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1991-12-16
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I make heavy use of 1-2-3 and am surprised that few people
take advantage of the AUTO123.WKx spreadsheet file, which if
stored in the global default directory (type /WGDD; enter
the drive letter, a colon, and the directory; and type UQ),
loads automatically when you start 1-2-3. I use this
worksheet as a file-retrieval menu [see figure below]. After
loading 1-2-3, all I need to do is press an <Alt>-letter key
combination to invoke the worksheet file of my choice.
Here's how this menu works: Column A contains easily changed
parameters for the file-launching macros; column B
identifies, in an easily readable form, the keystrokes
needed to run the macros; column C describes what the macros
do; column D names the macros for the benefit of 1-2-3's
Range Name Label command; and column E contains the actual
macro instructions.
Most of the macros don't use column A, but occasionally it
comes in handy. Note, for instance, the File Server macro in
row 7. Cell A7 contains the name of a file server
subdirectory from which you might want to retrieve files. To
open a file in the F:\ACCOUNTS subdirectory, for instance,
you would merely change the A7 label to read ACCOUNTS, then
press <Alt>-F. If A7 contains a number, the macro converts
it to a string to make it a legal directory name.
Because I make frequent changes to this spreadsheet, I added
a macro--invoked by <Alt-S>--that easily saves the file.
This spreadsheet makes retrieving 1-2-3 files a breeze.
Jeff S. Hoffmann
Savage, Minnesota
Editor's note: This simple idea can be extended to provide
all sorts of useful start-up menus. For instance, you can
use 1-2-3's date functions to create items for "this month's
budget," "last week's report," and so forth, and the
spreadsheet can automatically find the file that corresponds
to the appropriate day, week, or month (I added cells A5..E5
to demonstrate this technique). If you're creating the menu
for other users, move the contents of columns D and E
outside the visible portion of the worksheet to give the
screen a more polished look.
The figure below illustrates how the screen looks when the
menu is displayed, but doesn't show the formulae in their
entirety; some of them are too long to be displayed fully
on the screen. To get a complete copy of the worksheet,
retrieve the file AUTO123.WK1 from the P4SPREAD directory on
your PowerBase *.* Volume IV diskette, edit it, and save it
with the appropriate extension for your version of the
spreadsheet. Or, if you'd rather enter them by hand, the
formulae from column E of the spreadsheet are listed below.
(If you enter the formulae manually, remember to name the
ranges. To do this, press /, select Range Name Label Right,
enter the range D3..D11, and press <Enter>.) The macros
listed reflect Mr. Hoffmann's drive and directory structure;
you'll want to alter them to match yours. The possibilities
are limited only by your imagination and macro-writing
skills.
Figure: AUTO123.WK1--or .WK3--offers you a menu of file-loading
choices when you enter 1-2-3. The image below (you'll need
to scroll the window horizontally to see all of it) shows
how the menu looks on your screen rather than the complete
formulae.
A B C D E F
1 Parm Key Function Keycode Macro
2 --------------------------------------------------------
3 ALT-A Floppy A: \A /FR{ESC}{ESC}A:\~
4
5 ALT-B Monthly Budget \B /FRC:\BUDGETS\91\7~
6
7 WORK ALT-F File Server \F /FR{ESC}{ESC}F:\WORK\~
8
9 ALT-P Personal \P /FRPERSONAL\~
10
11 ALT-S Save this menu \S /FS~R
12 after changing
13
Complete Formulae for Column "E" of Spreadsheet
E3: '/FR{ESC}{ESC}A:\~
E5: +"/FRC:\BUDGETS\"&@STRING(@YEAR(@NOW),0)&"\"&@STRING(@MONTH(@NOW),0)&"~"
E7: +"/FR{ESC}{ESC}F:\"&@IF(@ISNUMBER(A7)=1,@STRING(A7,0),A7)&"\~"
E9: '/FRPERSONAL\~
E11: '/FS~R
Title: 1-2-3 Menu Magic
Category: SPR
Issue date: Oct 1991
Editor: Brett Glass
Supplementary files: P4SPREAD\AUTO123.WK1