You can add a comment to each cell in timetables to be printed along with timetables. The comments are stored in the current Mimosa file. Comments are often a convenient way to add useful information to timetables without the need to use courses for this purpose, and using the wildcards as demonstrated below, they are also very powerful, since one comment line can simultaneously affect several cells in several timetables. Right-click the Master timetable in Timetables view to start adding and editing of comments.
You can also edit comments directly in Statistics|Files selection (Comments - View/Edit) and clear all comments in Tools|Clear|8 Comments. Note that using comments excessively may slow down the performance and it is recommended to remove old or unnecessary comments, if their number grows to several thousands.
In the selection View|Cell display options|Show commenetd cells of Timetables view or in selection File|Print (Timetables tab) you can select, if comments are visible on screen and in timetables.
Erase “Comment” erases the existing comment in the selected slot, Change “Comment” or Add comment enables you to replace/add the comment text in the selected slot, Generalise comment lets you to expand the same comment to larger time-space and code set. This option is enabled only when you are adding a new comment.
Each line in the comment list starts with a number that represents the week www, day d and the slot number hh (time-period) enlosed in brackets [wwwdhh], followed by the component code it is attached to plus the comment itself. These fields are separated by semicolons(;) and you can also edit this file like any other text file.
[wwwdhh];Code;CommentExample comment lines:
[001405];Form-A;This is the 1st week’s 5th slot in Thursday...
[012306];Form-B;This is the 12th week’s 6th slot in Wednesday...
You can add comments that apply to all weeks, all days and all slots, by replacing the corresponding number(s) by zero(s) or any non-numeric characters - such as [000203], [012*12] or [0044??]. In this way, you can easily add comments to many slots at once, by defining it in one line only.
Examples:
[000306];MARY;Shown in all weeks, Wednesday, 6th slot...
[004005];Form-D;Shown in week 4, all days, 5th slot...
[011500];PAUL;Shown in week 11, Friday, all slots...
[000200];Form-F;Shown in all weeks, Tuesday, all slots...If is even possible to use the same technique with codes. If you substitute the code by * or ?, the comment is added to all timetables and in the slot you defined.
If you want include a Happy weekend wish in all timetables at the 7th slot of Friday in all weeks, you can add the line
[000507];*;Happy weekend!
In a similar fashion, you can create several comments in many timetables at once, by including the following lines:
[000005];?;Lunch break (every day, 5th slot)
[000101];*;Wake up the janitor (Monday mornings)
[003400];?;This Thursday if free because of national holidayIf you rather like to add different comments to all classes than to all teachers, you should instead use the corresponding category number, followed by * or ? - such as 1* or 2?. If you use the default category numbers (1=Classes, 2=Teachers and 3=Rooms), you could add comments like
[000507];1*;I’s weekend, kids - remember to leave school
[003204];2?;Teachers’ meeting - be there!
[002500];3*;All classrooms are cleaned in this Friday
[003000];2?;No paychecks for teachers in this termNote that the comments in this file do not automatically follow the changes of the locations of the lessons or bookings in timetables. Only their weeks are synchronized, when you insert or remove weeks. The comments are tied with weeks, days of week, slots and component codes, which enables them to be used also in empty cells. If there is not enough space for comments, you can Remove comments from previous weeks when you leave this selection.
You can copy the comments in each slot in table form onto the Clipboard in Timetables view by selecting
Edit|Copy onto the Clipboard|7 Comments by category.
If you paint all lines in the list of comments and click Copy, they are copied onto the Clipboard in the same format as displayed. You can also Paste comment lines from other files while editing them.
In selection Tools|Show timetables you can also view and edit comments in Timetables (by first selecting View timetables|By comments).
Comments are printed also in empty cells. In those cells where you have set bookings, the comment text replaces the booking text.