E

early-warning position

A physical mark or device-computed position immediately before the end-of-partition marker.

edit control

A window control that allows the user to enter and edit text. Edit controls are typically used in dialog boxes.

ellipse

A closed curve defined by two fixed points such that the sum of the distances from any point on the curve to the two fixed points is constant.

elliptical region

A region with the shape of an ellipse. See also ellipse, region.

embedded font

A TrueType font stored as part of a document. (By storing a font in a document, the document's author is guaranteed that the original appearance and format of the document remain intact.) See also TrueType font.

end cap

A geometric pen attribute that specifies the shape of the pen. There are three types of end caps: flat, round, and square.

end-of-medium marker

The last position on a tape where you can record data.

end-of-partition marker

The last position on a partition where you can record data.

end-of-tape marker

Same as end-of-medium marker.

enhanced metafile

One of two metafile formats. This format, used in applications written to run with the Win32 application programming interface (API), consists of a header, a table of handles to graphics device interface (GDI) objects, a private palette, and an array of metafile records. See also handle.

environment variable

A symbolic variable that represents some element of the operating system, such as a path, a filename, or other literal data. For example, the environment variable PATH represents the directories to search for executable files. See also directory, path.

erase gap

An area of erased tape or a pattern that the device does not recognize as a marker or as user data; it is used to locate a filemark to be overwritten.

escapement

An angle defined by the escapement vector and the x-axis of a device. The base line of a string of text is parallel to the escapement vector. See also x-axis.

event object

An interprocess synchronization object whose state is explicitly set to signaled by the SetEvent or PulseEvent function. A manual-reset event object's state must be explicitly reset to the nonsignaled state by the ResetEvent function. A wait function resets an auto-reset event object's state to nonsignaled before returning. See also synchronization object, wait function.

exception

An event that occurs during the execution of a program and that requires the execution of software outside the normal flow of control.

exception record

A record of an exception. The exception record is saved in an EXCEPTION_RECORD structure.

extent

In the FAT and NTFS file systems, a group of one or more virtual clusters on contiguous sequential logical clusters. See also logical cluster, virtual cluster.