#1   Report Post  
Prakash Mistry
 
Posts: n/a
Default Word expert needed

Please can someone help me.

I just need to PRE-FORMAT a plain text report (from a DOS legacy output)
so that when I open in Word, it has the headings etc. formatted.
This is like HTML markup.
However, I can't seem to find any way to do this.
Sorry if this sounds so dumb.

Thanks

Prakash

  #2   Report Post  
Robert M. Franz
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi Prakash

Prakash Mistry wrote:
I just need to PRE-FORMAT a plain text report (from a DOS legacy output)
so that when I open in Word, it has the headings etc. formatted.
This is like HTML markup.
However, I can't seem to find any way to do this.
Sorry if this sounds so dumb.


Not "dumb", but not clear enough: Is this a one-time task, or do you
need to edit various files like this?

If you work with Word, then the usual way is to open up the text in Word
itself, see which internal converter (File | Open: Filetype) works best,
and then maybe use Search/Replace to get what you desire. Another
alternative would be to preprocess your text files in a text editor of
your choice and end up with an HTML file (which Word can open since Word
97) or XML file (Word 2003 prof.). What way you chose depends on your
knowledge of the structure of the files at hand, and of the amount of
files we're dealing with here ...

2cents
..bob
--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | MS
\ / | MVP
X Against HTML | for
/ \ in e-mail & news | Word
  #3   Report Post  
Prakash Mistry
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I want to output a report, like a price list.
Begins with a header: cented, 20 point, bold, underlined

XYZ COMPANY - PRICE LIST JAN 04

Category: S1 - Dishes

Code Description Box Qty Price
ABC001 12" white ceramic 12 45.90
etc.

So I need to markup the text as it is produced.
HTML markup is not ideal for me.
Is it not possible to markup with Word/Wordpad formatting command?

I don't want the end user to have to do any formatting.
Can i search/replace characters with formatting commands?
e.g. ##XYZ COMPANY -... where ## repalced by whatever I need to make it bold.
I am sorry if I seem confused but all I want is a plain text to produce the above
(on demand, repeatedly) the above formatting.

Any help would be most welcome.

Prakash

Robert M. 07/12/04 12:20:36


Hi Prakash

Prakash Mistry wrote:
I just need to PRE-FORMAT a plain text report (from a DOS legacy output)
so that when I open in Word, it has the headings etc. formatted.
This is like HTML markup.
However, I can't seem to find any way to do this.
Sorry if this sounds so dumb.


Not "dumb", but not clear enough: Is this a one-time task, or do you
need to edit various files like this?

If you work with Word, then the usual way is to open up the text in Word
itself, see which internal converter (File | Open: Filetype) works best,
and then maybe use Search/Replace to get what you desire. Another
alternative would be to preprocess your text files in a text editor of
your choice and end up with an HTML file (which Word can open since Word
97) or XML file (Word 2003 prof.). What way you chose depends on your
knowledge of the structure of the files at hand, and of the amount of
files we're dealing with here ...

2cents
..bob
--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | MS
\ / | MVP
X Against HTML | for
/ \ in e-mail & news | Word

  #4   Report Post  
Robert M. Franz
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi Prakash

Prakash Mistry wrote:
I want to output a report, like a price list.
Begins with a header: cented, 20 point, bold, underlined

_*XYZ COMPANY - PRICE LIST JAN 04*_

_*Category: S1 - Dishes*_
__
*Code Description Box Qty Price*
ABC001 12" white ceramic 12 45.90
etc.

So I need to markup the text as it is produced.
HTML markup is not ideal for me.
Is it not possible to markup with Word/Wordpad formatting command?


Hmm, of course this is possible, I guess I'm beginning to understand.


I don't want the end user to have to do any formatting.
Can i search/replace characters with formatting commands?
e.g. ##XYZ COMPANY -... where ## repalced by whatever I need to make it bold.


OK, this works, yes. A Word file is quite different than HTML (it's not
a text file at all), but you can still do what you want. Edit | Replace
is the place to turn to at first, using Word's own version of Regular
Expressions. Aside to Word's Help menue, the following two articles will
shed some light for you:

Add Power to Word Searches with Regular Expressions (by Colin Wilcox,
Graham Mayor, and Klaus Linke)
http://office.microsoft.com/assistan...wildcards.aspx

Finding and replacing characters using wildcards (by Graham Mayor and
Klaus Linke)
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/UsingWildcards.htm


I am sorry if I seem confused but all I want is a plain text to produce the above
(on demand, repeatedly) the above formatting.


No need to be sorry, supposedly none of us is writing in his mother
tongue here. :-)

For repeating these steps, you'll need VBA. Depending on how big the
text files are (and/or how frequently the macro should run), you can get
away with recording your replace runs. Scratching out unneccessary
entries in the recorded code might pay off a bit, but for the finer
stuff, you need to rewrite a bit more I guess.

Greetinx
..bob
--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | MS
\ / | MVP
X Against HTML | for
/ \ in e-mail & news | Word
Reply
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
In typing dates in Word, i.e. "January 12" how do you keep the "1. Carol Microsoft Word Help 2 January 12th 05 09:09 PM
WordPerfect - copying formatting Morgan Page Layout 1 January 10th 05 06:00 PM
WP Delay Code - Word Equiv Mike G - Milw, WI Microsoft Word Help 6 January 10th 05 05:12 PM
Continuous breaks convert to next page breaks Jennifer Hunt Microsoft Word Help 2 December 30th 04 06:45 PM
macro in word js Microsoft Word Help 1 December 28th 04 04:01 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 06:30 AM.

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 Microsoft Office Word Forum - WordBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Microsoft Word"