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There are two ways a date can appear in
WordPerfect (other than as a date-formatted
table cell, which is another topic):
- A date can appear as the result of inserting
a dynamic code (which is visible in Reveal Codes as [Date]). This
means the date will automatically (dynamically) change to the
then-current date if the document is opened in the future.
- A date can appear as a static string of
text -- usually created by typing a date such as "Thursday, July 29, 2010" into the document. This means the date will
remain the same if you open the document in the future to edit
or print it.
Some confusion can result from these two different
ways of producing a date in a document, since they can look the
same on screen and on the printed page.
For example, many templates (such as automated
Projects in the File, New from Projects list) insert the current
date as a [Date] code, which changes whenever you open the document
at a later date. This is by design: It was thought to be a convenient
way to help you create letters and similar form documents --
most of which are one-time affairs.
However, people often complain that when they
re-open a document based on such a template at a later date --
perhaps to print a copy of it -- the date changes to the then-current
date (taken from their computer system clock), and doesn't show
when the document was originally written.
Also, if you insert a date with Insert, Date/Time
and you check the box ("Keep the inserted date current")
at the bottom of the dialog, you'll insert a [Date] code in the
document, not a string of (static) text. If you expected the
latter, you might be annoyed when the date "spontaneously"
changes the next time you open the document for editing or printing.
The checkbox really means "Insert a dynamic date code that
always reflects the current (system) date."
The DATEREPL macro was designed to help remedy
these issues.
How DATEREPL works
If you want to replace all existing [Date] codes in a document with the current date (taken from your
computer's clock) with nomal text (e.g., "August 20, 2008"), so that they reflect the date the document is being
written or edited (i.e., today's date), just play DateRepl while
in that document. If there are [Date] codes in the document they
will be converted to text strings using the current system date
-- just as though you had manually deleted the [Date] codes and
typed the current date in their place. If there are no [Date]
codes the macro will simply exit.
The macro command DateText is used
to produce the static date -- the same as if you typed the current
date into the document. Thus, the date will remain the same no
matter when you open the document in the future.
Note: There
is a limitation to the WordPerfect program with respect to finding
some codes -- such as those inside another code -- which
in turn limits this macro. So if a [Date] code is inside a [Style] or [Delay]
code, or inside a text
variable, the macro won't see it. See Footnote
1 for an explanation and a macro workaround for editing those
styles.
Two macros are included
Version 1.01
This is the original version. It simply finds
all date codes and converts them to text dates. It does not insert
and save [Bookmark] codes at static date locations into the document
(as the next version does). It just replaces any [Date] codes
with the current date as a string of text characters.
Version 1.03
Since a macro can also "bookmark"
a static date at the same time it creates one, these [Bookmark]
code(s) can be found later by a macro to update the static date(s),
too. This is the idea behind version 1.03 of this macro.
(Be sure not to remove these bookmarks later, or the macro
will not run properly.)
This version of the macro includes the ability
to convert existing date codes (same as v1.01) but if
it is used multiple times on the same document it will also update
any static dates created when the macro was last played
on that particular document (the document will contain special
bookmarks around each converted date as a result of the initial
conversion; be sure not to delete them).
TIP: You may
want to insert/update static dates at print time (assuming
that is the only time an updated date is truly needed, since
you can see the date the file was saved in the File Open dialog).
This macro (v1.03) can be used as a template macro, associated
with the PRE PRINT trigger. (See WP's online Help <F1>
index for more information on associating template macros with
trigger events, or see the author's "Automating WordPerfect
Templates" on the Tips
page.)
Intermediate-to-advanced
user tips:
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1. Automatically insert the current
date as a static date -- i.e., a string of text characters (i.e., a static date) in new documents such as letterheads
or memos, as soon as they are opened. You can also position the
cursor, ready for typing body text. This requires modifying the
template on which the document is based, which is easy to do,
but it does require recording a simple template macro to do the
job. See here.
2. Automate the updating of several
static dates in a template with a template macro
Similar to the above tip, but you would use
a template macro to insert the current (static) date in several
locations. [This is the technique used in the LETTERHD
template in the Library.]
Unlike the DATEREPL macro, which replaces
existing date codes in the template with dates composed of text
strings, this technique simply finds certain pre-marked locations
in the template and inserts static dates at those locations.
Here's how.
- Open the template and edit it to remove any
[Date] codes. (Unless, of course, they are needed by any template
macro that might be in the template.)
- Then insert a short text placeholder such
as [Date1] where the date should go. Just type it in the template
where needed. (If you need more dates to be updated, use [Date1],
[Date2], etc.)
- Next, select each text placeholder,
including the brackets (if any), and click Tools, Bookmark, Create,
OK.
- [N.B.: Be sure not to change the name that
WordPerfect uses, or uncheck (disable) the "Selected Bookmark"
checkbox, when the Create Bookmark dialog appears. The name needs
to be the same in the BookmarkBlock command in the snippet below,
and the checkbox needs to be ticked (enabled) so that a paired
bookmark is created, not a single bookmark. All this is easier
if you just click OK after you click Create.]
- This will place a paired bookmark
around -- i.e., bracketing -- the text placeholder(s). You can
see it in Reveal Codes: it will look something like [Bookmark>[Date1]<Bookmark].
[Note that this is also what WP's Prompt Builder does.]
- Next, create a template macro (see here
for more) with code like the example below -- which assumes you
have 3 dates somewhere in the doccument):
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// Macro snippet begins
OnError(End@)
BookmarkBlock ("[Date1]")
Type (DateString (DateAndTime(); Format: "MMMM d, yyyy"))
BookmarkBlock ("[Date2]")
Type (DateString (DateAndTime(); Format: "MMMM d, yyyy"))
BookmarkBlock ("[Date3]")
Type (DateString (DateAndTime(); Format: "MMMM d, yyyy"))
Label (End@)
// Macro ends |
The format of the date used in the Type commands
above can be changed. See WordPerfect's Macro Help, under the
DateString command.
Or, instead of a Type() command you could
just use DateText to insert the current date as a static date.
Finally, you probably should associate the
above macro with the PRE PRINT
trigger, assuming the dates in a document are important only
when the document is printed. Then, each time you go to print
the document (and as long as the template itself is still on
your system), the macro will fire up and replace whatever is
between each paired bookmark. The first time the template macro
plays it will replace the text placeholder; at subsequent times
it will replace (overwrite) the entire typed date. This is a
handy way to show a "print date" on a document.
Related tips and notes:
- If you need help creating template macros
or associating template macros with trigger events, see "Automating WordPerfect
Templates," on the Tips page.
- Note that you can actually edit a date (or
whatever is between each paired bookmark) and change it -- it's
just a string of text characters -- but when the macro plays,
the dates will be replaced with the current date (assuming the
bookmarks have not been deleted!).
- One thing to be aware of in this approach
is not to delete the bookmark(s) in the template or the
document, or the macro will not know where to put the new dates.
In the above macro, if you delete one or more bookmarks the macro
will simply exit (Quit) when it can't find a bookmark. [The OnError
command effectively suppresses any error message if a bookmark
is not found, by skipping down to the Label. (When bookmarks
are not found, WordPerfect generates an Error condition, not
a NotFound condition.)]
- For a similar macro that can display and/or
automatically insert the currently opened file's modification
date and time, see this
post on WordPerfect Universe. It uses the same technique
(paired bookmarks) but with this bit of code added (each command
is on one line):
// Store the document's path
and name:
vFN:=?Path+?Name
// Extract the Modification
Date and Time:
vModDate:=GetFileDateAndTime (Filename:vFN; DateType:ModificationDateTime!)
vModTime:=TimeString(vModDate;Format:"HH:mm:ss
tt" )
vModDate:=DateString(vModDate;Type:Custom!;Format:"MM/dd/yyyy")
Messagebox(;"Modification
Date and Time:";vModDate +NToC(0F90Ah)+vModTime)
3. Need to insert a date that is "n"
days after the current date? Here's
a code snippet from Roy ("lemoto") Lewis:
x=DateAndTime+n
y=DateString (x;;"dd/MM/yyyy")
... where "n" is the number of days
to add to the current date. See the DateString command for other
parameters.
4. Use a template macro to automatically
locate pre-existing bookmarks and type legal-style dates (e.g.,
"the 15th day of July, 2009") at those locations in
new documents spawned by that template.
See this
post at WordPerfect Universe. |
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Footnote 1
As noted above, there is a limitation to the
WordPerfect program with respect to finding some codes -- such
as those inside another code like the initial [Open Style] code
-- which in turn limits the DATEREPL macro.
From How to efficiently
use "Find:" in the Find and Replace (F&R) dialog:
"You cannot use Find and Replace to find
codes inside a [Style] code
(such as the initial [Open Style] code in a document or template)
or inside text
variables (a form of style). You also cannot use Find and
Replace to find codes inside a [Delay]
code. These are limitations of the program, at least for
recent versions of it. You will have to edit the [Style] or [Delay]
code by double-clicking on the code in Reveal Codes to edit it."
[Ed.- Or, use a macro to edit the [Style] code as in the
example below. Note that the macro method cannot be used to edit
a [Delay] code.]
Example: Here
is a demonstration macro that edits the current document's initial
[Open Style] code to add a [Footer A] inside it that, in turn,
contains the filename and a static (text) date in Arial 10-point
font. It can be modified to delete all current codes (and any
text) first, before creating new ones. Deleting everything inside
a [Style] code, then creating what you need in that code, is
one way to "edit" the code to your requirements.
The macro can be assigned to a menu, toolbar,
or keystroke combination; see here.
It could also be used as a template macro and triggered
to play whenever you open a document based on that template;
see "Automating WordPerfect Templates".
Note that once the macro does its job, the
footer code will be inside the [Open Style] code, and if you
wish to remove it you can do so by double-clicking on the [Open
Style] code and deleting the new [Footer] code. (Merely using
Ctrl+z will not Undo such an "internal" customization.)
// PURPOSE:
// Edits the current document's [Open Style: DocumentStyle] code
to add a custom footer inside that code.
// Exit from any header, footer,
note, text box, image, etc.
pExitSubstructures ()
StyleEditBegin (Style: DocStyle!;
Library: CurrentDoc!)
StyleCodes (State: WithoutOffCodes!; Library: CurrentDoc!)
// Go to the end of any codes
or characters in the Contents field of the Styles Editor
// (optional: you could as easily SelectAll and SelectDelete
all the contents instead of merely positioning the cursor):
If(?RightCode>0 or ?RightChar<>"")
PosLineVeryEnd // (put the cursor at the end of all codes and
text)
Endif
// Create a footer with the
document path/name and date (as text)::
FooterA (Create!) // <= creates Footer A - change to FooterB
if required
Font ("Arial")
FontSize (10p)
InsertFilenameWithPath // <= displays and prints once the
file has been saved
FlushRight
DateText // <= inserts current date as a text string
// Exit from the footer and
return to Styles Editor; then return to the main document:
pExitSubstructures ()
// Save changes
StyleEditEnd (State: Save!)
Quit
Procedure pExitSubstructures
()
While (?Substructure)
vSubDoc:=?CurrentSubDoc
SubstructureExit
If ((vSubDoc=10) or (vSubDoc=11))
BoxEnd (Save!)
EndIf
EndWhile
vImageType:=?BoxContentType
If(vImageType=3) BoxEnd (Save!) Endif
EndProc
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Barry MacDonnell's