Editing WordPerfect (section)

===Key characteristics===
[[Image:Former WordPerfect headquarters building as seen in 2008.jpg|thumb|right|The WordPerfect headquarters building, seen years later]]
The distinguishing features of WordPerfect include:
* extensive use of [[Function key|key]] combinations, especially on the [[MS-DOS]] platform, enabling quick access to features, once the meaning of the key combinations (like Ctrl–Shift–F6) had been memorized;
* its "streaming code" file format;
* its Reveal Codes feature; and
* its numbering of lines as the legal profession requires
* its [[Macro (computer science)|macro]]/[[scripting language|scripting]] capability, now provided through PerfectScript.

The ease of use of tools, like [[Mail Merge]]<ref>{{cite web |title = Mail Merge |website = iSchool.uTexas.edu (Tutorials) |url = https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/technology/tutorials/office/mail_merge |access-date = July 15, 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130127094633/http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/technology/tutorials/office/mail_merge/ |archive-date = January 27, 2013 |url-status = dead }}</ref> (combine form documents with data from any data source), "Print as booklet", and tables (with spreadsheet capabilities and the possibility to generate graphs) are also notable.

The WordPerfect document format allows continuous extending of functionality without jeopardizing backward and forward compatibility. Despite the fact that the newer version is extremely rich in functionality, WordPerfect X5 documents are fully compatible with WordPerfect 6.0a documents in both directions. The older program simply ignores the "unknown" codes, while rendering the known features of the document. WordPerfect users were never forced to upgrade for compatibility reasons for more than two decades.

====Streaming code architecture====
A key to their design is its streaming code architecture that parallels the formatting features of [[HTML]] and [[Cascading Style Sheets]]. Documents are created much the same way that raw HTML pages are written, with text interspersed by tags (called "codes") that trigger treatment of data until a corresponding closing tag is encountered, at which point the settings active to the point of the opening tag resume control. As with HTML, tags can be nested. Some data structures are treated as objects within the stream as with HTML's treatment of graphic images, e.g., footnotes and styles, but the bulk of a WordPerfect document's data and formatting codes appear as a single continuous stream. A difference between HTML tags and WordPerfect codes is that HTML codes can all be expressed as a string of plain text characters delimited by greater-than and less-than characters, e.g. <code language=HTML>&lt;strong&gt;text&lt;/strong&gt;</code>, whereas WordPerfect formatting codes consist of [[hexadecimal]] values.

====Styles and style libraries====
[[Image:WordPerfect for DOS box alongside 3.5 inch diskette holders.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.5|WordPerfect for DOS box, next to storage boxes for 3½-inch diskettes]]
The addition of styles and style libraries in WP 5.0 provided greatly increased power and flexibility in formatting documents, while maintaining the streaming-code architecture of earlier versions. Styles are a preset arrangement of settings having to do with things like fonts, spacings, tab stops, margins and other items having to do with text layout. Styles can be created by the user to shortcut the setup time when starting a new document, and they can be saved in the program's style library. Prior to that, its only use of styles was the Opening Style, which contained the default settings for a document.

After the purchase of the [[desktop publishing]] program [[Corel Ventura|Ventura]], Corel enhanced the WordPerfect styles editor and styles behavior with the majority of Ventura's capabilities. This improved the usability and performance of graphic elements like text boxes, document styles, footer and header styles.

Since WordPerfect has been enriched with properties from the [[CorelDraw]] Graphics suite,<!--Is Suite part of the official name?--> graphic styles are editable. The Graphics Styles editor enables customizing the appearance of boxes, borders, lines and fills and store the customized design for reuse. The possibilities include patterns and color gradients for fills; corner, endpoint, pen-type and thickness for lines. Box styles can be used as container style, including a border, lines, fill, text and caption; each with its separate style. A text box style shows that WordPerfect cascades its styles.

Around the same time, Corel included WordPerfect, with its full functionality, in CorelDraw Graphics Suite as the text editor.

====Reveal codes====
[[Image:Wordperfect steuerzeichen.jpg|thumb|right|The Reveal Codes feature in WordPerfect]]
Present since the earliest versions of WordPerfect, the Reveal Codes feature distinguishes it from other word processors; Microsoft Word's equivalent is much less powerful.<ref name="RevCo.NYT"/>  It displays and allows editing the codes, reduces retyping, and enables easy formatting changes.<ref name="Brinkley.NYT2K"/> It is a second editing screen that can be toggled open and closed, and sized as desired.

The codes for formatting and locating text are displayed, interspersed with tags and the occasional objects, with the tags and objects represented by named tokens. This provides a more detailed view to troubleshoot problems than with styles-based word processors, and object tokens can be clicked with a pointing device to directly open the configuration editor for the particular object type, e.g. clicking on a style token brings up the style editor with the particular style type displayed. WordPerfect had this feature already in its DOS incarnations.

====Macro languages====
WordPerfect for DOS stood out for its [[Macro (computer science)|macros]], in which sequences of keystrokes, including function codes, were recorded as the user typed them. These macros could then be assigned to any key desired. This enabled any sequence of keystrokes to be recorded, saved, and recalled. Macros could examine system data, make decisions, be chained together, and operate recursively until a defined "stop" condition occurred. This capability provided a powerful way to rearrange data and formatting codes within a document where the same sequence of actions needed to be performed repetitively, e.g., for tabular data. But since keystrokes were recorded, changes in the function of certain keys as the program evolved would mean that macros from one DOS version of WordPerfect would not necessarily run correctly on another version. Editing of macros was difficult until the introduction of a macro editor in Shell, in which a separate file for each WordPerfect product with macros enabled the screen display of the function codes used in the macros for that product.

[[Image:Compaq Portable and Wordperfect.JPG|thumb|left|WordPerfect 5.0 for DOS running on a Compaq Portable home computer, 1988]]

WordPerfect DOS macros,<ref>{{cite news |newspaper = [[The New York Times]] |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/03/science/peripherals-wordperfect-offspring.html |title = WordPerfect Offspring |first = L. R. |last = Shannon |date = July 3, 1990 }}</ref> which assumed a text-based screen, with fixed locations on the screen, could not, or could not easily, be implemented with the Windows WYSIWYG screen and mouse. For example, "go down four lines" has a clear meaning on a DOS screen, but no definite meaning with a Windows screen. WordPerfect lacked a way to meaningfully record mouse movements.

A new and even more powerful interpreted token-based macro recording and scripting language came with both DOS and Windows 6.0 versions, and that became the basis of the language named PerfectScript in later versions. PerfectScript has remained the mainstay scripting language for WordPerfect users ever since. It dealt with functions rather than with keystrokes. There was no way to import DOS macros, and users who had created extensive macro libraries were forced to continue using WordPerfect 5.1, or to rewrite all the macros from scratch using the new programming language.

An important property of WordPerfect macros is that they are not embedded in a document. As a result, WordPerfect is not prone to [[macro virus (computing)|macro viruses]] or [[malware]], unlike MS Word. Despite the term "macro", the language has hundreds of commands and functions and in fact creates full-fledged programs resident on and executed on the user's computer. In WPDOS 6 the source code is generated using the same interface used to edit documents. A WordPerfect macro can create or modify a document or perform tasks like displaying results of a calculation such as taking a date input, adding a specific number of days and displaying the new date in a dialog box. Documents created or edited by a WordPerfect macro are no different from those produced by manual input; the macros simply improve efficiency or automate repetitive tasks and also enabled creating content-rich document types, which would hardly be feasible manually.

The PerfectScript macro language shows especial versatility in its ability to deploy every function that exists in the entire office suite, no matter whether that function was designed for WordPerfect, Quattro Pro or Presentations. The macro development wizard presents and explains all of these functions. The number of functions available through PerfectScript is unparalleled in the office market.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}}

On top of the functions available in the main components of the office suite, PerfectScript also provides the user with tools to build dialogs and forms. Widgets like buttons, input fields, drop-down lists and labels are easily combined to build user-friendly interfaces for custom office applications.
An example: a Dutch housing company (VZOS, Den Haag, several thousands of apartments) had its mutation administration build with WordPerfect.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}}

Beginning with WordPerfect Office 10, the suite also included the Microsoft Office [[Visual Basic]] macro language as an alternative, meant to improve compatibility of the suite with Microsoft Office documents.

Macros may be used to create data-entry programs which enter information directly into WordPerfect documents, saving the time and effort required to retype it.