> Documentation Model Working Example: Monographs Macros

I've followed my own model; had to start somewhere. Have asked my unit for feedback but none yet. Trying to get this happening by early July when new budget will be in place and the macros will (theoretically) see more use. If any of you had to maintain any Monomacros do you think you'd find this useful? The entries are taken directly from the "Notes" tab of each macro.

http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/acqlic/mono/automation/macexp/monosuite.htm
http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/acqlic/mono/automation/macexp/secondary.htm

> A Documentation Model

As I've been trying to whip together some documentation for the Monographs Suite, I found myself whittling down more and more of the info on submacros--seeing it as redundant. So I thought I'd toss out my current working model as a springboard for discussion on some sort of standard.

REMARKS (that is, at the beginning of the script editor)
name
purpose
author
last updated
calls
variables

NOTES
description
aleph modules
macro components
calls
assumptions
activation
comments

NOTES (for submacros)
description
calls
assumptions
comments

> various

Everyone in Monographs now has at least been introduced to the Monographs Suite. Some tweaking is needed before next distribution. A second round of observing workflow should produce more macros. The documentation charge on all of us is somewhat daunting.

I've been doing a lot if Windows study (and continue) that sheds a little light on some of the quirks that seem to arise when we try to create macros. I'll certainly share when I come up with useful techniques.

Both Jason and I assisted Doug Smith (separately) with a macro involving Excel. What I stressed was the use of fleshing out the overall flow both in your mind and with a pencil before actually sitting down to write the script.

I think some of the experience Jason has in parsing tagged markup could come in handy with the current problems with YBP loading of brief records toward the end of the fiscal year. CM Support and our unit are meeting in a couple weeks so we'll see what's needed.

I think combining technologies might be an interesting experiment. For example: having a macro call on a VBA Macro within an MS Office application or wrapping the promptcat utitlity currently run by Gerald in a macro for a friendlier interface. --mj

> Nested File Processing Loops

Working on Macros: DEWEY identification project


Working with very large files from a ret-adm-01 report (Items module)
Requested by Iona Malanchuk

The problem I encountered was the the ret-adm-01 reports were too large to generate their normal table view. The results found from the report were a combination of Dewey and LC call #'s. I only wanted the Dewey Results.

I saved the source code to a temp file on my hard drive and developed a macro to read the results.

I hadn't worked with this particular report type but it wasn't very dissimilar from others I have worked on in the past.

I am writing this post because in the past I have used IF/THEN loops to handle most of the logic involved in the macro process. Because I was also performing a logical function of discriminating between Dewey and LC results I couldn't just strip out the information I wanted to include.

Solution:

I created a Text File Begin Process loop and added an Integer Counter to keep track of what line number I was on. When the macro encountered a Barcode I knew I was at the beginning of the information segment I wanted to analyze.

I then started an embedded Text File Process that started at the line number I was on. This process stripped out the information elements I needed and when it was finished it examined the call # to ensure that it was of the correct type. If it was it then saves the information to a text file that will be converted to an excel spreadsheet.

> Monographs / MJ Update

I put the latest suite on our five student machines. One student, Katharina, started working with the general invoice macro so that's a start. I sent message to unit staff to go to the suites page and get the latest file. Have yet to do a demo for them; trying to get with them in small groups or one on one if necessary. Have not received any requests for additional macros.

Will systematically begin to write documentation this week. Remarks in the script are put there as I create them. This is very important for all of you! Also have standard notes in the notes tab of the properties a given macro.

description:
options:
aleph modules:
macro components: (submacro listing)
variable list: <<< personally feel this is important
assumptions: certain window open or up, etc. (if any)
comments:

Some sort of standard documentation is something we should probably all talk about. I'm not sure if the previous scheme discussed in the Guidelines/Best Practices is still valid.

> Dream Team Update

The Macro Express DREAM team includes:
Jason Fleming;
Michael Jay;
Douglas Smith;
Jody Hewitt;
Matthew Daley;
Adrian Zeck

All members of the team now have Macro Express.

Some macros have been documented but we have a long way to go.
Some work is being done on the SWIKI but at present it is an update of what is available on the blog and the macro express home page. The blog is being used as a place for macro developers to share code and give updates on the progress of their unit suites.

Suites
Cataloging: the cataloging macro has been made available to staff via the network. Staff macros will be updated as they are created using this model.

> analytics LKR field - testing

On the macro referred to on November 9th:

Todd and I are debugging and testing this 13 module macro. Too long to describe here but essentially the difficulty is with accounting for several varying conditions. Is this a primary (parent) record or secondary (child)? Is this the first pass at this record? Is this an ITM type of link or not? That's approximately eight different paths to handle. We're almost there.

One interesting technique we're using is a combination of using the "text mode," with a line-by-line search routine I wrote. We discovered that the text mode is problematic when encountering multiple occurrences of a given tag, e.g., TKR.

> close current bib window - catalog module

This seems to be a candidate for the basic macros suite. I found myself writing the same few lines of code over and over and finally made little modules for close, maximize, minimize. See below (comments and overal playback speed omitted):

Text Type: <altd>
Text Type: -
Text Type: <altu>
Delay 25 Milliseconds
Text Type: c
Delay 25 Milliseconds
Macro Return