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Download
PICKLIST.ZIP ( v1.02.02;
10/18/07; 29,691 bytes)
Compatible with versions WP8-WPX3
Download instrcutions
and other general information
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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