Changing the Default Text Editor

Document Version 1.0
IOS Version 1.0

Contents:

1. Purpose
2. Background
3. Procedure
4. Limitations

1. Purpose

This document describes how to change the default text editor that is opened by REBOL/IOS.

2. Background

When you click on a text file icon or right click an icon and select the "Edit" option, you open the desktop's default text editor. The editor that comes with IOS is only a couple pages of code, so is quite simple and limited in its power.

On Windows systems, you can specify that IOS open the default text editor that is used by Windows (the editor associated with the .txt file type.) The default in Windows is the NotePad editor, but you can set it to any other editor by clicking on the View Folder Options menu found in any folder window, then selecting the txt file type.

3. Procedure

To change the default IOS text editor, close the IOS desktop first. (Be sure to do that, or this change will not "stick".) Then, open the prefs.r file found in your IOS installation directory. Go to the end of the file and add the line:

extern-edit: true

Restart IOS. Now when you open a text file or edit any file (right click icon and select edit), the Windows default text editor will be used.

4. Limitations

This option only works for IOS running under Windows. Linux, Unix, and other systems do not have this option. However, other file association options will be made available in future versions of IOS.