Comments for NotebookOptionsInspector

Rob Peterson  Thu 22 Oct 2009 10:49:00

I downloaded the NotebookOptionsInspector.nb. I executed the notebook in Mma7 and nothing happened. Apparently I don't get the gist of the whole enterprise. The options inspector has always mystified me and I was hoping to learn something about it. Every time I've used it and tried to change something, I had to uninstall/reinstall Mma to get it to work again. This thing is very scary and I guess I'll continue to avoid it.

David Reiss  Thu 22 Oct 2009 10:50:00

Rob,
I agree that the Mathematica Options Inspector can be daunting!  I wonder what is going on for you that, when you use it you have to reinstall Mathematica to get things working again.  

I agree that there are a number of things there that a user can do that will gunk things up.  But I have never broken things so bad that I need to reinstall Mathematica.  

As for NotebookOptionsInspector.nb, the idea here is that when you execute the notebook you then define the function NotebookOptionsInspector.  

Then you need to use that function to get it's functionality.  So, for example, executing

NotebookOptionsInspector[]

within a notebook will open up a new notebook that shows the current settings for the original notebook's options.

It's just a useful little tool that I wrote to make something simpler that I have to do quite often in my work.  

Best regards,

David

Rob Peterson  Thu 22 Oct 2009 14:02:00

Sir, thank you for the info. I'll try it again and hopefully I'll learn something. I probably stretched things a bit; surely I got out of the options inspector once without losing functionality but it happened enough to scare me off.

Just in case you know this offhand: I notice that when I type \"Mma\" without the quotes in a text cell, it changes to \"Mathematica\". I've looked thru the Options Inspector (careful not to change anything!) many, many times for something that would turn this off without success. Any clue where that option is (if it is an option)?

Thanks for your time and regards,
Rob Peterson

David  Reiss  Thu 22 Oct 2009 14:03:00

Rob,

The option that governs how things like Mma are automatically replaced when you type them is called InputAutoReplacements.  The settings that you are concerned about for this option are actually set at the level of the notebook's style sheet.  So, for example, if you look at the Default.nb style sheet and look at the expression for the Text cell style, you will see in it how InputAutoReplacements is set.

The fact that Mma is replaced by Mathematica is because Stephen Wolfram didn't want people to use Mma as an acronym for Mathematica.  I also think that it's a bad acronym; but I disagree that the user should be prevented from using it in a way that is obscure to change.

Best regards,
David

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