The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Pick-a-Tag Katharine Shade

The "signature block" following my newsgroup postings and e-mail includes a randomly selected quote, and often I am asked where I got the quotes, and how I make them change in random fashion. Answering the second question first, I use a program called "Pick-a-Tag" which combines a specified signature (eg. your name) with a randomly selected line from a specified file. It is a free download from http://home.wanadoo.nl/jeroen/software.html.

Pick-a-Tag uses three separate text files
      taglines.txt

This is the file containing all your taglines - one per line.
      source.txt

This is the source file. It contains two elements - the text that remains constant in your signature and the instructions that cause Pick-a-Tag to grab a random tagline from taglines.txt.
     signature.txt

This is the destination file; this is where Pick-a-Tag writes the result of adding a tagline to the source file - the file that e-mail programs and newsreader programs will use as a signature block.

Setting It Up

Step One: Install and Run the Program

The direct link to the self-extracting file of the latest version of Pick-a-Tag is: http://home.wanadoo.nl/jeroen/files/pat160b1.exe. It will install by default into C:\Program Files\Pick-a-Tag. See Figure 1. [Ed: No doubt in preparation for downloading an executable file, you will have your anti-virus protection completely up to date--GT]

When it has finished installing, run Pickatag.exe from the directory C:\Program Files\Pick-a-Tag\. Figure 2 shows how the program will appear.
 

Step Two: Settings

The destination file requires the presence of the file signature.txt, but it doesn't exist yet. So create a blank text file, name it signature.txt and save it in the Pick-a-Tag directory (or elsewhere if you wish). The easiest way to do this is to navigate using Windows Explorer to the Pick-a-Tag directory (C:\Program Files\Pick-a-Tag), from the File menu select New|Text Document and name it signature.txt. See Figure 3.
 

Now go back to Pick-a-Tag (double click on the little icon in the system tray) and click on the Settings tab.
For each of the three file options, click the Select button, browse to the Pick-a-Tag directory (elsewhere for signature.txt if you created it in a different directory) and select the appropriate file. See Figure 4 below.

Step Three: Personalise The Signature

We need to amend the file source.txt and personalise it (it comes with the program). Click on the Source File tab, and edit the text to your taste. Note that when you post to newsgroups, most programs will add the "--" line automatically, which is a standard part of signature identification.

So all you need is a line that you wish to appear in every signature, followed by the Pick-a-Tag code %tag% that pulls in a tagline. Figure 5 shows a simple example.
 

You can have as many lines as you wish, but good netiquette would suggest you restrict your signature to no more than three or four lines.

Click on the Save button, then the Yes button when it asks you to confirm the save. And then the OK button after Pick-a-Tag tells you it has saved it. It really is making sure, isn't it!

Step Four: Your Taglines

Pick-a-Tag comes with a taglines.txt file containing some sample quotes, and it's viewable under the Taglines tab. Figure 6 shows some taglines that I've added.

You can edit the file within Pick-a-Tag, or use a plain text editor and be sure to save plain text. If you're planning to use any of the taglines provided with Pick-a-Tag, it's a good idea to go through and delete the ones you or people with whom you communicate might find offensive, or simply uninteresting.

To edit the taglines.txt file from within Pick-a-Tag, click the Edit button and type directly into the program. You can also paste text (Ctrl+V) from your clipboard if you've copied text (Ctrl+C) to the clipboard from another program. When you've finished select Exit from the File menu and Yes to confirm.

To edit your taglines file using your favourite text editing program, just open up the taglines.txt file from within your chosen program. If you happen to prefer a word processor such as Microsoft Word to edit it, don't forget to "Save As" a plain text file, with the file extension.txt.
 

If any of your taglines require a forced line break, you can insert a Pick-a-Tag line break code into the tagline itself (in the taglines.txt file) to make it start any subsequent text on the next line, as per the following example provided with Pick-a-Tag...

Captain Picard:%LINE% "Fire at will, Scotty"

will be converted to:

Captain Picard:
"Fire at will, Scotty"

Note: this is done only within the taglines.txt file, not in sourcefile.txt.
[Ed: Star Trek comment next page-GT]

Step Five: Setting Up Your E-Mail Program

If you use Outlook Express, it needs to be instructed to use the file signature.txt as the signature block. Open Outlook Express, go to the Tools menu and select Options. Select the Signatures tab, and then under Edit Signature click on File. Click on the Browse button, navigate to the Pick-a-Tag directory (C:\Program Files\Pick-a-Tag) and select the file signature.txt.

If you have more than one signature set up (eg. for different e-mail addresses, or a different account for your newsgroups), you'll need to select the file signature.txt for each one.

For the Mozilla mail client, go to the Edit menu, select Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings, choose the appropriate news or mail address and in the resulting window labelled "Identity", check the "Attach this Signature" checkbox and use the "choose" button to navigate to your "signature.txt" file. Repeat for your other accounts, then click OK.

Using Pick-a-Tag

Put a shortcut to the Pickatag.exe file in your Startup folder, and it will run in the background all the time.

If you don't like the signature Pick-a-Tag has chosen (or for some reason an inappropriate signature has been selected), you can quickly change it by double clicking on the Pick-a-Tag icon in the system tray, click on the first tab (if it's not already selected), and then click on the Pick-a-Tag button. Keep clicking until you find one you want. See Figure 7 above.

Alternatively you can go to the Taglines tab, click on the tag you want and then the Select button.

Pick-a-Tag defaults to selecting a new tag every five minutes, but you can change that under the Settings tab.

Note: if you click on the close window cross in the top right-hand corner, the program will minimise to the system tray instead of closing. To close the program, either click on the Exit button under the first tab, or right click on the icon in the system tray and select Exit Program. When Pick-a-Tag closes, the last signature selected will remain as your signature until it's changed again.

Finding Tags

Pick-a-Tag comes with some of its own taglines, but you will probably want more. One source is of course other people's taglines. There's no real sense of ownership over taglines as they tend to be public domain quotes and sayings, so feel free to grab any you find and add them to your taglines.txt file, either using the Pick-a-Tag program, or use a text editor. If you use a quote, it's a good idea to include the author of the quote.

There are lots of tagline sources online, easily found by searching for terms such as: tags, tagfile, signature, quotes.

Here are some some signature examples using just my name on the personalised line in source.txt.

--
Katharine Shade
You know you've spent too much time on the computer when you spill milk and the first thing you think is, 'edit, undo.'

--
Katharine Shade
witlag, n.: the delay between delivery and comprehension of a joke.

--
Katharine Shade
Writing about music is like dancing about architecture. - Thelonius Monk

 

About the Author
Katharine Shade is a long-standing member of Melbourne PC User Group, who works as a graphic designer http://www.cornercottage.com.au. She hangs out in the newsgroup melbpc.general where you can find more about her computer, musical and social exploits.

Reprinted from the May 2005 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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