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PickList displays a list of user-created items
(brief descriptions, abbreviations, text labels, or file names).
Then, depending on how you set it up, a chosen item can
- type (insert) words, paragraphs, or symbols
- insert a disk file
- insert and expand a QuickWord
- play another previously saved macro.
Simply click a menu item, click OK, and the
macro types (or inserts from disk) the assigned material at the
current cursor location (or, if a macro, plays it immediately).
During the PickList's operation you can click
outside the dialog menu at any time to relocate the cursor or
edit your document's text. (On the menu, you can enable the box,
"Redisplay list" to keep the menu on screen until you
click Exit.)
This macro can be useful for filling in forms,
typing often-used addresses, inserting large "boilerplate"
sections, assembling documents, automating tasks, etc.
For example, the typed or inserted material
can be a company name and address, an extended definition of
a term, and expandable QuickWord (text and/or graphic), or even
a file on disk. [Tip: A good companion to this macro is a custom
vertical toolbar that can open favorite folders and/or documents.
See the small PDF file, "How to create a vertical toolbar
with text buttons to access your favorite folders, templates
and files," here.]
PickList can also play other macros which
you previously created and saved. If you have lots of custom
macros, and have too many toolbar buttons or too many keys to
remember to play them, then PickList might be able to simplify
things by letting you set up a list of items that can be used
to play your macros.
These different functions — insert
text, insert a file, insert an explanded QuickWord, or play a
macro — can be combined into a singe PickList macro.
Alternatively, you can make copies of PickList for different
purposes. (An option lets you define a custom "heading"
on the macro's menu to help differentiate several copies of PickList.
Of course, each copy of the macro should have a different filename,
and like all macros, only one of them can play at any given time.)
There is a small "price" to be
paid for all of these functions: You will need to enter your
desired pick list items directly into the macro code. This is relatively easy:
Step 1. Download
PickList.zip, and extract
the macro and any other file inside the ZIP archive. Place the
macro in your Default or Supplemental macro folder as shown in
WordPerfect's Tools, Settings, Files, Merge/Macro.
Step 2. Open
the macro for editing with Tools, Macro, Edit. You will see the
name of the macro and some introductory comments at the top of
the macro's code. After reading these, scroll down past this
introductory material to the redlined User Modification Area.
Carefully read the instructions there to create or modify the
list of items you want to use for your own list when the macro
is played. Here's how to do it:
First, think of the User Modification Area
-- which is found in most of the macros on this site -- as a
place to set up initial (or default) information or values
that will be "fed" into a menu or into other parts
of the macro code further down in the macro file. Most of this
User Modification Area is made up of simple instructions in the
form of macro comments (anything preceded by "//"
marks and ending with a hard return). These are ignored by the
macro when it is played. But some of this area contains macro
commands that you will need to modify slightly. For these
commands, examples and instructions are given. You can also use
the examples as models for your own PickList choices when you
play the macro. (More on this below.)
In this macro, each different function you
want to use is similar in terms of the format of the User
Modification Area commands: All four functions that the macro
can perform -- insert text or symbols, insert a disk file, insert
and expand a QuickWord, and play another macro -- use two "columns"
of information (separated by a tab or indent) that you set up
in the User Modification Area. (See the various samples there;
the format should be obvious from them.)
For example, a typical command to insert
a file into the current document might look something like
this:
{"Introductory
material"; "^F:\Boilerplate\Intro.wpd"};
Color is used here to indicate what you would
need to change -- the text label (left-hand "column" above) that will appear
in the PickList menu, and the path
and filename (right-hand "column"
above) of the disk file containing the material to insert into
the current document.
[The {braces}, quote marks, leading character
(here, a ^ is used to indicate that a file on disk is
to be inserted), and semicolons are required (except for the
last item in the list, where a semicolon should be omitted).
You do not need to remember all of this at this point; specific
instructions are given in the macro's User Modification Area
at appropriate locations.]
Result: When
you play PickList, you should see (in this example) "Introductory
material" (without quotes) in the menu list, among your
other choices. Just click on it, click OK, and PickList will
insert the Intro.wpd file (if that's what you specified) into
the current document at the current cursor location. (PickList
comes with several sample commands, so you can just play it immediately
after downloading it to see how it actually works.)
Therefore: Simply
add your own command lines observing the same format used for
the example commands that are in the User Modification Area.
(Be sure to note the slight differences in the format of the
second part of each command for the various functions the macro
can perform.) You can then delete the example command lines [or
just add two slash marks (//) just before (in front of) the example
lines; this turns the command lines into macro comments,
which the macro will then ignore].
Step 3. After
making changes the macro can be saved with the Save & Compile
button on the macro toolbar that will be displayed during editing.
It's really pretty straightforward. To help
you get started, and as mentioned above, the macro has several
"dummy" pick list entries, so you can just play it
to see how it works. Later, you can use them as models for your
own entries, then delete them (or turn them into inert macro
comments with two leading slash marks) from the User Modification
Area.
Tips
- Number of items.
The macro was tested it in WP8-WPX3, with up to 200 items in
a list, but there may be a limit to the number of items that
can be coded into the pick list. Moreover, the list itself might
become to long to be practical. (In any event, depending on your
system it is possible that large numbers of items that contain
large blocks of text might slow down the macro slightly.) When
you create your list items, try entering 10-15 items at a time,
then play it to see how the macro works for you.
- Multiple PickList macros. You can make copies of the macro itself for different
purposes, or to break up long lists of items. This would reduce
scrolling in the pick list field, but it means running different
macros at different times. (Only one copy of PickList -- or any
macro, for that matter -- can be running at any given time.)
- Easy play.
For easy access, assign this macro to an available keystroke
combination or create a toolbar button to play it. For more on
these topics, see here. You
might even create a special custom
toolbar for several PickList variations.
- Sorting menu items.
In the User Modification Area (see there under "How to create
or modify PickList's menu items") if you add the same characters
— letters, numbers, or a symbol with <Ctrl+W> —
to the beginning of a list item in the left-hand (text label)
column, they will be sorted together. For example: "DIAG:
allergies," "DIAG: stress," (or just "D allergies"),
etc. The macro sorts the pick list in the menu alphabetically,
so the leading "DIAG:" or "D" will group
these items together.
- If you use WordPerfect symbols at the beginning
of item names, they will appear at the end of the pick list.
- You can use symbols by themselves (as both
the description and the item to insert) as a quick way to instantly
insert them instead of using the traditional method (i.e., <Ctrl+W>,
select the symbol set, choose the symbol, etc.) from the main
document screen.
- When modifying the macro . . . you can speed up creating your pick list in
the User Modification Area by using copy-and-paste to duplicate
similar line items. Then simply modify the copied line items.
Suggestion: (1) Enter several items; (2) test the macro; (3)
repeat until finished.
- QuickWords made quicker. If you have already set up several QuickWords, you
can -- as explained in the macro code -- have them inserted and
expanded by PickList in the usual fashion of inserting the QuickWord
into the document and immediately typing a space or character
to expand it. An alternative is to have PickList play
small macros to insert and expand them in one operation. The
macros should each contain a command such as the following example
(where "\2" presumably is a QuickWord you have previously
set up):
- AbbreviationExpand (AbbreviationName: "\2";
Template: QuickWords!)
- PickList choices made quicker. If you enable the "Redisplay list" box
on the PickList menu you can easily repeat the last menu item's
action by pressing the <Spacebar> key or <Enter>
key. (The default value for this checkbox option can be set in
the User Modification Area of the macro's code.) This might be
useful when you need to insert a symbol or other text multiple
times, or when you need to play the same macro several times
in a row.
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Barry MacDonnell's