Preferences and Data Files

PREFERENCES AND DATA FILES

A preferences file is used for the monthly calendars (for use with FWCalendar) and a data file for pre-defined event data (for use with FWCAddEvent).

Preferences Files
Preferences files contain: translation strings, highlight and image information, and variable values that differ from FWCalendar's defaults. These variables contain, among others, format, color, and font information.

Settings in the preferences file can be changed via the variable editor. These changes are stored for future use, but are not saved to the preferences file and will therefore be lost any time a preferences file is loaded. To incorporate the changes into a preferences file, select the "Export" button; this will save any variables that differ from FWCalendar's defaults to the desired file (note: the export filename cannot be the same as the preferences filename, even if they are in different directories). The contents of the export file can then be added to a preferences file with a text editor. The preferences files are never changed by FWCalendar.

Should you change any values in the preferences file, you will need to select the "Load" button in the variable editor and re-load the preferences file. Note that this will cause any previous changes made with the variable editor to be lost, so it is always best to keep your preferred default values set in the preferences file.

Both FWCalendar and FWCAddEvent use the same preferences file for initializing variables, so you should not change the preferences between using FWCalendar and FWCAddEvent. See notes on the variable editor for more details.

VARIABLES There are over 100 user-definable variables that can be added to the localized preferences files. This allows you to keep your variables separate so you don't have to change them every time a new version of the macros is released, and allows you to customize FWCalendar to a great extent.

HIGHLIGHTS "Highlight" is the term I'm using to describe holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, and other notable dates. There is no design limitation on the number of highlights that can be assigned, since multiple highlights can be assigned for each day of the year. There is a comment line beginning the highlight list for each month; this is not necessary for the macro but helps organize the highlights.

IMAGES You can specify images to be inserted in the center of certain dates such as birthdays, anniversaries, and other days. The images can be inserted whether or not a highlight is inserted on that date. Only one image can be inserted for a given day.

FWCAddEvent Data
Certain events may need to be added to the calendar each month, always in the same order and always the same number of days apart (such as a rotating work schedule). Or you may want to add the same events to numerous calendars with different formats. In these cases, it may be convenient to pre-define these events and enter them automatically. To do so, select the "File" option from the upper-left gadget of the FWCAddEvent requester, then select the pre-defined event data file.

The pre-defined event data file can have any name and be located anywhere When the file requester appears, the default directory will be the same as the location of the other FWCalendar files. The data file consists of sets of lines containing the following keywords:

Start    The offset from the "root date" selected in the FWCAddEvent requester; this value is used to calculate the event's actual start date. This keyword is required.

End    The offset from the "root date" selected in the FWCAddEvent requester; this value is used to calculate the event's actual end date. If omitted, End will be set equal to Start.

Font    For Final Writer, the full path and name of the desired font; for PageStream, the name of an installed font. If omitted, the font defined by Font.Highlight will be used.

Size    The desired font size (will be truncated to a whole number for Final Writer). If omitted, the calculated font size (based on AddEventRows) will be used.

Line    The line number to used for the event (0 - 16)�. If omitted, the event will be printed on line one.

Options    B for boxed, W for Weekly, 2 for Biweekly (only one of W or 2 can be used, but either can be used in conjunction with B.). If omitted, the event will not be boxed (unless it is a multi-day event) and it will not be repeated for succeeding weeks.

TextColor    The color (eg, blue or red) to be used for the event text. If omitted, the event will be printed in black or in the color defined by Color.AddEvent.

BoxColor    The color (eg, blue or red) to be used for the box's background. If omitted, the box (if drawn) will be white or the color defined by Background.AddEvent.

Event    The event (if single or double quotes are used, they will be included on the calendar). This keyword is required.

These keywords and their values can appear in any order, but there must be a blank space on either side of the "=" sign. Events are separated by a blank line, and comment lines (beginning with '/*') will be ignored. Only Start and Event are required; this will cause the Event to be printed on line one of the day Start days after the "root date."

Unboxed, single-day events will have subsequent lines indented. The text will be split between lines automatically, so there is no need to indicate specific line breaks; if desired, line breaks can be indicated by inserting ' //' where the line break is desired. Boxed events have all lines centered.

IMPORTANT: note that both Start and End are offsets from the "root date" selected in the FWCAddEvent requester. If the "root date" is the first day of October, for example, the keyword pair Start = 5, End = 8 will cause the event to span October 6 through October 9.

Examples:

Start = 0
Event = Testing Testing (without quotes) will be inserted on line one of the "root date"

Start = 0
End = 1
Line = 2
Event = "Testing"
"Testing" (including quotes) will be inserted (and boxed because it spans more than one day) on line 2 of the "root date" and the next day

Start = 4
Line = 1
Font = Zapf-Chancery
Size = 12
TextColor = Green
BoxColor = Blue
Options = bw
Event = 'FWCalendar is Great!'
'FWCalendar is Great!' (including single quotes) will be inserted with green, 12-pt, Zapf-Chancery text, backed by a blue box, on line 1 of the 4th day after the "root date". This will be repeated weekly through the end of the calendar

Start = 15
Line = 4
Options = 'B'
Event = Teacher Conferences//No School
Teacher Conferences will be centered on line 4 and No School will be centered on line 5 of the 15th day after after the "root date." The pair of lines will be backed by a box of the color defined in the appropriate data file (or white if the default data was used).

� The number of lines that will actually fit in a given date is determined by the font and the HighlightRows variable. The number of lines that will fit on half-size days (days at the end of the month that are split) will be less than the full complement of lines. Certain lines may also be filled by Highlights added during generation of the calendar; events added to these lines would overwrite the highlights.

Start		The offset from the "root date" selected in the FWCAddEvent requester; this value is used to calculate the event's actual start date. This keyword is required.
End		The offset from the "root date" selected in the FWCAddEvent requester; this value is used to calculate the event's actual end date. If omitted, End will be set equal to Start.
Font		For Final Writer, the full path and name of the desired font; for PageStream, the name of an installed font. If omitted, the font defined by Font.Highlight will be used.
Size		The desired font size (will be truncated to a whole number for Final Writer). If omitted, the calculated font size (based on AddEventRows) will be used.
Line		The line number to used for the event (0 - 16)�. If omitted, the event will be printed on line one.
Options		B for boxed, W for Weekly, 2 for Biweekly (only one of W or 2 can be used, but either can be used in conjunction with B.). If omitted, the event will not be boxed (unless it is a multi-day event) and it will not be repeated for succeeding weeks.
TextColor		The color (eg, blue or red) to be used for the event text. If omitted, the event will be printed in black or in the color defined by Color.AddEvent.
BoxColor		The color (eg, blue or red) to be used for the box's background. If omitted, the box (if drawn) will be white or the color defined by Background.AddEvent.
Event		The event (if single or double quotes are used, they will be included on the calendar). This keyword is required.

Start = 0 Event = Testing	Testing (without quotes) will be inserted on line one of the "root date"
Start = 0 End = 1 Line = 2 Event = "Testing"	"Testing" (including quotes) will be inserted (and boxed because it spans more than one day) on line 2 of the "root date" and the next day
Start = 4 Line = 1 Font = Zapf-Chancery Size = 12 TextColor = Green BoxColor = Blue Options = bw Event = 'FWCalendar is Great!'	'FWCalendar is Great!' (including single quotes) will be inserted with green, 12-pt, Zapf-Chancery text, backed by a blue box, on line 1 of the 4th day after the "root date". This will be repeated weekly through the end of the calendar
Start = 15 Line = 4 Options = 'B' Event = Teacher Conferences//No School	Teacher Conferences will be centered on line 4 and No School will be centered on line 5 of the 15th day after after the "root date." The pair of lines will be backed by a box of the color defined in the appropriate data file (or white if the default data was used).