Dave's Tiny Editor (DTE) v3.3.1

A working Windows text editor in 794 bytes.

DTE 3.0 has arrived, and it's breaking barriers!

A working Windows text editor in 794 bytes, DTE 3.0 is a complete rewrite from blank and documents the major changes along the way. Thirty-one historical versions from the 372-byte init to 908-byte full functionality and then worked down again to 794-byte working version, are included.

Fewer imports, persistent file handle, static class window, no includes, file I/O via RICHEDIT20W, and by special appearance:

A fake file dirty marker!

There is no flag to set, a * is simply appended to the title on file change and removed on save.

To use DTE, drag and drop a file onto dte.exe.

Version 3.0 is the main distribution. 2.0 is a more standard, optimized tiny exe. 1.0 is limited by EDIT, and more experimental.

(Old) New! June 2026: DTE (2.0) has in collaboration with Dave Plummer been expanded into TinyRetroPad, a full-featured Notepad work-alike editor in 2.62 kb! You can find TRPad here and a video about it here.

You can find the Save button in the window's system menu.

Compiles with: MASM and Crinkler.

DTE 1.0 and 2.0 are extensions of tiny.asm HelloAssembly by Dave Plummer. DTE 3.0 is a complete rewrite. All versions use Crinkler compression at build time.

DTE is basically a wrapper around the RICHEDIT20W control from the WinAPI.

Versions in 1.0 use the EDIT control with Crinkler cranked and were built-up from tiny.asm then worked down to 890 bytes with Win Defender quite unhappy. NOTE: This has been stabilized at 926 bytes with no A/V issues.

Versions in 2.0 have Crinkler backed-off a bit and use RICHEDIT to gain cheaper access to Courier font and much larger files. 2.0 was then worked down from 995 to 967 bytes.

Versions in 3.0 are a complete rewrite, yielding a functional editor in 908 bytes (already beating 2.0) and then worked down to 794 bytes.

A Very Special Note About File I/O

Version 3.0 intentionally lets a user open DTE without a file. There is currently no way to save that file, but I have some ideas for future revisions. If no file name:

1. Save as the first few chars of the file as a name
2. Save as a fixed file name such as "d" or "sav"
3. Or just block opening if no file like 1.0 and 2.0

I will have to spend some time to figure out how to handle it. I'd really like to keep 3.0 under 800 bytes. There's just something about "being in the sevens."

Contents:

Folder	Description
1_0	Version 1.0 non-mono font 926 bytes build with full history
2_0_BACKUPS	Version 2.0 more features, 967 bytes build from RICHEDIT to release
3_0	Version 3.0 complete rewrite, 794 bytes build from blank to release

File	Description
build.bat	Builds DTE from command line
DRAG ME ONTO DTE.txt	How to use DTE
DTE ABOUT.txt	Explains some design decisions
dte.asm	The program. Version 3.3.1
LICENSE	Usage permissions

DTE in use:

Compiling, and if You're New to Crinkler

Important: Programs using Crinkler can be flagged as a false positive by antivirus, including Windows Defender. You may need to make an antivirus exception folder to build this (especially for 1.0), or Windows may delete the EXE as soon as the build completes. Therefore, try this out AT YOUR OWN RISK - NO WARRANTIES / NO GUARANTEES. You can accomplish this with PowerShell, but I am not going to tell you how. Sorry. You're on your own when messing with antivirus.

• MASM version used: Microsoft (R) Macro Assembler Version 14.44.35224.0
  

• MASM can vary depending on version. If you experience:

C:\masm32\include\winextra.inc(11052) : error A2026:constant expected
C:\masm32\include\winextra.inc(11053) : error A2026:constant expected

        In masm32\include\winextra.inc change:

    STD_ALERT struct<br>
        alrt_timestamp dd ?<br>
        alrt_eventname WCHAR  [EVLEN + 1] dup(?)
        alrt_servicename WCHAR [SNLEN + 1] dup(?)
    STD_ALERT ends

        to:

    STD_ALERT struct<br>
        alrt_timestamp dd ?<br>
        alrt_eventname WCHAR  (EVLEN + 1) dup(?)
        alrt_servicename WCHAR (SNLEN + 1) dup(?)
    STD_ALERT ends<br>

        The brackets on lines 13,14 were changed to parens.

• Build.bat contains: /LIBPATH:"C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Lib\10.0.20348.0\um\x86"
  You may need to change to fit your system: /LIBPATH:"....\Windows Kits\10\Lib\(your version)\um\x86"
• You need to have Crinkler installed in a directory that has been added to PATH.
  Example: C:\utils\Crinkler.exe