Operation History

The Hex Editor Neo widely uses the concept of operation history. Operation history is a series of operations performed on the document. The history is a document's property and is therefore shared by all document's editor windows.

An operation is a command executed on the document that caused any modifications to it. Below is a list of all commands that lead to document modification and thus always form an operation:

• Typing (or Write)
• Fill
• Insert
• Delete
• Insert File
• Insert Hex
• Change File Size
• Replace
• Replace All
• Cut
• Merge and Cut
• Paste
• Encrypt
• Decrypt
• Bitwise Operations
• Arithmetic Operations
• Shift Operations
• Case Change Operations
• Reverse Operations

Other commands (such as Find and Copy) do not modify the document's data and do not form an operation.

The current document's operation history is always displayed in the History Tool Window. In addition, Edit » Undo and Edit » Redo commands can be used to navigate through the operations.

Organization

As you issue more and more commands on the document, they are added to its operation history, forming an operation list. There is always a “current” operation in the list. The current operation is the last operation performed on the document. At the very top of the list there is an “Open” or “New” operation in most cases. The “New” operation is used if the document was created and “Open” operation is used if the document was opened.

If the History » Clear History command were used on the document, the root of the list may not be a “New” or “Open” operation.

You can change the current operation using one of the following methods:

• Execute another operation. The operation is added to the operation list and becomes a current operation.
• Execute the Edit » Undo command. The operation, which is previous to the current one (if there is one), becomes a current operation.
• Execute the Edit » Redo command. The operation, which is next to the current one (if there is one), becomes a current operation.
• Select any operation in an operation tree in the History Tool Window. Selected operation becomes current.

When the current operation is not a last executed operation, all operations executed AFTER the current are grayed in the History Tool Window. They are then called phantom operations, or operation tail. All these operations are stored in a history, but are not currently affecting the document. Although, they can always be applied again to the document, if you change the current operation.