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Form fields versus mail merge fields
Hi,
I have an application which needs to communicate with MS Word to generate documents. Typically my application will want to generate 1 document at a time. The user will select a template name and then choose to build a document. My application then has the responsibility of populating the document with values. I have created document templates in MS Word which contain form fields. I have given my fields bookmark names. I am using COM automation to communicate with Word and I am using WordBasic interface to call the functions I need performed. I can start Word and give it a template to open. I then ask it for all the bookmark names. I then cycle through each bookmark and populate it via doing a 'GoTo' bookmark followed by an 'Insert'. It all seems to be working. Questions 1) what about using mail merge fields. Can I achieve the same thing using a mail merge ? Is it any easier ? Do I need to build a data source file containing all my data and then do a mail merge ? 2) the WordBasic interface is now old technology. What is a more modern approach to achieving my requirements ? 3) In general what is the best approach to having my application generate Word documents for my users ? Thanks |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Form fields versus mail merge fields
Mailmerge would almost certainly be easier. Formfields are not meant to be
used the way you are using them. You could use regular bookmarks as easily without the formfields. I regularly produce mailmerges with just one record being used. You would build a data source, which can hold multiple records. So long as you build it with each record having a unique identifier, you should be able to automate inserting a particular record fairly easily. (Says one who has not done this!) http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MailMerge/...AMailMerge.htm http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MailMerge/...DataSource.htm Much more at http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Mailmerge.htm and http://addbalance.com/word/wordwebre....htm#mailmerge -- Charles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. wrote in message oups.com... Hi, I have an application which needs to communicate with MS Word to generate documents. Typically my application will want to generate 1 document at a time. The user will select a template name and then choose to build a document. My application then has the responsibility of populating the document with values. I have created document templates in MS Word which contain form fields. I have given my fields bookmark names. I am using COM automation to communicate with Word and I am using WordBasic interface to call the functions I need performed. I can start Word and give it a template to open. I then ask it for all the bookmark names. I then cycle through each bookmark and populate it via doing a 'GoTo' bookmark followed by an 'Insert'. It all seems to be working. Questions 1) what about using mail merge fields. Can I achieve the same thing using a mail merge ? Is it any easier ? Do I need to build a data source file containing all my data and then do a mail merge ? 2) the WordBasic interface is now old technology. What is a more modern approach to achieving my requirements ? 3) In general what is the best approach to having my application generate Word documents for my users ? Thanks |
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