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== TextAnalysisTool.NET Documentation ==
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-----------------------------
-- Section: Brief Tutorial --
-----------------------------

If you're not already viewing this document with TextAnalysisTool.NET, please

do so by running the application and choosing the Help | Documentation menu
item. Having done so, you should be seeing this documentation file displayed
in the top part of the application's window along with a few handy filters in
the bottom part of the window. To quickly see what section headings this
document has, click the "Section:" filter to enable it - and while you're at it
go ahead and enable the next filter down, too: "Marked by marker 1". Notice
how all lines that don't match the filters you just enabled have been dimmed.
Click anywhere in the line display to give it focus and then hit the Space bar
a few times to cycle forward through all the matching lines (use Shift+Space to
cycle backward). To take things a step further, hit Ctrl+H or choose the View
| Show Only Filtered Lines menu option. Because you're now seeing only the
lines you're interested in, it's easy to avoid getting bogged down by spurious
details. Use the arrow keys to highlight the section on command-line
parameters (it's near the bottom) and hit Ctrl+H again to view the selected
line in the context of its surroundings. Explore the power of this interface
by enabling and disabling some of the other sample filters, then read the rest
of this document to find out how to take advantage of more neat features!

-----------------------
-- Section: Overview --
-----------------------

The Problem: For those times when you have to analyze a large amount of textual
data, picking out the relevant line(s) of interest can be quite difficult.
Standard text editors usually provide a generic "find" function, but the
limitations of that simple approach quickly become apparent (e.g., when it is
necessary to compare two or more widely separated lines). Some more
sophisticated editors do better by allowing you to "bookmark" lines of
interest; this can be a big help, but is often not enough.

The Solution: TextAnalysisTool.NET - a program designed from the start to excel

at viewing, searching, and navigating large files quickly and efficiently.
TextAnalysisTool.NET provides a view of the file that you can easily manipulate
(through the use of various filters) to display exactly the information you
need - as you need it.

Filters: Before displaying the lines of a file, TextAnalysisTool.NET passes the

lines of that file through a set of user-defined filters, dimming or hiding all
lines that do not satisfy any of the filters. Filters can select only the
lines that contain a sub-string, those that have been marked with a particular
marker type, or those that match a regular expression. A color can be
associated with each filter so lines matching a particular filter stand out and
so lines matching different filters can be easily distinguished. In addition
to the normal "including" filters that isolate lines of text you DO want to
see, there are also "excluding" filters that can be used to suppress lines you
do NOT want to see. Excluding filters are configured just like including
filters but are processed afterward and remove all matching lines from the set.
Excluding filters allow you to easily refine your search even further.
Markers: Markers are another way that TextAnalysisTool.NET makes it easy to
navigate a file; you can mark any line with one or more of eight different
marker types. Once lines have been marked, you can quickly navigate between
similarly marked lines - or add a "marked by" filter to view only those lines.

Find: TextAnalysisTool.NET also provides a flexible "find" function that allows

you to search for text anywhere within a file. This text can be a literal
string or a regular expression, so it's easy to find a specific line. If you
decide to turn a find string into a filter, the history feature of both dialogs
makes it easy.

Summary: TextAnalysisTool.NET was written with speed and ease of use in mind
throughout. It saves you time by allowing you to save and load filter sets; it
lets you import text by opening a file, dragging-and-dropping a file or text
from another application, or by pasting text from the clipboard; and it allows
you to share the results of your filters by copying lines to the clipboard or
by saving the current lines to a file. TextAnalysisTool.NET supports files
encoded with ANSI, UTF-8, Unicode, and big-endian Unicode and is designed to
handle large files efficiently.

---------------------------------
-- Section: The User Interface --
---------------------------------

Display
-------

Line Display: The line display shows all of the lines with which you are
currently working. Each line is shown with its original line number, an
indication of which markers have been applied to it, and colored according to
whether or not it matches any of the current filters (if a line matches more
than one filter it will be colored by the topmost colored filter in the filter
display). Any selected lines are highlighted; actions like toggling markers or
copying to the clipboard affect all selected lines. Non-contiguous selections
can be made in the usual manner with the Shift and Ctrl keys.

Filter Display: The filter display shows the filters with which you are
currently working. Filters can be enabled or disabled by clicking on them.
Further functionality (such as moving, editing, or removing a filter) is
available from the Filter menu or from the context menu obtained by right-
clicking on any filter. Lines matching any of the first twenty-six filters can
be easily cycled through with the keyboard.

Menus
-----

File
Open... Opens and displays a file
Reload Reloads the current file from disk
Save Current Lines... Saves the current lines to a new file
Load Filters... Loads a filter file (*.tat) and replaces the current
filters
Save Filters... Saves the current filters to a filter file (*.tat)
Exit Exits the application

Edit
 Copy Copies the currently selected line(s) to the
clipboard
Paste Displays all text currently on the clipboard
Select All Selects all lines
Find... Finds the next match of a string or regular
expression
Find Previous Repeats the last find operation (searching up)
Find Next Repeats the last find operation (searching down)
Go To... Scrolls to the specified line number

View
Show Only Filtered Lines
Filter
Add New Filter...
Edit Selected Filter...
Remove Selected Filter
Disable All Filters
Remove All Filters
Toggles showing/hiding of lines that do not satisfy
the currently active filters (note: the current line
is preserved whenever possible; otherwise it is kept
as near to its previous location as possible)
Adds a new filter of any type
Edits the selected filter
Removes the selected filter
Disables all filters
Removes all filters

Help
Documentation Loads the documentation file
Installed plug-ins Displays information about installed plug-ins
About Displays version information

Line Display Keys

-----------------

Space Scrolls to the next line that matches any filter

Shift+Space Scrolls to the previous line that matches any filter
1-8 Scrolls to the next line marked by the associated marker
Shift+1-8 Scrolls to the previous line marked by the associated marker
Ctrl+1-8 Toggles the associated marker type for the selected line(s)
A-Z Scrolls to the next line matched by the associated filter
Shift+A-Z Scrolls to the previous line matched by the associated filter
Ctrl+Shift+A-Z Toggles the associated filter

Filter Display Keys

-------------------

Space Toggles the selected filter on and off

Delete Removes the selected filter

-----------------------
-- Section: Plug-ins --
-----------------------

TextAnalysisTool.NET's support for plug-ins allows users to add in their own

code that understands specialized file types. Every time a file is opened,
each plug-in is given a chance to take responsibility for parsing that file.
When a plug-in takes responsibility for parsing a file, it becomes that plug-
in's job to produce a textual representation of the file for display in the
usual line display. If no plug-in supports a particular file, then it gets
opened using TextAnalysisTool.NET's default parser (which displays the file's
contents directly). One example of what a plug-in could do is read a binary
file format and produce meaningful textual output from it (e.g., if the file is
compressed or encrypted). Another plug-in might add support for the .zip
format and display a list of the files within the archive. A particularly
ambitious plug-in might translate text files from one language to another. The
possibilities are endless!

Plug-ins are "installed" simply by copying the relevant implementation file

("TATPlugin_*.dll") to the same folder as the TextAnalysisTool.NET program file
(TextAnalysisTool.NET.exe). Every time TextAnalysisTool.NET starts up, it
searches its startup folder for plug-in files and attempts to load each of
them. From then on, installed plug-ins are seamlessly integrated with the rest
of the application. To see a list of active plug-ins, use the Help | Installed
plug-ins menu item.

------------------------------------------------
-- Section: Differences from TextAnalysisTool --
------------------------------------------------

TextAnalysisTool.NET represents a complete rewrite of TextAnalysisTool to

produce a fully managed-code application built on top of the .NET Framework.
Efforts were made during development of the user interface to maintain the
default/recommended behavior in all cases - except where it was possible to
make significant usability or performance gains by doing things differently.
Consequently, though TextAnalysisTool.NET's features are a strict superset of
TextAnalysisTool's; some of those features may be exposed in a slightly
different manner. Apologies for the inconvenience to loyal users!

----------------------------------------
-- Section: Regular Expression Syntax --
----------------------------------------

TextAnalysisTool.NET uses the standard .NET Framework regular expression class

Regex, and therefore supports the same regular expression syntax as is exposed
by the .NET Framework. For more details, please refer to the ".NET Framework
Regular Expressions" page in MSDN: <http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-
us/cpguide/html/cpconcomregularexpressions.asp>. (Note that you can right-
click the "Regular expression" checkbox from the relevant TextAnalysisTool.NET
dialog boxes to automatically open this web page in your default browser.)

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-- Section: Command-Line Parameters --
--------------------------------------

TextAnalysisTool.NET.exe [InputFile] [/Filters:FilterFile]

InputFile - Name of the file to open and display
FilterFile - Name of a .tat file containing a saved filter configuration

Example:
TextAnalysisTool.NET.exe \Logs\MyLog.log /Filters:"\Saved Filters\MyConfig.tat"

--------------------------------
-- Section: Registry Settings --
--------------------------------
You can customize certain aspects of the user interface by adding any of the
following registry values:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\DavidAns\TextAnalysisTool.NET
TabSize DWORD Character width of each Tab character ('\t')
FontSize DWORD Point size of text in the line display
WindowTextColor } DWORD 0x00rrggbb color specification for the
GrayTextColor } associated elements of the line display (note:
HighlightTextColor } specifying a custom color overrides the normal
WindowColor } behavior of using the default system color)
HighlightColor }

--------------------------
-- Section: Bug Reports --
--------------------------

Please send email to DavidAns@Microsoft.com (David Anson), with a detailed

description of any problems you encounter. Whenever possible, please include a
file demonstrating the problem.

Thanks and enjoy!!!