Thanks, Richard. My search for a text editor in App Store for iPadOS was hasty. I advise anyone to look more deeply that I have done (to-date). I too need a text editor with the "proper' behaviour – and I might end up writing my own. This isn't my last word on the topic. I shall be reporting back.
Broaden your search to programming language IDEs too, notably Python (multiple apps, of which Pythonista stands out). All such have a text editor to handle their own source scripts. Some handle the controversial ".txt" in the grand old way, driving a coach-and-horses through the Apple bullshine. > I need a text editor as I migrate fully from PC to iPad so I am grateful for your suggestions. You have a rocky road ahead of you. You might have got an easier ride if you'd migrated from Windows to iOS/iPadOS via macOS. The last leg of the journey is the painful one: macOS --> iPadOS. I've been an Apple (Macintosh) registered developer since the late 1980s, and I've seen the beast come out of the sea and sprout legs. Yet when I bought an iPad 2 years ago it completely baffled me how to do the simplest tasks with it. See my thoughts on iPadOS here: https://code.jsoftware.com/wiki/Essays/iOS_Fitness_For_J > Out of interest, did you discover why this phenomenon does not also occur on the iPhone? Oh-no. Don't get me started! :-) I can take a shrewd guess, but I don't *know*. And won't until I can convince myself the bug doesn't lie in my own code. The Apple iOS team has got its knickers twisted over the whole business. Every year it sticks on another band-aid. The mischief really got going with the introduction of the Files app in iOS 11. Actually it started long before, when Apple began admitting there were such things as files, above and beyond the contents of the sandbox of a legacy app ported to iOS. (Ever wondered why Xcode has never been ported to iOS – and never will? Ditto Terminal?) Originally iOS cancelled the security problems (posed by files as objects in the user's universe) by having no operating system. That's like the Mac having no Finder. Apps would have to pass data to each other via a byzantine system of exports/imports. But by iOS 11 it admitted that some of its tenants wanted to keep coal in the bath, and if prevented they'd all go out and buy Androids. Hence the Files app: a "Finder" for iOS. Now basically the Finder lets you keep your data as a collection of files, and "open" any file you asked it to by launching the app that owns it. Files app has to do the same. Well, kinda. Now... - Who owns myfile.pages? Why, Apple Pages, of course. - Who owns myfile.numbers? Why, Apple Numbers, of course. - Who owns myfile.ijs? Well, we guess it's j901, if the developer has got through the obstacle course and keeps the app up-to-date. - Who owns myfile.png? Errm… that's a bit more difficult. How about the last app you installed that handles pictures? - Who owns myfile.txt? Nobody. That's contraband. How dare you possess such a file! In fact, when you consider the security risks involved in "opening" a file of no known provenance like whosefile.txt, the safest thing is for Files app to refuse to open it at all. Merely hint at its contents, in the vaguest way. Well, that's King Canute commanding the tide not to come in. But whatever Files app does this year, next year it will do something different. We already know it needs to behave differently in iOS and iPadOS. In the latter only, it has to handle split screens, i.e. run two separate apps in foreground simultaneously. Which iOS emphatically does not. I would guess the current Files app has all sorts of nasty little fixups just to handle that feature. How best to handle a suspicious orphan like whosefile.txt is something Apple is supremely unconcerned with, once it has fixed the known security exposures. I bet the code inside is like Google's spam filter. Anyone toting *.txt inside iPadOS deserves an alert from St Christopher telling you you're on your own now. On Wed, 16 Feb 2022 at 06:45, Richard Donovan <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks Ian, and well analysed! > > I need a text editor as I migrate fully from PC to iPad so I am grateful > for your suggestions. > > Out of interest, did you discover why this phenomenon does not also occur > on the iPhone? > > Richard Donovan > > > On 16 Feb 2022, at 03:00, Ian Clark <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > >> > >> I can’t try with J702 as it seems to have been removed from the App > Store. > > > > No, it's called j701, not j702, and it's still there. > > Type into the App Store searchbar: j7 > > and you will see it listed. > > > > I can replicate the bug now, and it will be fixed in the next update of > > j901 for iOS/iPadOS. > > j901 does indeed capture ownership of text files with the extension: > ".txt" > > from Files app, which would otherwise show the text of the file using > > QuickLook. It seems j701 does not have this bug, insofar as it's not > > launched by Files app. > > > >> As a workaround until a solution is found, I can copy all my text files > > from iCloud to DropBox and access them from there. > > > > You don't need to move all your text files with ".txt" into DropBox. > > Instead of using Files app, why not download a 3rd party text editor from > > App Store? After a quick glance through a search on "text editor", I'd > > recommend QuickText (free, though it does limit you to editing only 15 > > files a week unless you buy the Pro version for £4.49). It starts up in > its > > Document Picker, which is sufficiently like Files app to be reassuring. > And > > it seems to display every text file whatever the extension. Even the > > J-owned files: ".ijs". > > > > Ian Clark > > > >> On Wed, 16 Feb 2022 at 00:38, Richard Donovan <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> > >> Hi Ian and thanks for taking an interest. > >> > >> I mean that I tap the file name of a text file from within the files > app. > >> This causes J901 to start up immediately. > >> > >> I should have said File Viewer rather than text editor. This a feature > of > >> the files app which displays the content of several files types such as > >> text, photo and PDF files. > >> > >> Now it gets really interesting… > >> > >> I remembered that these same text files were also present in my DropBox. > >> When I went to DropBox and tapped on a file there, it opened correctly, > >> seemingly using the same inbuilt viewer. > >> > >> Also, I have a lot of files with a .gpx file type but contain text. > These > >> are displayed correctly so it appears the call to J is made only with > files > >> having a .txt ending. > >> > >> Also, > >> > >> If I remove J901 from my system, again, the problem goes away. > >> > >> I can’t try with J702 as it seems to have been removed from the App > Store. > >> > >> A most peculiar problem. > >> > >> > >> I hope the above helps in debugging; if you need any more info, or want > to > >> watch a screen recording of this phenomenon in action, please let me > know. > >> > >> As a workaround until a solution is found, I can copy all my text files > >> from iCloud to DropBox and access them from there. > >> > >> > >> Richard Donovan > >> > >>>> On 16 Feb 2022, at 00:28, Ian Clark <[email protected]> wrote: > >>> > >>> Richard Donovan wrote > >>>> when I try to access a text file it triggers J instead of the text > >> editor! > >>> > >>> What exactly do you mean by "access"? That's a highly ambiguous term > >> where > >>> iPadOS is concerned. Read? Write? Edit? > >>> Do you mean: "open" a textfile by tapping on its icon in Apple Files > app? > >>> > >>> What exactly do you mean by "the text editor". On iOS/iPadOS there is > no > >>> "the" (as Yoda might say). See below. > >>> > >>> In stark contrast, macOS has TextEdit.app – which is indeed "the" text > >>> editor, although there are others (e.g. BBEdit). TextEdit will try to > >> edit > >>> any file you drag'n'drop onto its icon. And ⌘I will let you specify > >>> TextEdit.app as the "owner" for a whole range of inappropriate > filetypes > >> & > >>> extensions. iOS/iPadOS emphatically does not allow any of that. > >>> > >>> There's a known bug in j901 for iOS: it interfaces badly with the > (Apple) > >>> Files app. This is a messy area, and Apple has changed how Files app > >>> behaves over the last 2 years, especially its a.p.i – how 3rd-party > apps > >>> communicate with it. From what you're saying, they've changed iPadOS to > >>> behave differently from iOS. If so, this is a Files app bug, because I > >> can > >>> see no logical reason why iOS and iPadOS should behave differently > here. > >>> > >>> There is only one j901 release for both platforms, though Apple does > >>> "fixup" an app between the developer uploading it to App Store, and the > >>> end-user downloading it. Indeed j701 (the forerunner to j901) has been > >> thus > >>> tinkered with - and its App Store entry admits it. > >>> > >>> But there's the little matter of split screens, which iPadOS has to > deal > >>> with and iOS doesn't. So iPadOS can actually run both j901 in one > screen > >>> (editing a TXT file), and a 3rd-party text editor in the other > (editing a > >>> IJS file). I don't believe even Apple has anticipated what fun'n'games > >> that > >>> can lead to. > >>> > >>> What should happen is: when Files app is showing the icon for a data > file > >>> belonging to j901 viz. having the extension IJS, IJT, IJX, if you tap > on > >>> the icon it should (a) launch j901 (which it did last time I tried it) > >> (b) > >>> tell J901 to edit the tapped file (which, alas, j901 does not respond > to, > >>> because Files app is hopelessly buggy here, and the documentation is > out > >> of > >>> date. This is a known j901 bug). > >>> > >>> I can't see how this particular j901 bug is causing it to capture all > >> text > >>> files, however. > >>> > >>> iOS (and iPadOS) do not (officially) support the editing of (general) > >> text > >>> files. Apple would rather you didn't know what a textfile was – indeed > >> that > >>> you didn't know what a *file* was (yes, really!) – and thought only in > >>> terms of data owned by a particular app, such as Pythonista, Safari, > >> j901, > >>> etc. --Which isn't just down to the file's extension, e.g. TXT, which > >>> iOS/iPadOS goes out of its way to hide from the end-user. > >>> > >>> However, App Store grudgingly hosts a number of 3rd-party general > >> textfile > >>> editors There's even a Terminal lookalike, and various versions of > >> Python, > >>> which can edit Python source files – and maybe TXT (IJS, IJT, IJX) too. > >>> Which one are you using? It may be pretending ownership of more classes > >> of > >>> textfile than it is entitled to. Or else not defining its ownership in > >> the > >>> proper Apple way (which keeps changing every year or so). > >>> > >>> Which is "your" textfile editor? Until I know, I can't replicate your > >> bug. > >>> > >>> I'll look into it, but it's all a vastly messy area, and one which > Apple > >> is > >>> trying to deprecate by stealth. > >>> Meanwhile, here's some things to try. > >>> > >>> 1. Shut down and restart your iPad, to help it sort out its priorities. > >>> Does it now behave like your iPhone? > >>> > >>> 2. Delete j901. Does Files app launch the textfile editor? Repeat step > 1. > >>> Problem fixed? > >>> > >>> 3. Reinstall j901 again. Does the problem reappear? > >>> > >>> 4. Delete the textfile editor you're using, then reinstall it. This > will > >>> make iPadOS ask it "is this file one of yours?" before it asks j901. > >> Repeat > >>> step 1. Problem fixed? > >>> > >>> 5. The textfile editor ought to have an "open file" option of its own, > >>> which is independent of Files app. Can you open your (previously > >> captured) > >>> TXT file that way? (Perhaps this should be step 0.) > >>> > >>> 4. Download j701 (it's still there on App Store) Which app gets > launched > >>> now when you try to edit a textfile? Delete j901. Which now? > >>> > >>> 5. Try every permutation of the above until a pattern emerges. (It's > only > >>> what I'm going to have to do.) > >>> > >>> Is anyone running an iPad on a back-version of iPadOS? Can you > replicate > >>> Richard's bug? > >>> > >>> Ian Clark > >>> > >>>> On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 at 16:18, Richard Donovan <[email protected]> > >> wrote: > >>>> > >>>> Hi > >>>> > >>>> Since I installed J901 on my iPad when I try to access a text file it > >>>> triggers J instead of the text editor! The problem does not occur on > my > >>>> iPhone. The version of iPadOS I have is 15.2.1 and the iPhone uses iOS > >>>> 15.2.1 also. > >>>> > >>>> Is this a problem for anyone else? Has J stolen the file association > for > >>>> *.txt files?! > >>>> > >>>> Thanks, > >>>> > >>>> Richard Donovan > >>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>>> For information about J forums see > http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > >>>> > >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > >> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
