Q43006: A C Extension to Select an Arbitrary Number of Lines of Text

Article: Q43006
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 1.00
Operating System(s): MS-DOS
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | extension highlight select | mspl13_basic
Last Modified: 1-JUN-1989

To select an arbitrary number of lines of text in the Microsoft
Editor, I must use the Arg function, then use the DOWN ARROW key until
the desired number of lines are selected. This is inconvenient if more
than a few lines are to be selected.

This article provides a simple editor extension that selects the
number of lines you specify.

For information on loading the function, refer to the M editor
reference manual.

To invoke the function, use the Arg key to introduce the argument
(i.e., the number of lines to be selected), then press the key
assigned to the function. In Version 1.00 of M, the selected text will
not be highlighted.   In Version 1.02 of M, the selected text will be
highlighted, however further cursor movements will change the selected
area without altering the highlighted area.

================ Make file ===============

BASE=select
CFLAGS=-c -W2 -Asfu -Gs
LINKFLAGS=/NOI /NOD

$(BASE).obj : $(BASE).c
    cl $(CFLAGS) $(BASE).c

$(BASE).exe : $(BASE).obj
    link exthdr.obj $(BASE), $(BASE), \
    $(LINKFLAGS),clibcer.lib;

================ select.c ================

#include "ext.h"
#include <stdlib.h>

#define TRUE    -1
#define FALSE   0
#define NULL    ((char *) 0)

flagType pascal EXTERNAL Select (argData, pArg, fMeta)
unsigned int argData;
ARG far * pArg;
flagType fMeta;
{
    int  nCount, i ;

    if (pArg->argType == TEXTARG)
        if (nCount = atoi (pArg->arg.textarg.pText))
            {
            for (i = 0 ; i < nCount ; i++)
                fExecute ("Arg Down") ;
            }

    return TRUE;
}

struct swiDesc  swiTable[] =
{
    {   NULL, NULL, NULL    }
};

struct cmdDesc  cmdTable[] =
{
    {"Select", Select, 0, TEXTARG},
    {NULL,  NULL, NULL, NULL}
};

WhenLoaded ()
{
     SetKey("SELECT","ALT+B");
     return TRUE;
}

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