Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!cornell!vax5.cit.cornell.edu!pv9y
From: pv9y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Nisus Macros: Question and Call for Distribution
Message-ID: <1990Sep24.113353.121@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
Date: 24 Sep 90 15:33:53 GMT
Distribution: comp
Lines: 58

I have a question about Nisus Macros and the Programming Dialect. I
want to create a macro that will delete all of my secondary
automatically
backups from the Backups folder in which they alone are stored. I have
a macro in the Macro Dialect which does what I want, open the Catalog
at the right place, select the first file, choose Delete, and hit
return to confirm the deletion. It looks like the following...

Catalog "Perseus:Nisus:Backups" "C"
Catalog
Select All
Delete
Key

Not too difficult, really. However, as soon as I try to make it loop
using a labelname and a Goto labelname command from the Programming
Dialect, it fails. I also tried another version which copied the list
of files from the Catalog, added quotes around each name, the Delete
command at the beginning of the line, and a Key (hit return) command
on the next line. It put all this in a new file, selected it, and then
Executed Selection. It too only worked with a single file and wouldn't
confirm any of them if there were more than one. Ideally I would like
to enhance this at some point to delete all the backups that are more
than a week old and have it do that at startup each day. Otherwise I
have to remember to manually delete the 500K or so that builds up
every few weeks.

Any ideas on how this can be made to work? Thanks ...

I would also like (and I have no idea if this is even possible in the
Programming Dialect) a table tool for the odd occasions when I want to
create a table. It's pretty easy with graphics and tabs since Nisus is
better about those than most programs, but it's still harder than in
WordPerfect 2.0 and MathWriter 2.0 and even (horrors) Word 4.0. I
suppose that tables would make more sense to build in when columns
were built-in for editing, but I do like the idea of adding features
by way of Programming Dialect Macros so those who don't want the
feature don't have to get it.

By the way, I do intend to distribute this macro if I ever get it working
because it seems to me to be a general purpose macro that many people 
could use. If you have created any macros that are of general utility,
I strongly encourage you to send them in for distribution. If that's too
hard, send things to me and I'll bundle them up and send them for 
posting on comp.sys.mac.binaries as well as America Online. Heck, if I
get a of good macros, I may even do a special issue/version of TidBITS
for them since they are only text and easily distributable.

So send me what you've got and maybe you'll become famous. You might
even become famous if you don't send me anything, I sort of doubt the
two acts are related :-).

...Adam

-- 
Adam C. Engst                         pv9y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu   
---------------------------------------------------------------          
Editor of TidBITS, the weekly electronic Macintosh news journal