TextEdit: Limits and Alternatives



I have developed an alpha version of an electronic mail system for a Sun 4
server running UNIX with Macintosh front ends. Documents are limited to
approximately 32,000 characters, because of the 16-bit count in the text
editor (buffer). I want the system to handle longer documents, and this
brings up a couple of questions:

1) "Inside Macintosh Volume I," page 392, shows "teLength" as an integer
(16-bit). Is this the variable in question?

2) Does System Software 7.0 implement longint (32-bit) count?

3) Is there a tool kit available for developers that would help in this
effort?

1) TextEdit is able to handle text up to 32,767 characters long.  This is
a
  design or implementation limit. The "teLength" field just happens to
  reflect this limit.  Remember, TextEdit was designed for limited text
  handling tasks; it was not intended to be the foundation for an editor
  or word processor.

2) TextEdit will still be limited to 32,767 characters in System Software
  7.0.

3) There is a text-editor tool kit available from Symantec call "CAPPS'"
  that is compatible with their Think C and Think Pascal products. DataPak
  Software has a product called "WP-Engine" that may also meet your needs.
  For more details, search for "Symantic AND 3rd" and "DataPak AND 3rd".


Published Date: Feb 18, 2012