option "-server" - what does it bring?

[Helmut Jarausch]

Hi,

I wonder, what is the effect of the '-server' option to NEdit.

In an old release it put NEdit immediately to background.
But that's not true anymore.

Many thanks for a hint,
Helmut.

[Ravenhall, Stewart]

Post by Helmut Jarausch
I wonder, what is the effect of the '-server' option to NEdit.

"nc" can then connect to the "nedit -server" instance, so you can share the window via tabs rather than launch a separate window.

Best wishes,
Stew--
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[Tony Balinski]

Post by Ravenhall, Stewart

Post by Helmut Jarausch
I wonder, what is the effect of the '-server' option to NEdit.

"nc" can then connect to the "nedit -server" instance, so you can share the
window via tabs rather than launch a separate window.

Actually, if nedit is in your $PATH, use "nc -noask files..." instead of nedit
itself (using an alias perhaps, or a shell function). This will start nedit in
server mode itself, then get nedit to open up the files. If you still have
this nedit sessio open, running "nc -noask otherfiles..." will open the others
using the same nedit - all the files will be available in the same window
list. If you use tabbed windows, they'll probably all end up together, each
with its own tab. (You can detach them, or set a nedit preference for separate
windows if you prefer.)

Generally using nedit in server mode with nc ("nedit client") gives a much
smoother experience and stops the problem of perhaps opening the same file
twice in separate nedit instances, and getting confused about which window was
used to change something. If you just have the one nedit, in server mode,
"reopening" a file with nc will just give focus to that file's window/tab, and
not change the effect of any edits you've done.

It's also a better hook for nedit usage with other tools. File managers can
use it; I've also added custom commands to gdb which will (re)open source
files and go to the next line to be executed while stepping through a program
to debug it, for example, by having gdb invoke nc each time.

The nedit process stops when the last nedit window is closed. If you need
multiple nedit processes to respond to nc, you can provide a "-svrname
server-name" argument to nc, telling it which nedit instance to use.

On some machines there's already a nc program, doing something else
completely. For this reason, nedit's nc program sometimes gets renamed to
neditc to avoid conflict. I just make sure nedit's nc is found earlier in my
$PATH :-).

Hope this helps.

Tony