[tom forel]

On 10 jan, 04:36, Jay Freedman wrote:
On Wed, 9 Jan 2008 13:03:25 -0800 (PST), tom forel

wrote:
Hi

What is the advantage of the content controls compared to the ol
legacy tools...at first sight a lot of functionality has dissappeared.
Can we still calculate, Can we still use bookmarks and the ref field?
Or are those controls used in a completely different context?

Thanks

Tom

The main advantage of the content controls is almost completely hidden
and undocumented, so far. It is that they can be bound to a data
source such as an Access database or a web service. They can also be
bound to XML in the document file, so that data entered in one content
control can be automatically repeated by other content controls bound
to the same XML node.

Without needing to know about data binding, you can use some other
advantages: There are content controls that have no similar legacy
control, such as the rich text control and the date picker. Content
controls' boundaries disappear when they aren't selected, so documents
look less clunky. Documents that use content controls don't have to be
protected, so there aren't the kinds of problems with things that
don't work (spell check, graphics, hyperlinks).

The main thing that's missing is that there is no check box content
control. MVP Greg Maxey has been working on that problem; have a look
athttp://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Custom_CC_Checkboxes.htm.

If you need to do calculations with content control entries, you have
to write macro code. For that, it's probably best to continue to use
the legacy form fields in protected forms -- which are still present
and work exactly as before, although the buttons to insert them are
stuffed into a single button on the Developer ribbon.

Bookmarks and ref fields are completely separate features that have
nothing much to do with form fields or content controls. They, too,
continue to work as before.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP * * * *FAQ:http://word.mvps.org
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Thank you very muck!!!

tom