Variables
MultipleChoice Variables
Variable Grouping
MultiChoice Terms
Summary:
Pathagoras' GotForms? and InstantDatabase system provide quick and elegant ways to replace variables throughout an assembled document with the client or customer's personal information. Frequently the answers can be 'pre-typed' to allow the user to select among options as opposed to having to type in original text. Pathagoras provides the tools to do this. And true to Pathagoras' style, it is all done with plain text. No fields, no formulas, no coding.
Introduction:
Little could be easier than the method by which Pathagoras allows the user to create automated variables. An automatic variable is simple a word that Pathagoras recognizes as a 'place holder' and which, in the final phase of the document assembly process, will be replaced a client's or customer's personal information.
Simple Variables:
The beginner (as well as the advanced user) will typically create a variable by surrounding the placeholder text with brackets (or braces or any other kind of enclosing characters). Pathagoras has been programmed to quickly identify any words enclosed within such brackets and to present them to the operator as variables. The operator can quickly replace those variables with names, addresses and other personal information during the final (personalization) phase of document assembly.
Multiple-choice Variables:
If you want to 'pre-type' a selection of the possible choices from which the operator can select, just list the choices one after the other within the braces, separating each choice with a slash. For example:
"Thank you for your order of [quantity] [pints/quarts/gallons] of [strawberry/French Vanilla/Rocky Road/butter pecan fudge swirl/plain vanilla] ice cream. You order will be delivered by regular first class mail, but for an additional $25 we can have it shipped by [FedEx/UPS/DHL/other special courier] and have it delivered to your door [still frozen/partially frozen/guaranteed refreezable].
| "Long multiple choices" Sometimes the multiple choices are long. . . so long that they affect the readability of the document. Sometimes there are just too many choices, or you just don't want to have to retype the same list of choices in each of several (dozens) of documents that contain the same multiple choice list. Perhaps you just want to make the document a bit more readable by keeping the choices to a simple one word description, altogether avoiding the slashes within the body of the document. Pathagoras has a really nice tool to address these concerns. See the block at the bottom of this page. |
Multiple-choice Groups:
Some variables tend to travel in packs. They are closely related, and a change of one would suggest a change in others. The best examples are pronouns. For example, the pronouns "[he/she/them]" and "[him/her/their]" might refer to beneficiaries under a will. Let?s assume further that you want all instances of related variables to change to the same level (gender, number, tense, etc.) when you change a single member of the 'group'.
For a working examples of multiple choice glossaries, and muliple choice variable grouping, see the example that ships with the DemoDocs called "ballons" and "fairytale"
To create a group, add a simple 'group name' at the beginning of each term you want to be in the group. The group name must be placed between exclamation marks (e.g., "[!buyer!he/she/they]"; "[!buyer!him/her/their]" and "[!buyer!his/her/their]). (Note that groupings are not limited to pronouns or single words. There is no limit as to the number of groupings that can be created per document.
'Groupings' works in both the InstantDatabase and the GotForms? modules. While personalizing a document using GotForms?, here is what to look for. When any multiple-choice variable is located by GotForms?, the choices are displayed on buttons on the face of the GotForms? screen. <Shift-click> on the button containing the desired answer. A <shift-click> transfers the button's answer into the 'Substitute with' box. Then press the <Replace All> button. All appropriate substitutions will be made not only of the specific variable, but of all variables with the same group name.
A multichoice list can be compressed into a single word multichoice term. If desired, just the term can be placed in the document in lieu of the entire list. Doing so will remove some of the clutter that can occur as multiple choice variable after multiple choice variable are typed into the document. This is a more advanced (but still very easy to implement) function, and you should use it only after you have completed a document or two with the more direct multichoice variables discussed outside of the box. Multichoice terms are recognized by the naming pattern "[*term*]" (bracket astersisk termname asterisk bracket). When, during the final (personalizing) phase of document assembly, if Pathagoras 'sees' a term in that configuration, it looks for a table of multichoice terms (user created, but Pathagoras guided)) and presents the list of variables onto the InstantDatabase mask (or the GotForms? screen) just as if the entire list had been typed into the document. Create the term list by via the Utiilties/Settings >>InstantDatabase Tools screen. Click the <Multichoice> button (after selecting whether you want to add new terms or edit existing ones. A 'trick' you can use to add to the multichoice terms list is simply type the term list name (with the asterisks) into your document (as if the list already existed) and run the InstantDatabase <Scan> feature. When Pathagoras encounters the unrecognized variable, it will stop, tell you it is confused, and ask you if you want to create a list of variables to be associated with the asterisk-ed list name. Say 'Yes,' provide the options, and you are done. |
| The experienced user will recall that the Pathagoras also allows you a powerful way of providing for and selecting among optional text blocks. Slashes also separate the choices.
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Here is fuller example illustrating the above features. (Sorry, but it’s another ‘lawyer’ example”) You really can, however, ignore the text of the underlying document. Just study the markups. The markups are highlighted as follows:
blue (the variables). Please note. The colors are for illustration only. No colors are ever required in base document preparation.
red (separator 'slashes')
green (just explanatory comments).
Last Will And Testament of [Testator] I, [Testator], [married/unmarried], a resident of [*City*], State of [Virginia/North Carolina], do declare this document to be my <<*optional*first Codicil to my >>] Last Will and Testament. A multichoice term called "*City*" has been created which contains the names of 5 localities in which the client likely resides. When the document is personalized, that list will be presented and the user may choose among those 5, or may type in any other response.An optional text block has been thrown into this example to demonstrate how variables and optional text can work together. |
Multichoice 'groups' work with both the InstantDatabase and GotForms? modules. When encountered when displaying an Instant Database mask, the choices are displayed in dropdown lists immediately adjacent to the variable; and
in GotForms?, as buttons on the GotForms? overlay screen.
Plain text optional text. Available exclusively with Pathagoras.