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[archive] Interacting with MS Word?

  • May 1, 2008
  • 3 replies
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D

[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 30 April 2008]

I have a question about interacting with MS Word after reviewing information in the forums. It seems that most of the examples deal with mail merges and seem a little cumbersome and complicated.

I am interacting with Word right now, but as this programming was done several years ago when our understanding of working with Active X controls was very limited, we chose to export the information into a text file and then call a VB program to open word and fill in bookmarks from the text file. It works OK.

But now, I need to do the same thing on a bigger basis. It is still not what I think of as a "mail merge" because I am only dealing with one document at a time. The customer will have designed a quote form in Word. The will have boxes, different colors, different fonts, etc. I will have no control over the design or placement of data. I just need to export the data and have it filled in the correct location on their pre-designed form. I am thinking that bookmarks is still the best way to do this? Even through Active X?

I guess I am looking for a suggestion on the best way to do this. We currently design our standard forms for our software package in PCL (and hopefully we will be changing that very soon), but a particular account wants full control over the design and look of their forms. They currently have them in Word so if I can get by without having them redesign their forms in another package, that would be great.

The other thing I need to mention is a must is that the number of a particular item is variable. As is the length of the field. For example, since it is a quote, it could contain anywhere from 1 to 999 stock numbers and the descriptions for each stock number could be anywhere from 1 to 60 lines long. Is that possible with the bookmark feature.

If MS Word is not the best integration to us... suggestions of what you use for forms design would be appreciated.

TIA,
Rebekah

    3 replies

    D

    [Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 30 April 2008]

    I have a question about interacting with MS Word after reviewing information in the forums. It seems that most of the examples deal with mail merges and seem a little cumbersome and complicated.

    I am interacting with Word right now, but as this programming was done several years ago when our understanding of working with Active X controls was very limited, we chose to export the information into a text file and then call a VB program to open word and fill in bookmarks from the text file. It works OK.

    But now, I need to do the same thing on a bigger basis. It is still not what I think of as a "mail merge" because I am only dealing with one document at a time. The customer will have designed a quote form in Word. The will have boxes, different colors, different fonts, etc. I will have no control over the design or placement of data. I just need to export the data and have it filled in the correct location on their pre-designed form. I am thinking that bookmarks is still the best way to do this? Even through Active X?

    I guess I am looking for a suggestion on the best way to do this. We currently design our standard forms for our software package in PCL (and hopefully we will be changing that very soon), but a particular account wants full control over the design and look of their forms. They currently have them in Word so if I can get by without having them redesign their forms in another package, that would be great.

    The other thing I need to mention is a must is that the number of a particular item is variable. As is the length of the field. For example, since it is a quote, it could contain anywhere from 1 to 999 stock numbers and the descriptions for each stock number could be anywhere from 1 to 60 lines long. Is that possible with the bookmark feature.

    If MS Word is not the best integration to us... suggestions of what you use for forms design would be appreciated.

    TIA,
    Rebekah
    I was able to make the bookmarks work and the add additional bookmarks to the document to make it "grow" when additional lines were needed. All my bookmarks were added to the beginning of the document though, instead of at the GoTo position. Any ideas on how to make it insert a bookmark at the current cursor position as opposed to just at the beginning of the document?
    D

    [Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 30 April 2008]

    I have a question about interacting with MS Word after reviewing information in the forums. It seems that most of the examples deal with mail merges and seem a little cumbersome and complicated.

    I am interacting with Word right now, but as this programming was done several years ago when our understanding of working with Active X controls was very limited, we chose to export the information into a text file and then call a VB program to open word and fill in bookmarks from the text file. It works OK.

    But now, I need to do the same thing on a bigger basis. It is still not what I think of as a "mail merge" because I am only dealing with one document at a time. The customer will have designed a quote form in Word. The will have boxes, different colors, different fonts, etc. I will have no control over the design or placement of data. I just need to export the data and have it filled in the correct location on their pre-designed form. I am thinking that bookmarks is still the best way to do this? Even through Active X?

    I guess I am looking for a suggestion on the best way to do this. We currently design our standard forms for our software package in PCL (and hopefully we will be changing that very soon), but a particular account wants full control over the design and look of their forms. They currently have them in Word so if I can get by without having them redesign their forms in another package, that would be great.

    The other thing I need to mention is a must is that the number of a particular item is variable. As is the length of the field. For example, since it is a quote, it could contain anywhere from 1 to 999 stock numbers and the descriptions for each stock number could be anywhere from 1 to 60 lines long. Is that possible with the bookmark feature.

    If MS Word is not the best integration to us... suggestions of what you use for forms design would be appreciated.

    TIA,
    Rebekah
    According to documentation, the GoTo method shall do what you want it to. Difficult to say without seeing anything. How about a small example?
    D

    [Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 30 April 2008]

    I have a question about interacting with MS Word after reviewing information in the forums. It seems that most of the examples deal with mail merges and seem a little cumbersome and complicated.

    I am interacting with Word right now, but as this programming was done several years ago when our understanding of working with Active X controls was very limited, we chose to export the information into a text file and then call a VB program to open word and fill in bookmarks from the text file. It works OK.

    But now, I need to do the same thing on a bigger basis. It is still not what I think of as a "mail merge" because I am only dealing with one document at a time. The customer will have designed a quote form in Word. The will have boxes, different colors, different fonts, etc. I will have no control over the design or placement of data. I just need to export the data and have it filled in the correct location on their pre-designed form. I am thinking that bookmarks is still the best way to do this? Even through Active X?

    I guess I am looking for a suggestion on the best way to do this. We currently design our standard forms for our software package in PCL (and hopefully we will be changing that very soon), but a particular account wants full control over the design and look of their forms. They currently have them in Word so if I can get by without having them redesign their forms in another package, that would be great.

    The other thing I need to mention is a must is that the number of a particular item is variable. As is the length of the field. For example, since it is a quote, it could contain anywhere from 1 to 999 stock numbers and the descriptions for each stock number could be anywhere from 1 to 60 lines long. Is that possible with the bookmark feature.

    If MS Word is not the best integration to us... suggestions of what you use for forms design would be appreciated.

    TIA,
    Rebekah
    According to documentation, the GoTo method shall do what you want it to. Difficult to say without seeing anything. How about a small example?

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