[Papyrus-L] Importing information into Papyrus

Sun Oct 16 00:46:25 EDT 2005

On Oct 15, 2005, at 11:46 PM, John Rodgers wrote:

> Dear Ann,
>    what system are you using?  XP?  and what word processor? Word?
Hi, Ann and John - and any lurkers.
I'm not using XP (I'm still on Windows 2000) so can't testify about  
what happens.  I'm also largely using Word Perfect whenever I can,  
although most of my collaborators are using Word.  Word works with  
Papyrus as long as you save it as Word 6/95.  At home, I'm using a  
Mac, and Papyrus for Mac works fine with newer Word files.   
(MacLinkPlus also translates over the Word Perfect, so I'm golden!)
Back to the wonderful world of Windows.  I don't know if it is an XP  
problem - I suspect it is a Word one.
In general, two programs can't play nicely with the same file.  This  
we know - you need to close files before you can text extract, for  
example.  But I don't let Word open cited.txt at all - ever. It may  
keep ownership, but I suspect it also embeds formats!  And that may  
be the problem.
Whenever I need to open it from outside Papyrus (e.g., to paste into  
an email), I always use Notepad, and then save as cited.txt.  Notepad  
seems to leave it as plain text.  So for pasting into Papyrus, I open  
a Notepad file, paste the text, and then save as cited.txt.
Similarly, to paste from Papyrus, if you do an "insert file" from  
within your word processor, the file you are inserting isn't opened  
by the word processor, so no format codes get inserted, and things  
don't foul up.  (Mind you, Word does insist on changing the format of  
the surrounding text when I insert, but life isn't perfect.  And that  
also increases my suspicion about format codes being the problem.)
>
> I think it was Raisa who was able to get pasting to work in ways  
> that I haven't been able to achieve.  In my hands, it appears that  
> XP allows certain programs (Word, and WordPerfect) to keep control  
> over files (c:\pap\cited.txt in your case) if they have opened them.
That's the key.  Do not let them open them!
> They won't let other programs write to them.
Or, they have changed the format, so other programs can't?  (Dave  
probably knows.)
>   Not sure why you can't go the other direction, however.
>     This is what I do:
> for pasting FROM papyrus,   I have a macro which opens a NEW word  
> processing document,  imports the cited.txt, copies it all to the  
> Windows clipboard, then closes new document.  This returns it to  
> the original document.  Then it pastes into that document.  I  
> believe Raisa has been able to do Import File, and I think I got  
> that to work to.
>
This should work, but you don't need to get that elaborate.  The one  
cited.txt file works fine as long as you don't let the word  
processors get their hands on it.
>
>
> For going in the other direction, you can't let your OPEN word  
> processing document touch the cited.txt file or it will "take  
> ownership" (my term for what seems to be happening).  So:
>         1. block and copy what you want to paste to Papyrus
>           2.  open a New document
>         3. past it there
>         4. save the file AS cited.txt AS a text document
>         5. close cited.txt
Yes, basically another way of accomplishing the same thing. But  
Notepad will do the same thing.
>
> you can put this into a macro too.
>
> then when you go to Papyrus just use F4 as usual.
>
>
> I think Raisa's Import works because the "parent" document doesn't  
> actually open the file it is importing.
I think you're right.  Let me know if this works.
Raisa
>   -john rodgers
>
>
>
>
>
>
> At 08:27 PM 10/15/2005, you wrote:
>
>> Hi Raisa,
>>    I can't do it. The clipboard file shows up in the pap directory  
>> but nothing
>> happens when I paste.  Possibly this is related to the problem I  
>> am having
>> getting citations to paste to the clipboard. I sent a message to  
>> the list serve
>> yesterday and am waiting.
>>
>> Quoting Raisa Deber <raisa.deber at utoronto.ca>:
>>
>> > >
>> > This is probably blindingly obvious, but I just discovered that
>> > transfers from the clipboard can indeed be two ways.  I'd had no
>> > problems pasting TO the clipboard to cite in manuscripts, but  
>> hadn't
>> > realized you could also paste FROM the clipboard to Papyrus. So,  
>> for
>> > any of you wanting to import a bit of text into a Papyrus entry,  
>> just
>> > open Notepad, paste the text in (e.g., a title, an abstract), and
>> > then save as whatever text file you're using for your clipboard (I
>> > use c:]\pap\cited.txt). and close the file. You can then paste it
>> > into a field from within Papyrus.  You clearly wouldn't need to do
>> > this  if you're doing imports with a Papyrus format, but it is very
>> > handy indeed when you're updating something within a particular  
>> entry
>> > (e.g. the URL for something you got from the web.)
>> > Cheers - and happy new year to all.
>> > Raisa
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Raisa Deber, PhD
>> > Professor, Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation
>> > Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
>> > Director, M-THAC (From Medicare to Home and Community) Research  
>> Unit
>> > (www.m-thac.org)
>> > Health Sciences Building
>> > 155 College Street Suite 425
>> > Toronto, ON  M5T 3M6
>> > phone:  (416) 978-8366
>> > fax:  (416) 978-7350
>> > e-mail:  raisa.deber at utoronto.ca
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> > Papyrus-L at ResearchSoftwareDesign.com
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>> >
>>
>>
>> Ann Lennarson Greer
>> Professor of Sociology and Urban Studies
>> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
>> Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413
>> Office: 1-414-229-6944/4388
>> Office fax: 1-414-229-4266
>> Personal fax 1-915-990-9268
>> London: 44-(0)20-7598-9894
>> UK fax: 44-(0)870-133-6305
>> Email: agreer at uwm.edu
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>
> John R. Rodgers, PhD
> Department of Immunology
> Room M929
> Baylor College of Medicine
> One Baylor Plaza
> Houston, Texas 770303
> phone: 713-798-3903
> fax: 713-798-3700
> email: jrodgers at bcm.tmc.edu
>
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Raisa Deber, PhD
Professor, Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation
Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Director, M-THAC (From Medicare to Home and Community) Research Unit   
(www.m-thac.org)
Health Sciences Building
155 College Street Suite 425
Toronto, ON  M5T 3M6
phone:  (416) 978-8366
fax:  (416) 978-7350
e-mail:  raisa.deber at utoronto.ca