DataMystic

Hi Simon,

With TextPipe filters being stored in a binary format (.fll) this makes maintaining and sharing filters less than convenient in the world of Git based services and software providers such as GitHub, GitLab and BitBucket.

Yes - one can Export a filter in various ways - but this is an extra complication and one that would not be a smooth process for many users.
And there's no Import option to load a filter seamlessly from any of the Export formats.

You have intimated that your long term goal would be store filters in XML.

If XML was then the format that user can upload to a Git based repository, then revision control and collaboration would be become feasible.
This would only work if this became one of the native file formats that TextPipe can Open and Save filters as.

Questions
1. Does your XML design philosophy match these requirements?
2. Where are you up to in the path towards using XML?

Best regards,

David

Hi Simon,

I'm still waiting for a response to this important topic.

Best regards,

David

Thanks David,

I like the idea, and also the collaboration that this could bring to bear.

XML is still not on the table yet, but we are definitely making moves to uplift the TextPipe ribbon UI, various copybook extensions and a range of other features. XML is still on the list.

Regards,

Simon

Hi Simon,

What do you have in mind as to "uplift the TextPipe ribbon UI" ?

David

Making it Windows-native, and work smoothly. The current Delphi control we use is very buggy and has required lots of kludgy workarounds

The new JSON based text format for saved TextPipe filters certainly makes it more amenable to sharing them in the world of Git.

One factor still makes this less amenable for external editing changes, and that's the fact that patternType is just a numerical value.
Likewise for the replaceType in some such filters.

Anyone using an ordinary Unicode text editor to change a saved .fll file could easily get themselves into a serious mess.

David

Hi David,

Yes, that is both a limitation and an advantage. If we define an enumeration then people have to memorise this or look up yet another list of values. A straight integer allows for easy extension as well as easy memorisation. We may change this in future, but for now, the first step of using json is here!