launcheditor.html #1

<TITLE>Launching An Editor</TITLE>

<p> P4Web lets you launch an external editor to work on files. To launch the editor 
  on a selected file, choose <b>Edit file</b> from the <b>Action</b> menu . 
<p> The <b>Edit</b> option in the interactive <a href="resolve?help">resolve</a> 
  program also launches an external editor. 
<p> The <tt>P4EDITOR</tt> configuration setting is used to determine which program 
  to launch. If <tt>P4EDITOR</tt> was not set in your environment when the <b>p4web</b> 
  executable was started up, a default editor is launched. You can change <tt>P4EDITOR</tt> 
  in your environment while running <b>p4web</b>; it will use the updated editor 
  that you have specified. For more information about <tt>P4EDITOR</tt>, please 
  see the the <i>P4 Command Reference</i> on the <a href="http://www.perforce.com/perforce/technical.html">Perforce 
  Technical Documentation</a> page. 
<p>
Note that:
<ul>
  <p> 
  <li> Only the Windows, Unix, and Macintosh versions of P4Web can launch external 
    editors. 
    <p> 
  <li> On Unix, the Edit File feature launches whichever editor <tt>P4EDITOR</tt> 
    is set to. If you don't have <tt>P4EDITOR</tt> set to any particular editor, 
    it will launch an Xterm window and run vi. You may also specify Xterm as your 
    <tt>P4EDITOR</tt>. If you're familiar with X Windows, you can make use of 
    Xterm to edit files on a remote machine. You don't have to be logged onto 
    the machine where the workspace files are as long as you have a <b>p4web</b> 
    executable running on that machine. 
    <p> On Windows and Macintosh, P4Web launches an external editor only if your 
      browser and the <b>p4web</b> executable are running on the same machine.You 
      can't use P4Web's <b>Edit File</b> feature to edit files in a workspace 
      on a remote machine. 
    <p> 
  <li> If your <tt>P4EDITOR</tt> is set to a windowing application, P4Web launches 
    that application, opening up a new window on your workstation. 
    <p> 
  <li> If your <tt>P4EDITOR</tt> is set to a console application, or if it is 
    not set and the default editor is a console application, P4Web behaves as 
    follows: 
    <ul>
      <li> On Windows, a <b>cmd</b> window is opened and the editor application 
        is started in that window. 
      <li> On Unix, an <b>xterm</b> window is opened and the editor application 
        is started in that window. 
    </ul>
</ul>