Re: lynx-dev Any word on status of extended text entry fields?

[Larry W. Virden]

Here's an answer I got on the topic of editable lynx text areas:


                                 File Textarea
                                       
   I made a patch for [1]Lynx the textual web browser. The patch allows
   you to put the contents of a textarea (found in forms in html
   documents) into a file for easier composition.
   It is requested or asked about indirectly in some posts to lynx-dev:
   [2]like this one. Also [3]Emacs/w3 uses the idea of a new window to
   edit textareas.
   
   Currently, typing your message into a textarea is really an enterprise
   because lynx doesn't let you insert a blank line or scroll text
   vertically and doesn't wrap text as in many other browsers.
   
   The version of the patch itself is 0.1.2 (19 nov 1998). It is an alpha
   release. It made it relative to Lynx2.8.1rel.1, other versions might
   work.
   
Download the patch

   [4]The patch 19kb (press d to download)
   
Instructions

   Get the source to Lynx. Unpack. `cd' to the lynx directory. Do `patch
   -p1 --dry-run <patchfile'. If it looks ok then Do `patch -p1
   <patchfile'. If you want to apply the standard patches unpatch this
   one first.
   run configure then compile.
   In lynx.cfg put entries KEYMAP:&:CONVERT KEYMAP:%:EDITCONVERT, and set
   DEFAULT_EDITOR in `lynx.cfg' or file_editor in `.lynxrc'
   You can pick different keys. DEFAULT_EDITOR is the program that does
   editing.
   When in a html doc with a form and textarea bit in it go to the text
   area and press C-v then & to put the textarea into a file.
   Then press C-v then % to edit it.
   After the textarea is in a file you can't put it back; you can't
   revert.
   
notes on the patch

     * I had a seg fault with this patch and the SSL patch. It was a
       problem with malloc in the glibc library. I fixed it by replacing
       the malloc in HTSACopy in HTString.c with vmalloc.
     * Trailing newlines in the file are included, unlike regular
       behavior where they are not included. And the post data shown on
       the info screen (press =) might be different, I haven't checked.
     * If the editor is not set (check ~/.lynxrc) it won't run, and won't
       give an error message.
     * The number of files is limited. Size of files is limited.
     * I used LYOpenTemp to make the files, but I needed to change the
       cleanup of temporary files because LYRemoveTemp assumes they're
       all open and closes them; I use the files differently and close
       them in the function in which they are accessed. How should the
       files be handled?
     * Backup files aren't deleted e.g. file~. Some programs like joe
       have an option like -nobackups to prevent this.
     * The patch below has a feature to scroll the textarea, that could
       be useul itself with this patch.
       
                                Text wrap patch
                                       
   This other patch lets you do wrapping and scrolling without an
   external editor. [5]A patch that wraps text
   
                               A diferent patch
                                       
   This (completely unrelated to the above) patch allows you to remap the
   editing keys in a text input link. Ths is described (sort of (for
   version 2.7)) in [6]this post to lynx-dev. It also allows you to do
   `KEYEDITMAP:^N:LYE_PASS'. so that ^N (that is C-n) will scroll down
   instead of move forward a word. Made on an earlier lynx2.8.1dev
   release. [7]The other patch 4kb
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Date: 29 Nov 1998
   
   Please give me feedback. Press c in Lynx or Emacs/w3 to email
   address@hidden
   
                      [8]Best Viewed With Any Browser
   
   [9]HTML 3.0 (Beta) Checked! 
   
   [10]http://pw1.netcom.com/~aldomel/lynx.html

References

   1. http://lynx.browser.org/
   2. http://www.flora.org/lynx-dev/html/month0897/msg00414.html
   3. http://www.cs.indiana.edu/elisp/w3/docs.html
   4. http://pw1.netcom.com/~aldomel/lynxpatch.txt
   5. http://pw1.netcom.com/~aldomel/lynx_wrap.html
   6. http://www.flora.org/lynx-dev/html/month1097/msg00427.html
   7. http://pw1.netcom.com/~aldomel/lynxpatch_2.txt
   8. http://www.anybrowser.org/campaign/
   9. 
http://ugweb.cs.ualberta.ca/~gerald/validate/?url=http://pw1.netcom.com/~aldomel/lynx.html;weblint
  10. http://pw1.netcom.com/~aldomel/lynx.html
-- 
Larry W. Virden                 <URL: mailto:address@hidden>
<URL: http://www.purl.org/NET/lvirden/> <*> O- "No one is what he seems."
Unless explicitly stated to the contrary, nothing in this posting should 
be construed as representing my employer's opinions.