Hex Editing
How to edit hex directly in AXE.
Principles
Basically, AXE tries to have all the ease of use of a text editor, only applied
to hex values. Entering and editing raw hex values is therefore as easy as
simply clicking to move the caret to where the values should go and then
typing. The file will be extended as necessary, so if you're a wizard who feels
the need to start with a blank file and fill it up with bytes, simply create a
new document and type away into it. Not only that, but AXE supports full drag
and drop and clipboard capabilities, so you can cut, copy and paste, changing
the size of the file as necessary. The Cut, Copy and Paste function work just
like those of a text editor. Drag and drop allows you to select a range of
bytes and drag them over to another part of the view, or another document.
Following what looks to me like the Microsoft standard, dragging within a
document moves data, and dragging between different documents copies data. It
is thus easy to open a new document and use it to store chunks of
interesting-looking data in, simply by dragging them over to it.
The only exception to the rule that 'editing in AXE is just like your Windows
text editor' is that you can hold down the SHIFT key when dragging to specify
that the data you drag should overwrite the data that was at that offset before
(otherwise it'll be inserted, lengthening the file). The CTRL and ALT keys
specify Copy or Move just as in standard Windows drag'n'drop.
Navigation
AXE has many navigation features to help you move around in the document. They
are described here.
Selecting and Marking
Right click on a selected area and you can 'mark' the bytes. Various operations in AXE can be configured to change
or search only marked bytes, or to mark certain ranges of bytes. This makes it easy to restrict changes to certain
parts of the document or to visually highlight interesting areas.
The Raw Hex Column
The 'Raw Hex' column of the view also has a few other capabilities.
Bookmarks are shown on it as red triangles. Right clicking on them will
bring up a menu, asking if you want to edit or delete the bookmark. To move a
bookmark, you can simply drag it around the view.
Right clicking on selected regions of bytes will bring up another popup, asking
if you want to mark or unmark those bytes. Marked bytes are shown in grey, and
various operations can be set to affect only marked bytes. Marking is also an
easy way to highlight an interesting area of the data.
Right clicking on a plain old unselected byte will ask you if you want to put a
bookmark there. Right clicking on an offset will offer you the chance to use
the powerful 'Make structure from row' feature (there's a toolbar button for
that as well), which will allow you to edit a new structure and see how the
data of that row looks when seen through the structure you're making.
Finally, double clicking on a byte will send the view to that byte, and double
clicking on a bookmark will 'apply' that bookmark, sending the view to it and
optionally changing the current row length and structure.
Edits, inserts, deletes and everything else are stored in the variable-length
undo buffer of the document they're performed on, so it's easy to go back a few
steps and try something different.