…in that, according to the developer, they now actually work!
Paul Sprangers has recently announced a couple of updates to ConvText, his versatile search and replace application, bringing it first up to version 3.04, and then to version 3.10 – although it has actually reached version 3.12 when downloaded.
The software is designed to carry out a list of search and replace tasks in one go, and can work on any type of file. The scripts it uses to do this are easily created and, of course, can be used again and again. Its ease of use and versatility is what frequently gained it praise in the pages of Archive Magazine by Paul Beverley, when he was editor.
When version 3.00 was released it featured a newly rewritten core, with the result of that being a significant speed increase, and a much better wildcard implementation. However, in his announcement of version 3.04, developer Paul Sprangers described it as “the version that 3.00 should have been – the promised ‘much better wildcard implementation’ is finally working indeed” adding:
If you mutteringly had to revert to version 2.xx in order to let your carefully created scripts work, you can now safely download !ConvText 3.04 and finally enjoy the previously announced benefits.
Another benefit of this version according to Paul’s announcement – though it was actually added in version 3.03 – is the ability to set the filetype of the resulting file, which is done by way of a command in the ConvText script.
With version 3.10, Paul explains that ConvText “finally supports individual script editing! Endless scrolling in your cluttered Scriptfile is no longer needed.”
The application’s scripts are maintained in a single text file, called Scriptfile, in the RISC OS Choices: repository and, by default, adjust-clicking on ConvText’s icon on the icon bar will open that file in the user’s text editor of choice, but there is now a configuration option so that the same adjust-click will only open the currently selected script. Clicking on the icon bar menu’s ‘Edit scriptfile’, however, still opens the entire script – so opting for an adjust-click to open the current script means the user has the best of both worlds.
Version 3.12 offers ‘New script’ and ‘Delete script’ entries on the icon bar menu, and the text shown under the application’s icon bar icon is now properly updated after creating or deleting a script. There have also been various optimisations and corrections along the way.
