April 18, 2007
Pathagoras is pleased to announce the following upgrades to version 12.
Summary:
A. Input Personal Data at anytime.
B. Assign value of any variable to equal any other variable.
C. Drag and Drop Variable from Mask in Document
The Details:
A. Input Personal Data at anytime.
Currently, the end user will input personal data (i.e., name, address, quantity, etc.) to replace variables after a document is assembled. That is the more 'natural flow' of the way Pathagoras operates, since Pathagoras users often scan a document for bracketed variables in order to determine what variables reside in the document.
Several users have suggested that they wish to input and store a client/customer's personal information independently of a document assembly session. That way a staff member who may do no document assembly could nevertheless create a data record that could be recalled by another staff member during a document assembly session.
Done. (As a practical matter, this feature was always available. All one had to do was press <Alt-D> to call up the Instant Database form, select a mask, input and then save the data. This new feature, however, makes the process more obvious and intuitive to the user.)
For reasons that hopefully will be obvious, in order for this to work you must have previously created a mask (an Instant Database screen designed to capture data) before you inputting personal data in this fashion. It is this mask that will provide the template by which personal data can be requested and then stored.
Creating a mask easy to do. Let me refer you to the (recently revised) Manual dealing with the Instant Database Module. I invite you specifically to the section in the Manual entitled Masks which offers step-by-step, illustrated, guidance on the various ways that you can create a mask.
After you have created a mask, you should assign the mask to one (or more) of your document assembly books. (Assigning a mask to a book is discussed in the Manual as well.) It is simply a matter of showing the document Assembly Settings screen and selecting the appropriate mask from the AutoIDB list.
Once you assigned a mask to a particular book, the next time that you activate the Document Assembly system, a green "Record Personal Data" button will show on the face of the "Libraries & Books" screen. Click the green button and the IDB screen will appear with the assigned mask in place. (You or your staff can complete the data without proceeding further in the document assembly process.)
(To create and save a data record 'ad hoc' (i.e., without involving document assembly at all), just press <Alt-D>. That will call up a blank IDB screen. Then select a mask from the dropdown list at the top-left side of the screen. Complete the variable to personal data associations. When you have finished press the <Save Personal Data Record> button at the right side of the screen and then close the IDB screen. (Do not press the Next>> button unless you want the "replace variables with personal data" routine to be activated.)
B. Assign value of any variable to equal any other variable.
Jim offered the following observation and suggestion. (Lawyers especially take note.)
"Sometimes our client is [Plaintiff]. Sometimes our client is [Defendant]. But our client is always "[OurClient]." We always use the variable [OurClient] to produce standard documents and letters to or concerning our client, but pleadings present a challenge, and require us to input our client’s name a second time (in either the Plaintiff or Defendan’ts line, leading to the possibility of a typographical error. It sure would be nice to have a way in the IDB mask to quickly transfer the personal data recorded next to [OurClient] to either the [Plaintiff] or the [Defendant] value field without risking that typo."
Great idea! Thanks. I have added that feature. I am temporarily calling it an 'equivalency' formula, for want of a better word. The process lets you set the value of one variable to automatically be equal to the value that you have assigned to another variable. You simply put in the right side of the IDB screen next to, let's say, [Plaintiff] or [Defendant], as appropriate, the following equivalency 'formula:'
=[OurClient]
See Screen Shot 1 below.
When Pathagoras detects the '=' sign, it displays a red calculator button between the two columns. Click it and the current value of equivalent field (in this case, "John Q. Doe", the value of "[OurClient]") is transferred to the field. (See Screen Shot 2.)
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Screen Shot 1 Screen Shot 2
To speed the process and save typing, Pathagoras allows you to drag and drop a variable shown at the left side of the IDB screen into a value field at the right. The "=" will automatically be added. (Note: you do not need to highlight the text first! Pathagoras assumes that when you are dragging, you want the entire contents of the box.) (For those relatively new to computers, a drag and drop operation is simply clicking and holding down the left mouse button over the item you want to drag. Then move the mouse, with the button still depressed, until the cursor is in the new location. Release the mouse button. That is it.)
There is a small limitation to the drag and drop feature. It only works within the currently displayed IDB page. It will not transcend pages of the mask. So as you are designing your mask, you may wish to keep variables that might share equivalencies on the same IDB page. (You can always manually type "=[OurClient]" --or whatever--onto a remote page, and the calculator button will still show, and the calculation will still occur. The restriction applies only to the drag/drop tool.)
In some situations (especially when drag and drop cannot be done) it is just as easy to type "John Smith" than the "=[OurClient]" formula. However, using the formula does avoid the possibility of a misspelling in the second field. (Of course, a misspelling in the first field will be carried over, but when the first field is corrected, Pathagoras will self-correct in the second when the red button is again pressed. It is still a time saver in most situations.)
C: Drag and Drop Variable from Mask in Document
A smiley face and a lot of exclamation points are appropriate here!!! :)
Sometimes new features go beyond their originally intended scope. That has happened with the Drag and Drop feature referenced above.
I discussed in B. that you can "drag and drop" a value from the left column (the “variable”) into the right ("value") column of another line to establish an equivalency formula. Well, while I was developing this routine, I discovered that you can also drag a value from the left column and drop it into your active document! This drag and drop feature makes it possible now to move variables from a mask into a source document with incredible ease. These are the steps:
(1) Display a document you want to neuter,
(2) press <Alt-D> to display the Instant Database screen and select the mask that applies to this document and
(3) start dragging and dropping variables into the document at the appropriate places!! Wow!
This strongly complements the ‘Neuter Text’ routine previously available. (‘Neuter Text’ can be activated from the Pathagoras dropdown menu.) In fact, drag and drop actually may be better than ‘Neuter Text’, but it does not totally replace it. ‘Neuter Text’ offers some global replacement devices that drag and drop does not. Try them both and then decide which you prefer.
Please upgrade your program at your earliest opportunity.
(If you have not renewed your Pathagoras Annual Support agreement within the past year, and wish to take advantage of this update, let me know.)
As always, if the above is not clear or if you need a bit more guidance on implementing this, do not hesitate to contact me. I make this offer because I know how easy the process will be to you once you have done it once. As a practical matter, I know that I will be spending very little time on the phone or on e-mail helping you and others to bridge that final gap. So, call with Qs.