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The Hessling Editor

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XEDIT
IndustrySoftware
Founded1980
FounderXavier de Lamberterie
ProductsVisual text editor for VM/CMS systems

XEDIT serves as a visual editor designed for VM/CMS platforms, operating primarily on block mode IBM 3270 terminals, with additional compatibility for line-mode terminals. Unlike contemporary PC and Unix editors, XEDIT emphasizes line-based editing, offering functionalities such as automatic numbering of lines and commands that act on line blocks. For example, the ALL command filters out lines that do not match a specific pattern, while the COL command restricts visible columns to a designated range, facilitating highly targeted editing.

The editor features a command line interface for entering various editor commands. Because IBM 3270 terminals only transmit data upon activation of certain keys (such as program function keys), XEDIT's interactivity is more limited compared to many PC and Unix editors, which constrains features like real-time spell-checking.

Typical screen layout

<syntaxhighlight lang="text" line> 

MOHICANS SCRIPT A1 V 132 Trunc=132 Size=10 Line=10 Col=1 Alt=10

XEDIT: ===== Last of the Mohicans ===== .sp ===== It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of North America, ===== that the toils and dangers of the wilderness were to be encountered ===== before the adverse hosts could meet. ===== A wide and apparently an impervious boundary of forests severed ===== the possessions of the hostile provinces of France and England. ===== The hardy colonist, and the trained European who fought at his ===== side, frequently expended months in struggling against the rapids ===== of the streams, or in effecting the rugged passes of the mountains |...+....1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6....+....7... ===== * * * End of File * * * ====> 

                                                        X E D I T 1 File

</syntaxhighlight>

Prominent elements on the screen include:

  • The topmost line displays file details: filename (MOHICANS), type (SCRIPT), mode (A1), record format (V), maximum record length (132), truncation limit (132 columns), total number of lines (10), current line number (10), current column position (1), and count of edits made (10).
  • Prefix command zones for block operations are indicated by equal signs (=====).
  • A ruler line shows tab stop locations.
  • An end-of-file indicator is presented after the final text line.
  • The ====> prompt serves as an input area for XEDIT commands or system macros.
  • Due to terminal constraints, there is no mouse support; instead, IBM 3270 terminals rely on program function keys (PFKs) and program assist keys, which users can assign to specific commands or macros.
  • Users can tailor screen presentation through commands that allow repositioning or removal of command lines, toggling tab markers and prefix lines, switching prefix indicators from equal signs to line numbers, enabling or disabling TAB expansion, selecting particular lines or columns for display, showing or hiding top-of-file/end-of-file markers, managing SHADOW and SCALE lines, adjusting color schemes, and creating multiple customized screen layouts with varying sizes and positions.

These capabilities establish XEDIT as a robust text editing tool optimized for enterprise VM/CMS systems utilizing IBM 3270 terminals.

Macro language

Macros for XEDIT can be developed using Rexx, ooRexx, EXEC 2, or EXEC. The editor exposes much of its internal status to macros, allowing straightforward control over variables that govern its behavior.

KEXX

KEDIT 5 for DOS and OS/2 integrates with an external Rexx interpreter—either the native OS/2 Rexx or Quercus Rexx for DOS, which replaced Mansfield Rexx—and supports a restricted KEXX subset. Meanwhile, KEDITW 1.6.1 for Windows operates solely with its internal KEXX 5.62 variant of Rexx. Macros are managed using the .kml file format.

History

XEDIT, created by IBM employee Xavier de Lamberterie, was introduced in 1980. It evolved from EDIT SP (System Product), which itself drew inspiration from the earlier CMS editor EDIT and IBM’s EDGAR editor. XEDIT incorporated numerous EDGAR commands, including the notable SOS (Screen Output Simulation), and supported EXEC 2, a precursor to Rexx.

PC and Unix adaptations

With the transition from IBM 3270 terminals to PC and Unix environments, various developers launched editors inspired by XEDIT:

KEDIT

The first XEDIT clone was KEDIT, developed by Mansfield Software Group, Inc., debuting in 1983. Its significant early release was version 3.53 for DOS in 1985. By 1990, version 4.0 introduced OS/2 compatibility along with the ALL command.

The final DOS/OS/2 iteration was KEDIT 5.0p4. KeditW for Windows reached version 1.6.1 as of December 2012; previous updates included version 1.5 service level 3 (January 1998) and version 1.6 (December 2007).

Version 1.6 of KEDIT provides syntax highlighting support for programming languages such as C#, COBOL, FORTRAN, HTML, Java, Pascal, and xBase, utilizing the .kld file format.

KEDIT features an embedded Rexx subset called KEXX. Additionally, Mansfield Software developed Personal Rexx in 1985, marking the first non-IBM implementation of Rexx.

In December 2012, Mansfield Software launched version 1.6.1 to assure compatibility with Windows 8 and extended support through at least June . These are 32-bit editions that also operate on 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Vista but do not provide native Unicode support. As of December 2022, Kedit is compatible with Windows 10 and Windows 11, with guaranteed email assistance until at least June 2024.

SEDIT

SEDIT, initially released in 1989, is a text editor available on both Windows and Unix platforms that supports a Rexx dialect named S/REXX, introduced in 1994.

THE (The Hessling Editor)

The Hessling Editor (THE) is an open source text editor first made available in August 1991 under the terms of the GPL-2.0-or-later. It runs on a variety of operating systems including QNX, OS/2, DOS, BeOS, Amiga, multiple versions of Windows, and most POSIX-compliant Unix systems, functioning either in text mode or within the X11 environment. THE traces its roots to the IBM Mainframe VM/CMS editor XEDIT and incorporates elements from KEDIT. It supports REXX scripting languages and requires a REXX interpreter such as Regina to enable macro capabilities. THE was written in C and relies on libraries like PDCurses on certain platforms.

Mark Hessling, THE’s author, explained the motivation behind creating this cross-platform editor at the REXX conference held in La Jolla, California, in 1993.

External links

  • KEDIT, a product from Mansfield Software Group compatible with DOS, OS/2, and Windows
  • Overview of KEDIT/KEXX by Rex Swain
  • collection of macros
  • PcXedit, a Windows freeware editor
  • SEDIT and S/REXX, available for Unix and Windows platforms
  • THE, an open-source editor utilizing Regina for macro scripting
  • uni-XEDIT, Unix editor released in 2003
  • EE, a full-screen editor designed for VM/370-R6 SixPack
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