[
Adding a New Macro | Entering a New Macro | Modifying Macros | Deleting Macros | Diacritics in Macros | Using Macros | Set Up | Macro Editor Screen | Adding and Editing Macros Using Capture | Sharing and Backing Up Macros | Table of Contents (Voyager System) | Table of Contents (Top)]
The instructions in this section are for macros which are strings of text without tabs or other complications. See Adding and Editing Macros Using Capture for other types of macros.
To add a new macro, go to the Editor Screen, and click on the Add Macro icon 
, or if you have changed to Lettered Buttons, click on Add Macro.
You will get the Add Macro screen, which asks for three decisions.
Macro Type refers to how you activate the macro. The default, and the most likely kind of activation, is Hot Keys (equivalent to function keys or quick keys). You don't have to do anything unless you want to try a different type.
To choose the Hot Key you want to use, put your cursor in the box as instructed, and scroll down in the list under Select Hot Key. When you find what you want, click on it. Alternatively, just type into the box the key or combination you want to use -- but scrolling down will show you the variety available.
The second column will tell you if you already have a macro using that Hot Key. It will not, however, tell you if that key combination already does something else in the program. Many of the combinations with Ctrl or Alt, and some of the Function Keys, do have a function in Voyager and should be avoided.
[In fact, the only Ctrl + letter combinations that do not seem to do anything are Ctrl + q, Ctrl + r, Ctrl + t, Ctrl + w, Ctrl + y; the only Alt + combinations seem to be Alt + g, Alt + i, Alt + j, Alt + k, Alt + q, Alt + z. No guarantees on those. Numbers are better, except Alt + 6, 7, or 8, and punctuation marks in combination seem quite safe. Function keys in all combinations are available in Voyager, except uncombined F1, F2, F3, F4, F8, F9 -- but some of them do things in other programs, so be careful. (Macro Express does warn you if you try to use a common Windows combination.)]
The possible Hot Keys, in the order of the list, are:
This adds up to several hundred possibilities.
[top]
Once you have chosen your Hot Key, you have a choice of three ways to enter what you want to do: Scripting Editor, Enter Directly, and Capture Macro. Scripting Editor is quite complex and is not recommended for simple text entry macros. Capture Macro allows you to do something manually and save every move you make into a macro, which you can then edit. Capture is necessary for macros that incorporate Tabs (and may be fun to try). (See Adding and Editing Macros Using Capture for details.) However, for simple text-entry macros such as those described here Enter Directly is the preferred entry method.
Enter Directly brings up the Modify Directly Editor, Editor tab. A simple macro has been entered in the picture.
This macro will type "|x Economic conditions" at the location of the cursor whenever the chosen Hot Key combination is pressed.
To put the Voyager delimiter into a macro, click the F9 button at the appropriate spot in the text. Other buttons on the screen can be added the same way.
Next, go to the Properties tab. This records your Hot Key choice, and allows you to type in a Nickname for your macro -- enough to recognize it by in the list on the Editor Screen.
You can leave the Scope as Global, but you will probably prefer to specify a single program in which your macro will run. To do so, click the Program button. The Select button will then become active; clicking it will give you a small floating screen.
If you double-click on CATALOG.EXE your macro will work in Voyager Cataloguing and nowhere else. This cuts down on the probability of the same key combination being used by another program and conflicting with your macro.
The program always chooses the Macro Express "red M" as the macro's icon, which displays on the Editor Screen. For recognition purposes, you may wish to change this icon. Clicking on the red M 
brings up a choice of icons, of which the following picture shows a few.
When you have everything set as you want it, click OK on the Editor or Properties screen of Modify Directly Editor. Your macro should now appear on the list on the main Editor Screen.
[top]
Once you have created a macro, you can change its text, its nickname or icon, or its scope by highlighting it on the Editor Screen and clicking the fifth button from the left (Modify Macro Directly 
). This will bring back the Modify Directly Editor.
To change the Activation of a macro (i.e. its Hot Key), click the seventh button from the left (Change Macro Activation, 
). This brings back the Hot Key menu on a screen headed Change Macro Activation. The picture shows the menu scrolled down to the Function Keys.
To make several similar macros, you may save some time by copying the one you've done, using the eighth button from the left (Copy Macro) 
. Select a new Hot Key, and use the Modify Directly Editor to assign a new nickname and change the text as required. It will automatically have the same scope and icon as the one you copied it from, but you can change these too if you wish.
[top]
To delete a macro, highlight the macro and click the tenth button from the left (Delete Macro, 
). The program will ask if you're sure.
Enter, or click Yes, and it's gone.
[top]
Macros are another way to produce the common diacritics in the Voyager program. To create a macro for a diacritic, first look up the equivalent in Voyager Diacritic Mode on the chart in the Voyager Training manual.
The chart shows that the equivalent for the Acute (´) character in Diacritic Mode is b.
(Incidentally, the "grave" and "tilde" on the keyboard do not display correctly in the OPAC, i.e. they display before the letter instead of over it. You must use the Voyager diacritics, and therefore you will probably want macros for those as well as for acute, umlaut, cedilla, and circumflex. Voyager's Ctrl + E diacritic insert is likely to be adequate for the others.)
The Voyager shortcut to get into Diacritic Mode is Ctrl + D, so to produce an acute accent using Diacritic Mode you would have to use Ctrl + D, type "b", and Ctrl + D again. The macro shortens and simplifies this.
To create the macro in the Modify Directly Editor use the button labeled Ctrl and type as shown in the next picture.
[top]
Now your reward! Once the Ctrl + D + b + Ctrl + D macro above has been created and assigned to a Hot Key, so long as you have opened Macro Express on any given day, whenever you need an acute accent, just hit your Hot Key and watch it appear!
To use Macro Express, you will have to open it each morning. However, unless you want to make changes to your macros, you can then close it again immediately. The red M icon will then appear along with the Norton yellow shield and others at the lower right corner of your screen. As long as it is there, you can use your macros. If you need to open it again for any reason, open it from there. It will disappear when your computer is shut off.
The trick is remembering what macro you put on what Hot Key. Don't add more macros at a time than you think you can remember. Use Hot Keys that are easy to remember, like putting the acute on Ctrl + ' (apostrophe). Click on Macro Express's red M at the bottom of your screen to review your Editor Screen. Keep a list on paper (you can print the list from the program: use the fourth button from the right 
). Find out what works for you.
One warning: TSM Backup does not seem to work well for macros in the program. You can, however, back up your macros by exporting them to a file on your hard drive. For instructions, see Exporting Macros.
[top]
Created by D. Rutherford. Page maintained by Elizabeth A. Read, readel@queensu.ca. Created: Jan-29-2001 Updated: 10-01-2002 at 12:35:04 PM