Adding and Testing {Optional} Text

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Definition: ‘Optional text’ is 'take or leave it' text that resides in a source document. When this text is encountered during a document assembly session, Pathagoras will ask if the text should remain in the document.

The process: At document assembly time, Pathagoras will scan the document for optional text blocks. Once located,Pathagoras will pause the assembly process, highlight the optional block and ask "Do you want to keep the highlighted text. If you do, click 'Yes' and if you don't click 'No'.

   To be 'automatic', the optional text block need only be enclosed within plain text, curley braces.

•{This is a optional text.}
•So are these: {Your purchase qualified for free shipping.} {I appoint [Guardian] to be the guardian of my minor children.}
•NOTE: The red coloring in the above examples is not required in your actual documents.
•The process of identifying optional text is quite automatic in Pathagoras. When you call up a document using Pathagoras document assembly tools, Pathagoras searches for Optional and Options blocks (options discussed on next page) immediately after the display of the document. You can also manually process the document for Optional and Options text by pressing the key combination <Alt-P> (for 'p'rocess).

Your turn:

1.Choose (or create) a sentence or paragraph (or group of paragraphs) within your document that you want to be ‘optional.’
2.Surround the chosen sentence or paragraph with a “{” and a “}” (No quotes, of course. These characters are called 'braces' or a 'curly brackets.')

Testing your work:

   We repeat the warning give on the previous page: save the original marked up text before running a test. Further, be sure not to save changes made after you have tested.

   Alternatively, and this is strongly recommended, copy the section of text you want to test to a new document. Test using that copied text.

   To activate the processing of the Optional text block(s) you just created, press <Alt-P>. (Alt-D triggers the Instant Database. Alt-P triggers all other processing functions, including the processing of {Optional} text.)

   Make your choices and review the results. DO NOT SAVE this now changed document. To fix what may need fixing, close without saving the document. Reopen the last saved version and make corrections.

   In actual production use, Pathagoras will always present a copy of the source text, never the original. Overwriting an original is not a concern. But as you are testing your setup, you likely will be working from the original. Hence this additional warning.