Problems with Original Long Macros

The extended content below shows the original macros that move a sentence backward or forward in a document.

Given their complexity compared to other editing macros we’ve done in Word (and we haven’t even added handling dialog naturally which I consider a minimum for an author), they serve as school of hard-knocks examples on why functions and subroutines were created.

If you’ve been following along with at least some of the articles, I generally explain many or even most details. Talking about functions implies an intermediate level student, so I’ll skip some of the extended explanations as we proceed through the associated articles.

The Problems

In the original article, the base macro to accomplish the raw task of moving a sentence is not too bad, but the accumulated steps to handle the special cases (so they work more intuitively) make the macros awkwardly long. However, upon inspection, there are several natural sets of steps that can be neatly separated out and would probably apply to other macros.

Candidate functions for move sentence macro

Encapsulating repetitive tasks is a major use of functions and subroutines. After checking the long versions of the macros, some natural functions pop out.

How to decide on a function?

We’re looking for chunks of steps that perform a specific task or a related set of tasks—not too big or it partially defeats the point of creating the functions.

Sometimes the candidate steps can be obscured if they are interspersed among other more macro specific steps, but usually it’s relatively obvious which steps to extract.

Those best suited to functions would ideally be general purpose and probably usable in other macros. On the other hand, some long macros could still be broken up into unique functions or subroutines to make the work more manageable.

Natural functions

Several examples of general purpose sets of steps in the above macros include:

• Check and delete any spaces at the end of a paragraph (used four times)
• Check and add any spaces before or after the moved sentence as needed (used about four times depending on how it’s counted)
• Check and delete an empty paragraph (used twice)

The first two take more steps to implement, but the third is still worth creating a function since it is a task we would likely reuse in other macros.

Secondary tasks

Sometimes we can also group basic tasks together even if they don’t contain a lot of steps.

• Select the sentence (used twice)

Moving the sentence selection to a function will further allow us to more easily modify it later to naturally handle dialog or parentheses.

Modular macros

When we’re done, the move sentence macros should include only the necessary steps to implement the specific tasks. Most, if not all, generic subtasks will be relegated to dedicated functions or subroutines.

All together, these functions will also make the original macros easier to read assuming we pick function names that describe their actions well.

In addition, we’ll have a growing toolbox of useful functions and subroutines already tested and ready to help us create better macros in the future. Thinking at a higher level (more task than step oriented) makes creating macros easier and usually faster. You don’t always have to descend down to the nitty-gritty, itty-bitty steps to get something done.

Imperceptible efficiency hit

Using functions results in a slightly less efficient macros since some additional steps and validation checks are typically performed internally in the subroutines, but you will not notice a practical time difference when running the macro. Unless you’re creating a macro that processes your entire novel every time, or something to that effect, the time savings using functions in your macros is well worth the imperceptible degradation in running speed.

Relevant Functions

To facilitate the improved macro below, several functions and have been implemented:

• Select the current sentence excluding the paragraph mark. Also, naturally account for dialog and parentheses.
• Isolate the steps to delete any spaces at the end of a given paragraph.
• Pad sentence spacing while accounting for its position in the paragraph.
• Check and delete an empty paragraph.

A couple of supplementary functions that would make things more convenient include:

• Get next character after an arbitrary range (the reason for this one isn't as obvious, but we’ll find it useful later)
• Force delete step for a range (spaces in our case) without allowing Word to automatically reinsert a space