Multiple letters

Multiple letters

[Otared Kavian]

Hi all,

I have to write a letter to a few dozens candidates in which some  
parts are not identical. I may have the list of the persons, and the  
changing part for each of them in a file (named for instance "list-of- 
candidates.tex") on which each line corresponds to one person and the  
fields are sperated by commas (or any other suitable character). What  
would be the best way of coding this in ConTeXt?

Here is the example I have in mind:

%%% begin the body of the letter

Dear \MmeOrSir\ \FirstName\ \FamilyName,

We have received your application and we thank you for your interest  
in our institution.
\AnswerToApplication.

With our best regards, etc…

%%% end the body of the letter

The four commands \MmeOrSir, \FirstName, \FamilyName,  
\AnswerToApplication should correspond to the columns 1 through 4 of  
each line of the file
"list-of-candidates.tex" as follows:

%%% begin list-of-candidates.tex
Madam  , Joan , of Arc , {You will be interviewed very soon}
Mr , Groucho , Marx , {We are sorry, but this position is only for non  
smoking candidates}

\endinput
%%% end list-of-candidates.tex

Thank you for help: OK
___________________________________________________________________________________
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maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: Multiple letters

[Wolfgang Schuster]

Am 10.05.2009 um 14:32 schrieb Otared Kavian:

> Hi all,
>
> I have to write a letter to a few dozens candidates in which some  
> parts are not identical. I may have the list of the persons, and the  
> changing part for each of them in a file (named for instance "list- 
> of-candidates.tex") on which each line corresponds to one person and  
> the fields are sperated by commas (or any other suitable character).  
> What would be the best way of coding this in ConTeXt?
>
> Here is the example I have in mind:
>
> %%% begin the body of the letter
>
> Dear \MmeOrSir\ \FirstName\ \FamilyName,
>
> We have received your application and we thank you for your interest  
> in our institution.
> \AnswerToApplication.
>
> With our best regards, etc…
>
> %%% end the body of the letter
>
> The four commands \MmeOrSir, \FirstName, \FamilyName,  
> \AnswerToApplication should correspond to the columns 1 through 4 of  
> each line of the file
> "list-of-candidates.tex" as follows:
>
> %%% begin list-of-candidates.tex
> Madam  , Joan , of Arc , {You will be interviewed very soon}
> Mr , Groucho , Marx , {We are sorry, but this position is only for  
> non smoking candidates}
>
> \endinput
> %%% end list-of-candidates.tex
>
> Thank you for help: OK

\unprotect

\definemessageconstant {filecontents}

\startmessages all library: filecontents
         title: filecontents
             1: Overwriting file --
             2: Writing file --
\stopmessages

\def\startfilecontents
   {\begingroup
    \protectbuffersfalse
    \dostartfilecontents}

\def\dostartfilecontents[#1]%
   {\doiffileexistselse{#1}
      {\showmessage\m!filecontents{1}{#1}}
      {\showmessage\m!filecontents{2}{#1}}%
    \beforesplitstring#1\at.\to\filename
    \aftersplitstring #1\at.\to\extension
    \let\f!temporaryextension\extension
    \dostartbuffer[\filename][startfilecontents][stopfilecontents]}

\def\stopfilecontents
   {\doifmode{mkiv}{\savebuffer[\filename]\ctxlua{file.copy("\jobname- 
\filename.tmp","\filename.\f!temporaryextension")}}%
    \endgroup}

\ifx\savebuffer\undefined \def\savebuffer[#1] 
{\ctxlua{buffers.save("#1")}} \fi

\protect

\startfilecontents[data.dat]
Madam, Joan, of Arc, {You will be interviewed very soon}
Mr, Groucho, Marx, {We are sorry, but this position is only for non  
smoking candidates}
\stopfilecontents

\usemodule[database,letter]

\define[4]\createletter
   {\startletter[opening={Dear #1 #2 #3,}]
    We have received your application and we thank you for your  
interest in our institution.\endgraf
    #4
    \stopletter}

\defineseparatedlist
   [LETTER]
   [command=\createletter,
    separator={,}]

\starttext
\processseparatedfile[LETTER][data.dat]
\stoptext

Wolfgang

___________________________________________________________________________________
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki     : http://contextgarden.net
___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: Multiple letters

[Otared Kavian]

Dear Wolfgang,

Many thanks! As usual you are clear and sharp…
Your code works and does exactly what I need… Moreover I learned from  
it several "clean" tricks in order to use the way one can write macros  
in ConTeXt.
I have just to understand different parts of the code in order to  
wikify it.

Best regards: OK

On 10 mai 09, at 15:01, Wolfgang Schuster wrote:

>
> Am 10.05.2009 um 14:32 schrieb Otared Kavian:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I have to write a letter to a few dozens candidates in which some  
>> parts are not identical. I may have the list of the persons, and  
>> the changing part for each of them in a file (named for instance  
>> "list-of-candidates.tex") on which each line corresponds to one  
>> person and the fields are sperated by commas (or any other suitable  
>> character). What would be the best way of coding this in ConTeXt?
>>
>> Here is the example I have in mind:
>>
>> %%% begin the body of the letter
>>
>> Dear \MmeOrSir\ \FirstName\ \FamilyName,
>>
>> We have received your application and we thank you for your  
>> interest in our institution.
>> \AnswerToApplication.
>>
>> With our best regards, etc…
>>
>> %%% end the body of the letter
>>
>> The four commands \MmeOrSir, \FirstName, \FamilyName,  
>> \AnswerToApplication should correspond to the columns 1 through 4  
>> of each line of the file
>> "list-of-candidates.tex" as follows:
>>
>> %%% begin list-of-candidates.tex
>> Madam  , Joan , of Arc , {You will be interviewed very soon}
>> Mr , Groucho , Marx , {We are sorry, but this position is only for  
>> non smoking candidates}
>>
>> \endinput
>> %%% end list-of-candidates.tex
>>
>> Thank you for help: OK
>
> \unprotect
>
> \definemessageconstant {filecontents}
>
> \startmessages all library: filecontents
>        title: filecontents
>            1: Overwriting file --
>            2: Writing file --
> \stopmessages
>
> \def\startfilecontents
>  {\begingroup
>   \protectbuffersfalse
>   \dostartfilecontents}
>
> \def\dostartfilecontents[#1]%
>  {\doiffileexistselse{#1}
>     {\showmessage\m!filecontents{1}{#1}}
>     {\showmessage\m!filecontents{2}{#1}}%
>   \beforesplitstring#1\at.\to\filename
>   \aftersplitstring #1\at.\to\extension
>   \let\f!temporaryextension\extension
>   \dostartbuffer[\filename][startfilecontents][stopfilecontents]}
>
> \def\stopfilecontents
>  {\doifmode{mkiv}{\savebuffer[\filename]\ctxlua{file.copy("\jobname- 
> \filename.tmp","\filename.\f!temporaryextension")}}%
>   \endgroup}
>
> \ifx\savebuffer\undefined \def\savebuffer[#1] 
> {\ctxlua{buffers.save("#1")}} \fi
>
> \protect
>
> \startfilecontents[data.dat]
> Madam, Joan, of Arc, {You will be interviewed very soon}
> Mr, Groucho, Marx, {We are sorry, but this position is only for non  
> smoking candidates}
> \stopfilecontents
>
> \usemodule[database,letter]
>
> \define[4]\createletter
>  {\startletter[opening={Dear #1 #2 #3,}]
>   We have received your application and we thank you for your  
> interest in our institution.\endgraf
>   #4
>   \stopletter}
>
> \defineseparatedlist
>  [LETTER]
>  [command=\createletter,
>   separator={,}]
>
> \starttext
> \processseparatedfile[LETTER][data.dat]
> \stoptext
>
> Wolfgang
>
> ___________________________________________________________________________________
> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an  
> entry to the Wiki!
>
> maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
> webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
> archive  : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
> wiki     : http://contextgarden.net
> ___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki     : http://contextgarden.net
___________________________________________________________________________________