Illustrated MIs on CDROM - Compatibility

Tried and Tested Combinations

The building aids described here were originally created under Windows 98, using Word 6 and with the various basic utility programs writen in QuickBasic 4.5. They have been tested and used without trouble on versions of Windows up to and including Windows XP, and versions of Word up to and including Word 2003. On the later versions of Word, some automatic conversion of the macros in the mirecord.dot appears to take place the first time they are used, and the user is prompted to re-save the updated document template. Thereafter everything works normally.

However I have recently received a couple of reports of problems, in particular with running the macros with recent versions of Word. I am still investigating these and will update this page as my findings become available. Meanwhile if anyone reading this has experienced any problems, or indeed has successfully used the build aids with program versions later than those listed above, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

Directory Depth

One user has reported problems with the basic utilities when the parish directory has been installed at a great depth in his directory tree. The work-around here is simply to install the skeleton at a shallower depth in the tree. I do not know at exactly what depth the problem occurs (it may well be due to a limitation in the total length of the full directory name, rather than a specific tree depth).

Basic Programs

Apart from the directory depth issue mentioned above. No problems have been reported with the basic utilities such as orienter and rotate. At some point I will re-compile these programs with a more recent version of basic, such as the Open Source FreeBASIC, which should resolve any directory problems.

Word Macros

I will add more news here when I have tracked down the cause of the problems that have been reported.

If it transpires that major re-writing will be required to accomodate changes in the philosopy behind Word macros, I will abandon MS Word altogether and re-write the code for OpenOffice.org Writer. This has the major advantage of moving a major step nearer to a fully Open Source approach for the complete task.

Watch this space!

 


Copyright © Alan Simpson 2009 Back to MICD index. Last Updated 2009-09-14