Robelle Solutions Technology will be shipping Qedit 5.0 onto the desks of all supported customers by the end of November, and the software’s 2000 release contains lots of enhancements for users of both traditional the HP e3000-based Qedit and Qedit for Windows client-server version. Users of Qedit 5.0 will benefit from better control over their editing environment, using features like a redo stack that can now be saved across Qedit/e3000 or Qedit/UX sessions — so programmers can apply a previous set of commands to a new file and leverage their efforts. MPE users get enhanced interaction with the HP e3000’s operating system, including a new ROBMSGFENCE variable. It works the same as the MPE HPMSGFENCE variable, suppressing warning messages when executing MPE commands. Regular expression functionality has been improved, including a new capability to use escaped characters in the replacement string of a change command. In Qedit’s full-screen mode, the 5.0 version adds more cut-and-paste options such as replication of a block of text — a time saver for setting up templates or copying repetitive code. Column editing improvements include new listing features, designed to add more flexibility in viewing and printing columnar data. Finally, Qedit 5.0 offers even faster performance for working with variable-length files including Posix files, spool files, and bytestream files. For more information, including the detailed change notice, please see Robelle’s Web site at www.robelle.com/products/qedit.

Meanwhile, the Qedit for Windows 5.0 release consolidates all of the new functionality added throughout the year, some of which has been made available to customers in interim releases. Our TestDrive this summer showed the product has become a well integrated and customizable solution with its release of MPE system command functionality and the Qedit Scripting Language (QSL). Executing HP host system commands from within the Qedit for Windows client eliminates the need to switch back and forth from Qedit to the MPE session. Robelle says that QSL “makes it possible to automate any repetitive task that has an editing or program development component.” Qedit for Windows 5.0 adds color configuration, so users can change the background and text colors, “and can even create unique color schemes for each document window — great for differentiating between MPE, HP-UX, and local files or between various projects organized by connection. For more information and screen shots, see the Robelle Web site at www.robelle.com/products/qwin/5.0