Almathera Ten Pack 3: CDPD 3/Almathera Ten on Ten - Disc 3: CDPD3.iso/scope/051-075/scopedisk51/wputil/macroeditor/me.doc

Text File | 1995-03-18 | 21KB | 423 lines

In this issue of AMnews...

WordPerfect's MacroEditor Means
Escape From Drudgery

by Randy Chase and Grant Johnson


    One of the key words in our relationship with computers is repeat.  While
we tire of repetition quickly, the computer thrives on it.  What is needed
in repetitive situations is some way for you to tell the computer what do
and when -- in short, a macro.

    Macros let you condense a series of keyboard activities or mouse moves
into a self-contained package of instructions that can be easily called up
in the future.  When invoked, a macro can guide the program through the
required steps to produce the desired results.

Macro Magic

    The task at hand need not be large and unwieldy to justify  making a
macro of it.  A small but repetitive task can be effectively controlled by
one, such as changing the directory path to a frequently accessed
sub-directory, or altering the margins in a WordPerfect document to those
you use on a regular basis.

    Something as simple as starting a letter is perhaps one of the most
effective (and practical) utilizations of a macro.  Every time you begin a
letter, yo probably follow the same series of steps.  What margin settings
are required?  What is the date?  What return address (or letterhead) is
needed?  These questions can be answered once in a macro, instead of
tediously repeated every time you write a letter.  Once embodied in a
macro, these frequently repeated tasks can be accomplished with a few
simple keystrokes.

    WordPerfect itself supports the creation of macros in the most natural
manner possible -- imitation -- by simply telling the computer to pay
attention while the task is being performed.  Then, when required, it can
repeat that process automatically.

Enter Macro Editor

    While WordPerfect offers this simple means of defining macros, making
even the smallest changes in them has (until the release of WordPerfect's
Macro Editor in this issue of AMnews) necessitated that you start over from
the top.  That's because WordPerfect's word processing program of the same
name records everything you do when it "records" a macro, mistakes and all.
If you misspell a word and corrected, every time that macro runs you'll
have to watch it corrected over and over.

    Also, should even the slightest modification be needed in order for it to
perform, the entire macro had to be redefined.  In the case of complex
macros, this required starting over from the beginning, slowly and
precisely re-creating the entire macro, without making any errors while
incorporating the desired changes.

Inside the Workbench Programs Drawer on the AMnews_1 disk, you'll find a
drawer containing the Macro Editor which is called ME, a number of
supporting files including Help, and eleven pre-programmed macros.
Although the Macro Editor won't run inside of AMnews due to the absence of
the proprietary WordPerfect file it requires, Figure #1 from Thingies on
the Articles Jazz pull down menu at the top of this screen will show you
what it looks like on Workbench.

    The release of Macro Editor provides the solution to this awkward
situation.  By using it, WordPerfect owners can now take those
not-quite-right macros and perfect or adapt them with great precision, not
to mention ease.  This increased flexibility makes using macros within
WordPerfect far more inviting and should encourage you to explore the
untapped potential of creating your own personal command structure.

If It's Worth Doing Twice...

The secret to streamlining WordPerfect and customizing its daily operation
lies in determining just what can best be done within macros.  If you do
something likely to be repeated again in the future, it might as well be
done the first time with WordPerfect's macro recorder turned on, capturing
the activity in a macro that can then repeat the process whenever needed.

With the greatly increased flexibility offered by Macro Editor, more
intricate applications can now be more comfortably mastered, modified and
adapted as needed in the future.  It's no longer necessary to watch
mistakes made and corrected while defining a macro be repeated every time
the macro is invoked.  With the Editor, it is now a simple process to
delete the incorrect command lines and insert new ones in their place.

Description of Sample Macros

Agreement.mac -  This loads a sample rental contract into WordPerfect, and
allows you to fill in the appropriate information needed.  At its
conclusion, it invokes a second macro, letterhead.mac, that inserts a
simple letterhead at the top of the document.

Letterhead.mac -  Used by agreement.mac, this provides a centered business
heading for the rental contract created by agreement.mac.

Documentize.mac - This macro, written by WordPerfect's Mike Scalora, will
try to convert a AMiga text file (with hard returns at the end of each
line) into a WordPerfect document (hard returns only at the end of
paragraphs).  To use the Documentize macro, RETRIEVE your text with the
TEXT FILE sub-menu, then execute this macro.  For it to work properly, you
must have a blank line (a line with nothing on it, not even blanks) between
each paragraph.

Fancy.LH.mac - This is an example of a macro to begin a letter by placing
the letterhead information at the top of the document, insert the current
date, provide a macro pause letting youinsert the inside address, and then
begin the salutation with "Dear" before returning control.

Letter.Close.mac - A companion macro to Fancy.LH.mac, this closes the
letter begun in the preceding macro.

Change.Dir.mac - While this is a simple thing, it's a good example of how
common routines can be streamlined by utilizing macros.  This changes the
active path to a sub-directory on df1: named text.  If documents are saved
in various directories on the disk, the tedious process of going through
the requestors to access the desired files can be assumed by the macro
rather than by you.  If used enough, this macro might be more effectively
defined as a one-key macro to further streamline the process.

Index.mac - By combining the search and mark-text features within
WordPerfect, this macro facilitates the creation of an index for an
article.  To use this macro, first do a forward search (the F2) for the
word you wish to index.  This search defines for the macro what word it
will be indexing.  When the macro has completed the search and marked all
of the word's appearances in the document, the process can be repeated
until all desired words have been indexed.  Follow the instructions in your
WordPerfect manual for the formal creation of the index itself.

Begin.mac - This macro is called up by the Indexing macro to return the
cursor to the beginning of the document before starting the search and mark
operation of the indexing process.

PhonePrint.mac - This is a macro for NoteBook (from WordPerfect's Library).
It opens a file called PhoneBook and prints out a listing of the names and
phone numbers contained there.  Before using it, it will need to be loaded
into Macro Editor and the name of the file to be opened and printed changed
from PhoneBook to the appropriate name requested.

MacMover.mac - This is an example of the use of a macro to copy desired
macros from an old data disk to a new one.  It requires a formatted data
disk in drive df0: and the old data disk with the Macs directory in drive
DF1:.  Since the files being copied are selected by typing the file name
rather than clicking on files with the mouse, it will be necessary to use
the editor to insert the names of the proper macros that you wish to
transfer to the new data disk.

Letterhead.mac - This macro creates a simple letterhead and is included as
an example of a chained macro.  The macro Agreement.mac calls this macro
up.  (This chaining of macros also provides an example of the logic and
sequence of execution of chained macros.  Since the initial macro must
complete its full sequence of events before it will surrender control to
the next macro, it is necessary to complete the rental control prior to
summoning the letterhead macro which then returns to the top of the
document and inserts the letterhead at the top of the page.)

Amiga D -  This one-key macro reads the date and inserts into the document
at the current cursor location.  As with all one-key macros, it is
necessary that it be located in the root directory on your WordPerfect
disk.

Amiga S -  This macro tells WordPerfect to activate the speller and check
the entire document.

Amiga W -  This is a simple but often time-saving use of a macro to insert
a frequently typed character string into a document.  In this case the
macro types WordPerfect.

    Be cautioned that these sample macros are designed to show some of the
uses of macros, and to provide examples to experiment with using the
Editor.  They all have been created assuming that they will reside on DF1:
in a directory named MACS.  Prior to using them, they should be loaded into
the Editor and modified to indicate where the user has them stored.
Installing the Editor

The WordPerfect Macro Editor contained in this issue of AMnews requires
access to the WP.Library file on your WordPerfect program disk.  It must
therefore be installed on your WordPerfect disk before you can use it.
This can be done using either the CLI or from WorkBench by dragging the
icons over to your disk.

    To properly install the Macro Editor using the CLI, it is necessary to
copy the following files to your WordPerfect program disk:  ME, ME.info,
Help.Me and Help.Me.info.  If you wish to use the sample macros included
with this article, it will also be necessary to move the contents of the
MACS directory to your disk.  Although you can make yours work from
wherever you like, these macros are designed to be used from df1:MACS.
Should you wish you to locate them elsewhere, they will need to be edited.

    If you wish to use the Macro Editor without running WordPerfect, you will
have to put the WP.Library file on the LIBS directory of the Workbench disk
you "boot" your system with.  For those using ARP as an alternative to the
standard AMiga Workbench, the Macro Editor is compatible and will utilize
the appropriate ARP libraries; however, WP.Library must still be present in
the LIBS directory of the active Workbench disk.
Macro Editor Commands and Options

OPEN:  loads and existing macro from disk into the editor.

SAVE:  saves the macro being edited under same name.

SAVE AS:  allows the macro being edited to be saved under a new
name.

DELETE:  deletes the high-lighted line in macro currently loaded
in editor.

INS KEY:  selects the "Insert Key" mode, which allows keystrokes
to be inserted into a macro.

INS ITEM:  provides a list of items (and activities/events) that are
unavailable from the keyboard, but can be inserted into a macro by simply
clicking on the desired item.  Items include macro delays and pauses, mouse
movements, button activity, zoomgadgets, scrolling, and moving and sizing
of windows.

EDIT:  the edit menu option allows modification of the five macro items
that have parameters:

                1) Button Up
                2) Button Down
                3) Mouse Move
                4) Window Size/Move
                5) Zoom Gadget

To edit these items, simply move the cursor to the macro line containing
the event, and with it highlighted, click on the edit key.  A requester
will appear offering prompts for new screen locations to be entered.  For
instance, when editing a move/re-size window command, the editor will
provide a requestor that allows for editing both the X and Y positions, as
well as the width and height of the window.

Item/Count:  At the bottom of the Editor screen, the Count number shows the
total number of times a particular line is contained in the macro currently
in the Editor.  The Item number shows the relative number of the currently
highlighted line within the macro being edited.

Pull Down Options

    The project menu options provide mouse-driven menus to open a macro for
editing, saving, and creating a new CLI.  All options here perform the same
as they do within WordPerfect.

    The Type options are used to designate the kind of macro being edited.
The Editor can be used on macros written for WordPerfect, Notebook and
P-Edit, however it is imperative that you select the proper macro type by
using the pull-down menu and selecting the appropriate setting.  Editing
the wrong macro with the wrong type setting will produce very unpredictable
and undesirable results.

    The print options in the menu bar provide for the printing of the macro
currently in the Editor as a text file.  (For an example of the printed
output, see the macro listings that accompany this article.)  The printer
control command turns on the WordPerfect printer control screen.

    The help features of the Macro Editor can be accessed either via the help
key or the menu option provided for the mouse.

    When in the help mode, pressing any letter on the keyboard will provide
an alphabetical listing of features that start with that letter, along with
the key stroke required to access that option.  That key can then be
pressed to obtain a description of how the feature works.

Function Key Commands

F1 - Cancel Key:  this key cancels the operation of any function. This key
will also UNDO the last delete if the is no function in progress.

F7 - Exit:  exits you from the Macro Editor.  If the macro has been
modified you are asked if you want to save it.  The ARP file requester will
be used if the arp.library is available.

F9 - Save:  saves the macro currently in the Editor.  If the file has been
saved previously, it will be saved using the same file name.  If not, a
prompt will appear asking for a file name. In order to save the edited file
under a different name, it is necessary to use the Save As option, accessed
by either clicking on the Save As gadget, or by pressing F10.

F10 - Save As:  use the Save As feature to save an edited file under a
different name or using a different directory path.  A prompter will
appear, requesting the desired path and file name prior to saving the
macro.  (The ARP file requester will be used if the arp.library is being
used as an alternative to the standard Amiga Work Bench.)

Shift F3 - Switch:  switches control from the Macro Editor macro to
WordPerfect, NoteBook or P-Edit, should one of them be running in the
background.

Shift F7 - Print:  prints the macro being edited using the WordPerfect
Print program.

Shift F9 - Open:  clears the macro being edited and prompts for the file
name of a new macro to edit.  (Again, the ARP file requester will be used
if the arp.library is being used.)

Shift F10 - Retrieve File:  retrieves a macro from disk and copies it into
the Macro Editor window for editing.  The document to be retrieved is
inserted at the current position of the cursor on the screen without
deleting any of the text you might currently be working on.  This command
makes it possible to combine or append macros.

Alt F9 - New:  clears the current macro and leaves the Macro Editor window
empty.  If the macro in the editor has been modified since it was last
saved, a requester will ask if the file should be saved before clearing the
work window.

Ctrl F1 - New CLI:  opens a new Cli window, while leaving the Editor in the
background.

Ctrl F7 - Printer Control:  opens the Printer control panel from Word
Perfect.  Consult your Word Perfect Manual for further instructions.

Ctrl F9 - Clear:  clears the current macro and leaves a blank document in
the Editor.  Like the New command, if the resident macro has been modified
since it was last save, a requestor will provide the option to save the
edited version before clearing the Editor.

Delete:  deletes the line item highlighted under the cursor and places it
in the undo buffer.  Cancel can then be used to reinsert the item into the
macro.

One Key Macros

    The most effective way to access frequently used macros within
WordPerfect is through the definition of one-key macros.  These are macros
that can be invoked by simply holding down either one of the Amiga keys and
then pressing another key.

     When WordPerfect added the use of the standardized keys defined by
Commodore for the AMiga (i.e. Amiga-S saves, Amiga-C copies text etc.) they
also provided for the optional alternative use of these keys.  By changing
the definitions in the Character Mapping screen from AMiga to macro (by
clicking on the first character of the definition and pressing the 1 key)
they can then be defined as one-key macros.

    A one-key macro is created the same as any other macro, only when
prompted for the macro name, instead hold down the AMiga key and press the
key that will invoke the macro.  These one-key macros are automatically
saved to the WordPerfect disk (or the hard drive directory where
WordPerfect is assigned).  They can be edited and modified normally.

    To load a one-key macro into the Editor, it is necessary to load them by
the correct file name, which is automatically assigned by WordPerfect at
the time the macro is defined.  These macros can be found on the directory
by looking at the files named {WPL}___.AMGX where X is the alpha key
assigned to that macro.  For instance, {WPL}___.AMGS would be the macro
invoked by holding down the AMiga key and pressing S.

    A word of caution:  once the standardized Amiga editing keys have been
redefined as personalized macros, it will be necessary to re-install
WordPerfect in order to again use those editing keys.  It is possible to
use the unused keys for macros and still retain the AMiga editing keys.

Philosophy of Use

    Macro Editor is designed to increase the efficiency of defined macros,
not to act as an alternative means of creating them.  The only recommended
way to create a WordPerfect macro is within WordPerfect!  Now, however, the
Editor will allow modification and editing of the macro, once it has been
created.

    When creating macros in WordPerfect, it is always best to use the
keyboard command structure whenever possible rather than mouse activities.
There are a variety of situations in which mouse moves can create problems
within a macro.  A classic example is that of a mouse click within a macro
that addresses a precise spot on the screen.  The potential for problems
lies in the fact that the macro may later be executed with different
Preferences screen settings that could shift the screen a few pixels to the
left or right.  Suddenly that mouse click is no longer happening on the
same screen location as it was when the macro was created!

    When editing macros it is important that you be aware of the
keyboard-invoked menu structure of WordPerfect.  If the macro invoked by
the Amiga S key is loaded into the Editor (found in the MACS directory
under the name {WPL}___>AMGS), it will show the Spell command, followed by
the numeral 3 on the second command line.  If the Spell menu is entered by
pressing CTRL F2, the third option listed is "3. Document".  When editing
macros, it is necessary to be familiar with these menus in order to alter
the activity originally defined within the macro.  Since Macro Editor can
run in the background with WordPerfect, it is easy to jump back into the
program to check references to menu structures whenever necessary.

    Another danger with mouse activity within a macro is a potential problem
of dialogue boxes that are opened but are not visible on the screen.  When
a macro is invoked only to have WordPerfect seem to lock up or freeze, it
is most commonly the result of an invisible dialogue waiting for a
response.  You can get out of this by hitting the RETURN key.  Sometimes it
is necessary to hit either the ESCAPE key, or the Cancel key (F2) in order
to return control to WordPerfect.

    The rule of thumb to use when defining macros is that if a keystroke
command is available, use it instead of mouse moves.

Making Room For The Editor

    Except for those using hard drives, WordPerfect users have been fighting
a disk capacity problem.  When WordPerfect moved the Print program from the
program disk to the disk containing the library of printer drivers, it
created a never-ending succession of disk swapping.  Now, with Macro Editor
also needing a home on an already overcrowded disk, it's time to look at
alternatives.

    One solution is available that will not only accommodate the needed space
required by the Macro Editor, but will also curtail the annoying disk swap
needed each time a data disk needs to be replaced with the Print disk prior
to generating hard copy.

    By removing the WordPerfect help files from the program disk, enough
space is created to comfortably accommodate both the Macro Editor and the
Print routines required by WordPerfect.  The ReadMe file on the WordPerfect
program disk lists the files that need to be copied from the print disk to
the program disk.

    For users who are basically comfortable with WordPerfect, the sacrificing
this access to the help files will more than make up for eliminatig disk
swapping in order to print, and by the creation of enough disk space to
handle not only the printer files and Macro Editor, but even an assortment
of favorite utilities.