record of the database specified is print the first field of the first record, FL2 the second field and used. FL1 wil
Insert
Lower
Case
Characters
so on.
When the letter has printed, provided you have asked for more than one copy a second will be printed using information from the same database file. This time the FL commands WI” prlnt the appropriate fle'dS
in
bear RE:
'
overm'e
l
'
Show that overdue“
account
your
'
15 v
I\,Could you please settle as soon as pDSSlbleYours
'
account
‘LOur records ”0“ (“0 “99‘s
from the second record. Let's start by printing a list of the names — just enter the edit mode of the word processor and type the following, ending with Return:
'
1:th
account
Emcere”
AJ‘lan
Figure I”: The end the letter
of
,
Press Escape to return to the word processor menu. Make sure you’re now using the disc containing the file of names, then select Print Text. At the first sub-menu—PrintOptions —just press Return to select Print Text. You will then be asked how many copies you require. Suppose you have 30 names in your list answer 30 to this question. If you are not sure how many names there are in your file, just enter a large number such as 500 and printing will stop when all the records in the file have been printed. Now that you have discovered how easy it is to print a list of names from the database file the etters to a vii/ogd t e processor, printlng using people in your file is a very small step. Type in the letter as shown by the two screens of Figures II and III. Remember that the letters highlighted are embedded commands, and to get these just press the inverse video key before and after the command. You’ll notice that there are five tabs (each followed by a space) in front of the address lines. As the initial settings fortabs are 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 this causes the address to start at the 50th character space along the line. We have already discussed the embedded command FL. To make producing a tidy letter very easy Figures II and I” use several others. Here is what they do: LL65 sets the line length to 65 LM12 set the left margin to 12. This means that the printout, with line length 65 and paper width 80, will be approximately central. FJ sets full justification, so the letter will be evenly spaced between the left and right margins. FL1 prints field 1 of the present record, FLZ prints field 2 and so on. Once you have typed in your letter save it, and then print out several copies by following the same steps you used to print out the list of names.
16 Atari User August 7987
Ed”
n
a
Lab“
a
9
2
USE
"8:12 25,335, Sfid
”MM”
‘
_
LabE/ Printer Ed" screen
?gure /.V
_
Now your letters are printed you need
envelopes addressing.
The ideal
way is to feed your database file into the Label Printer. Load the Label Printer program into your micro and load the database file using the Load File option. Select Edit Format from the Label Printer menu, and then set up number of labels across the page and any other variables that you want to change from the Edit Format menu. Once these are set select Edit Label. In the Label Printer Edit mode fields are represented by a number in inverse video. Edit your label to look like Figure lV, then press Escape twice to return to the Label Printer menu. Select Print Labels and, from the menu, choose the Test Print option. This will show you the position of the printout and give you a chance to move the paper if necessary. Keep doing test prints until you are satisfied with the printout's position. You will notice that the number of labels will have been set automatically to the number of addresses in the file
you loaded.
If you want two labels for each address just double this number. You then select Print Labels and they
will print. Don’t let the fact that this feature of the word processor is called mail merge fool you into thinking that just because you have no letter to send you can’t use it. It is a far more powerful printout option for the database than the in-built one, allowing neat work even on preprinted forms such as invoices. Teachers can use it to produce personalised, worksheets for their pupils and hotels can use it to print out several different standard menus—the various print size options of Mini Office II are useful for these applications. Its possibilities seems endless. lf you’ve come up with an original application particularly if you have used the mail merge facility for uses other than letters or circulars—write and tell —
Atari User.