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N.exe

Posted 2004-05-06 11:02 AM in Programming | Tools.

I’ve mentioned in a few talks that I long-ago renamed NOTEPAD.exe to N.exe as I have a tendency to “Windows-R, N, Enter” and I wanted to save a least a few hundred “otepad’s” a day.

I’m also a big fan of starting a drag-drop operation, and without releasing the mouse button, doing an ALT-Tab, bringing my app up, and then releasing the mouse button and completing the drag. A lot of people don’t know you can do this.

Anyway, the point was that Notepad is kind of lame, and hasn’t really changed in a while. Sure, there’s lots of other Text editors out there, yada yada yada, but really what I want is a better Notepad. No fancy toolbars, just Notepad++.

Now I’m using Notepad2 by Florian Balmer. I’ve even renamed it to N.exe. It’s really very nice. It has lots of nice features, but here are the ones I care about:

Line Numbers
Long Line Indicator
Show Line Endings (CR vs. CRLF)
Transparent Mode (great with Always on Top)
Configurable Syntax Highlighting (all the obvious languages included)
Brace Matching
Zooming with Ctrl+Mousewheel

It’s definitely going on Scott’s Ultimate Tools List.

Thursday, May 06, 2004 10:19:59 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Yours is the third or fourth post I've read about this nifty editor, so I guess it's time to try it out. What do you think of it compared to TextPad? I've been using that for years, but I'm ready to try something else. Change is good.

Also, if you're not into changing application names (or the app won't work correctly w/a changed name), you can always make a shortcut to it. I have a "tp" shortcut in my %windir% that points to TextPad. What's nice about this approach is that you can create a folder, put it in your path, and fill it with shortcuts (that have tiny names) pointing to apps all over your drive(s). WinKey+R + [tiny name] and you're off to the races.

Jeff Key

Thursday, May 06, 2004 11:17:42 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Jeff's approach is good, too, since the file associations still work. For instance, there are plenty of filetypes that are associated with Notepad.exe in the registry that I'd rather not have to change.

This is nice, too: http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/seichert/archive/2004/04/30/12462.aspx

It replaces Notepad in the system protected files.

Jon Galloway

Thursday, May 06, 2004 12:05:11 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Notepad2 looks nice. You might take a look at Scintilla Text Editor (http://scintilla.sourceforge.net/SciTE.html). It has all the features claimed by Notepad2, plus multi-tab interface. The configuration system takes some getting used to (it's all file-based, old school INI-style), but it's incredibly flexible. I integrated it with NAnt and used it exclusively as an IDE for .NET development for a few years until my company sprang for VS.

marklio

Thursday, May 06, 2004 12:38:44 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

If you want to save a step and skip renaming your file names use this Win Key
http://download.com.com/3000-2344-913626.html?tag=lst-0-1

With it you can configure your Windows Key to open the programs or execute the line you want. Oh, and it is freeware.

Best Regards,
Luis D.

ldmaya@hotmail.com (LuisD)

Thursday, May 06, 2004 12:46:09 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

I am a big fan of "RunFast" (http://www.idiogensoftware.com/runfast/index.php)

Which allows you put all of your favorite app right at your finger tips.

Ctrl+R then an alias you need. For me, NotePad2 is just np

-Scott

Scott_NO_@_SPAM_Tripleasp.net (Scott Watermasysk)

Thursday, May 06, 2004 1:33:21 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

You can also use this approach which doesn't require any third party tools to install.

http://weblogs.asp.net/whaggard/archive/2004/04/11/111232.aspx

It is a registry mod that lets you specify shortcuts to type in the Run dialog.

David Scott

Thursday, May 06, 2004 6:42:33 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

I'm ignoring the point of this - which is the better notepad thing - but thought I'd comment about the windows-R n.exe return thing :

what I do, which I think you'll find is preferable, is create a folder in my start menu called Keyboard shortcuts. I then copy shortcuts in there to commonly used programs, and associate a keystroke with them. So, on my machine, the following works:

ctl-alt-C : calculator
ctl-alt-D : dos window
ctl-alt-G : google
ctl-alt-M : media player
ctl-alt-N : notepad
ctl-alt-Q : control panel
ctl-alt-O : outlook

I think you'll find that much easier than renaming things!

Darren Oakey

Monday, May 10, 2004 12:08:40 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

To continue the drag'n'drop bit (though I'm sure most people know this) you can also hover over taskbar items to restore the window, and in Explorer you can hover over directories in the tree viw to expand them.

Paul Bartlett

Tuesday, December 06, 2005 4:31:36 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

If you like Notepad2, just try Notepad++ - you'll love it.
http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/

Denis

Denis

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