Surfing the Seas of Text

Fly over huge amounts of ASCII text files, like HTML files, CSV data,
soure ode or doumentation in realtime! "e#ehe Vie$ sho$s all text
ontent of a diretory tree in one $indo$, as one large text! %ords are
searhed as you ty#e!
First step: load all text of a folder
and all it's sub folders.
After startup, you see an empty window with a
large Open button. Click on it and select a direct-
ory. Depeche View will load all plain text files
from that directory, including all sub directories.
lain text means A!C"" text files like .html, .txt
and #eadme documentation, .ini and .xml
files, .cs$ exports from %xcel, source code of
software pro&ects and log files.
Surfing text like on a Smartphone
All loaded files are shown beneath each other,
as if it were one large text. 'ou may mo$e by the
mouse wheel, scrollbar or $ertical cursor keys.
(uch more comfortable, howe$er, is surfing by
the mouse) click somewhere into blank space,
keep the left mouse button pressed, and drag
the mouse $ertically. 'ou fly o$er text. *he longer
you drag, the faster the mo$e.
*o read long text lines extending beyond the
right margin use !+",* and Cursor#ight keys.
*o &ump back to the left margin, press %-*%#.
Search as you type
*o search for a word, &ust type it. As soon as you
stop typing, you see - within the same window -
the list of all text lines containing the word,
across all text files.
*his is called a ,iltered View. Click into one of
the result lines. *he content changes from the
result list to the actual place within text, without
the need to mo$e your eyes away. -ow you may
mo$e through text as described before. *o &ump
to the next search result, no matter in what file,
click on the down arrow or press ,.. *o get back
into the result list click the filter button or
press ,/. "f you need the result list and actual
text in two separate windows, as it is common in
text editors, try a right click on a result line.
Searching words by a click
*o search a word which is already shown on
screen, &ust click on it. A popup menu appears.
Click on the magnifying glass. *he word is
searched within the current window. *o search a
whole phrase, click into the first word, keep the
button pressed, and drag the mouse into the last
word of the phrase, within the same line. Again,
the popup menu appears.
Tip: any search can also be done by a single
click, without popup menu. 0ust keep the !+",*
key pressed, and then click on a word or phrase.
Searching words in a different
window
Often we need to $iew two or three text locations
in parallel, in different windows, to compare
something or to find dependencies. *hese addi-
tional windows, or $iews, can be created in-
stantly. "f you want to clone the current $iew into
a second one, click on at the right top. *he
same text is shown in a second $iew, allowing to
surf and search independently from the first one.
-ow you ha$e two windows, each one co$ering
hal$e of the main window. *o make one $iew
co$er the whole area, click on or press ,1.
Actually, this change between full and partial
area $iew will be used $ery often, therefore the
function is placed on the ,1 key, which is easiest
to reach. 'ou see a word in one $iew and want
to search it in another $iew2 *hat3s possible $ia
the popup menu by or e$en faster by a
4!+",*5 right click on the word. "f you are in the
left side $iew, the word ist searched in the right
side $iew, else $ice $ersa.
Jumping back
Depeche View maintains a history of recently
watched text locations. Click on at the left
top, or press CO-*#O678 4like Undo5, to &ump
back to a recent place in text.
Bookmarks
reate: to remember a text location in a list,
click on a word, then select the book symbol
at left bottom in the popup menu. A bookmark is
created and listed at the right top, in the right-
most $iew.
!rrange: to change the se9uence of bookmarks,
click on one of them, keep the button pressed,
and drag it $ertically. *o group bookmarks $isu-
ally, remark lines may be added by :ookmarks ;
Create #emark 6ine.
Sa"e: Depeche View remembers bookmarks in
files parallel to the loaded folder. *hey are sa$ed
when lea$ing the program, or whene$er you se-
lect ,ile ; !a$e :ookmarks.
olori#ed words for a $uick o"er%
"iew
Often we see a word on screen and &ust want to
know where it appears nearby without running a
full search for it. *he solution) colori<e it=
&ightlight word: click on a word and select the
light bulb . *he word is shown in a special
color, in e$ery window.
'nhighlight a word: repeat the same selection
on the same word. *o reset highlights of all
words, right click on blank space, then select the
striked bulb .
Tip: you may highlight words e$en faster by
pointing the mouse at them, then press CO--
*#O6 twice within a second.
(imit search to selected files
'ou ha$e loaded many files from a folder, but
now you only want to search in .html files2 *hat
could be done with the path mask. !o far, we
only typed something into the find mask at the
left bottom. >path> was empty, meaning all files
are searched. *o change this, click into >path>, or
press the *A: key. *hen type, for example, .html
- the search scope is reduced to .html files only.
-ow click into >find>, or press *A: again, then
type words to search. "nstead of .html you may
type any word in to the path mask, e.g. >tax>
would select files like >taxnew.cs$>, >oldtax.txt>
etc., 'ou don3t ha$e to supply a wildcard >?>
around words, it is default.
&ow to combine with your fa"ourite editor
@ith multiple windows open, Depeche View by default beha$es like e$ery other program) there is one large frame win-
dow containing the actual text windows. "f you ha$e another application running in parallel, and both are using the whole
desktop space, then you can only $iew one or the other.
-ow click on at the right top. Depeche View changes into the "solated @indow (ode. %$ery text window gets its own
frame and can be displayed separately behind or in front of another program. ,or example, with -otepad77 running in
parallel, it might look like)
"n this example, Depeche View has three windows open, two being o$erlayed by the text editor. 'ou may pull the middle
or right window to front anytime by a click, and still look at parts of the editor window. "f you need Depeche View in full
si<e, &ust click on the leftmost $iew, then press ,1. *his o$erlayed presentation of windows combines Depeche View per-
fectly with other applications. *here is also another, uni9ue display option, the borderless mode) keep the !+",* key
pressed, then click on the small s9uare button, and you will ha$e as much space for text display as in no other program.
)unning an external text editor from *epeche +iew ,rofessional: under Setup / Search, Edit / External text editor
command you may enter a command to call your preferred text editor. ossible parameters are listed in the help text,
chapter 1.. An example command to call -otepad77 would be)
C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe -n$linenum -c$colnum $a!s"ile
-ow, if you point the mouse somewhere into text, then press CO-*#O67% like %dit, -otepad77 should open the file and
&ump to that location.
!d"anced search through combined expressions
Depeche View supports search for patterns by simple, %nglish operators like A-D, O#, -O*, as well as the >?> @ildcard.
An example)
class #!ar# o!$ %& 'arn N%( goo finds >class ,oo:ar) public Ob&> or >warning> but not >CAoo:ar>
*he path mask also supports a combined selection of files)
core#.)tml %& gui#.)tml N%( .)tml.old N%( !ac*up
selects all files like >mypro&ectBcoreBindex.html> or >guio$er$iew.html> but not, for example, >mypro&ectBcoreBintro.html.old>
or >backupBcoreBindex.html>. *he search expression applies both to path part and relati$e filename of the files.