To perform mail merging with any database application you must have merge commands in the text. These commands are sent by Impression when the database tells Impression to. To insert merge commands in the text use the Merge command dialogue from the Misc menu. The line that you type in shows the command that will be sent to get data for insertion at the point in the text where the merge command is stored.
To set a new merge command, get the dialogue up, type in the command you want to send, click in the text where you want it to go and press "Set".
Or make sure that the cursor is in the text where you want the merge command to go then get the dialogue up, etc. either is acceptable.
To clear a merge command put the cursor next to the merge command in the text and get the dialogue up, then press "Clear".
To undo anything you have done while the Merge command dialogue was on screen just press "Cancel".
The Merge command dialogue can be used to see what commands are in the text by moving the caret around in the document while the box is up. When the caret is next to a merge command its command string will be shown in the dialogue box.
There is no user interface to control mail merging in Impression. The database is entirely in control of the mail merge operation.
Mail merging with !Importer
!Importer is a simple BASIC application which is really designed to mail merge a list of names and addresses into Impression documents. When you run Importer a dialogue appears on the screen which is used to control the mail merge. When this dialogue is closed Importer quits and the mail merge is aborted (no matter what stage it was in).
To start a mail merge drop a suitable text file onto the dialogue (its name and icon will replace the right-hand question mark icon) and drop an Impression document icon from the Impression save box onto the dialogue (its name and icon will replace the left-hand icon). As soon as you have done this Importer will merge the first record with the Impression document.
Whenever there is merged data in the Impression document the doument can not be edited. The mouse pointer will be shown as a large cross sign meaning that all keypresses and clicks, including the ability to bring up menus, are forbidden.
Press "Print" to print the merged record, "Next" to go to the next record, or "Edit" to edit the merged document. When you press edit Importer will quit and the document will become editable again but with the merge codes removed and replaced with the last merged data.
Select the "Print all records" switch if you don't want Importer to stop after each record. If you do want to stop Importer while it is printing all the records simply turn the switch off again.
Impression mail merge documents
For use with !Importer the Impression document should have merge commands of the following types:
Either
:Importer GetField <n>
Or
:Importer GetTimeDate [<FormatString>]
:Importer means send this command to the application called Importer.
The Getfield command takes one parameter which is the number of the field in the current record which you want to replace this merge command with when the docuent is merged.
The GetTimeDate command takes an optional parameter. If the parameter is ommitted the date will be returned in the form <date><suffix> <Month> <Year>,
eg. 8th February 1991
or 21st April 1966
etc.
The FormatString is a RISC OS TimeAndDate formatting string as described in (The Archimedes User Guide? The Archimedes Welcome Guide? It should be somewhere!!!).
Importer datafiles
The datafile should be a textfile (as prodcued by !Edit) containing records separated by two linefeeds (in other words there should be a blank line between each record). The fields in the records are separated by single linefeeds (in other words each field is on a line of its own).
The trick with the records in the !Importer database is that you put things which are only going to take one field to describe at the top of the records and the address (which could be many lines) at the bottom. So a record might look something like this:
Mr. Jones
0074645
Ford Escort
Mr. C. Jones
17 Arbury Road
Weedlesworth
Hinkton
Bargshire
HK10 6EW
The top three bits of data take one field each to describe and the address, which may be any number of fields, makes up the rest of the record. Notice that the persons name was stored twice. This was done so that the letter could be formed better, using fields 4 to 6 in the address at the top of the letter and field 1 after the "Dear ". This also allows the database to handle the difference between people who are personally known to you and those who aren't - the first line could have read "Chris" instead of "Mr. Jones".
