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chapteryx chapteryx is offline
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Default DOCPROPERTY field switches and non-breaking hyphens and spaces

I have created some custom properties for data that will be used repeatedly in my document. Because this document can function as a template, this is very useful when creating a similar document as the first.
I just change the docproperty values, refresh the document, and it's good to go.

But I've run into a problem with non-breaking characters.
If the value that I enter into the custom property field value
(Prepare, Properties, Document Properties, Advanced Properties, Custom, Value) contains a non-breaking hyphen, then that non-breaking hyphen is transformed into another character that LOOKS like a hyphen, but is NOT a non-breaking hyphen.
As an example, the company documentation standards require a format such as ABC-123 for the product names. I need to use a non-breaking hyphen in the product name, but I can not find a way to "preserve" the character set or font or something in order to faithfully reproduce the non-breaking hyphen in the actual document text.

"If a paragraph talking about the ABC-123 product needs to wrap,
then I do not want to see any of the wrapped lines cause the ABC-
123 custom property value get split over seperate lines, like it just
did there. That just looks all wrong, and is one of the reasons why a
non-breaking hyphen exists in the first place."

I've searched through MS WORD forums and technical help, and I did find a large collection of "optional switches" that can be applied to DOCPROPERTY fields, including MERGEFORMAT and CHARFORMAT among others.

But there's nothing available, it would seem, to allow me to retain those non-breaking hyphens in the custom property value once it's been inserted into the document text.

Any advice would be most welcome - I suspect that I've hit an unresolvable bug.

If there is a switch or a way to faithfully reproduce a non-breaking hyphen in the text from a custom property, then I would hope to find a way to specify that quickly too. If I need to CTRL-F9 and manually edit each field, then that's okay, I guess. But switching on a "retain formatting" switch somewhere in the Windows Registry just once and for all would be a godsend.

Thanks in advance for any help (or even commiserations )!!
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Peter T. Daniels Peter T. Daniels is offline
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Default DOCPROPERTY field switches and non-breaking hyphens and spaces

I can't help you _at all_, but I have a different problem with non-breaking
hyphens. In linguistics, we often have to put a hyphen at the beginning of
an ending (such as -ing) when it's being talked about all by itself, and
it causes the word before it to move to the next line -- it doesn't recognize
that "non-breaking" doesn't mean 'don't break after a space'! (That's what
non-breaking space would be for, if I wanted to accomplish that.)

On Monday, November 4, 2013 7:24:27 AM UTC-5, chapteryx wrote:

But I've run into a problem with non-breaking characters.


[a very annoying problem]
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chapteryx chapteryx is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter T. Daniels View Post
I can't help you _at all_, but I have a different problem with non-breaking
hyphens.
Well, I don't mean to be rude, and your problem is equally legitimate, but why did you reply to my message, and not open a new thread?

Could you possibly remove your reply, please, given as it doesn't relate _at all_ to the topic of the thread ?
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Peter T. Daniels Peter T. Daniels is offline
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Default DOCPROPERTY field switches and non-breaking hyphens and spaces

On Tuesday, November 5, 2013 5:20:32 AM UTC-5, chapteryx wrote:
Peter T. Daniels;494885 Wrote:


I can't help you _at all_, but I have a different problem with
non-breaking hyphens.


Well, I don't mean to be rude, and your problem is equally legitimate,
but why did you reply to my message, and not open a new thread?

Could you possibly remove your reply, please, given as it doesn't relate
_at all_ to the topic of the thread ?


It sounds like you have no idea how newsgroups work. Messages cannot be
"removed," and there is no reason related queries shouldn't be piggybacked.

I can't help observing that you didn't even bother to mention the version
of MSWord you're using.
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chapteryx chapteryx is offline
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Ah, well, allow me to retort, and then I shan't bother you anymore.
I'm sure you think you're well-intentioned and I don't blame you for your response.
I know quite well how a newgroup works, thanks, which is precisely why I wrote what I did.
I manage the odd newsgroup myself, and I can remove messages when so requested. That's what the filthy big "REPORT INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT" button is all about. And an administrator can remove what he/she wishes.
And an administrator can even sometimes partially delegate such access.
Secondly, some newsgroup software does allow you to remove your own posts, sometimes whenever you like, and sometimes only if there's been no response to your message yet.
Thirdly, it is a common feature in newsgroup software to allow readers to list all questions that have not yet had a response. Such messages allow contributors to quickly assist when there has been no response to date.
Because you posted a largely useless response, albeit interesting in itself, there might well be many who consider that even reading my request (already answered in some fashion) is not top priority.
What's more, you're unlikely to get a response to your own problem by piggybacking on an as-yet unproductive thread.
I just don't really understand why you didn't open a new thread, since it's really quite a different issue, and nothing to do with Custom Properties.

But you know, I don't really mind, and I'm not really upset about it at all.
But you have a high posting count so maybe you can reflect on the unintended and perhaps unexpected consequences of your activities on others.

Last of all, dear Sir, you fail to mention the version of WORD that you have a problem with too, so calling my kettle black is a little inflated of you in the circumstance.
I wish you good luck to solve your non-breaking space problem.

PS: The problem I describe occurs in the three most recent versions of WORD, and though you are quite correct to note my omission, it's not really of any consequence.


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Peter T. Daniels Peter T. Daniels is offline
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Default DOCPROPERTY field switches and non-breaking hyphens and spaces

Maybe some of what you say is correct for some moderated newsgroups. This
isn't one.

Clearly you posted blindly here, without reading the newsgroup for a few
days or weeks as is normal practice. You seem to be harboring the fantasy
that hundreds of people are posting questions and answers around the
clock.

I could indeed "cancel" my post so that other Google Groups users would
not see it. That does not remove it from newsgroups in general.

Evidently you also understand little about the structure of MSWord
itself, if you don't realize that the version can be _very_ important
for an intricate and specialized question like yours.

On Wednesday, November 6, 2013 1:48:58 AM UTC-5, chapteryx wrote:
Ah, well, allow me to retort, and then I shan't bother you anymore.

I'm sure you think you're well-intentioned and I don't blame you for

your response.

I know quite well how a newgroup works, thanks, which is precisely why I

wrote what I did.

I manage the odd newsgroup myself, and I can remove messages when so

requested. That's what the filthy big "REPORT INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT"

button is all about. And an administrator can remove what he/she

wishes.

And an administrator can even sometimes partially delegate such access.

Secondly, some newsgroup software does allow you to remove your own

posts, sometimes whenever you like, and sometimes only if there's been

no response to your message yet.

Thirdly, it is a common feature in newsgroup software to allow readers

to list all questions that have not yet had a response. Such messages

allow contributors to quickly assist when there has been no response to

date.

Because you posted a largely useless response, albeit interesting in

itself, there might well be many who consider that even reading my

request (already answered in some fashion) is not top priority.

What's more, you're unlikely to get a response to your own problem by

piggybacking on an as-yet unproductive thread.

I just don't really understand why you didn't open a new thread, since

it's really quite a different issue, and nothing to do with Custom

Properties.



But you know, I don't really mind, and I'm not really upset about it at

all.

But you have a high posting count so maybe you can reflect on the

unintended and perhaps unexpected consequences of your activities on

others.



Last of all, dear Sir, you fail to mention the version of WORD that you

have a problem with too, so calling my kettle black is a little inflated

of you in the circumstance.

I wish you good luck to solve your non-breaking space problem.



PS: The problem I describe occurs in the three most recent versions of

WORD, and though you are quite correct to note my omission, it's not

really of any consequence.

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Drewski_Brewski Drewski_Brewski is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chapteryx View Post
...snip...

But I've run into a problem with non-breaking characters.
If the value that I enter into the custom property field value
(Prepare, Properties, Document Properties, Advanced Properties, Custom, Value) contains a non-breaking hyphen, then that non-breaking hyphen is transformed into another character that LOOKS like a hyphen, but is NOT a non-breaking hyphen.
...snip...
Any advice would be most welcome - I suspect that I've hit an unresolvable bug. ...snip...

Thanks in advance for any help (or even commiserations )!!
I was having the exact same issue (Word 2010). I think it is not so much a bug, but a limitation of the custom document property. The standard non-breaking hyphen is part of Word's (modern) Unicode character set, but the custom document property is limited to ASCII characters only.
So, I found that the ASCII character to use for a non-breaking hyphen is called the "soft hyphen".
There are a couple ways I've found to use this (be sure to read the 'NOTE:' text, below, to avoid confusion):

Method 1) You can insert this character into the body of the document, then put it on the clipboard for use in the document properties. In Word's "Symbol" dialog, "Symbols" tab, find the "from:" drop-down menu in the lower-right corner, and set it to ASCII (decimal) or ASCII (hex), then find the "soft-hyphen" character. [#173 (decimal) or 00AD (hex)]. insert it to the doc, close the dialog, highlight the resulting hyphen, [Ctrl]+[x] to cut it to the clipboard. Then, go into your document properties and edit as required by highlighting the dash, then [Ctrl]+[v] to replace it with the soft hyphen character.

Method 2) While editing a document property (advanced document properties dialog), press [Ctrl]+[-] (the dash/underscore key, NOT the "-" on the numeric keypad).

NOTE: the soft hyphen appears as zero-width, non visible character in the entry field, but you will see the dashes in the property value once you select "Modify" or press "enter" on the keyboard. "OK" the document properties dialog, then refresh the field(s). You should now have non-breaking dashes!

Another note: In the "Symbol" dialog, "Special Character" tab, there is something called the "optional hyphen" which also uses the [Ctrl]+[-] keyboard shortcut. This is not the same character as the ASCII soft hyphen. In other words, the keyboard shortcut returns a different character when editing document properties vs. editing the body of the document.

Hope this helps!
-DB
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