Installing the TextPad Editor

TextPad is a registered trademark of Helios Software Solutions. Their web site is www.textpad.com.

Please review the EULA for this software before installing.

Helios has generously permitted us to distribute an unregistered evaluation copy of TextPad 4. I personally use it as my editor of choice for assembly language because it can easily customized. I particularly like its built-in syntax highlighting feature.

In this short tutorial, we will show you how to add commands to the Tools menu in TextPad, so you can easily assemble, link, and debug your assembly language programs.

Step 1: Run the TextPad4.exe program located in the \TextPad directory of this CDROM. This program will install the TextPad 4 text editor.

Step 2: Install the appropriate Tool Menu commands. It would be helpful at this point to know what types of assembly language programs you will be writing. Most of the programs in the first 11 chapters of the book are 32-bit Protected mode programs. If you're taking a college course, ask your professor what types of programs you will be writing:

Step 3: Create a MASM document class in TextPad. This will enable you to customize colors, add syntax highlighting, and configure other options.

You're done!


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


16-Bit Real-Mode Programs

Step 1: Build 16-bit MASM

Following is a sample screen snapshot. (Optionally, you can check the Capture output option to redirect the assembler's output messages to a TextPad editor window.)

(The Regular expression to match output entry is explained fairly well in the TextPad help system. It makes it possible to click on an Assembler error message and have TextPad jump to the appropriate line in your source program.)

Step 2: Run ASM Prog

  $BaseName 
The two commands you created will always act on the program in the currently selected window. Normally, you execute the Build 16-bit MASM command, and then if no errors result, you execute the Run 16-bit MASM command.

Step 3: Debug 16-bit MASM

  C:\Masm615\runCV.bat $BaseName 
We assume that you selected C:\Masm615 as your default install directory for the Microsoft Assembler. If that is not the case, substitute your own directory name every time you see us refer to C:\Masm615 in this tutorial.

You're done!

If you need more information, TextPad has extensive online help that shows how to edit the Tools menu. If you're making these modifications for multiple users (as in a laboratory), you can use RegEdit to save the registry subtree to a REG file. Look for the following entry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER > SOFTWARE > Helios > TextPad 4 > Tools

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32-Bit Protected Mode Programs

Step 1: Build 32-bit MASM

Following is a sample screen snapshot. (Optionally, you can check the Capture output option to redirect the assembler's output messages to a TextPad editor window.)

(The Regular expression to match output entry is explained fairly well in the TextPad help system. It makes it possible to click on an Assembler error message and have TextPad jump to the appropriate line in your source program.)

Step 2: Run ASM Prog

  $BaseName 
The two commands you created will always act on the program in the currently selected window. Normally, you execute the Build 32-bit MASM command, and then if no errors result, you execute the Run 32-bit MASM command.

Step 3: Debug 32-bit MASM

This command may only be used if you have Microsoft Visual C++ installed on your computer. The 32-bit debugger is named MSDEV.EXE (that name may change in the future).

  C:\Masm615\runCV.bat $BaseName 

If you need more information, TextPad has extensive online help that shows how to edit the Tools menu. If you're making these modifications for multiple users (as in a laboratory), you can use RegEdit to save the registry subtree to a REG file. Look for the following entry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER > SOFTWARE > Helios > TextPad 4 > Tools

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