Setting Up the Crimson Editor
Crimson Editor is a professional source code editor for Windows. It can be used for multiple languages including C, C++, Perl, Java, and many more. Crimson Editor is freeware that can be used by all as long as it is not modified. The crimson editor homepage is here. You can download the executable from this location.
You can use this editor as a mini-development environment that allows the user to compile a program and see any syntax errors that occur, but to do this there is a one-time setup that must be accomplished as follows.
Before you can use Crimson Editor to compile programs, you must first install a C++ compiler. I recommend the Dev-C++ program for this purpose. The link is here. Download and follow the default installation. Once this program is installed you can then install and configure Crimson Editor.
Crimson Editor
1. Download the V3.72 Release (May 14, 2008) Version and install the program. This version works properly with Vista and Win 7, where earlier version will not.
2. Run the program. The first time you run the program you will receive an error message about corrupted data, ignore this message. In Vista and Win 7 you will have to give permission for the program to run. This is normal.
3. After the program is open, you need to configure tools. This is accomplished by selecting Tools, Conf. User Tools.
4. Click on the first -Empty- slot in the User Tools column.
a. Then go down to Menu Text. Enter "C++ Compiler" in the menu text.
b. Then click on the 3 dots at the right of the Command row. This opens a standard browse window. Go to the location of the C++ command line compiler. In most case this will be Dev-C++, at the following location: "C:\Dev-Cpp\bin\g++.exe"
c. Click on the triangle at the right of the Argument row. You will be given a series of choices. Select the File Name choice. Then type in -o, followed by selecting the File Title choice. This should be the string:
"$(FileName)" -o "$(FileTitle)"
Make sure to include the double quotes. There are spaces between the " -o and -o ".
d. Click on the triangle at the right of the Initial Directory row. You will be given two choices. Select the File Directory choice. This will put the string "$(FileDir)" in this text box.
e. Click in the Hot Key text box then select the hot key you want to use to compile a program. Normally for the first tool I select ctrl + F1. This enters the string "Ctrl + F1" into the text box.
f. Put a check mark in Capture Output checkbox and leave the rest of the checkboxes as they are.
g. Click Ok to save this tool.
5. This is a highly configurable text editor. You may make your own choices, but for a minimum, I recommend that you check General, Visual, Show Line Numbers check box and set the tab size to 3.
6. Say OK to go back to normal mode. Type in "helloWorld.cpp". Now select Ctrl + F1" and the program should compile, with compile results at the bottom of the screen.
If you have questions, call me at x3436 or email at [email protected].
Larry Young