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There are two ways a date can appear in
WordPerfect (other than as a date-formatted
table cell, which is another topic):
- A date can appear as the result of
inserting a dynamic code (which is visible in Reveal Codes as [Date]). This means
the date will automatically (dynamically) change to the then-current
date if the document is opened in the future.
- A date can appear as a static string of
text -- usually created by typing a date such as "Thursday, July 29, 2010"
into the document. This means the date will remain the same if you open
the document in the future to edit or print it.
Some confusion can result from these two
different ways of producing a date in a document, since they can look
the same on screen and on the printed page.
For example, many templates (such as automated
Projects in the File, New from Projects list) insert the current date
as a [Date] code, which changes whenever you open the document at a
later date. This is by design: It was thought to be a convenient way to
help you create letters and similar form documents -- most of which are
one-time affairs.
However, people often complain that when they
re-open a document based on such a template at a later date -- perhaps
to print a copy of it -- the date changes to the then-current date
(taken from their computer system clock), and doesn't show when the
document was originally written.
Also, if you insert a date with Insert,
Date/Time and you check the box ("Keep the inserted date
current") at the bottom of the dialog, you'll insert a [Date] code in
the document, not a string of (static) text. If you expected the
latter, you might be annoyed when the date "spontaneously" changes the
next time you open the document for editing or printing. The checkbox
really means "Insert a dynamic date code that always reflects the
current (system) date."
The DATEREPL macro was designed to help remedy
these issues.
How DATEREPL works
If you want to replace all existing [Date] codes in a document with the current date (taken from your
computer's clock) with nomal text (e.g., "August 20, 2008"), so that they reflect the date the document is being written
or edited (i.e., today's date), just play DateRepl while in that
document. If there are [Date] codes in the document they will be
converted to text strings using the current system date -- just as
though you had manually deleted the [Date] codes and typed the current
date in their place. If there are no [Date] codes the macro will simply
exit.
The macro command DateText is used to
produce the static date -- the same as if you typed the current date
into the document. Thus, the date will remain the same no matter when
you open the document in the future.
Note: There is
a limitation to the WordPerfect program with respect to finding some
codes -- such as those inside another code -- which in turn
limits this macro. So if a [Date] code is inside a [Style] or [Delay] code, or inside a text variable, the
macro won't see it. See Footnote 1 for an
explanation and a macro workaround for editing those styles.
Two macros are included
Version 1.01
This is the original version. It simply
finds all date codes and converts them to text dates. It does not
insert and save [Bookmark] codes at static date locations into the
document (as the next version does). It just replaces any [Date] codes
with the current date as a string of text characters.
Version 1.03
Since a macro can also "bookmark" a static
date at the same time it creates one, these [Bookmark] code(s) can be
found later by a macro to update the static date(s), too. This is
the idea behind version 1.03 of this macro. (Be sure not to
remove these bookmarks later, or the macro will not run properly.)
This version of the macro includes the
ability to convert existing date codes (same as v1.01) but if
it is used multiple times on the same document it will also update any static
dates created when the macro was last played on that particular
document (the document will contain special bookmarks around each
converted date as a result of the initial conversion; be sure not
to delete them).
TIP: You may
want to insert/update static dates at print time (assuming that
is the only time an updated date is truly needed, since you can see the
date the file was saved in the File Open dialog). This macro (v1.03)
can be used as a template macro, associated with the PRE PRINT trigger.
(See WP's online Help <F1> index for more information on
associating template macros with trigger events, or see the author's
"Automating WordPerfect Templates" on the Tips page.)
Intermediate-to-advanced
user tips:
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1. Automatically insert the
current date as a static date -- i.e., a string of text characters (i.e., a static date) in new documents such as letterheads
or memos, as soon as they are opened. You can also position the cursor,
ready for typing body text. This requires modifying the template on
which the document is based, which is easy to do, but it does require
recording a simple template macro to do the job. See here.
2. Automate the updating of
several static dates in a template with a template macro
Similar to the above tip, but you would
use a template macro to insert the current (static) date in several
locations. [This is the technique used in the LETTERHD
template in the Library.]
Unlike the DATEREPL macro, which
replaces existing date codes in the template with dates composed of
text strings, this technique simply finds certain pre-marked locations
in the template and inserts static dates at those locations. Here's how.
- Open the template and edit it to
remove any [Date] codes. (Unless, of course, they are needed by any
template macro that might be in the template.)
- Then insert a short text placeholder
such as [Date1] where the date should go. Just type it in the template
where needed. (If you need more dates to be updated, use [Date1],
[Date2], etc.)
- Next, select each text
placeholder, including the brackets (if any), and click Tools,
Bookmark, Create, OK.
- [N.B.: Be sure not to change the
name that WordPerfect uses, or uncheck (disable) the "Selected
Bookmark" checkbox, when the Create Bookmark dialog appears. The name
needs to be the same in the BookmarkBlock command in the snippet below,
and the checkbox needs to be ticked (enabled) so that a paired
bookmark is created, not a single bookmark. All this is easier if you
just click OK after you click Create.]
- This will place a paired
bookmark around -- i.e., bracketing -- the text placeholder(s). You can
see it in Reveal Codes: it will look something like
[Bookmark>[Date1]<Bookmark]. [Note that this is also what WP's
Prompt Builder does.]
- Next, create a template macro (see here for more) with code like the example
below -- which assumes you have 3 (bookmarked) dates somewhere in the doccument:
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// Macro snippet
begins
OnError(End@)
BookmarkBlock
("[Date1]")
Type (DateString (DateAndTime(); Format: "MMMM d, yyyy"))
BookmarkBlock
("[Date2]")
Type (DateString (DateAndTime(); Format: "MMMM d, yyyy"))
BookmarkBlock
("[Date3]")
Type (DateString (DateAndTime(); Format: "MMMM d, yyyy"))
Label (End@)
// Macro ends
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Note that the format of the date used in the
Type commands above can be changed. See WordPerfect's Macro Help, under
the DateString command.
Or, instead of a Type() command you
could just use DateText to insert the current date as a static date.
Finally, you probably should associate
the above macro with the PRE PRINT
trigger, assuming the dates in a document are important only when
the document is printed. Then, each time you go to print the document
(and as long as the template itself is still on your system), the macro
will fire up and replace whatever is between each paired bookmark. The
first time the template macro plays it will replace the text
placeholder; at subsequent times it will replace (overwrite) the entire
typed date. This is a handy way to show a "print date" on a document.
Related tips and notes:
- If you need help creating template
macros or associating template macros with trigger events, see "Automating WordPerfect
Templates," on the Tips page.
- Note that you can actually edit a
date (or whatever is between each paired bookmark) and change it --
it's just a string of text characters -- but when the macro plays, the
dates will be replaced with the current date (assuming the bookmarks
have not been deleted!).
- One thing to be aware of in this
approach is not to delete the bookmark(s) in the template or
the document, or the macro will not know where to put the new dates. In
the above macro, if you delete one or more bookmarks the macro will
simply exit (Quit) when it can't find a bookmark. [The OnError command
effectively suppresses any error message if a bookmark is not found, by
skipping down to the Label. (When bookmarks are not found, WordPerfect
generates an Error condition, not a NotFound condition.)]
- For a similar macro that can display
and/or automatically insert the currently opened file's modification
date and time, see this
post on WordPerfect Universe. It uses the same technique (paired
bookmarks) but with this bit of code added (each command is on one
line):
// Store the
document's path and name:
vFN:=?Path+?Name
// Extract the
Modification Date and Time:
vModDate:=GetFileDateAndTime (Filename:vFN;
DateType:ModificationDateTime!)
vModTime:=TimeString(vModDate;Format:"HH:mm:ss
tt" )
vModDate:=DateString(vModDate;Type:Custom!;Format:"MM/dd/yyyy")
Messagebox(;"Modification
Date and Time:";vModDate +NToC(0F90Ah)+vModTime)
3. Need to insert a date that is
"n" days after the current date? Here's
a code snippet from Roy ("lemoto") Lewis:
x=DateAndTime+n
y=DateString (x;;"dd/MM/yyyy")
... where "n" is the number of days to
add to the current date. See the DateString command for other
parameters.
4. Create a new
"current year only" date format (e.g., 2013 -- or whatever year it is):
1. Place the cursor where you
want the current year to appear in the document or merge form.
2. Create a new date format with Insert, Date/Time, New Format
(button); the Custom Date/Time Format dialog appears.
3. In the "Edit date/time format" field, delete all example codes. You
can then insert just the [Year(4)#]
code (found on the "Year" tab's list); then click OK to return to the
Date/Time dialog. The new format should appear there.
4. Select (left click on) the new date format in the Date/Time dialog;
be sure to enable (tick) the checkbox "Keep the inserted date current";
then click Insert.
In the document or merge form you should see (in Reveal Codes): [Date Fmt][Date]. These take the
current date from the computer's system date.
Note that all date formats are saved with the program, so you should
have access to the new format in any new document.
5. Use a
template macro to automatically locate pre-existing bookmarks and type
legal-style dates (e.g., "the 15th day of July, 2009") at those
locations in new documents spawned by that template. See this
post at WordPerfect Universe.
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Footnote 1
As noted above, there is a limitation to the
WordPerfect program with respect to finding some codes -- such as
those inside another code like the initial [Open Style] code --
which in turn limits the DATEREPL macro.
From How to
efficiently use "Find:" in the Find and Replace (F&R) dialog:
"You cannot use Find and Replace to find
codes inside a [Style] code (such as
the initial [Open Style] code in a document or template) or inside text variables (a
form of style). You also cannot use Find and Replace to find codes
inside a [Delay] code.
These are limitations of the program, at least for recent versions of
it. You will have to edit the [Style] or [Delay] code by
double-clicking on the code in Reveal Codes to edit it." [Ed.-
Or, use a macro to edit the [Style] code as in the example below. Note
that the macro method cannot be used to edit a [Delay] code.]
Example: Here is
a demonstration macro that edits the current document's initial [Open
Style] code to add a [Footer A] inside it that, in turn, contains the
filename and a static (text) date in Arial 10-point font. It can be
modified to delete all current codes (and any text) first, before
creating new ones. Deleting everything inside a [Style] code, then
creating what you need in that code, is one way to "edit" the code to
your requirements.
The macro can be assigned to a menu, toolbar,
or keystroke combination; see here.
It could also be used as a template macro and triggered to play whenever you open a
document based on that template; see "Automating
WordPerfect Templates".
Note that once the macro does its job, the
footer code will be inside the [Open Style] code, and if you wish to
remove it you can do so by double-clicking on the [Open Style] code and
deleting the new [Footer] code. (Merely using Ctrl+z will not Undo such
an "internal" customization.)
// PURPOSE:
// Edits the current document's [Open Style: DocumentStyle] code to add
a custom footer inside that code.
// Exit from any header,
footer, note, text box, image, etc.
pExitSubstructures ()
StyleEditBegin (Style:
DocStyle!; Library: CurrentDoc!)
StyleCodes (State: WithoutOffCodes!; Library: CurrentDoc!)
// Go to the end of any
codes or characters in the Contents field of the Styles Editor
// (optional: you could as easily SelectAll and SelectDelete
all the contents instead of merely positioning the cursor):
If(?RightCode>0 or ?RightChar<>"")
PosLineVeryEnd // (put the cursor at the end of all codes and text)
Endif
// Create a footer with the
document path/name and date (as text)::
FooterA (Create!) // <= creates Footer A - change to FooterB if
required
Font ("Arial")
FontSize (10p)
InsertFilenameWithPath // <= displays and prints once the file has
been saved
FlushRight
DateText // <= inserts current date as a text string
// Exit from the footer and
return to Styles Editor; then return to the main document:
pExitSubstructures ()
// Save changes
StyleEditEnd (State: Save!)
Quit
Procedure pExitSubstructures
()
While (?Substructure)
vSubDoc:=?CurrentSubDoc
SubstructureExit
If ((vSubDoc=10) or (vSubDoc=11))
BoxEnd (Save!)
EndIf
EndWhile
vImageType:=?BoxContentType
If(vImageType=3) BoxEnd (Save!) Endif
EndProc
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Barry MacDonnell's