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A WordPerfect 9+ macro that inserts
multiple files (e.g., book chapters) into the current (master)
document as subdocuments.
- For more information on creating master and
subdocuments, see WordPerfect's online Help (F1 key, "Using
master documents").
- Laura Acklen wrote a tutorial, "Working
with Master Documents and Subdocuments," for the Corel Newsletter
(March
2005 edition).
- Also helpful is the section, "Working
with Master Documents and Subdocuments," in Special Edition - Using WordPerfet
12 by Laura Acklen and Read Gilgen
(QUE Publishing). It also has a dozen or more formatting tips.
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Important notes on using
MAKESUBS:
- The first time you play the
macro or edit it, you will probably get a warning message about
the SortArray command being obsolete. However,
this command seems to work just fine. Just press "Continue
Compilation" if you get this warning.
- (Warnings about obsolete commands were implemented
by Corel in WP9/sp4. But even though many commands have been
named 'obsolete' by Corel since very early WP versions —
probably with a view toward consistency and conservation of code
overhead — most still work, and probably will work in versions
to come.)
- You should first ensure that the files
you want to include as subdocuments are all in the same folder
on your disk. This macro will process ALL files found in that
folder with the specified filename extension.
- You may want to play this macro while inside
a new, empty master document first until you see how it works.
- You may want to modify the default values
displayed on the macro's menu. You can change them in the redlined
User Modification Area of the macro's code.
- The order of files in the source directory/folder
may be different than expected due to the way Windows stores
files. Hence, you have a choice of "ascending" or "descending"
order on the menu. Try each to see which works best for your
particular setup, and set the default menu choice below. (If
you want more technical information, see the comment at the end
of this macro about FileFind, SortArray, etc.)
Tips
for Master/Subdocuments:
- Note that a master document contains links
(shown in Reveal Codes as [Subdoc]) to the files on disk (the
subdocuments). When the master is expanded with File, Document,
Expand Master, WordPerfect displays the subdocuments in
the master. They are still on disk as separate files. This linking
behavior is a common source of confusion. (See related tips below,
especially about working simultaneously on a master document
and one or more subdocuments.)
- Until you are comfortably familiar with the
master and subdocument feature, make extra backups. You don't
want to trash your first novel!
- See the Corel tutorial, "Working
with Master Documents and Subdocuments," in the Corel Newsletter
(March
2005 edition). It also contains some valuable tips, such
as these:
- "... You should always condense a master
document before you save it. Otherwise, you save the same information
twice [in the expanded master and in the subdocuments] and consume
twice the disk space. Because you've already saved the subdocuments,
you don't need to save that same information in the master document.
- If you are working in both master documents
and subdocuments [i.e., the master and one or more subdocuments
are open simultaneously], you may run into a situation whereby
changes that you have made to a subdocument and saved do not
show up in the expanded master document. These changes will appear
in the master document only if you follow this procedure:
- 1. Condense and save the master document.
2. Make changes to the subdocument.
3. Save and close the subdocument.
4. Open and expand the master document. [I.e., refresh the links.]
- The changes now appear in the expanded master
document. At this point, you should generate the document to
update the index, table of contents, table of authorities, and
so forth. ..."
- Master document formatting codes apply to
subdocuments, except where different codes are found in a subdocument.
[See next item.]
- Master document styles will override subdocument
styles with that same name. [This includes the initial Open Style:
DocumentStyle code that is found at the beginning of all documents.
As Noal Mellott wrote on WordPerfect Universe: "The codes
in the master document's OpenStyle will override and overwrite
all the OpenStyles in the subdocuments when the file is generated...."]
Note that styles are like small containers, and a [Style] code
can contain other styles as well as format codes, etc., so you
should open them (double-click on the code) to see what they
might contain when setting up or formatting a master document
with subdocuments.
- Obviously, this same-name style issue can
create a problem: Some formatting in the subdocuments of a master
document can be replaced by similar formatting in the master
document's style(s), which is "upstream" from them.
The entire contents of a "downstream" style code can
be replaced by the contents of a same-name style.
- However, you can force formatting to "stick"
in subdocuments. From a tip by Charles Rossiter, Corel C_Tech:
- "At the top of a sub-document, set up
your formatting as you wish. Now select all the codes (and text,
if any) that make up that formatting, and do Ctrl+C to copy to
the Windows clipboard.
- Next, do Format, Styles, Create. Name the
style. [For example, InitialChapterStyle. The Type of
style should be set to "Document (open)" so it applies
to the entire subdocument.] Click in the style editor window
and do Ctrl+V to [paste] your chosen formatting. Save the style.
- [N.B.: For more on creating and saving custom
styles, including saving them to your default template or other
template, see here.]
- Then whenever you first open one of your
[sub]documents, apply that style. Note that by naming the style
[with a leading "_"] the style will be at the top of
the style drop-down list, making it easy and quick to select.
- If you find you need to change that [custom]
style, you can just edit it and it will automatically apply to
all documents with that style."
- Certain subdocument styles can override
master document styles -- the opposite of the previous
item.
- For example, if you used an outline style
in one or more subdocuments, and you expect the outline to increment
continuously throughout the entire (expanded) document
(and not start at "1" in each subdocument), the [Outline]
code that is inserted at the beginning of each outline can override
the normal (sequential) order of outline items. Each [Outline]
code contains a "definition" -- including numbering,
where to begin, etc.
- Solution: Expand
the master document and find the first [Outline] code. Then delete
all [Outline] codes after that one, in each of the included
subdocuments that follow this first code. By deleting all but
the first [Outline] code, the outline should be continuous through
the master document.
- When you remove a subdocument link
(shown in Reveal Codes as [Subdoc]) from a condensed
master document, the subdocument file remains on disc as a separate
file. You have simply broken the link to it from the master document.
- When you remove
a subdocument link (shown in Reveal Codes as [Subdoc])
from an expanded master document, the subdocument
file reverts to normal WordPerfect text inside the master document
-- just as though you had inserted the file into the master document
with Insert, File. It will no longer be a link to an external
(subdocument) file. Remember to save the file under a different
name to preserve the original master/subdocument format.
- [Related tip:] If you use MakeSubs.wcm to
insert multiple files and then want to turn all the files
into ordinary parts of the current document, simply place the
cursor at the very top of the expanded master document
and then
- Click Edit, Find and Replace. Place the cursor
in the Find field, and click Match, Codes.
- Scroll down in the Codes dialog to "Subdoc
Begin" and select it, then click Insert & Close.
- Click Replace All. Since the Subdoc Begin
code is part of an On/Off code pair, removing the first part
of the pair removes the second part.
- The document should now be an ordinary WordPerfect
document, not a Master document. You might need to do some reformatting
of the newly included sections.
- Remember to save the file under a different
name to preserve the original master/subdocument format.
- Use Draft view in the master document to
see the names and paths of the subdocuments.
- You can rearrange subdocuments in a condensed
master document by selecting the desired [Subdoc] code in Reveal
Codes, cutting it to the clipboard with <Ctrl+X>, and inserting
it in the new location with <Ctrl+V>. If the master document
is not condensed, select everything (for that subdocument) from
the [Subdoc Begin] code to the [Subdoc End] code, including
both of these codes, and cut/paste the material to the new location
in the master document.
- Make lots of backups when working with master
and subdocuments. The MULTISAV macro, NewFN#.wcm,
in the Library can help.
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Programmers: If you want to use the FileFind()
code in this macro to process files in some other way than is
done here (say, to convert them, rename them, etc.), see the
comments following the end of the macro code. |
Barry MacDonnell's