[[email protected]]

Hi -

I'm not sure this is the exact right forum for this question, but
hopefully it's close enough!

I'm trying to use the Word field "if...then...else" in a merge-data
document. The snag is that I want to conditionally include an item in
the middle of a numbered list, but I don't seem able to imbed the list
element formatting within the "if" construct.

1. is there a way to do this with this construct?
2. is there a *better* way to do this?

Thanks for any help...

mz

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

The forum is OK, but I believe we need a bit more information on what it is
that you are starting with (i.e. details of the data) and what you are
trying to achieve. Information on the latter is probably best conveyed by a
mock-up of the desired result.

If you can give us that, it will give a better chance of being able to help
you.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi -

I'm not sure this is the exact right forum for this question, but
hopefully it's close enough!

I'm trying to use the Word field "if...then...else" in a merge-data
document. The snag is that I want to conditionally include an item in
the middle of a numbered list, but I don't seem able to imbed the list
element formatting within the "if" construct.

1. is there a way to do this with this construct?
2. is there a *better* way to do this?

Thanks for any help...

mz

[[email protected]]

I'd be happy to do a mock-up. I'm relatively new to these boards -- do
I attach a short Word file somehow, or just put a bit of text inline
here?

Thanks...

[[email protected]]

And as long as I'm asking simplistic questions: how can I imbed
carriage returns in the text within an "if" word field? I'm having
trouble getting the paragraph spacing the way that I want it using the
"if" field, and I'm thinking that if I just manually take control of
the carriage returns, I can make it work. Thanks...

[Peter Jamieson]

Include paragraph marks in the result texts, e.g. if you have

{ IF X = Y "abc" "def" }

and you want

ab
c

if X = Y, put the insertion point after "ab" in the field and press Enter so
you have

{ IF X = Y "ab
c "def" }

(i.e. it's probably more obvious than you realised :-) ) However, whether
that will help solve your problem I cannot tell.

Peter Jamieson

wrote in message
oups.com...
And as long as I'm asking simplistic questions: how can I imbed
carriage returns in the text within an "if" word field? I'm having
trouble getting the paragraph spacing the way that I want it using the
"if" field, and I'm thinking that if I just manually take control of
the carriage returns, I can make it work. Thanks...

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

No, attachments are frowned upon.

Just create it as best you can in the body of the message that you post to
the group.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

wrote in message
ups.com...
I'd be happy to do a mock-up. I'm relatively new to these boards -- do
I attach a short Word file somehow, or just put a bit of text inline
here?

Thanks...

[[email protected]]

On Mar 29, 11:33 am, "Peter Jamieson"
wrote:
Include paragraph marks in the result texts, e.g. if you have

{ IF X = Y "abc" "def" }

and you want

ab
c

if X = Y, put the insertion point after "ab" in the field and press Enter so
you have

{ IF X = Y "ab
c "def" }

(i.e. it's probably more obvious than you realised :-) ) However, whether
that will help solve your problem I cannot tell.

Yeah, sadly, that doesn't seem to work for me. The new paragraphs are
evident when in "View Field Code" mode, but they show up in white, and
don't appear to be included within the quotes holding the conditional
text.

Here's what I'm trying to do with lists:

- list item number 1. this applies to all documents blah blah blah...
- list item number 2. this applies to all documents blah blah blah...
{ IF {MERGEFIELD EntityType } = "Consultant" "- list item number 3.
this applies to documents pertaining to consultants blah blah blah..."
"" }
- list item number 4. this applies to all documents blah blah blah...

and so on and so forth. According to the online help, text formatting
isn't passed along with the text inside the "IF" statement. Evidently,
this includes list element formatting. The problem is, if I leave the
list item definition in the main document, it appears (as a blank)
even when the "IF" is false.

As I mentioned before, I'm totally open to other ways of approaching
this problem. Thanks again...

[Peter Jamieson]

Will have to look again for numbered lists, sorry. (FWIW I never found an
approach that worked before, but that doesn't mean there is no workable
approach)

Peter Jamieson

wrote in message
oups.com...
On Mar 29, 11:33 am, "Peter Jamieson"
wrote:
Include paragraph marks in the result texts, e.g. if you have

{ IF X = Y "abc" "def" }

and you want

ab
c

if X = Y, put the insertion point after "ab" in the field and press Enter
so
you have

{ IF X = Y "ab
c "def" }

(i.e. it's probably more obvious than you realised :-) ) However, whether
that will help solve your problem I cannot tell.

Yeah, sadly, that doesn't seem to work for me. The new paragraphs are
evident when in "View Field Code" mode, but they show up in white, and
don't appear to be included within the quotes holding the conditional
text.

Here's what I'm trying to do with lists:

- list item number 1. this applies to all documents blah blah blah...
- list item number 2. this applies to all documents blah blah blah...
{ IF {MERGEFIELD EntityType } = "Consultant" "- list item number 3.
this applies to documents pertaining to consultants blah blah blah..."
"" }
- list item number 4. this applies to all documents blah blah blah...

and so on and so forth. According to the online help, text formatting
isn't passed along with the text inside the "IF" statement. Evidently,
this includes list element formatting. The problem is, if I leave the
list item definition in the main document, it appears (as a blank)
even when the "IF" is false.

As I mentioned before, I'm totally open to other ways of approaching
this problem. Thanks again...

[macropod]

Hi mzimmers,

You can put a whole word document insie and IF field if you want, inluding paragraph breaks, page & section breaks - all except for
the final paragraph mark. For an idea of how to go about this, take a look at the topics under the heading titled 'Use Date (And/Or
Time) Comparisons To Vary Text' in my Date Calc 'tutorial', at:
http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/show...?Number=249902

Cheers
--
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]
-------------------------

wrote in message oups.com...
On Mar 29, 11:33 am, "Peter Jamieson"
wrote:
Include paragraph marks in the result texts, e.g. if you have

{ IF X = Y "abc" "def" }

and you want

ab
c

if X = Y, put the insertion point after "ab" in the field and press Enter so
you have

{ IF X = Y "ab
c "def" }

(i.e. it's probably more obvious than you realised :-) ) However, whether
that will help solve your problem I cannot tell.

Yeah, sadly, that doesn't seem to work for me. The new paragraphs are
evident when in "View Field Code" mode, but they show up in white, and
don't appear to be included within the quotes holding the conditional
text.

Here's what I'm trying to do with lists:

- list item number 1. this applies to all documents blah blah blah...
- list item number 2. this applies to all documents blah blah blah...
{ IF {MERGEFIELD EntityType } = "Consultant" "- list item number 3.
this applies to documents pertaining to consultants blah blah blah..."
"" }
- list item number 4. this applies to all documents blah blah blah...

and so on and so forth. According to the online help, text formatting
isn't passed along with the text inside the "IF" statement. Evidently,
this includes list element formatting. The problem is, if I leave the
list item definition in the main document, it appears (as a blank)
even when the "IF" is false.

As I mentioned before, I'm totally open to other ways of approaching
this problem. Thanks again...

[Peter Jamieson]

If I have understood your requirement correctly, I think what you have to do
is abandon Word's built-in list numbering and use fields to generate the
numbers. There are a few obvious field types you could try (e.g. { SEQ },
{ AUTONUM } and { LISTNUM }, but IME itt's difficult to get any of them to
work how you want - e.g. Word processes { SEQ } inside an IF field "true"
result even when it ends up inserting the "false" result and vice versa, so
numbering after the IF goes haywire.

Try the following which seems to work in a simple example he

{ SET S 1 }{ S } This should be bullet 1
{ SET S {=S+1 } }{ S } This should be bullet 2
{ IF {MERGEFIELD EntityType } = "Consultant"
"{ SET S {=S+1 } }{ S } If present, this should be bullet 3
" "" }{ SET S {=S+1 } }{ S } This could be bullet 3 or 4

Peter Jamieson

"Peter Jamieson" wrote in message
...
Will have to look again for numbered lists, sorry. (FWIW I never found an
approach that worked before, but that doesn't mean there is no workable
approach)

Peter Jamieson

wrote in message
oups.com...
On Mar 29, 11:33 am, "Peter Jamieson"
wrote:
Include paragraph marks in the result texts, e.g. if you have

{ IF X = Y "abc" "def" }

and you want

ab
c

if X = Y, put the insertion point after "ab" in the field and press
Enter so
you have

{ IF X = Y "ab
c "def" }

(i.e. it's probably more obvious than you realised :-) ) However,
whether
that will help solve your problem I cannot tell.

Yeah, sadly, that doesn't seem to work for me. The new paragraphs are
evident when in "View Field Code" mode, but they show up in white, and
don't appear to be included within the quotes holding the conditional
text.

Here's what I'm trying to do with lists:

- list item number 1. this applies to all documents blah blah blah...
- list item number 2. this applies to all documents blah blah blah...
{ IF {MERGEFIELD EntityType } = "Consultant" "- list item number 3.
this applies to documents pertaining to consultants blah blah blah..."
"" }
- list item number 4. this applies to all documents blah blah blah...

and so on and so forth. According to the online help, text formatting
isn't passed along with the text inside the "IF" statement. Evidently,
this includes list element formatting. The problem is, if I leave the
list item definition in the main document, it appears (as a blank)
even when the "IF" is false.

As I mentioned before, I'm totally open to other ways of approaching
this problem. Thanks again...

[[email protected]]

Hey, Peter...thanks for the response; that method looks promising. I
stumbled on entering the "{ S }", though...what command do you use for
that?

[Peter Jamieson]

It's just a REF field, i.e. you can (and probably should!) use { REF S }

As usual:
ctrl-F9 to create the { }
Type an S between them.

Peter Jamieson

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hey, Peter...thanks for the response; that method looks promising. I
stumbled on entering the "{ S }", though...what command do you use for
that?

[[email protected]]

OK...that works beautifully. Now, the final snag I seem to have is
that that last carriage return I enter (before the first closing quote
in the IF statement) doesn't "take". The following list item just
comes right on the tails of the text in the IF statement. Any ideas?
Could it be a setting of mine? I am using double spaced paragraphs and
no empty paragraphs in this document, if that matters.

[[email protected]]

Oops...please disregard that last post. Word seems to be occasionally
reluctant to properly update the WYSIWYG for these constructs, and I
have to toggle the preview a couple of times to get it right. I think
you've got this one whipped. Thanks a ton!

[Peter Jamieson]

FWIW it's just possible that you have a glitch in a display driver. Word is
reputed to drive the display quite hard (I suppose you'd think that was
mainly the preserve of fact action games, but maybe not :-))

Peter Jamieson
wrote in message
oups.com...
Oops...please disregard that last post. Word seems to be occasionally
reluctant to properly update the WYSIWYG for these constructs, and I
have to toggle the preview a couple of times to get it right. I think
you've got this one whipped. Thanks a ton!

[[email protected]]

On Mar 30, 1:02 pm, wrote:
Oops...please disregard that last post. Word seems to be occasionally
reluctant to properly update the WYSIWYG for these constructs, and I
have to toggle the preview a couple of times to get it right. I think
you've got this one whipped. Thanks a ton!

A followup question: I created and edited this file on a Mac (using
Word 2004) and then transferred it to a Windows machine (running Word
2003). All of my visible values for the list numbers were set to the
value of the final list element (13 in this case). Any ideas?

[Peter Jamieson]

1. What if you select the document (e.g. control-A) and re-execute all the
fields (F9)?

2. Word will actually display the /current/ value of any REF field when you
re-execute it. The { = } approach only works because Word executes all the
fields sequentially from the beginnin gof the document. So at one point when
it executes { S }, it will be 1, then after the next { = } , it will be 2,
and so on. But if you actually go back and select and re-execute, that first
{ S }, it will have the same value as the last in the list.

Peter Jamieson

wrote in message
ups.com...
On Mar 30, 1:02 pm, wrote:
Oops...please disregard that last post. Word seems to be occasionally
reluctant to properly update the WYSIWYG for these constructs, and I
have to toggle the preview a couple of times to get it right. I think
you've got this one whipped. Thanks a ton!

A followup question: I created and edited this file on a Mac (using
Word 2004) and then transferred it to a Windows machine (running Word
2003). All of my visible values for the list numbers were set to the
value of the final list element (13 in this case). Any ideas?

[[email protected]]

Hi, Peter -

I'm not sure that I understand -- are you saying that I should, or
should not, re-execute? From your response, it sounds like re-
executing will mess up my numbering. If this is the case, what is the
cure?

Thanks...sorry if I'm being a bit dense on this one.

mz

On Apr 5, 12:57 am, "Peter Jamieson"
wrote:
1. What if you select the document (e.g. control-A) and re-execute all the
fields (F9)?

2. Word will actually display the /current/ value of any REF field when you
re-execute it. The { = } approach only works because Word executes all the
fields sequentially from the beginnin gof the document. So at one point when
it executes { S }, it will be 1, then after the next { = } , it will be 2,
and so on. But if you actually go back and select and re-execute, that first
{ S }, it will have the same value as the last in the list.

Peter Jamieson

[Peter Jamieson]

From your response, it sounds like re-
executing will mess up my numbering

From your question, it sounds as if your numbering was already messed up. If
not, can you be more precise about the problem? If so, you probably aren't
going to make things worse. As long as you save a copy of the file, you can
try re-executing the fields and see if it works without damaging anything,
right?

Is the file you transferred from the Mac the Mail Merge Main document or the
result of the merge? If it's the result, did it look OK on the Mac?

If you use Alt-F9 to reveal the field codes, do you see any of the { = } or
{ S } field codes?

We're already using a workaround because Word doesn't really do what you
want. Mucking around in the middle of the job transferrring stuff from Mac
to Windows seems to me to be pushing your luck. If you have to do the merge
on the Mac and the results are OK there, how about saving the result as a
..pdf (assuming you've got the built-in facility on Mac OS X instead?

Peter Jamieson





wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, Peter -

I'm not sure that I understand -- are you saying that I should, or
should not, re-execute? From your response, it sounds like re-
executing will mess up my numbering. If this is the case, what is the
cure?

Thanks...sorry if I'm being a bit dense on this one.

mz

On Apr 5, 12:57 am, "Peter Jamieson"
wrote:
1. What if you select the document (e.g. control-A) and re-execute all
the
fields (F9)?

2. Word will actually display the /current/ value of any REF field when
you
re-execute it. The { = } approach only works because Word executes all
the
fields sequentially from the beginnin gof the document. So at one point
when
it executes { S }, it will be 1, then after the next { = } , it will be
2,
and so on. But if you actually go back and select and re-execute, that
first
{ S }, it will have the same value as the last in the list.

Peter Jamieson

[[email protected]]

Hi, Peter -

Today was my first chance to test this on a Windows machine. I went in
and individually updated each field, and got the document correct on
the screen. When I printed, or even did a print preview, the problem
returned that all the numbers were set to the final value. Not sure
what is causing this, but it does it on the Mac platform, too. Using
the data merge manager to select a new record causes the fields to
return to their correct values, until the next print attempt.

I may have to give up on this one, but if anyone has any final ideas,
I'm willing to give them a fling. Thanks...


On Apr 5, 3:51 pm, "Peter Jamieson"
wrote:
From your response, it sounds like re-
executing will mess up my numbering

From your question, it sounds as if your numbering was already messed up. If
not, can you be more precise about the problem? If so, you probably aren't
going to make things worse. As long as you save a copy of the file, you can
try re-executing the fields and see if it works without damaging anything,
right?

Is the file you transferred from the Mac the Mail Merge Main document or the
result of the merge? If it's the result, did it look OK on the Mac?

If you use Alt-F9 to reveal the field codes, do you see any of the { = } or
{ S } field codes?

We're already using a workaround because Word doesn't really do what you
want. Mucking around in the middle of the job transferrring stuff from Mac
to Windows seems to me to be pushing your luck. If you have to do the merge
on the Mac and the results are OK there, how about saving the result as a
.pdf (assuming you've got the built-in facility on Mac OS X instead?

Peter Jamieson

wrote in message

oups.com...

Hi, Peter -

I'm not sure that I understand -- are you saying that I should, or
should not, re-execute? From your response, it sounds like re-
executing will mess up my numbering. If this is the case, what is the
cure?

Thanks...sorry if I'm being a bit dense on this one.

mz

On Apr 5, 12:57 am, "Peter Jamieson"
wrote:
1. What if you select the document (e.g. control-A) and re-execute all
the
fields (F9)?

2. Word will actually display the /current/ value of any REF field when
you
re-execute it. The { = } approach only works because Word executes all
the
fields sequentially from the beginnin gof the document. So at one point
when
it executes { S }, it will be 1, then after the next { = } , it will be
2,
and so on. But if you actually go back and select and re-execute, that
first
{ S }, it will have the same value as the last in the list.

Peter Jamieson

[Peter Jamieson]

Ah yes, I see what you mean.

One thing you can do is select the document prior to print or preview and
use ctrl-shift-F9 to "unlink" all the fields, leaving their results.

I don't think I've ever worked out another scheme that avoids VBA.

Peter Jamieson

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi, Peter -

Today was my first chance to test this on a Windows machine. I went in
and individually updated each field, and got the document correct on
the screen. When I printed, or even did a print preview, the problem
returned that all the numbers were set to the final value. Not sure
what is causing this, but it does it on the Mac platform, too. Using
the data merge manager to select a new record causes the fields to
return to their correct values, until the next print attempt.

I may have to give up on this one, but if anyone has any final ideas,
I'm willing to give them a fling. Thanks...


On Apr 5, 3:51 pm, "Peter Jamieson"
wrote:
From your response, it sounds like re-
executing will mess up my numbering

From your question, it sounds as if your numbering was already messed up.
If
not, can you be more precise about the problem? If so, you probably
aren't
going to make things worse. As long as you save a copy of the file, you
can
try re-executing the fields and see if it works without damaging
anything,
right?

Is the file you transferred from the Mac the Mail Merge Main document or
the
result of the merge? If it's the result, did it look OK on the Mac?

If you use Alt-F9 to reveal the field codes, do you see any of the { = }
or
{ S } field codes?

We're already using a workaround because Word doesn't really do what you
want. Mucking around in the middle of the job transferrring stuff from
Mac
to Windows seems to me to be pushing your luck. If you have to do the
merge
on the Mac and the results are OK there, how about saving the result as a
.pdf (assuming you've got the built-in facility on Mac OS X instead?

Peter Jamieson

wrote in message

oups.com...

Hi, Peter -

I'm not sure that I understand -- are you saying that I should, or
should not, re-execute? From your response, it sounds like re-
executing will mess up my numbering. If this is the case, what is the
cure?

Thanks...sorry if I'm being a bit dense on this one.

mz

On Apr 5, 12:57 am, "Peter Jamieson"
wrote:
1. What if you select the document (e.g. control-A) and re-execute all
the
fields (F9)?

2. Word will actually display the /current/ value of any REF field
when
you
re-execute it. The { = } approach only works because Word executes all
the
fields sequentially from the beginnin gof the document. So at one
point
when
it executes { S }, it will be 1, then after the next { = } , it will
be
2,
and so on. But if you actually go back and select and re-execute, that
first
{ S }, it will have the same value as the last in the list.

Peter Jamieson

[[email protected]]

One thing that does work is to use the "merge to new document"
command. The numbers remain intact during the print process.

Not exactly the most convenient of all solutions, but, at least it's
done. Thanks for all the help, everyone.