Changes to MacroAde


June 22, 1991, Release of Version 2.0:

	1. Macrolst.exe, the macro-to-ASCII translator/decompiler:
		  * now accepts macro (.wpm) files of unlimited size as input;
			   formerly, the program choked on macros bigger than 15K or so.
		  * translates any literal braces ("{}") found in macros to
			   their character set representation ([:0,123] or [:0,125]) in
			   the ASCII file in order to permit them to be recompiled
			   successfully.  This is the only lower ASCII character so treated.
		  * now recognizes several commands ignored in previous version:
			   {Key Macro },Shift F11 & F12, ALT F11 & F12, Ctrl F11 & F12,
			   {Compose}.
		  * COMMANDS.ref has been updated.

	2. MCompile.exe, the ASCII-to-macro compiler:
		  * now accepts source files of unlimited size as input; as with
			   Macrolst, it formerly choked on macros bigger than 15K.
		  * case insensitive command syntax: macro and keystroke commands
			   may now be entered without regard to the upper or lower case
			   of the characters in the commands.
		  * handles either spaces or tabs as formatting characters (i.e., to
			   produce indents) at the beginning of lines in the source file.
		  * allows the use of literal braces in the source file, but only when
			   represented in character code form (i.e., "{" = [:0,123] &
			   "}" = [:0,125]), not directly as ASCII characters.
		  * now recognizes several commands ignored in previous version:
			   {Key Macro },Shift F11 & F12, ALT F11 & F12, Ctrl F11 & F12,
			   {Compose}

	3. EditWP.wpm -- use WordPerfect as a macro editor:
		  * a macro that works in conjunction with a batch file
			   (EditWPM.bat), Macrolst, and MCompile to bring macros of
			   any size into WordPerfect for editing as WordPerfect
			   documents and, upon pressing EXIT (F7), recompiles the
			   document back into a macro ready for use.
		  * includes error checking during compilation and return to the
			   editing process (at user's option) if any syntax errors
			   occur during compilation.
		  * includes a utility macro, BOLDCMDS.wpm, that bolds all macro
			   and keystroke commands after conversion to a WordPerfect
			   document, matching the screen image of the internal macro
			   editor exactly.

	4. BringBak.wpm, the system for importing external data into WordPerfect:
		  * the external .exe program that was used to bring data back into
			   WordPerfect, BringBak.exe, is replaced by two alternative
			   programs which give this process much more flexibility.
			   Both of these programs now allow the name of a file containing
			   the data to be imported to be specified on the command line,
			   preceded by an @ sign.  This avoids having to manually
			   enter the data on the command line and allows external
			   processes to write their data to a file for importation.

				  ** AutoBak.exe: issues an EXIT command upon termination
						for automatic return to WordPerfect.  This is not
						needed, however, if only a single DOS command
						(often a batch file name) is issued rather than
						a full SHELL to DOS.  Moreover, it may not be
						desired if something else needs to be done externally
						after the data is sent back.  Thus, a second version...
				  ** USendBak.exe: does NOT issue an EXIT command upon
						termination. The user must issue an EXIT or place
						one in the batch file to return to WordPerfect, thus
						giving the user much more control over external
						event processing.  See example in EditWPM.bat.

		  * Two small macros excerpted from BringBak.wpm have been added
			   (SetNV.wpm and ParseNV.wpm) which allow the user to set up
			   an importation variable in another macro ({NEST}SetNV~),
			   SHELL to DOS and bring back up to the usual 120 bytes of
			   data, and parse out the data and put it in NewVar
			   ({NEST}ParseNV~) for use within the macro.  This technique
			   is exemplified by the EditWP.wpm macro.

		  * The message displayed on the status line informing the user
			   that the imported data is now in the NewVar variable
			   disappears after any key is pressed.

	5. AltZ.wpm - "On beyond Z" in the use of ALT + letter keys to
	   invoke macros:
		  * Have you run out of keys for ALT-invoked macros?  Here's a
			   simple macro solution that many others have undoubtedly
			   come up with but which is offered here to those who may
			   have missed anything like it up to now.
		  * ALTZ allows you to use ALT Z plus any of 54 other ASCII characters
			   to invoke a macro you've named ALTZ?, where ? = its
			   identifying ASCII character of your choice.
		  * Changing the Z in ALTZ.wpm and in all occurrences within the
			   ALTZ.wpm macro file itself to any other character will allow
			   you to have additional easy-to-invoke macros in case you
			   run out of keys to use with ALTZ.

June 14, 1991 Update:

    1. The most obvious change in this first update is to the new name of
       the product from MacroAid to MacroAde. This was done to eliminate
       redundancy with the use of the former name for a product published by
       Software by Seidman.

    2. A bug was fixed that prevented both the Macrolst and MCompile programs
       from properly handling the "{Macro Commands}" macro command.  These
       programs now translate and compile this command correctly.

    3. An explicit note was added to the MCompile documentation which points
       out the reserved status of the French braces characters ({}).  These
       characters may only be used to enclose macro or keystroke commands in
       order for the compilation of a source file to proceed.	They may not
       be used as literals.