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Articles about EPM

HTML enhancement packages

Other Macro Packages

The usual download sites

Dealing with EPM there are some recommendable articles in web magazines, some good web pages and even one or the other article in printed media. The following list is far from complete and I'd like to learn about other articles or pages and mention them here.

In Default = in English

Customizing the Enhanced Editor - EDM/2 article by Jörg Schwieder

An excellent article about customizing EPM via the my*.e files. Many of the configuration constants are listed and explained in a way intelligible to both EPM beginner and power user.

A Look at EPM 6.0x - EDM/2 article by Paul Floyd

Adding syntax highlighting to EPM - EDM/2 article by Paul Floyd

AFAIR and if I'm not mistaken, the headline is a little bit misleading, because the main topic of this article is not the quite trivial syntax highlighting but the far more complicated syntax assist.

One of EPM's highlights - by Richard Klemmer

This article was published in the september volume 1999 of Extended Attributes, the monthly (print) magazine of the Phoenix OS/2 society. It deals with two of the different approaches (there may be more ;-)) of activating syntax highlighting for various file types. Though it's certainly not my way I very much like the REXX way, because it's so clear and simple.

In Dutch / in het Nederlands

Warpware - written by Frank de Lange

Bevat en goede kort-karakterisering van EPM. Treed niet in details, maar geeft toch een idee an de nieuwe gebruiker wat met deze editor alles kan worden gedaan.

In Polish

EPM - Enhanced Editor from OS/2 Warp - written by Przemek Pawelczyk (?)

My mastership of the Polish language equals zero. Therefore I do not even know if that's the authors name I've picked out of the text or just some words perhaps meaning "happy easter", "squeamish ossifrage" or "blind watchmaker". Judging from the few english keywords in the text however, it has to be full of cluons and solid knowledge about EPM. Thus - until proven wrong - I dare to recommend it.

In German / in Deutsch

Der EPM - mehr als nur ein einfacher Editor - von Wolfgang Mayle, Patrick Rogge

Ein einführender Vortrag

Workshop EPM - von Heinz Wolek

Wohl der, die ihre OS/2 Inside-Ausgaben aufgehoben hat! In den Ausgaben 3/97, 4/97, 6/97 und 8/97 ist eine ausführliche und überaus lesenswerte Einführung in die grundlegende Bedienung und Konfiguration des EPM und eine Übersicht über die Möglichkeiten, ihn zu programmieren, zu finden.

NEW in 2002/09:  Though not being an enhancement package my little EPM highlighting scheme for HTML might make your web page editing a little easier. There are other schemes around which serve the same purpose, but I like mine best. Have a look at it (.PNG, 19kB) or just download it to judge for yourself. But now for the real stuff:

HTML is the language spoken by a tribe of headhunters near the source of the Nile. It has proven useful for creating web pages and frenzied pygmy dance rituals. It is a simple language that can be edited with tools such as EDLIN, vi or the air traffic control system at the O'Hare Internation Airport.
   -- Mr. Bunny

Well, that does explain a lot, doesn't it? But instead of hiring your local headhunter to get you one of those above mentioned headhunters speaking HTML, you could give EPM a try and compose your webpages yourself.

There are several macro packages which may assist you. Most of them provide you with an additional menu containing html specific actions. In addition to that some of them add some DDE connectivity between EPM and your browser (this means that you can make your browser (if DDE enabled) reload the page in design from within EPM). Finally two are even drag & drop enabled in a way that if you drag & drop an image on your html document, this image is correctly inserted into your page.

Before I list those macro packages I have to admit that I use none of them. Not because I'd think they're not good, but just because I very seldom use the main menu in EPM anyway and got somewhat used to write HTML my way which mostly is letter by letter (for the experts: I set BLOCK_ALT_KEY = 0 and BLOCK_ACTIONBAR_ACCELERATORS = 1 in mycnf.e and deactivated Menu accelerators in my settings notebook). What I'm trying to say: I'm no expert on those HTML macro packages and I certainly do not prefer one over the other (as a matter of fact I'm almost equally impressed by each of them). Keep that in mind and give them a try to judge yourself. From what I've seen I guess that it is anyway to some extent a matter of personal taste and working habits to choose one or the other.

HtmlTags by Larry Margolis

This is the oldest of the HTML extension mentioned here and probably the father of them all. Its menu is very basic, no mentioning yet of Javascript, Style Sheets or alike. Yet it contains everthing necessary to write solid HTML code.

In addition to the menu and its entries HTMLTAGS comes with drag & drop actions for including WebExplorer url objects or images into the page.

HTMLTAGS.EX is contained in epmapp.zip, the main application archive that can be found on the usual download sites. The source - well, don't know wherefrom but I have it. My conclusion is that it must be available, even though I can't find the archive at the moment.

HtmEpm 0.99 by Eduardo Areitio

The file_id.diz:

HTMEPM version 0.99
HTML Extensions for EPM 6.03b
Provides menu-driven HTML editing abilities to the OS/2 Enhanced Editor. Supports most HTML 3.2 and some HTML 4.0 tags. Preview with Netscape through DDE, keyboard shortcuts, forms, tables, applets,...

These features are coded in two .EX files and one DLL; sources are not included. The setup is easy and user preferences can be set.
HtmEpm is shareware, but free for non-commercial and educational use. The archive name is htmepm99.zip and it is available from the usual download sites.

kenHTepm 1.4 by Ken Arway

This is Ken Arway's attempt to merge the best from HtmlTags and HtmEpm 0.98. So it's not surprissing that his package supports modern features like frame support and Javascript and at the same time still has that drag & drop support mentioned above.

The kHTepm14.zip archive has only two files in it. The .E source and the documentation. The latter is a true EPM file; the body holds the plain vanilla ASCII textual information and in the extended attributes there are stored font information, colours an so on. The documentation, especially the installation instructions, is very good written; the installation should be fairly easy even to the unexperienced EPM user.

Check the usual download sites to get the .ZIP.

ESHTML 1.0 by ehlertronic

The second package in my little list to offer DDE connectivity between EPM and browser. Other than in HtmEpm where this is achieved by means of a DLL, here the trick is done with an EXE. The advantage for the user is that he can use this program to connect to his Netscape (for example) from within other programs than the EPM, too.

In its extent it is comparable to HtmlTags, covering only a basic set of HTML instructions. As a package however it is very complete. The .EX is there, the .E is not missing, a toolbar is in the archive and so is a highlighting scheme. Even an icon is contained and - for those who don't already have it - the compiler ETPM.

The major drawback to most is that menu and documentation are in German.

Unlike the other packages mentioned, this one is AFAIK not available on the usual ftp sites, but only from the company's website. Here's the URL:

http://www.ehlertronic.de/os2supp.htm#Verweis11

EpmHtmlBar 4 by Adrian Suri

This is a package containing ERX macros (ERX is the extension which characterizes REXX files using the REXX interface and the REXX instructions EPM offers) and a toolbar to enable the launching of Gismo (tool to help determining color settings in RGB, most often useful for HTML editing), KenHTepm (see above) and your favorite browser from within EPM. Thus if you use these programs to write HTML EpmHtmlBar 4 can help to make EPM the center of your HTML editing environment.

The file is available on the usual download sites but can also be found on Adrian's Homepage which is very recommendable for EPM users.

Gibbon PGP Front End v1.2 by John C. Frickson (Gibbon Computer Products)

A Must-Have for those using Pretty Good Privacy (version 2.x) and - of course - EPM. Gibbon Computer Products' Gibbon Pretty Good Privacy Front End - or GCPPGPFE for short - adds a menu with PGP related actions to your menu bar. Now you can encrypt and decrypt your files, check signatures or apply them to your texts, include (PGP key) fingerprints or even manage your keyrings - all from within EPM.

I by far do not use the full palette of features, but definitely don't want to do without the basic decrypt and encrypt commands. I've even looked up the defcs in the source and have defkeyed (given) them a prominent place in my standard key set.

The package gcppgp12.zip can be found on the usual download sites. It contains the E source and precompiled .EX files for EPM versions 5.51, 6.00, 6.02 and 6.03. The Readme (GCPPGPFE.DOC) gives an accurate and detailed description of the installation process, the configuration and the daily use of GCPPGPFE and moreover addresses the security concerns in an understandable way.

FTP: Hobbes

ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/apps/editors/epm/

WWW: Hobbes

http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/apps/editors/epm/

FTP: Leo

ftp://ftp.leo.org/pub/comp/os/os2/leo/editors/