Nisus Software, Inc.

NOTE: this software is for Classic Mac OS (eg: OS 9) and cannot be used on Mac OS X.
Nisus Writer Classic is no longer for sale. This page is only for archival purposes.

 

The other day, our indefatigable author Ben Hurmak had a conversation with someone who had called to praise his wonderful writing. On the off chance that he might want to get in touch with the person in the fuutrer, Ben asked for this individual's contact information. Because he always has Nisus Writer up and running while he's sitting at his Macintosh (which is, his is a writer - after all, most of the time) he pressed the COMMAND key and typed ATR (for Add To Rolodex, of course). Immeidately, his Rolodex opened and up popped a series of dialogs asking him who he wanted to add and what info he needed to have about them:

Then, after asking for a work and a home phone number as well as a FAX number, an email address and a Web address, Ben gets one more question:

All the information gets automatically pasted into the Rolodex file separated by the "Soft Return" (or "new line" character; ASCII 11 for the geeks reading - type: SHIFT-RETURN) to put the new field on a new line, but still part of the same paragraph (record).

(Remember that all the data in Ben's rolodex have been scrambled to protect the "innocent".)

 

How can you do this?

 

To add data to your rolodex database in Nisus Writer:

1. Choose New Macro Command from the Macros submenu of the Gear or Cogwheel menu.

2. In the dialog that appears type Add To Rolodex (or whatever you want to use) and click Name.

The macro editing window opens ready for you to type in the commands you want Nisus Writer to carry out.

3. Here's the text of the macro. You can copy (i.e. type) the text from here. We do not advise that you paste this into your macro file because of all the special characters that appear (and don't transfer over the Web). Those "//" characters indicate a comment in the macro. Everything else is a "micro" command. Where you see the red text you paste in the pathname you have from the Search Rolodex macro you created during our last session. Be careful there may be some "leading" spaces and Return characters inserted by your Web browser.

 

//Add To Rolodex

//Notice the difference between "Smart Quotes" and "Straight Quotes." If you need help making the Straight Quotes check your manual. Also notice the spaces, Carriage Returns and "soft Returns (SHIFT-RETURN)"

//Open the Rolodex file. You need to create a file and put it someplace.

Open "Pathname:Rolodex"

//Jump to the end of the file.

Jump "END"

//Just in case you want to add someone's name while you're busy with something else and you have something on the clipboard, switch to clipboard #4. We'll return to this clipboard later to find the person at the end of this macro.

4

//Put up a dialog asking for the name.

:1 "Who do you want to add to the Rolodex?" ""

//Paste the name into the file.

Macropaste

//Type "SHIFT-ENTER" This causes all the lines of the "record" to be part of one paragraph, even though they appear on different lines.

Key [space] [SHIFT-RETURN]

//Switch to another unused clipboard.

5

:1 "Is There A Company Name?" ""

Macropaste

Key [space] [SHIFT-RETURN]

:1 "What Is The Street Address?" ""

Macropaste

Key [space] [SHIFT-RETURN]

:1 "What is the City, ST and Zip?" ""

Macropaste

Key [space] [SHIFT-RETURN]

:1 "What Is The (work) Phone Number?" ""

Key (wk)

Macropaste

Key [space] [SHIFT-RETURN]

:1 "What Is The (home) Phone Number?" ""

Key (hm)

Macropaste

Key [space] [SHIFT-RETURN]

:1 "Is There A FAX Number?" ""

Key (FAX)

Macropaste

Key [space] [SHIFT-RETURN]

:1 "Is There an E-Mail Address?" ""

Key (email)

Macropaste

Key [space] [SHIFT-RETURN]

:1 "Is There URL?" ""

Key (URL)

Macropaste

Key [space] [SHIFT-RETURN]

:1 "Is There A Code Term To Add For Searching?" ""

Macropaste

Key [space] [SHIFT-RETURN]

//Select and sort all the paragraphs of the file, return to the clipboard (#4) with the name of the individual, then find that person's name in list.

Select All

Sort Paragraphs

4

Find Next '\CC' "g-o-OaAt-S"



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