Feature requests for The Form Letter Machine

[escalona]

The Form Letter Machine is a great program.   
Here are some feature requests or ideas. Some are maybe difficult to implement. I hope other people will also give there opinion on this requests/suggestions.. If extra donations are needed for this, I like to support! 

• Rich text items. RTF blocks possible.
• Pre-defined variables, like %currentdata-short%, %currentdata-long%, %currenttime% (including preferences for which date notation).
• possible to use simple if then structure like: <<%sexe%=M,his,here>> in a text block
• Conditional text block. If an option is selected in a previous block then this block will be shown.
• possible to create a library of text blocks, you can use in a new tree and/or copy paste tree elements from one tree to an other tree
• or/and possible to connect to an other group/block
• Export a tree to XML/RSS (for building knowledge tree's)
• Import text in a block
• A Wizard who "step" through the Tree and give the user the option to file in the "blanks". Starts with the variables who need to be filled and then every group in a new screen.
• Startup options, to start the program with a named Tree (wizard). Like TheFormLetterMachine.exe -t "MS Word Issue"
• Better support for non English language

Regards,
Bob Hillesum

[mouser]

great! been hoping for some more suggestions for the form letter machine.
some good suggestions here, many similar to some stuff i've been thinking about.. i'll try to work on some of these.

[mouser]

Startup options, to start the program with a named Tree (wizard). Like TheFormLetterMachine.exe -t "MS Word Issue"

already supported, see help file for commandline parameters.

[escalona]

Startup options, to start the program with a named Tree (wizard). Like TheFormLetterMachine.exe -t "MS Word Issue"

already supported, see help file for commandline parameters.

-mouser (September 04, 2006, 07:19 PM)

Sorry, great!

Bob

[mouser]

please keep up the suggestions - i love having ideas suggested i can choose from, and i like the idea of extending the form letter machine.

[escalona]

Found this also in the help:

%DATE%      - local date
%TIME%      - local time
%DATETIME%      - local date and time

 

Regards,
Bob

[mouser]

i added a %CUSTOMDATE% variable in the lastest version just for you, so you can very specifically customize exactly how you want the date string displayed.

[escalona]

i added a %CUSTOMDATE% variable in the lastest version just for you, so you can very specifically customize exactly how you want the date string displayed.

-mouser (September 05, 2006, 02:53 AM)

Thank you!

Bob

[escalona]

A commercial program (if you look for more option)...
http://www.blitz-doc.com/

Bob

[escalona]

Some more features:

• Check for latest version.
• Search and Replace in the Edit Tree Configuration
• Send text to [select open application]
• Start Word macro [name] after "Send text"
• Possible simple calculations e.g. <<%items%*1.50>>
• Button count words in text block

Regards,
Bob

[mouser]

It would really be nice if the people who like The Form Letter Machine would consider rating it and/or leaving a mini review at some of the software download sites that support this, since no one seems to be doing so and i don't think most people know about the program.

See: http://fileforum.bet...Machine/1125198268/1
And: https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=2547.0

[escalona]

It would really be nice if the people who like The Form Letter Machine would consider rating it and/or leaving a mini review at some of the software download sites that support this, since no one seems to be doing so and i don't think most people know about the program.

See: http://fileforum.bet...Machine/1125198268/1
And: https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=2547.0

-mouser (September 05, 2006, 06:38 PM)

I will do that 

See also:
https://www.donation...44.msg35475#msg35475

Bob

[mouser]

thank you very much bob!

[escalona]

Done!

[concacaf]

Hi,

I am new to the programme but while creating my first Configuration Tree, I realised that I added some radial items in the wrong folder. I then tried to drag the radials from one folder to another with no success.

Perhaps a future release would support drag and drop of elements in the Configuration Tree. Apologies if this is an old request. Thanks.

Regards,
Alexander

[mouser]

You can drag and drop items.
Just make sure you are in edit mode: Use the menu to go to Edit -> Edit Configuration Tree.

[concacaf]

Thank you for the prompt reply. I tried again to move some elements and this time it worked. Not sure why I was unsuccessful earlier today. Kind regards, Alexander

[katykaty]

TFLM has so much potential to be a fantastic app 

I've got some suggestions:

• Conditionals based on variables. So when you're filling in, if you've chosen the option radio button for 'Paid In Full' any other option selections with the same name elsewhere will also get selected.
• Slightly easier to use variable entry - rather than overtyping variable values have standard windows fields
• Include radio button options in the variable list at the top right so you can enter everything in one place
• How about intergration into CH+S - suppose you had a tree with 5 variable names, two checkboxes and 3 sets of radio buttons. The last 10 things copied onto the clipboard could be the variable values. So you could associate a global hotkey CTRL-SHIFT-F to bring up a list of trees, select the one you want, CH+S feeds the variables into TFLM which works out the output text, TFLM previews for you and you Enter to paste. I'd love that