#New WPWin 6.1 Macro!!
8 messages in this thread
David: Please send me the new WP 6.1 macro. I contributed $120 to Animal
Rescue, a charity I hope you look upon favorably. Thanks. P.S. I would have
donated anyway!
Chuck Diamond
Chuck
I'm sorry about the delay in getting back to you; I was putting the finishing
touches to the macros.
As the files haven't appreared in the Okna library yet, I've e-mailed you
DTSWP3.ZIP and DTSWPF.ZIP, the former containing three letter-type macros and
supporting files, the latter containing four fax templates (that exactly
duplicate the ones that ship with WPWin 6.1) and a macro. This latter macro
requires that the software be registered; in other words, that a contribution
be made to charity and a serial number acquired from me. As you have made a
very major contribution to a charity I look very favorably upon (my dog died
two weeks ago at age 17; the last one died at age 16; long lives, but
heartbreaking in a way I think only pet owners can understand), I've also sent
you the serial number. I only wish I could send you two or more!!
I hope you like them, and I'd appreciate any feedback you may have.
David
Thanks very much for the serial # and quick response. I was somewhat
disappointed that the code is locked since I need to customize the templates
and macros to fit organizational "standards." I get back to you after I've had
a while to mess around.
Chuck
I'm glad you got the macros, and I hope you're finding them useful. Do get
back to me when you've played around with them a little. I think you'll find
that the documents they produce are amazingly customizable, even if there isn't
direct access to the macro code. I am thinking about ways of getting around
stripping, like having a sub-macro called by the main macro that would contain
all the formatting information, so the output could be user-customized without
jeopardizing the balance of the code when it comes to less experienced users.
I'd appreciate any thoughts you have on this. Of course, letting registered
users have the entire source code is another option, but would probably not be
as useful generally as just giving access to the formatting elements. Ideally,
I'd have a drag and drop interface, but I suspect that's going to have to wait
for the Win95 version, which will hopefully be a standalone executable capable
of working with all three major word processors(!).
David
<<< Ideally, I'd have a drag and drop interface, but I suspect that's going to
have to wait for the Win95 version…>>>
That would be nice, Dave, but give yourself credit where it's due, will ya?
This is the greatest, most useful WP macro I've ever owned. In fact, I've grown
so dependent on it now that I wouldn't want to miss it for the world. It's
smooth, simple and sooo effective. The Fax addition is a very nice touch as
well. So, to all out there who don't have it yet, do yourselves a favor and GET
IT NOW! If you own WP6.x and DTS this is as close to a working
dream-environment as you can get under Windows. My honest to goodness heartfelt
thanks to David for a really really nice job. As usual. <g>
Thilo Newman
Thilo
Who would have though a few weeks ago that we'd be exchanging e-mail like
this!<g>
Thank you very much for the incredibly generous comments. They really are
appreciated. As to giving myself a break, these macros are my little corner of
the world when it comes to programming, and a unique opportunity to seek a
little perfection without any real competition (although the promise of the
macros in 4.1b did make me try a little harder, just in case). And while a
drag and drop interface may be way off in the future, I have actually created a
version of DTSWPDDE.WCM (not the shipping version; a beta version) whose output
can be totally configured by the user. DTSWPDDE.WCM is still stripped, but if
an external file called DTSWPFRM.WCM exists (note that this file does not have
to exist), DTSWPDDE.WCM reads all the header, date, address, closing, etc.,
information from that, so the user can not only change the position of
information on the page, but make it look any way they want. Don't like the
header, or want to indent the RE: or the closing and signatory? Just change
them! The purpose of this external file is to isolate the formatting elements
so that they can be changed quickly and easily without jeopardizing the
necessary and complex elements of the balance of the macro. I'll give you an
example of how much easier this approach has made things for even me, who knows
this macro quite well. A user asked me if I could make certain changes. The
changes were simple enough, so I went ahead and did them, and it took me about
twenty minutes. However, after I created the external file version (which of
course took a number of hours), the same changes took about a minute. Not
everybody's going to be able to do it that quickly, but assuming they have a
knowledge of WPWin programming, or can cut and paste elements from a recorded
macro, this will add a new dimension to using this particular macro. My
objective is to make this process at least as straightforward as the "Copy
templates" feature in Address Book, and I think I can do that.
In closing, these macros are, ironically, my break. I sit at the computer all
day writing, and when I get blocked, I turn to the macros. While programming
and creative writing may not seem to have a lot in common, they in fact have
very similar requirements: they require logic, the identification of problems,
the creation of solutions, and a little flare to spark the reader's/user's
imagination. One big plus with the macros is that I don't have to rewrite them
if I don't want to, and of course I'm not answerable to whoever's hired me (as
no one has hired me). That last is probably the reason above any other why
these macros have been freeware rather than shareware, and are now CharityWare,
so that the relationship between you and me, for example, is user to user, and
not vendor/purchaser. Also, with the advent of CharityWare, it has been
incredibly gratifying to me to hear from users about what they have
contributed, to whom, and why — and that (watch out for the symmetry here) may
well help me with my writing.
Anyway, I've prattled on long enough (writers are their own worst editors; I
suspect your brother-in-law knows that<g>). I just wanted to thank you for
your support, and express my appreciation.
David
Dave,
Now that 4.1b is out, did you look at the amiMacro? I don't use WP, but I'm
told it was pretty powerful in comparision (not compared to yours of course!
<g>).
The only problem I've had is it doesn't strip area code off for local, and 1
for long distance. Still trying to fiure out if it's the Macro's fault, or
Winfax. How did you address this in WP?
Just curious what you decided. Never heard back.
Mike
Mike
Apologies for not getting back. I have a ton of stuff in my in-box going back
to September. I fully intended to answer everything, I'm just having
scheduling problems and giving priority to getting serial numbers to folk
registering my WPWin macros, and trying to complete (please, let it end…) a
CD-ROM project.
As to the 4.1b macros… I have to think of a way to phrase this so that I
don't seem to be drumming up 'business' for my macros (or appearing arrogant),
and without causing offense to my pals at Okna. Having said all that, I think
the 4.1b macros can be, um, improved. On my system, the WinWord macros seem to
have serious DDE timing problems (and occassionally give GPFs), and the WPWin
macros use a WPWin 6.0a menu structure even when using WPWin 6.1. Funnily
enough, the Ami Pro macros (disclaimer: I know Ami Pro least well of these
three) seem to be the best. All versions function identically, but some work
better than others. The Ami Pro macros, for example, can start Calendar, and
after Calendar is minimized, can restore the running instance of Calendar. The
WPWin macros, on the other hand, can start Calendar, but cannot restore it once
it's running, and nothing ends up happening. So, the 4.1b macros have a number
of problems, in my opinion.
As I know WPWin best and have spent a year refining my WPWin macros, I think
the 4.1b WPWin macros are way too slow, have too few features, that they should
have gone with a toolbar approach rather than a menu item approach, and that
they should all have been more result oriented. Example: the 4.1b macros bring
up a template, spin their wheels for a few seconds, and then dump the currently
selected record into the template, which has to be cutom built to Okna specs.
My macros, on the other hand, first throw up the Address Book (incidentally, I
manage to get Address Book to load about twice as fast as the 4.1b macros can;
not because I'm cutting back on code, but because of a neat little programming
trick I have up my sleeve<g>) letting you choose who you want to send your
correspondence to, then brings up a filled in dialog with options up the wazoo,
callbacks galore and the onscreen ability to view and modify the Home or
Business address, and then dumps the text and whatever options have been
selected into the document. My key letter macro works with the shipping WPWin
templates, with custom templates (interactive and non-interactive) and blank
documents. In other words, my macros let you work with what you have, and
don't require that templates be especially created to work with them. I think
that last one is a biggy, as my belief is that typical users want to be
productive rather than spending time designing and laying out letterhead.
However, for those who do want extra options (besides a Personal Info dialog
for letterhead, plus four pre-configurable Closings, Signatories and Titles)
and custom fields, my macros have a setup screen that lets you use any five
valid DDE fields per address, and an about to be released version lets you
relatively easily pre-configure all elements of formatting, so the date, for
example, can be above the recipient address, below the signatory, or 44pt,
rotated 90-degrees, and on page 7 only. Basically, the current generation of
my macros (only WPWin conforms to the current generation so far) are as simple
or complex as you want them to be, and quiet nicely balance ease of use,
flexibility and power. Of course, my WPWin macros have been evolving for the
better part of a year, have had input from hundreds of users, and are currently
a 3.0 release, compared to Okna's 1.0.
Will there be an Ami Pro version of my DTS macros? Almost certainly yes,
although I may well not write all of them (probably a good thing<g>). They
will, however, conform absolutely to the specs of the current WPWin version and
the forthcoming WinWord version.
As to those pesky fax numbers, tricky (I assume you're talking about dumping
the fax number into a dialog box and/or into a document). My fax add-on was an
afterthought (well, a response to 4.1b having a fax option, frankly<g>). I
started out trying to intelligently use country code, area codes and long
distance dialing. The problem I ran up against was that while I could query
the currently selected record for its area code and country code, I didn't seem
to be able to query DTS itself for the user's area code and country code, and
trying to be overly clever (having the macro do some parsing) ended up with
undesirable results. So, the option I went with was to just use what was
available. A future version of the macro may well have a setup option of its
own; that is, the user will setup the macro's defaults for area code and
country.
Actually, another thing that ticked me off was that all three 4.1b macros read
and write to different places. WinWord writes to WINWORDx.INI, Ami Pro writes
to AMIPRO.INI, and WPWin writes to WIN.INI (WPWin uses a binary file system for
defaults, which can as easily be read and written to as an .INI, but…). The
current generation of my macros use a single .INI file, DTSWARE.INI, which is
stored in the \DESKAPP directory, and which gives consistent defaults
irrespective of word processor (I'm also trying to get them to conform as much
as possible to Win95 requirements, and this is the first step down that path).
I very definitely believe 4.1b should have used a single configuration file,
and should have kept it in its own directory.
Okay, are you glad you asked, now?<g>
David