FSLETTER Procedure Windows

Setting Text Editor Parameters

The working environment for entering, editing, or browsing text in the FSLETTER window is provided by the SAS text editor. The appearance and behavior of the SAS text editor in the FSLETTER window is determined by the settings of parameters that are associated with the document that is being edited.

To review or customize the text editor environment for a document that you are currently composing or for a previously created document that you are now editing, issue the following command while the document is displayed in the FSLETTER window:

edparms

This command opens the EDPARMS window to display the text editor parameters that are in effect for the current document. EDPARMS Window Showing Parameter Settings for an FSLETTER Document shows the EDPARMS window for a typical FSLETTER document.

EDPARMS Window Showing Parameter Settings for an FSLETTER Document

[EDPARMS Window Showing Parameter Settings for an FSLETTER Document]

You can change the parameter settings in the EDPARMS window. Some of the parameter settings in the EDPARMS window are choice groups. To turn on these parameters, move the cursor to the corresponding term in the EDPARMS window and press ENTER. The term is highlighted in reverse video to show that the parameter is turned on. To turn off a parameter, position the cursor on the highlighted term and press ENTER. The highlighting is removed to show that the parameter is turned off.

Other parameter settings are fields in which you enter the desired parameter values. The following section describes the parameters that are available in the EDPARMS window.

The editor parameters that are displayed by the EDPARMS command are associated with the displayed document only. Any parameter changes that you make are applicable only to the current LETTER entry. The changes take effect when you close the EDPARMS window.

Parameter Descriptions

The following text editor parameters are used in the FSLETTER window. The default settings of these parameters are determined by the values in the FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry when the document is created. Refer to Creating Default Parameter Settings for details.

AUTOADD

controls the automatic insertion of new lines as you scroll forward past existing text. If the AUTOADD parameter is off, then you must issue a specific command, such as the I (insert) line command, to insert new lines of text in the FSLETTER window.

AUTOWRAP

controls whether a word that will not fit on the current line is automatically moved (wrapped) to the next line.

If the AUTOWRAP parameter is turned on, then you can enter text continuously, without moving the cursor to the next line. You can also use the INCLUDE command to bring a file that has a longer line length into the text editor without truncating any text. When the INDENT parameter is also turned on, you can wrap text that is indented.

Note: This parameter is not supported by some display devices. The AUTOWRAP parameter is ignored if the display device does not support the feature. (In particular, most terminals for mainframe hosts do not support autowrapping.) [cautionend]

CAPS

controls whether all text that is subsequently entered or modified is converted to uppercase characters when you press ENTER or a function key, or when you move the cursor from the line you are working on. If the CAPS parameter is turned on, character strings for the FIND and CHANGE command are also converted to uppercase. If you do not want lowercase characters in the string to be converted to uppercase, enclose your character string in quotes. When the CAPS parameter is turned off, all text is left as entered.

INDENT

controls whether indention at the left margin remains when text is flowed or automatically wrapped to the next line.

NUMS ON

controls line numbering for the FSLETTER window. If your window already contains text when you turn on line numbering, all text is shifted to the right, and the line numbers appear on the left side of the window. When line numbers are displayed, you can use them to issue text editor line commands. (See the online Help for Base SAS software for details about text editor line commands.)

Hscroll

controls the default horizontal scrolling amount for the LEFT and RIGHT commands. Specify one of the following amounts:

HALF	scroll by half the current window width.
PAGE	scroll by the entire current window width.
CURSOR	scroll to the current cursor position.
n	scroll by the specified number of columns.

Vscroll

controls the default vertical scrolling amounts for the BACKWARD and FORWARD commands. Specify one of the following amounts:

HALF	scroll by half the current window height.
PAGE	scroll by the entire current window height.
CURSOR	scroll to the current cursor position.
n	scroll by the specified number of lines.

Color and Attribute

control the color and highlighting attributes of the following areas of the FSLETTER window:

Background	controls the background color of the FSLETTER window.
Banner	controls the color of the Command===> at the left of the command line. Note: This parameter has no effect if a menu bar is displayed in place of a command line.
Border	controls the color of the window border in character-based display environments. Note: This parameter has no effect in graphical windowing environments.
Command	controls the color of the text that users type on the command line. Note: This parameter has no effect if a menu bar is displayed in place of a command line.
Message	controls the color of text that is displayed in the window's message line.
Numbers	controls the color of line numbers if they are turned on in the FSLETTER window.
Text	controls the color of any new text that you type in the FSLETTER window. Note: Changing this parameter does not change the color of any text that has already been entered in the FSLETTER window.

The following values are valid in the Color fields:

BLUE	PINK	CYAN	WHITE
RED	GREEN	YELLOW	BLACK
MAGENTA	GRAY	BROWN	ORANGE

If a specified color is not available on a user's device, the procedure substitutes the available color that most closely matches the specified color. Some devices do not allow the background color to be changed; for these devices, the background color parameter is ignored.

The following values are valid in the Attribute fields. (You can abbreviate the values by entering only the first letter; the procedure fills in the complete value when you press ENTER):

HIGHLIGHT	high intensity
BLINKING	blinking
UNDERLINE	underlined
REVERSE	reverse video

If a parameter specifies a highlighting attribute that is not available on the device, the parameter is ignored. You cannot specify a highlighting attribute for the background.

Tabs

controls the default tab stops for the text editor.

Specify the tab stop for each column explicitly in the field provided. For example, the following values set tab stops at columns 1 (default), 25, 40, and 55:

25 40 55

Move your cursor to a tab stop by pressing your keyboard's TAB key.

EDPARMS Window Commands

In addition to the global commands described in SAS/FSP Software Global Commands, you can use the following commands in the EDPARMS window:

CANCEL: closes the EDPARMS window without recording any changes made in the window and returns you to the window from which the EDPARMS command was issued. Use this command when you decide not to change the current parameter settings after you have opened the EDPARMS window.
END: closes the EDPARMS window, records any changes that you made to the parameter settings in the LETTER entry, and returns you to the window from which the EDPARMS window was opened.

Using Text Editor Commands

Another way to change the text editor environment while you are editing a particular document is to use global text editor commands. There is a corresponding text editor command for each of the parameters in the EDPARMS window.

Parameter	Text Editor Command
AUTOADD	AUTOADD <ON\|OFF>
AUTOWRAP	AUTOWRAP <ON\|OFF>
CAPS	CAPS <ON\|OFF>
INDENT	INDENT <ON\|OFF>
NUMS ON	NUMS <ON\|OFF>
Hscroll	HSCROLL HALF\|PAGE\|CURSOR\|MAX\|n
Vscroll	VSCROLL HALF\|PAGE\|CURSOR\|MAX\|n
Colors and Attributes	COLOR area color <highlight>
Tabs	TABS n

If you open the EDPARMS window after issuing one of these commands, you see that the parameter setting in the EDPARMS window changes to reflect the parameter setting that you specified in the command.

Creating Default Parameter Settings

Whenever you create a new document, the initial settings for the text editor parameters are copied from a catalog entry named FSLETTER.EDPARMS. The default FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry is stored in the SASHELP.FSP system catalog. You can use the FSLETTER procedure to customize the default parameter entry for a catalog.

To create a custom FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry, issue the following command in an FSLETTER window:

edit fsletter.edparms

If the current catalog does not already contain an FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry, then a copy of the FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry from the SASHELP.FSP system catalog is created in the current catalog and is then opened for editing.

This command opens an EDPARMS window like the window in EDPARMS Window Showing Parameter Settings for an FSLETTER Document (except that the window title does not include the word EDPARMS). However, the parameter settings in this window have no effect on existing documents. Instead, these parameter settings become the default settings for any new documents that are created in the current catalog. You can change the parameters in FSLETTER.EDPARMS whenever you want without affecting existing LETTER entries.

You may find it convenient to create different FSLETTER.EDPARMS entries for different catalogs. If you keep letters in one catalog, reports in another, and questionnaires in another, you can create a different FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry for each catalog to store appropriate parameter settings for each kind of document.

When you create a new document, the FSLETTER procedure locates the default text editor parameter values by looking for the FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry first in the current catalog, then in your personal PROFILE catalog (SASUSER.PROFILE, or WORK.PROFILE if the SASUSER library is not allocated). If the entry does not exist in either of those catalogs, then the FSLETTER procedure uses the default FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry in the SASHELP.FSP system catalog.

Thus, you may also want to create a custom FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry in your personal PROFILE catalog. That entry then provides default parameter values for any catalog that does not have its own FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry.

Copying Parameter Entries to New Catalogs

You do not have to create a new FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry each time you create a new catalog. If you do not want to use the default text editor parameters in the SASHELP.FSP catalog or in your personal PROFILE catalog, you can copy your custom FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry from one catalog to another.

Suppose that you have defined an FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry in an existing catalog named MASTER.LETTERS and that you have created a new catalog named MASTER.LETTERS2. You can use drag-and-drop functionality in the Explorer window to copy the FSLETTER.EDPARMS entry from the old catalog into the new catalog, or you can issue the following command in the Explorer window:

copyitem master.letters.fsletter.edparms
   master.letters2.fsletter.edparms

Top of Page