194. Making the most of VIEW (2)   by Andrew G8YHI
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Following on from the last tip we can use the macro to make the sending of
standard but personalised letters a little easier. View allows up to 10
parameters to be passed to each macro and within these parameters we can
introduce the words that make each document different. Suppose we wished to
send a number of letters of thanks in which the different wording was the
persons name, their address and the amount of money they had sent. We first
have to define our standard letter as a macro but where each of the
different words or groups of words appear we insert a symbol. Each of these
parameters, as they are known are given symbols from @0, @1 etc ...up to @9
and so our letter might look like this.

DM AA
   @0
   @1
   @2

   Dear @3,

   Thank you for your kind donation of `@4 in response to my recent
   begging letter. The villa in Marbella will do my sick grandmother
   the world of good.

   Yours sincerely,

EM

We now list the parameters as we wish them to be printed with each parameter
separated by a comma, the macro name (in this case AA) being inserted in the
margin using the EDIT COMMAND key.

AA  1 Sandal Lane,Wakefield,WF4 5AF,Mr Sperry,25.00
AA  24 Ferry Drive,Wakefield,WF5 2AZ,Mr Woolhead,2.00
AA  16 Sunset Boulevard,New York,NY 13245,Mr Lane,0.50

When the documents are printed the parameters will be inserted in the
appropriate positions. All parameters must be entered on one line (which can
be up to 132 chracters long) and if any parameter includes a comma, the
parameter must be enclosed within angle brackets. This is a useful but
limited facility in that although text is inserted, the document is not
reformatted before printing so careful thought has to be given to how each
parameter will affect the final layout. Try it out and next I'll show you
how to make the most of the function keys.   de Andrew G8YHI