My Setup

Note : I am in the process of adapting my setup for version 6.x. Below is the setup for 5.2x. I will update this page when my setup is stable again.
After ten plus years of using Vedit Plus, my configuration files have become highly customized. My purpose here is to demonstrate how configurable Vedit really is, and to give a point of comparison for your own configuration.

I don't recommend you actually try my setup, some of the supporting macros are missing, and the keyboard layout will probably drive you nuts, as you are not used to it.

  • General Notes

    1: For a font, I use either the Vedit ASCII or Vedit OEM font set to a ten point size. Vedit ASCII is the current one. Arial 10 point is used for printing

    2: I don't set Vedit up in the Windows Registry, instead I use the trick of fooling Windows into thinking Vedit is Notepad outlined in the errata.txt file.

    3: I keep a Vedit shortcut in my quick launch toolbar, and also in my sendto menu.

    4: I keep the vedit.cfg file unchanged from its default installed state. I rely instead on the startup.vdm to get Vedit to where I like it.

    5: I keep my config files in order, with the help of system.vdm, which loads all the config files into Vedit at once, so I only have to switch buffers to edit them.

  • startup.vdm :

    My startup.vdm file doesn't look like the default file that comes with Vedit. I start by loading a custom keyboard layout. I change the normal text cursor to a flashing square from the default i-beam cursor. I find it is much easier to locate on the screen. I also change the cursor positioning mode to 4, which give the greatest flexibility, and I disable the beep, except under macro control.

    I keep my file open event macro in a separate file : openfile.vdm, it reduces the clutter in the startup.vdm file. The openfile.vdm is highly customized, I believe my way of getting and testing for file extension is more elegant, and slightly faster then the default method. An added advantage is I could also test for no file extension.

    I do use template editing with a system.vtm file, but do not include it here, because it would reveal too much information about me. My syntax highlighting file is the xml.syn provided in the macro library.

  • system.mnu and html.mnu :

    System.mnu is my user menu, and html.mnu is my tools menu. A few entries are missing from the html.mnu for privacy reasons, but otherwise are my current menus.

  • system.key and system.txt :

    System.key is my custom keyboard layout. The first thing you will notice is that it is sorted by key, and not by menu placement. I find sorting by key helps me visualize the entire layout better. System.txt allows me to keep track of what function / macro is assigned to what key. Also gives me a quick overview of what keys are available.

    I have two main rules for managing my layout :

    1: if I don't use a function on a regular basis, it is not in the layout.

    2: I assign stuff to whatever key makes the most sense to me, without regard to the normal layout, or how other programs work.

  • vedit.ini

    The vedit.ini is a fairly recent feature, and is not customized and the only change I have made is to add a filter for *.htm, *.html, *.asp to the file filter section. Due to the lack of changes I don't include it here.

    Return to Table of Contents