'Mouseless' Document Assembly
Quick and easy document assembly directly from the keyboard.
Pathagoras has very powerful, built in document assembly features discussed elsewhere in this site. However, using the keyboard commands described below, you can assemble documents straight from your keyboard. The process is simple:
- At the beginning of any line, type the name of the document, glossary term, or clause in that you want to add to the current document.
- If the term is in one of the 10 glossaries of your current library, Pathagoras can find it. The find will be practically instantaneous if the term is in a 'prefix/suffix' style and the prefix associated with a glossary or if iis located in your 1st position glossary or your SuperGlossary. the process is slower otherwise as Pathagoras searches glossaries 2-10 in sequential order.
- If you are recalling documents and the directory which contains the documents is not your default directory, you must preface the document name with its SmartPath.
- Press <Alt-G>. A copy of the requested document or term will be inserted into your document in place of the text you typed.
- Repeat until the document is complete.
Examples:
For purposes of the below examples, it is presumed that
SmartPath #3 is set to c:\data\office forms\letters\
If you type this, followed by Alt-G: |
Pathagoras looks for this, and, if found, inserts the text from the original into the current document: |
(If you use Ctrl-Alt-G instead . . . |
. . .Pathagoras opens the following if found): |
3:Letter to John |
c:\data\office forms\letters\Letter to John.doc |
c:\mydocs\Letter to John.txt |
c:\mydocs\Letter to John.txt (and will prompt you for 'txt to doc' conversion permission.) |
c:\mydocs\Letter to John |
c:\mydocs\Letter to John.doc (.doc presumed) |
boc103 Comment: Pathagoras sees this as a possible glossary term Because of the letters-then-numbers structure of the term, Pathagoras determines that "boc" is a prefix to a glossary term.). Because the term could also be a document name or an AutoCorrect term, if Pathagoras doesn't find the term in the boc glossary, it keeps looking for you.. |
boc103.doc in the current directory, but if not there: boc103 in a glossary which is related to the 'boc' prefix, but if not there then: boc103 in an open glossary; but if not there : boc103 in the glossary occupying the first position in the current profile, but if not there, boc103 in the AutoCorrect list. |
Letter to John Note: not a great 'real world' example to use (it is unlikely, but not impossible that Alt-G would be pressed at this point), but it helps to explain the logic of the program. Pathagoras looks for a colon in positions 2 or 3 at the beginning of a line to determine if a SmartPath or folder is being sought. Other logic is present within the program to choose between a SmartPath and a DOS path. If there is no colon in position 2 or 3, and if the entire line is not a document in the current directory, Pathagoras assumes that you want the document or term represented by the last word you typed, in this case ‘John’. |
'Letter to John.doc' in the current directory, but if not there: 'John' in an open glossary; if not there; then: 'John' in the glossary occupying the first position in the current profile, but if not there, 'John' in the AutoCorrect list, but if not there, Pathagoras will ask if you want to search all glossaries in the profile for the term "John." If 'yes', then it will do that, otherwise, Pathagoras says "I give up" (see next cell.). |
(non-existing term) |
If <Alt-G> cannot find the document or term in any of the above places, the program so reports. |
2:\gr |
See similar entries in previous table. If the document name (e.g., "gr") provided by the user is less than three characters in length, Pathagoras deduces that the user may really have intended the name actually to be a filter. Pathagoras offers the operator the opportunity to choose to look for <path>:\gr* or the document <path>:\"gr.doc" |
8:\anyform.dot |
Same as the keystrokes File|New and a select of the template "anyform". If Pathagoras detects a .dot extension, it creates a copy of the text and copies the margins and other page setup information (tabs, paragraph numbering, etc.) |
::Michael,2:Letter to Mom |
"Letter to Mom.doc" in path 2 of the profile called Michael (This is the most complex of the Alt-G formulae, and it is not likely to be used by many. However, it demonstrates the power of Pathagoras' search capabilities. Literally every document on every path on every machine on the network can be instantly inserted in the open document without so much as displaying a single directory. Of course, the operator must know the exact name of the profile, path and document for successful use, but this would not be too difficult to accomplish in highly structured offices with logically and consistently named profiles and documents. While Pathagoras was designed for more typical offices (like mine) where a 'comfortable' (not perfect) level of logic and consistency is more the norm, its features reach well beyond that. So if you are still where I am, come back visit this formula in a couple of years. |
Prefixed clauses and <Alt-G> instead of checkboxes.
Two more <Alt-G> document assembly feature to note: <Alt-G> will recognize and utilize to great advantage a 'prefixed' collection of terms.
During the setup process, you may have named a series of clauses in a handy "prefix/suffix" style. wil100, wil105, wil133a, wil133b, etc. style. The 'wil' is the prefix, and the number (which can be followed by one or more additional alpha-characters) is the suffix. (Pathagoras recognizes a prefix when it is two to four characters in length followed by at least three numbers. PF123 is a valid combination from which Pathagoras can discern a prefix. So is PFF111abc. ABCDE222 and REM22a are not so recognized.
Example: Type to the editing screen wil110 <Alt-G>. Pathagoras will deciphaer the clause and determine to discern the prefix and the glossary/directory associated with that prefix. It then links to the glossary/directory and calls in your clause. (The connection between the prefix and the glossary (or directory) was made in the Document Assembly Profile setup process.)
If you next just type 120 <Alt-G>, Pathagoras will recall the last prefix and insert into you document the clause wil120. (See above table.)
List Assembly: Pathagoras can also insert into your document a series of clauses which begin with the same prefix. All you need to do is type the suffixes down the left margin of the page, and the prefix one time at the bottom of the list. (Many operators find it easier to power type in a list of short, numerical suffixes than to hunt for and check those same clauses in Pathagoras' checkbox form.) As you might be thinking at this point, this is an extremely powerful (not to mention useful) tool.
Instruction: Type the desired clause suffix numbers (suffixes only; no prefix until the last line) on a series of consecutive lines down the left edge of the page. On the line immediately following the list of desired clauses, type: '<prefix>.list' where <prefix> is an assigned prefix for one of the glossaries. Press <Alt-G>. Pathagoras will hunt down the glossary associated with that prefix, will automatically read the list, will automatically assign the prefix to each number and assemble the clauses in the order provided.
Example:
101
103
223
250
300
301
400
wil.list
Press <Alt-G> after the word 'wil.list'. Document assembled. Pretty cool, no?.