Changing the Text Editor and Terminal Emulator

Both the text editor and terminal emulator applications can be started by choosing a control in the Front Panel, or by double-clicking an icon in Application Manager.

These applications are also started by other desktop activities.

The text editor application opens when the user selects a text file in File Manager and chooses Open from the Selected menu. The default text editor is dtpad.
A terminal emulator runs when a user chooses Open Terminal from File Manager's File menu, or when an action opens a terminal emulator window. The default terminal emulator is dtterm.

You can configure the desktop to use a different text editor or terminal emulator application in these situations.

To Change the Default Text Editor or Terminal Emulator

If the change is system-wide, log in as root.

Create an action for the new text editor or terminal emulator application.

You can use the Create Action application. Figure 3-3 “Create Action window” shows a Create Action window filled in for an application named TextPad. For more information about Create Action, see Chapter 9 “Creating Actions and Data Types Using Create Action”
Figure 3-3 Create Action window

Or, you can create the action definition manually; for example:.

ACTION TextPad
{
  LABEL        TextPad
  TYPE         COMMAND
  WINDOW_TYPE  NO_STDIO
  EXEC_STRING  /usr/TP/bin/TextPad %(File)Arg_1%
  DESCRIPTION  Double-click this icon to start the \
               TextPad application.
}

For information on creating action definitions manually, see Chapter 10 “Creating Actions Manually”

Place the configuration file containing the new action in the proper directory:
- System-wide: /etc/dt/appconfig/types/language
- Personal: HomeDirectory/.dt/types
If it doesn't already exist, create the appropriate user-prefs.dt file by copying /usr/dt/appconfig/types/language/user-prefs.dt to:
- System-wide: the /etc/dt/appconfig/types/language directory
- Personal: the HomeDirectory/.dt/types directory
Edit the TextEditor or Terminal action in the system-wide or personal user-prefs.dt file. Modify the MAP_ACTION line to map the action to the new action.
For example, change the line:
MAP_ACTION Dtpad
to:
MAP_ACTION TextPad
Save the user-prefs.dt file.
Double-click Reload Actions in the Desktop_Tools application group to reload the actions database.

Changing the Text Editor and Terminal Emulator

Technical documentation

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To Change the Default Text Editor or Terminal Emulator