Talk:BugzillaWorkflowImprovements:FlowChart B

Q. Out of curiousity how did you generate that flow chart? Did you do the ascii chart by hand?

Some simple Emacs techniques eased some of the work. [Emacs command syntax:

• C-x means Ctrl-x. C-x is a prefix key for eXtended commands.
• M-x means Meta-x [Alt-x on windows keyboards]. Meta-x allows you to type the name of an extended command.
• C-c means Ctrl-c. C-c is a prefix key for special modes like picture-mode. (type carefully: x is next to c, and C-x C-c saves buffers and exits emacs).
• M-Sh-> means hold both meta (alt) and shift key while typing > key.

] 1. Emacs picture-mode can be useful: it is like overwrite-mode, but you can pick what direction the cursor moves after typing each visible character so it is easier to type lines. M-x picture-mode Once in picture mode, do C-h m for mode help. Note: some commands have (parenthesized variant behavior) if given numeric argument: C-u command 2. In picture mode, you can save/yank rectangles of text to kill ring: C-space to set mark at one corner. Navigate to opposite corner. C-c C-k. Yank it back from kill ring overwriting with C-c C-y. Yang it back from kill ring inserting with C-u C-c C-y (C-u adds a numeric arg 4). 3. Also, can use temporary macros to insert or delete columns of text (exit picture-mode first: C-c C-c). Example: to insert two spaces and |, backup 3 characters, next line: define macro: C-x ( <space> <space> | C-b C-b C-b C-n C-x ) execute macro: C-x e [release control key before typing e] use numeric prefix to execute macro multiple times: execute macro 10 times: C-1 C-0 C-x e execute macro 16 times: C-u C-u c-x e 4. To replace all tabs with spaces: navigate to top of buffer: M-Sh-< set mark: c-space navigate to bottom of buffer: M-Sh-> untabify region: M-x untabify