AutoSave template child doc to defined subdirectory

JohnV

Several people have complained about the necessity of having to traverse a long directory tree to save a file to its intended directory and I got tired of it too. If you create files from templates properly saved in OOo's template directory this macro provides a way to solve the problem. The macro should be saved in My Macros - Standard or some other global library and not in any of your templates. I have attached mine to the Ctrl+S key combo as I don't normally use that for a Save.

You need to edit the macro's first set of User Variables in the first subroutine to define a basic home (top level) directory for saving OOo files. Normally this will be your default OOo directory.

From this home directory the macro provides two methods to specify one or more subdirectory levels to which the file should be saved. Both methods can be used together.

For the first method look at the “Case” statement lines in the second set of User Variables in the first subroutine. The first such “Case” line looks this,
Case "LetterHead" : SubDir = "Letters"
where LetterHead is the name of the template used and Letters specifies the subdirectory to save it in. The second such “Case” line show an example of going 2 two subdirectories deep. There is no reason you can't go deeper, just note that you do not use a slash before or after the subdirectories but you do between them. You can add additional “Case” lines and, of course, modify the sample ones.

The first method will require you to edit the macro any time you want to add additional templates to the macro. The second method avoids this.

The second method actually defines the one or more subdirectory levels as part of the template name. In this regard note that in the first set of User Variables I have defined the back quote (upper left key, next to “1”) as the Divider. You may define a different Divider but it should be a unique character and allowable in file names for your operating system.* To achieve the same result as the two “Case” lines in the macro you would name your templates:
LetterHead`Letters
and
Invoice`Client`Invoices

* If you use a period as the Divider the the last character of the template name must be a period, e.g., LetterHead.Letters. because OOo will truncate the last period and any characters following it thinking it's an extension.

You can have the same basic template saving to several different locations with something like:
LetterHead`Personal`Letters
LetterHead`Client`Letters
LetterHead`Suppliers`Letters

If you specify one or more subdirectories levels that do not exist the macro creates them so be very careful when warned this is about to happen or you may lose track of where your files end up. For example, I used “Documents and Setting” instead of “Documents and Settings” in the definition of my home directory and missed it when warned because I actually had another new directory in play at the same time.

The macro will warn you if you try to overwrite an existing file and you can do so or change the file name or path.

If you run the macro against a file that it is not setup to handle then you will be notified of the unintended use but will be allowed to continue so a Save or Save As can be finished. (To avoid such notifications comment out the first “If” through “EndIf” code block of the SaveFile subroutine, but I suggest you let this work for a while.)

The macro doesn't notify you when it's finished but, unless you run it against an existing file and don't change the name, you will see the file name change on the top line of the screen.

The macro should handle templates of type Writer, Calc, Draw, Presentation and HTML but has mostly been tested with Writer. DataBase, Master Document and Formula files do not support templates.

The program assumes the use of OOo2.x.x but should work with OOo1.1.x if you change the file extensions in the GetFileTypeOrExtension function. I have no reason to think the macro will not work under Linux, etc., but it has only been tested under Window98 & W2K.

Please let me know if you find a bug. However, my hope is that you just get saved a lot of aggravation.

Ken Ryan · Newbie Joined: 15 Mar 2005 Posts: 2

Hi, John!

[It doesn't "feel" like this reply is really appropriate as a thread, but since your email specifically requested I post...]

I admit I haven't tried running your macro, but it doesn't sound like it'd solve my gripes. You're essentially making a template<->directory correlation.

I have only a couple templates that I use in lots of different projects. My directories are organized by project. I therefore end up traversing from the starting point configured in OOo down to where I actually want to place the file. I mitigated this by making the default location the parent of all my project trees, which helps about halfway.

Ideally I'd like in the file path configuration box to be able to check a box saying "just remember where I saved the last one and start there". I tend to work in one project for several weeks or months, then move to another. Some windows programs have that last-used-directory behavior already. It still wouldn't be a complete solution, but I think the only way to get better than a mind-reading library.

As it is, I usually don't use templates stored in OOo. I just have a copy of the template itself in the individual project dir where I can open it in-place. (Naturally I end up with 35 versions of my template, nothing's perfect).
_________________
- ken

JohnV · Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 2:55 pm Post subject:

Villeroy · Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 2:12 pm Post subject:

JohnV · Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 11:42 am Post subject:

Villeroy · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:30 am Post subject:

JohnV · Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:21 am Post subject:

Villeroy,

Well that was certainly a forthright answer and with code to boot. However, it still does not solve the problem, at least in Windows, of not being able to determine the path to a template stored in a normal directory if I just go there an open the template.

I have decided to solve my own problem with templates saved in related directories by following through on my thoughts in my second post above.

All my templates already start with a back quote character so they are available near the top of my various subdirectories and I have simply stored them as normal files instead of templates. ( I left the templates in my defined work directory alone.) The following macro is now tied to the Open Document event and if a file starting with a back quote is opened it simple does the equivalent of a Save As.