The "A" is a "table alias". As far as I can tell, standard SQL should not
require you to use an alias in this case but Word seems to insist on it.
FWIW, table aliases have various uses, e.g. shortening/clarifying your code,
but more importantly you have to use table aliases when you use more complex
queries that reference the same table in more than one "role"
e.g. if you have an employee table with
EmployeeID, ManagerID, EmployeeName
and each manager is also listed in the table, to get a list of
Employee ID, Employee name, Manager ID, Manager name
you might use something like
SELECT E.EmployeeID, E.EmployeeName, E.ManagerID, M.EmployeeName
FROM Employee E INNER JOIN Employee M on M.EmployeeID = E.ManagerID
There are also "columne aliases" that let you rename a column or an
expression, e.g. something like
SELECT E.EmployeeID, E.EmployeeName AS [Employee's name], E.ManagerID,
M.EmployeeName AS [Manager's name]
FROM Employee E INNER JOIN Employee M on M.EmployeeID = E.ManagerID
--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk
"Andrew Kennard" wrote in message
...
Thanks Peter I'll try that
I've already just tried leaving out the Connection and SQL and I've
managed to get it to work but would prefere to connection string option as
it is more flexible
What are the significance of the A's in your example ? I'm not an SQL guru
! 
Thanks
Andrew
"Peter Jamieson" wrote in message
...
Off the top of my head I suggest you try modifying the OpenDataSource
call so that
a. the query is
"SELECT A.* FROM [System3000].[dbo].[AGKTemp11] A"
b. If that isn't enough, try leaving the connection parameter out of the
OpenDataSource call, if you can (setting it to Nothing or "" may not work
either, though)
--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk
"Andrew Kennard" wrote in message
...
OK having go it working as a 'user' I'm now trying VIA com and not
having much luck !
The best i've got so far is no error opening the data source but it only
thinks it has two fields M_ and M_1 which is not correct
My command in the Visual Dataflex language I am using is
Send ComOpenDataSource of oMailMerge
((psHome(phoWorkspace(ghoApplication)))+"Programs\ SQLServerConnection.odc")
OLEwdOpenFormatAuto False True True False Nothing Nothing False Nothing
Nothing "Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security
Info=True;Initial Catalog=System3000;Data Source=AGKBIGDELL;Use
Procedure for Prepare=1;Auto Translate=True;Packet Size=4096;Workstation
ID=AGKBIGDELL;Use Encryption for Data=False;Tag with col" "SELECT * FROM
AGKTemp11" Nothing Nothing OLEwdMergeSubTypeOther
I made this up from a recorded macro from Word
The meat of the odc file is
meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/x-ms-odc; charset=utf-8"
meta name=ProgId content=ODC.Table
meta name=SourceType content=OLEDB
meta name=Catalog content=System3000
meta name=Schema content=dbo
meta name=Table content=AGKTemp11
xml id=docprops/xmlxml id=msodcodc:OfficeDataConnection
xmlns
dc="urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficedc"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"
odc:Connection odc:Type="OLEDB"
odc:ConnectionStringProvider=SQLOLEDB.1;Integrat ed
Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=True;Data Source=AGKBIGDELL;Use
Procedure for Prepare=1;Auto Translate=True;Packet Size=4096;Workstation
ID=AGKBIGDELL;Use Encryption for Data=False;Tag with column collation
when possible=False;Initial Catalog=System3000/odc:ConnectionString
odc:CommandTypeTable/odc:CommandType
odc:CommandText"System3000"."dbo& quot;."AGKTemp11"/odc:CommandText
/odc:Connection
/odc:OfficeDataConnection
/xml
Any clues would be most appreciated
Thanks
Andrew
"Andrew Kennard" wrote in message
...
I've selected this table INTO a new table and Word seems to be able to
connect to that one OK ?
All of the columns are there so I assume it must be something to do
with the indexs or other 'options' on this table ??
Thanks
Andrew
"Andrew Kennard" wrote in message
...
....
CREATE TABLE [words].[Person](
[PK_Person] [int] NOT NULL,
[Title] [varchar](10) NOT NULL CONSTRAINT [DF_Person_Title] DEFAULT
(''),
[Forename] [varchar](35) NOT NULL CONSTRAINT [DF_Person_Forename]
DEFAULT (''),
[Surname] [varchar](35) NOT NULL CONSTRAINT [DF_Person_Surname]
DEFAULT (''),
[Salutation] [varchar](50) NOT NULL CONSTRAINT [DF_Person_Salutation]
DEFAULT (''),
[Badge_Name] [varchar](35) NOT NULL CONSTRAINT [DF_Person_Badge_Name]
DEFAULT (''),
[Sort_Code] [varchar](40) NOT NULL CONSTRAINT [DF_Person_Sort_Code]
DEFAULT (''),
[External_ID] [varchar](20) NOT NULL CONSTRAINT
[DF_Person_External_ID] DEFAULT (''),
[Status] [tinyint] NOT NULL CONSTRAINT [DF__Person__Status__278EDA44]
DEFAULT ((0)),
[Perm_Bidder_No] [varchar](10) NOT NULL CONSTRAINT
[DF_Person_Perm_Bidder_No] DEFAULT (''),
[Update_Timestamp] [timestamp] NOT NULL,
[Update_User] [tinyint] NOT NULL CONSTRAINT [DF_Person_Update_User]
DEFAULT ((0)),
[Invalid] [bit] NOT NULL CONSTRAINT [DF_Person_Invalid] DEFAULT ((0)),
[Cheque_Limit] [decimal](10, 2) NOT NULL CONSTRAINT
[DF_Person_Cheque_Limit] DEFAULT ((0.00)),
[No_Card] [bit] NOT NULL CONSTRAINT [DF_Person_No_Card] DEFAULT ((0)),
CONSTRAINT [PK_Person] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
(
[PK_Person] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY =
OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY],
CONSTRAINT [UQ_Person_PK_Person] UNIQUE NONCLUSTERED
(
[PK_Person] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY =
OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]
"Andrew Kennard" wrote in message
...
Hi All
I'm trying to connect to an SQL2005Express Table as the source for a
Word merge
Ulimately I want to automate this via COM but for now am just trying
it as a user
I can get the connection setup fine and choose the table I want
however I get the following error when I try and use it
"Record 1 contained too few dataflields"
Looking on the MS KB this seems to be a known problem and you need to
update to the latest office service pack (SP3) which I have done but
the problem is still there
The Word about dialog shows as version "11.8169.8172.SP3"
This is just a test but the structure of the table I am conecting to
is