Surprised no one has thought of the “gift numbers” – those that exist outside the MF04.
Mine are: 17x35; 46R; 42/30; 11D;, XL;
7-1/4; 44; 1/2 high.
Receving address upon request!
And oh, yes, I looked around, assessed himself and determined that I, as a spec writer, am a Sweetheart Rose!!!
"I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalog: “No good in a bed, but fine against a wall.”
I’d like Santa to show me how to print lists of my files in Word like I could in WordPerfect.
I’d also be very grateful if Santa would help architects understand and embrace the concept of “Say it once and in the right place on drawings.”
Wyatt’s list:
50 library carts - one for each Division - for catalogues, samples, and other important stuff.
One of those chairs that tips the seated person into a chute to a dungeon below, and activated by a button on my desk. This would be useful in a lot of daily situations.
Some of those coin-operated newspaper vending boxes you see on the streets. I’d load them with spec sections, articles, newsletters, advice columns. At 50-cents apiece, perhaps money for writing would start to trickle in.
A magic spec book that always has the answers people need or want. I would share this with the 4specs people who did not get one.
A Tomaine truck, for selling food, coffee and the answers to RFIs at the job site. With this, the contractors and subs would be happy to see me coming for a change.
A magic hammer. You know, the kind that turns attorneys into piles of gold coins when you rap them on the head with it?
A couple of cases of B-S spray. Remember the stuff? You spray it at the source of B-S, of which spec writers know there is plenty, and it vanishes. I would also share this with the 4specs people.
That’s enough for this year.
To Ms. Jolly and anyone else in need:
Copy this text into notepad (or any text editor) and save it as “prin.bat”, or “.bat” as the mood may suggest. Place the file in the folder where the list is desired and double click. Voila…a list of files in that folder is printed to your default printer. I keep it on my desktop and copy it into folders as needed, then delete it so there’s not thousands of copies on my computer. Not perfect, but it works. This came from the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
@echo off
dir %1 /-p /o:gn > “%temp%\Listing”
start /w notepad /p “%temp%\Listing”
del “%temp%\Listing”
exit
For Ms. Jolly and Mr. Harris:
To print a listing of files, I use Microsoft Outlook. You can print the contents of a directory. Since I keep section titles and numbers in specific property fields, I set up to print only these 2 fields.
I print it to an .pdf file, copy the file into Word, do about 2-1/2 minutes of formatting and viola! Table of contents. Since my the information on the section number and title are referenced from fields in the header and footer, table of contents matches my specs.
I count the fact that you cannot print a list of files as a significant defect in Windows.
Don,
that only prints what is in the directory and then closes. Very cool, but how can you get it to remain open so it can be cut and pasted like Peter is talking about?
Don, That is the answer to prayers, not just a gift wish list! Thanks!
I love the idea of this little code bit!
It looks to me if the second to last line was deleted, the file created by the “dir” command would remain. (Named “listing”.) Then the file can be opened and edited. I’m not at my regular work station, so I can’t test this out. Anyone want to give it a whirl and advise?
Brett:
I could go into a Cliff Claven rant here, but the honest to garsh answer is I don’t know. When I get home, I’ll try John’s suggestion. Any programmers out there? I also just figured out what Peter is suggesting. I’ll have to work it a little, but it seems to work. I have to say I was clueless that Outlook could do that. Thanks Peter.
Santa got me something that wasn’t on my list, and I’m thrilled! I’m a “captive” specifier, you see, and our firm has a frenzy of congratulations and promotions once a year. Six of my specifier colleagues across the firm got promoted this year! Not me, but this is still a huge gift to me. Nothing says “specs are important” like acknowledging the specifiers. Woo hoo!
Brett, Lynn, John and others:
My firm’s IT guy gave me a hand and came up with the following:
#@echo off
dir %1 /-p /o:gn > “%temp%\DirList.txt”
start notepad “%temp%\DirList.txt”
exit
copy this and save as a .bat file. It opens notepad and makes a text document of the folder contents. Now, you have to tell it to print. It doesn’t do it automatically, but you have the file to edit, cut, copy and paste. Hope this helps.
Brett, Lynn, John and others:
My firm’s IT guy gave me a hand and came up with the following:
#@echo off
dir %1 /-p /o:gn > “%temp%\DirList.txt”
start notepad “%temp%\DirList.txt”
exit
copy this and save as a .bat file. It opens notepad and makes a text document of the folder contents. Now, you have to tell it to print. It doesn’t do it automatically, but you have the file to edit, cut, copy and paste. Hope this helps.
Don,
thanks so much. It really works!
A handy free utility for printing lists of files in directories - http://no-nonsense-software.com/cgi-bin/redirect/cgirdir.exe?printfolder
For the late shoppers and those with idea challenges, you might be interested in the newest post in Other Articles [on this site]
To my Christian friends, Merry Christmas; and those Jewish, Happy Hanukkah; and all others, a respectful Holiday Greeting for your special time.
ah,
Things are easier in Wordperfect. Just open “File” and hit the button that says “Print File List”. You’re done. None of this extended work…
I couldn’t agree with you more Marvin.
It’s amazing to read these posts and find all these “hoops” folks have to jump through when using Microsoft products; i.e. Windows Explorer and Microsoft Word. WordPerfect is indeed perfect when it comes to handling files, searching for phrases, and ah yes macros - - - writing two macros at the moment that will expedite the process of compiling a Table of Contents. Need a pdf of your document? In Wordperfect click File, Publish to PDF.
My firm’s gift to our specification writers is their continued support of our use of WordPerfect. Ho! Ho! Ho!
I am in complete agreement. Wordperfect is, by far, the superior program. However, years ago when the company went to a Windows NT network and server, my Wordperfect started crashing constantly. Now, I’m not saying Mr. Gates and his cohorts did anything that may have caused this, but one has to think…
Hence I’ve been using Word since then, as rebooting my computer 3 times an hour was out of the question. I still keep a copy of WP on my computer for documents that we receive in that format. It is much easier to use them in their native program than go through the conversion hassles. Thanks a lot Bill.
I have no proof of this, but, based on my personal experience, I believe he does. There are always conversion problems going from MSW to WP but seldom problems going from WP to MSW. MSW just doesnt care and doesnt make any effort to improve the process.
I will NEVER open one of my WP files in MSW. I always make a copy then open the copy. I dont understand how it happens but when I open my WP files in MSW, even though I do not save the file, it gets altered. I believe its deliberate - at least deliberate by making no effort to accommodate any other program. This attitude is prevalent throughout other MS programs as well. The rest of the year is too short to get into that discussion.
To Each of You: Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.
Ron