment in time to learn.

I would rate it 5/10 not 9/10 - sorry.

Regards,
Peter