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Updated: AceText 3.1.2

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:00:00 +0700

AceText 3.1.2 is now available for download.

When you press the AceEdit hotkey (Win+Ctrl+X by default), AceText sends a Copy command to the active application and then brings itself to front showing the Clipboard tab. This enables you to use AceText to edit the text you selected in the other application. In previous versions of AceText this didn't work with certain applications such as Firefox. AceText would send the Copy command and pop up, but the other application wouldn't copy the selection to the clipboard. AceText now pauses briefly between sending the Copy command and popping up, giving Firefox and other applications more time to copy the selection to the clipboard.

Several fixes were made to the search options which you can set by clicking the button in the bottom right corner of AceText's window. The Regular Expression option now works on the Clipboard tab too. The Loop Automatically and All Clips in All Collections options now work together correctly.

The best way to get technical support for AceText is via its built-in forum. You can access it by selecting Help|Forum in the menu in AceText. Previously, AceText could connect to the Internet (and to the forum) if your PC had a direct internet connection or if it could connect through an HTTP proxy that either required no authentication or allowed basic authentication. You can configure the proxy server via the Proxy button on the login screen to the forum. Now AceText supports additional authentication methods for HTTP proxies. It will automatically negotiate a supported authentication method with the proxy server, so there's no need to select the authentication method when you configure your HTTP proxy in AceText. AceText can now also connect to the Internet via proxy servers using versions 4, 4A, or 5 of the SOCKS protocol. You'll need to select the correct version when configuring your SOCKS proxy in AceText. If your SOCKS proxy needs a password, then it will be running SOCKS version 5.

If you have already purchased AceText, you can download this free update for free.
Buy AceText now.
Complete Version History.

Updated: PowerGREP 4.5.0

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:00:00 +0700

PowerGREP 4.5.0 is now available for download.

PowerGREP's File Selector now automatically updates its list of drive letters when drive letters are added or removed in Windows, such as when you plug or unplug a USB stick, or map network drive. Combined with PowerGREP's existing ability to automatically refresh changed folders as needed, this means you'll never need to manually refresh the file selection again. But if you really want to, the Refresh command is still available in the File Selector menu.

The Results menu and toolbar offer various commands for making and reverting replacements after you have previewed or executed a search-and-replace. These commands now show a progress meter when making or reverting replacements across multiple files. The commands for making and reverting replacements in all files are now disabled for actions that produce more search matches than PowerGREP can hold in memory at a time, because PowerGREP won't be able to make or revert the replacements that didn't fit into memory. This can happen when millions of replacements need to be made on computers with limited amounts of RAM. Disabling the commands makes sure you don't mistakenly think that all replacements were made or reverted. The commands for reverting or replacing selected matches or all matches in selected files will still be available to work on those matches that did fit into memory. And the Undo History will always allow you to revert all changes that an action made, even when using the Quick Replace button that does not keep the details of any search matches.

On the Results panel, you can set 10 numbered bookmarks that allow you to quickly jump back to a particular file or match in the search results. You can now remove bookmarks by setting the same bookmark at the same position. Setting a different bookmark at the same position now sets that bookmark and removes the old bookmark, instead of leaving the old bookmark at that position along with the new bookmark. Remember that bookmarks are linked to items such as search matches rather than to lines. If two matches are shown on the same line, you can have two bookmarks on the same line, even though the margin will show only one of them. To remove a bookmark, the cursor needs to be on the same item in the search results, not just on the same line.

If you export the search results into an HTML file via the Results|Export menu item or via the command line, then the exported HTML now includes a Content-Type meta tag to indicate the character set you selected. If you do so via the command line and specify an empty string "" as the encoding, then PowerGREP will now export the HTML using your computer's default code page instead of crashing.

The best way to get technical support for PowerGREP is via its built-in forum. You can access it by selecting View|Forum in the menu in PowerGREP and then clicking the Login button. Previously, PowerGREP could connect to the Internet (and to the forum) if your PC had a direct internet connection or if it could connect through an HTTP proxy that either required no authentication or allowed basic authentication. You can configure the proxy server via the Proxy button on the login screen to the forum. Now PowerGREP supports additional authentication methods for HTTP proxies. It will automatically negotiate a supported authentication method with the proxy server, so there's no need to select the authentication method when you configure your HTTP proxy in PowerGREP. PowerGREP can now also connect to the Internet via proxy servers using versions 4, 4A, or 5 of the SOCKS protocol. You'll need to select the correct version when configuring your SOCKS proxy in PowerGREP. If your SOCKS proxy needs a password, then it will be running SOCKS version 5.

When searching through files in proprietary formats such as MS Office or PDF files, PowerGREP first needs to convert the file into plain text before it can search through it. Since this conversion typically takes much longer than the actual search, PowerGREP keeps a cache of converted files. You can configure this in the File Formats section in the Preferences. It is possible for this conversion to fail because another application has a lock on the file, preventing PowerGREP from opening it. A typical case is a spreadsheet still being open in Excel. Previously, such errors were reported as complete conversion failures or crashes, and recorded as such in the cache. Subsequent attempts to search through those files would fail immediately saying a previous attempt to convert the file had failed. Now, PowerGREP treats the inability to open a file as a special case. The search results will report an error saying the file could not be opened. The error will not be recorded by the cache, so subsequent attempts to search through those files will succeed if the lock on them was released. Other conversion errors continue to be recorded in the cache, so PowerGREP doesn't repeatedly try to convert a file that it cannot decode. This improvement does not automatically clear out errors previously stored by the cache. You can manually clear the cache by deleting the cache folder specified in the File Formats section in the Preferences while PowerGREP is not running.

In the File Formats section in the Preferences, you can specify how much disk space PowerGREP can use for its cache of text conversions of files in proprietary formats. You can specify one size for when PowerGREP is running, and optionally a smaller size for when PowerGREP is not running. If you specify the smaller size, the cache will be trimmed when you close the last PowerGREP instance that actually used the cache. Previously, there were circumstances in which PowerGREP would trim the cache as soon as it completed a search, defeating the purpose of specifying a larger cache size for when PowerGREP is running.

While PowerGREP is only officially supported on Windows 2000 and later, you can run it on Linux using WINE. On 64-bit Linux, you'll need to run PowerGREP's installer with the /32 command line parameter to force it to install the 32-bit version. The 64-bit version of WINE has bugs or omissions that cause the 64-bit version of PowerGREP to crash. WINE's implementation of the TreeView common control differs slightly from that in Windows. This caused access violation errors in PowerGREP when using the files and folders tree on the File Selector panel. PowerGREP now includes a workaround for this incompatibility between WINE and Windows.

If you have already purchased PowerGREP 4, you can download this update for free.
Upgrade from PowerGREP 2.x or 3.x to 4.x.
Buy PowerGREP now.
Complete Version History.

Updated: RegexMagic 1.3.1

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:00:00 +0700

RegexMagic 1.3.1 is now available for download.

This release fixes a number of corner case bugs. The "list of literal text" pattern now correctly handles items that start with the same characters but differ in case. The Samples panel now correctly highlights the matches of regexes generated from a single field with a pattern that uses alternation (such as the list of literal text field). On the Use panel, Visual Basic.NET code snippets using free-spacing regular expressions now have the necessary line continuation characters before and after the regex.

Updated: RegexBuddy 3.6.1

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:00:00 +0700

RegexBuddy 3.6.1 is now available for download.

This release fixes a number of corner case bugs. Groups with {0} as the quantifier are now correctly indicated with their quantifier on the Create tab, and are correctly excluded from the regex on the Test tab. Replacement texts ending in an odd number of backslashes and replacement texts containing a literal backslash followed by \r, \n, or \t are now handled correctly when copying the replacement text as a literal string and when generating source code snippets. Visual Basic.NET code snippets using free-spacing regular expressions now have the necessary line continuation characters before and after the regex.

If you have already purchased or upgraded to RegexBuddy 3, you can download this update for free.
If you own RegexBuddy 2, you can upgrade to version 3 at a special price.
Buy RegexBuddy now.
Complete version history.

Tips & Tricks: WebRoot SecureAnywhere May Block Applications from Pasting

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:00:00 +0700

Some of our customers have reported that after upgrading to EditPad Lite or Pro 7, they would occasionally be unable to paste into EditPad Pro, particularly after copying text from a browser or an email program. While this problem occurred, they could still paste just fine from any application into Notepad, and could also copy and paste text within EditPad 7. After wasting lots of time trying to figure out the cause of this "bug" in EditPad, we discovered that all these customers had one thing in common: they were all using WebRoot SecureAnywhere.

After some more digging we found that the inability to paste is actually "feature" of WebRoot. Presumably WebRoot thinks that text copied from applications like browsers and email clients may be sensitive, and shouldn't be pasted by other applications without your permission. If you are running WebRoot SecureAnywhere, follow these steps to make sure that you can paste without restriction into your favorite applications:

Open WebRoot SecureAnywhere
Click the Identity & Privacy tab
Click on Identity Shield in the left hand list
Click the View/Edit Protected Applications link
Select the Allow option for all applications that you want to be able to copy and paste text normally

Updated: EditPad Pro 7.2.3

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 18:00:00 +0700

EditPad Pro 7.2.3 is now available for download.

This release brings several fixes and improvements to EditPad's features for searching for text. In the Search Preferences, you can enable an option to make double-clicking a shortcut for Search|Instant Highlight. Turning this on will no longer change the highlighting when you double-click something like an URL that has its own double-click action (opening the URL in your browser). You can still select Search|Instant Highlight in the menu if you do want to highlight something that has a double-click action. The Search Matches panel now uses the same tab size as the files that the matches were found in. If those files use different tab size settings, the settings from the first file with matches will be used.

In version 7.2.1 we introduced a new bug that caused search commands that process all matches like Replace All to show an access violation error after showing a proper error message when attempting to use an invalid regular expression. Version 7.2.3 fixes this, while keeping the otherwise improved handling of invalid regular expressions introduced in version 7.2.1.

Using the Fold menu, or by using automatic folding from a file navigation scheme, you can make large files easier to navigate by folding away the parts of the file you're not working on. In previous versions of EditPad Pro, there were two specific situations in which folded text could result in erratic cursor movement or incorrect lines being displayed. Unfolding the text always made the issue go away.

EditPad Pro allows foldable ranges to be nested inside each other. It does not allow two ranges to start on the same line, but it does allow two ranges to end on the same line. Previous versions did not correctly handle multiple ranges ending on the same line when they were actually folded. This has been corrected.

When a foldable range is nested inside another range, it must be completely inside the other range. Previously, EditPad Pro did not check this, which allowed you to create interlocking ranges in which the inner range ends after the outer range. This caused EditPad to get confused when the inner range was folded. Now EditPad Pro prevents this situation. When you fold a new range inside an existing range, Editpad will force the new range to stop at the same line or a prior line as the existing range. When you fold a new range before an existing range, the new range must stop at a line prior to the line the existing range starts on.

The Fold All, Unfold All, and Toggle All Folds commands now have improved cursor handling. After folding or unfolding, they will scroll the editor in order to keep the line with the cursor at the same vertical position, instead of putting it at the bottom of the editor when scrolling is required to keep the cursor visible. This will make it a bit easier to keep track of where you are in your file, as folding or unfolding everything may drastically change the number of visible lines.

The file navigation scheme for Delphi source code has been improved. It now makes nested begin..end blocks foldable if you turn on detailed folding in Options|Configure File Types|Navigation for the Delphi file type. It now supports records that have methods and properties. Records now have their own "Records" node in the tree, rather than being added under "Types" where simple types are added.

The syntax coloring scheme for Python now correctly handles escaped triple quotes in triple-quoted strings.

A bunch of other minor bugs were also fixed. The version history has the complete list.

If you already purchased EditPad Pro 7.x.x, you can download this minor upgrade for free.
If you have EditPad Pro 4, 5, or 6, you can upgrade to version 7 at a special price.
Buy EditPad Pro now.
EditPad Pro version history.

Updated: EditPad Lite 7.2.3

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0700

EditPad Lite 7.2.3 is now available for download.

A few other minor bugs were also fixed. The version history has the complete list.

EditPad Lite is free for personal use. Business and government users can purchase a license.

Download EditPad Lite.

Tips & Tricks: Running a Macro on All Open Files in EditPad Pro

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:00:00 +0700

Keystroke macros enable you to perform the same task on all open files, even if EditPad does not have a built-in option to perform that task on all open files. As an example, let's say you have a bunch of files open that are use different encodings. You want to convert all the files to UTF-8.

Doing this for a single file is easy. Simply select Convert|Text Encoding in the menu, choose the "Encode" option, pick UTF-8, and click OK. But the Convert|Text Encoding command does not have an option to do this for all open files. Doing it manually for each file gets tedious very quickly.

Fortunately, you can easily automate this with a simple keystroke macro. Before you begin, activate the first file. Select Macros|Record Macro in the menu to start recording a new macro. Then convert the active file as described in the previous paragraph. Now, select Go|Next File in the menu. Finally, select Macros|Stop Recording in the menu to finish the macro.

Now you can use this macro to convert all open files to UTF-8 at any time. Activate the first file. Select Macros|Organize Macros in the menu. Choose the macro you just recorded. Set the Repeat value to a number that is equal to or greater than the number of files you have open. Set it to 1,000, for example, if you have hundreds of files open. Then click the Play Macro button.

The macro will be played back exactly as many times as you have files open, even if you specified a greater number of repetitions. The reason is that Go|Next File is aware whether it is being played back by a macro. Go|Next File automatically stops macro playback when a macro tries to play back this command when the last file is already active. So by recording Go|Next File as the last command in a macro, you can make the macro process all files, and have it stop after the last file was processed.

More tips & tricks for EditPad Pro

Updated: DeployMaster 4.1.2

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:00:00 +0700

DeployMaster 4.1.2 is now available for download.

This release fixes several bugs. If you've added 3rd party installers on the 3rd Party page, those will now have their command line parameters passed correctly to them. 3rd party MSI installers are now run silently when your installer is run silently. On the Identity page, some combinations of identity settings were not handled correctly while building the installer, causing the installer to skip asking for identity information if no support DLL with identity routines was provided, or to ask for all information if it was. If you've configured certain DLLs to be registered on the Files page, the uninstaller will no longer make a command prompt window briefly flash on the screen when unregistering the DLL.

If you have already purchased DeployMaster, you can download this free update for free.
Buy DeployMaster now.
Complete Version History.

Updated: HelpScribble 7.8.3

Thu, 6 Dec 2012 18:00:00 +0700

HelpScribble 7.8.3 is now available for download.

This release makes HelpScribble fully compatible with Windows 8. There are no changes to HelpScribble itself. The documentation was updated to reflect the help file situation on Windows 8. Just like Windows 7, Windows 8 has out-of-the-box support for HTML Help, but WinHelp requires a separate download.

HelpScribble's installer was also updated. It will no longer pin the uninstall shortcut to the Windows 8 start screen (but it won't unpin any shortcuts that were previously pinned).

If you have already purchased helpscribble, you can download this update for free.
Buy helpscribble now.
Complete version history.