Editing Acorn Electron (section)

===Applications===
Acornsoft made a number of applications available for the Electron. In early 1985, the ''View'' word processor and ''ViewSheet'' spreadsheet applications, familiar from the BBC Micro, were released on ROM cartridge for use with the Electron expanded with a Plus 1, priced at £49.50 each.<ref name="elbug198504_view">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/elbug-magazine-1985-04/page/n5/mode/2up | title=View and Viewsheet | magazine=ELBUG | last1=Otley | first1=David | pages=6–8 }}</ref> By running directly from ROM, these applications were able to dedicate all of the machine's available RAM to their documents, and using general filing system mechanisms, documents could be loaded from and saved to cassette or disc,<ref name="electronuser198510_view">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume3/Electron-User-03-01/page/n40/mode/1up | title=With a View to meatier output | magazine=Electron User | last1=Waddilove | first1=Roland | date=October 1985 | access-date=28 May 2023 | pages=41 }}</ref> although disc users could also use commands that took advantage of that faster, random-access medium.<ref name="electronuser198703_view">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume4/Electron-User-04-06/page/n23/mode/2up | title=Take a rom with a View... | magazine=Electron User | last1=Waddilove | first1=Roland | date=March 1987 | access-date=29 May 2023 | pages=24–26 }}</ref> Cassette-based operation was still regarded as "perfectly feasible" since the software itself did not need to be loaded, with loading and saving operations in View achieving about 800 words per minute and in ViewSheet achieving around 200 cells per minute.<ref name="elbug198504_view"/>

When using View in Mode 6, providing a 40-column, 25-line display occupying 8&nbsp;KB of memory, around 20&nbsp;KB of RAM was available to cassette-based systems or to disc-based systems using products such as the Cumana Floppy Disc System that also maintained PAGE at &E00,<ref name="electronuser198510_view"/> this corresponding to about 10 or 11 A4 pages of text. In Mode 3, providing an 80-column, 25-line display occupying 16&nbsp;KB, around 6 or 7 A4 pages of text could be retained in memory.<ref name="elbug198504_view"/> Acorn's Plus 3 disc system reduced this workspace by a further 4&nbsp;KB. However, documents could be broken up into sections to be processed individually by View. Operation in the 80-column Mode 0 and Mode 3 was reported as being "sometimes slow" due to the Electron's hardware architecture,<ref name="electronuser198510_view"/> but View supported horizontal scrolling across documents, permitting the use of a 40-column mode to edit wider documents.<ref name="elbug198504_view"/>

ViewSheet could also operate in different display modes, with spreadsheets of approximately 1600 cells being editable in Mode 6 and around 800 cells in Mode 3. A windowing system was provided that permitted ten different views of a spreadsheet to be displayed on screen at once, and recalculation operations were reported to be "around ten seconds for quite a large model". Reviewers considered the View and ViewSheet applications to be "professional" and to "compare well with similar software sold for much more expensive machines" such as the IBM PC,<ref name="elbug198504_view"/> with [[WordStar]] being noted as a broadly similar package to View.<ref name="electronuser198703_view"/> Compatibility with the same programs on the BBC Micro made a complete Electron-based system an attractive, low-cost, entry-level word processing and spreadsheet system.<ref name="elbug198504_view"/> However, View's printing support was criticised as inadequate without the use of a companion printer driver program.<ref name="electronuser198510_view"/>

Acornsoft did not release its ''ViewStore'' database program specifically for the Electron, but the software was reported as being compatible, albeit with function key combinations different to those documented for the BBC Micro.<ref name="electronuser198806_viewsheet_viewstore">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume5/Electron-User-05-09/page/n6/mode/1up | title=A dab-hand's view | magazine=Electron User | last1=Nixon | first1=Chris | date=June 1988 | access-date=9 June 2023 | pages=7–8 }}</ref> However, Acornsoft did release a product, ''Database'', on 3.5-inch diskette for use with the Electron upgraded with the Plus 3 expansion. The product provided a suite of programs for the creation, maintenance and analysis of structured data files, visualising records using a card index user interface metaphor, and supporting sorting and searching operations on the stored data.<ref name="electronuser198601_database">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume3/Electron-User-03-04/page/n10/mode/1up | title=Database | magazine=Electron User | last1=Bibby | first1=Pete | date=January 1986 | access-date=9 June 2023 | pages=11–14 }}</ref>

Slogger, an established provider of expansions, also produced productivity applications such as ''Starword'', a word processor, and ''Starstore'', a database. Starword provided separate command and editing modes familiar from Acornsoft's View, also supporting 132-column documents and horizontal scrolling for the editing of such wider documents. Along with other operations familiar from View, such as search and replace functions, block-based editing, and control over text justification, it had built-in support for customising documents for output using a [[mail merge]] function. Available on ROM for fitting to a ROM expansion such as Slogger's Rombox or inside a separately purchased ROM cartridge, and reportedly developed specifically for the Electron, Starword was considered "comprehensive and powerful".<ref name="electronuser198604_starword">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume3/Electron-User-03-07/page/n25/mode/1up | title=The WP system with some tricks up its sleeve | magazine=Electron User | last1=Richards | first1=David | date=April 1986 | access-date=9 June 2023 | pages=26 }}</ref>

Starstore, also available on ROM, provided a database management suite primarily aimed at users of cassette storage, with databases being entirely resident in RAM. It supported database definition, data editing, searching, sorting and printing activities. Various features complemented Starword, such as mail merge integration.<ref name="electronuser198609_starstore">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume3/Electron-User-03-12/page/n56/mode/1up | title=Making the most of your memory | magazine=Electron User | last1=Richards | first1=David | date=September 1986 | access-date=9 June 2023 | pages=57 }}</ref> ''Starstore II'' followed on as an alternative to, as opposed to a direct successor of, the earlier Starstore product by requiring a disc-based system and permitting databases to be as large as the amount of free space on any given disc. Its user interface was improved over the earlier product, offering pop-up menus and cursor-based navigation.<ref name="electronuser198611_starstore2">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume4/Electron-User-04-02/page/n20/mode/1up | title=Friendly – and foolproof | magazine=Electron User | last1=Richards | first1=David | date=November 1986 | access-date=9 June 2023 | pages=21 }}</ref>

Computer Concepts' ''Wordwise Plus'', developed from the company's earlier [[Wordwise]] product for the BBC Micro and launched in early 1985,<ref name="acornuser198502_wordwiseplus">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser031-Feb85/page/n12/mode/1up | title=DIY command system boosts Wordwise chip | magazine=Acorn User | date=February 1985 | access-date=24 June 2023 | pages=11 }}</ref> was made available for use with the Electron expanded with the E2P-6502 second processor cartridge. The original Wordwise product was incompatible with the Electron due to its use of Mode 7 (the BBC Micro's 40-column Teletext display mode), and being supplied on a ROM chip, it could also not be readily added to the Electron without appropriate expansions. Available from Permanent Memory Systems, producers of the E2P-6502 cartridge, the Electron version of the software was the Hi-Wordwise Plus variant, supplied on disc instead of ROM, and designed to run on the second processor and to use the expanded memory provided in that environment. The program used the Electron's 40-column Mode 6 display.<ref name="electronuser198703_wordwiseplus"/>

Expansion manufacturers Advanced Computer Products and Slogger both made solutions available based on products from Advanced Memory Systems. ACP released a bundle of the ''AMX Mouse'' and ''AMX Art'' software for use with its Advanced Plus 5 expansion, also requiring a DFS-compatible disc system.<ref name="electronuser198704_amx">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume4/Electron-User-04-07/page/n21/mode/2up | title=Directing, doodling and designing | magazine=Electron User | last1=McLachlan | first1=Alan | date=April 1987 | access-date=25 June 2023 | pages=23 }}</ref> Slogger produced a version of the desktop publishing package ''Stop Press'' for the Electron, requiring a DFS-compatible disc system, two spare ROM sockets, a mouse, and a suitable user port expansion, with Slogger producing its own user port expansion cartridge.<ref name="electronuser198902_slogger"/> Competing with these products but requiring only a disc system, AVP's ''Pixel Perfect'' offered a rudimentary desktop publishing solution, utilising the computer's high-resolution Mode 0 display.<ref name="electronuser198902_pixelperfect">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume6/Electron-User-06-05/page/n23/mode/2up | title=Hold the front page! | magazine=Electron User | last1=Boswell | first1=Julie | date=February 1989 | access-date=25 June 2023 | pages=24–25 }}</ref>