WinEd

WinEd is a template editor, whose founding aim was “to do everything which TemplEd could do, only better!”. It was originally written by Tony Houghton, who developed it until version 2.87 in 2003. Details of this version can be found on the archive of Tony’s site. Development was then picked up by Adam Richardson, who continued to maintain and improve WinEd until the release of version 3.22a in 2009. Details of Adam’s versions can be found on his website; the major releases were provided via PackMan, and also made available to download.

In common with most modern template editors, WinEd allows the windows contained within a Templates file to be accessed via a browser window.

[Browser Screenshot]

Browsing the windows in a Templates file

Once a window is opened for editing, the various functions are accessible via a toolbar attached to the edge. WinEd has two modes of operation: in ‘edit’ mode icons and window furniture are always visible and selectable, while in ‘preview’ mode they will behave completely as they are defined to do. This makes the editing process much easier to carry out.

[Editor Screenshot]

A window template open for editing

An icon picker provides a selection of ready-made Style Guide compliant icons which can be dragged in to windows for use.

[Icon Picker Screenshot]

The icon picker contains common icons, ready for use

WinEd has its own page on RISC OS.info, which should be viewed as the place to bookmark for updates.

This page provides a – possibly temporary – home from which to download versions of WinEd which have been built more recently than those mentioned above. Primarily intended to solve issues on modern hardware, further development of features might be considered if there is interest.

WinEd 3.25 adds a new configuration option. It will load existing saved options from earlier versions of WinEd, but choices saved from them will not load into earlier versions including 3.20 and 3.23. It might be advisable to take a backup copy of the files from within the Choices:WinEd folder if you plan to return to an earlier version of the software.

Download WinEd
WinEd is released under Version 2 of the GNU General Public Licence. Its source code can be found on RISC OS.info, and copies can also be obtained from PackMan or the PlingStore.

In order to use WinEd, you will require:

  • a minimum of RISC OS 4.02, and
  • the 32-bit Shared C Library (version 5.43 or later), which is a standard part of RISC OS 5 and can be obtained for other systems as part of the System Resources download from RISC OS Open Ltd.

Test build

In addition to the stable release above, you can download a test build of WinEd containing new functionality and bug fixes – and probably new bugs, too. Using test builds and reporting any issues which come to light helps make the stable releases of WinEd better!

This test build contains the following improvements:

WinEd r155 and later change the configuration file format from binary to plain text, to allow options to be more easily added, changed and removed in future. Test builds will load existing saved options from stable versions of WinEd, but choices saved from them will not load into any stable versions including 3.26. It is therefore strongly advised to take a backup copy of the files from within the Choices:WinEd folder if you plan to try this test build.

Download WinEd Test Build
WinEd is released under Version 2 of the GNU General Public Licence. Its source code can be found on GitHub.

In order to use WinEd, you will require:

  • a minimum of RISC OS 4.02, and
  • the 32-bit Shared C Library (version 5.43 or later), which is a standard part of RISC OS 5 and can be obtained for other systems as part of the System Resources download from RISC OS Open Ltd.
This download is a test build. It may contain bugs, be unstable and have the potential to cause data loss. Those using it are advised to maintain adequate backups of important data and follow sensible precautions.

Version history

The version history of WinEd since version 3.23 is as follows:

3.23 (17 June 2020)

3.25 (28 July 2020)

3.26 (29 August 2020)