I do stuff like this with LaTeX directly, though I do design the files
in LyX and then pull them into Perl :-)-O
There there is also a LaTeX package to pull in CSV files, but forgot
what its name is :-)-O
el
On 2012-04-05 21:20 , John O'Gorman wrote:
> :
>> On 04/04/2012 02:25 AM, "Jörg Kühne" wrote:
>>> Dear List
>>>
>>> Is it possible to write (with Lyx) a circular letter with an
>>> arbitrary letter pattern?
> I have written perl programs which allow mail merge in insurance
> companies for things such as renewal notices, price quotation, etc.
> The main idea is that the user creates a normal LyX letter template
> (using the article class - we found the letter classes were not suited
> to NZ conventions). Where details particular to a client were to be
> inserted, you put perl expressions e.g. ${title} ${firstname}
> ${lastname} etc.
>
> A database program runs an SQL query and, for each row returned, builds
> list of perl assignments
> e.g.
> ${firstname}="John";
> ${lastname}="Smith";
> ...
> and writes these to a file with a .rec suffix
> Then the lyxmerge program loops through the .rec file, effectively
> assigning the database values for each client then reads the template
> and writes to an output file. Works beautifully giving the usual superb
> typesetting.
>
> Perl is most suitable for this because of its weird notion of using
> distinctive syntax for variables. More pleasant languages like Python
> do not.
>
> When I wrote this many years ago, I also took the trouble to create
> scripts to insert tables of data into the template. This involved using
> some supplied perl library scripts which came with LyX.
> The LyX developers now use python for this sort of thing and I haven't
> kept my scripts up to date with current LyX versions.
>
> If you want more detail, I'll happily pass on the scripts to those who
> want them.
>
> John O'Gorman
>
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