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[Mod note: this posted moved here from the "Notepad Replacement" topic at viewtopic.php?t=16945.]


AkelPad 4.7.7

Changed: plugin architecture. Update plugins.
Changed: command 4196 - inserts new line without keeping left spaces, if option "Keep space" is on.

Added: checking hotkey existence in the Hotkeys plugin.
Added: command 4199 - move caret on the contrary side of selection (Alt+\).

Fixed: in overtype mode space and tabulation inserted without replacement.
Fixed: size of the first non-maximized MDI frame when status bar is on.
Fixed: size of the first maximized MDI frame when status bar and tab panel are off.
Fixed: drawing tab bar, located at the bottom, when the status bar is turned on (PMDI).
Fixed: current directory in the file open/save dialog.
Fixed: search backward with regular expressions.
Fixed: search forward with regular expressions and whole word option.
Fixed: restore maximized state on startup after closing main window in minimized state.
Fixed: notepad replacement mode in installer (WinVista/7)

OSS AkelPad is a simple but powerful text editor that has been extensively discussed here at TPFC forum (database entry is at http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=952); yet, it still lacks an official forum topic, so here it is...

http://akelpad.sourceforge.io/ wrote:AkelPad is an open source editor for plain text. It is designed to be a small and fast.

Download 32 or 64-bit version (currently v4.8.5) from http://sourceforge.net/projects/akelpad/files/.

Related forum topics:

• Discussion
  • viewtopic.php?t=17823
• Troubleshooting
  • viewtopic.php?t=16945
  • viewtopic.php?t=6119
  • viewtopic.php?t=3217
• Updates
  • viewtopic.php?t=4820
  • viewtopic.php?t=3554
  • viewtopic.php?t=2829
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Akelpad registry writings warning
Just downloaded AkelPad-4.8.5-bin-eng.zip

Started AkelPad.exe; from Options->Settings->Registry, clicked "Save settings" to INI file; closed AkelPad.

Checked registry with Nirsoft's RegScanner

To my utter dismay, RegScanner discovered no less than 103 AkelPad entries, 93 of which are "HKCU\Software\Akelsoft\AkelPad\Options"

Users beware ...

__philippe

To avoid that, create a text file called AkelPad.ini in the same directory as the EXE before running and add this to it:

[Options]
SaveSettings=2

That should prevent AkelPad from dropping that chunk of settings into the registry. Note that we've observed AkelPad write occasional bits to the registry outside of that initial run on a few occasions, so AkelPad Portable handles the HKCU\Software\Akelsoft registry key as well.

to: JohnTHaller

Thanks for your work-around,...for the benefit of the next would-be guinea-pigs...

Yet, I would have expected AkelPad to refrain from dumping those myriad settings to the Registry in the first place,
once their purposedly provided "save settings to INI file" option is activated during the initial run ..???

Thoughtful design intention, sloppy implementation, if you ask me...

Meanwhile, I'll stick with tried and true QJot and Jovial Notepad

__philippe

You're welcome. I did a little bit of trial and error to determine the minimum viable INI file. It turns out that unlike some apps, having a blank AkelPad.ini in the directory didn't trigger portable behavior. But just having the settings that tells it to save to the INI set (SaveSettings=2 in Options) is enough for it to generate the rest of the defaults.

I think AkelPad creates all its settings in the registry on startup before you even get to the option for saving to INI. I don't think they considered it from a 'fully portable on first run' perspective... just a 'set this to make it use an INI from now on' one.

Great info, JohnTHaller. Thanks.

It should be noted that:

[Options]
SaveSettings=2

directs AkelPad to use the INI and not the Registry but still writes 'Recent files' and 'Search history' when =>1 are set in 'Settings...'

In order to be portable and avoid the 'First run' registry writes (stealth)

[Options]
SaveSettings=2
RecentFiles=0
SearchStrings=0

~Ruby

Thanks to Ruby for this additional reminder.

One important caveat about creating a dummy "1st run" akelpad.ini for version 4.8.5:

For this operation to be successful, it is imperative to use an editor capable of saving text in UNICODE strings format !

See also recent comment in the main AkelPad DB entry http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?q=akelpad

Cheers,

__philippe

Good catch, Ruby. I hadn't done a regshot on the first run of it with just my base INI.

Wanted to do an entry edit on this but I noticed the notes about using a "Unicode-aware editor" and "Unicode-encoded file". I have a vague idea of what that means but I'd like to spell that out clearly in the entry comments. Any suggestions? Again, simplicity is key.

Wanted to do an entry edit on this but I noticed the notes about using a "Unicode-aware editor" and "Unicode-encoded file". I have a vague idea of what that means but I'd like to spell that out clearly in the entry comments. Any suggestions? Again, simplicity is key.

I suppose that an editor that can save text files in UTF-8 encoding for example is required.
AkelPad is such an editor.

smaragdus wrote:

... I noticed the notes about using a "Unicode-aware editor" and "Unicode-encoded file". I have a vague idea of what that means but I'd like to spell that out clearly in the entry comments. Any suggestions?

I suppose that an editor that can save text files in UTF-8 encoding for example is required.
AkelPad is such an editor.

Let me ask this another way: if someone asked me to setup AkelPad using the current instructions I would have no idea how to do that. Can someone spell that out for me?

Webfork,

As a new registrant on the site, I hesitate to provide such an obvious answer, but why not advise users to make use of Windows Notepad to create and save the required Unicode Text File for Akelpad, i.e. Create the file in Notepad, then File > Save As > Select Unicode from the drop-down options.

Erdeslawe wrote:I hesitate to provide such an obvious answer, but why not advise users to make use of Windows Notepad to create and save the required Unicode Text File for Akelpad, i.e. Create the file in Notepad, then File > Save As > Select Unicode from the drop-down options.

Because this program lists compatibility with non-Unicode operating systems (pre-Win2k). I don't think Windows' Notepad will function there.

Thanks for the suggestion and welcome to the forums.

Anyway, at this stage, I'm going to recommend we switch to the PortableApps version.

---

Edit: I just verified that the standard notepad in Win7 doesn't view Unicode, which is what this thread was all about. So standard Windows is Notepad is probably unusable regardless of OS.