TextPad Setup

PCGen TextPad Syntax Highlight File

Once you have TextPad installed, get "PCGen.syn" (link above) to be copied into the "Textpad/system" directory. After that you need to create a document type for PCGen.

1) Start TextPad

2) Configure -> New Document Class

3) Enter "PCGen" for the name and click the Next button.

4) For the class members prompt, enter "*.lst" and "*.pcc" and "*.pcg" then click the Next button

5) Check the "Enable syntax highlighting box" and use the dropdown box to select the PCGen.syn file and then click the Next button

6) Click the Finish button

Now you need to make some further adjustments for your new document type.

1) Configure -> Preferences

2) Document Classes -> PCGen -> Font: Set the font to a monospace font so everything will line up nicely (I use Courier)

3) Tabulation: Set the default tab spacing to 6 spaces and set the Indent size to 6 spaces

After this you need to make some further adjustments to the general settings of TextPad

1) View - Make sure the following are checked:

  A)  Highlight the line containing the cursor (*extremely* helpful)
  B)  Horizontal scroll bar
  C)  Line numbers (makes talking to each other about where to find stuff easier)
  D)  Vertical scroll bar
  E)  Visible white space:Paragraphs, Spaces, Tabs

2) Associated Files - add "*.lst" and "*.pcc" and "*.pcg" so that Explorer will automatically start Textpad when you double click those file types.

3) File Name Filters

  A)  Click the New button
  B)  Enter a name/description ("PCGen" works well here)
  C)  Enter our three favorite wildcards "*.lst" and "*.pcc" and "*.pcg" separated by commas
  D)  Click Apply

4) Set your preferred font colors/backgrounds for each keyword and visible spaces. I recommend something bright and garish for the Keyword 6 as that is what is being used for deprecated tags.

Ok, that's pretty much it for getting TextPad set up. A final thought... you'll also want to turn *off* word wrapping as the .lst file lines can get really long and trying to determine three line down if you've actually started a new line or not the with word-wrapping turned on is a quick route to insanity...