ASK Field Behavior

[Greg]

I was doing some experimenting and stumbled on some odd
ASK field behavior and was hoping someone could explain
what is going on under Word's hood.

I put {ASK Name "What is your name?"} in the body of a
document and {REF Name} in the header. All is well.

I put {ASK Age "How old are you?"} in the HEADER of a
document and {REF Age} immediately FOLLOWING the ASK field
bookmark indicator and the REF field results will not
display. Odd.

I put {ASK Age "How old are you?"} in the HEADER of a
document and {REF Age} immediately PRECEEDING the ASK
field bookmark indicator and the REF field results will
display but only after I fire the prompt (F9) and respond
a second time. Very odd.

Can anyone explain the reason for this behavior?

Thank you.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I put {ASK Age "How old are you?"} in the HEADER of a

document and {REF Age} immediately FOLLOWING the ASK field
bookmark indicator and the REF field results will not
display. Odd.

I don't get this here (Word 2003).

I put {ASK Age "How old are you?"} in the HEADER of a
document and {REF Age} immediately PRECEEDING the ASK
field bookmark indicator and the REF field results will
display but only after I fire the prompt (F9) and respond
a second time. Very odd.

Broadly speaking, this is because Word executes the field codes in the
sequence they appear in the text. If you select the whole header and
press F9, when Word tries to execute the REF field, no Age bookmark
exists yet. Word will typically display "Error! Reference source not
found." Then WOrd will execute the ASK field, which will result in the
creation of the ASK bookmark. Word won't go back and re-execute the REF
field. In fact, it doesn't even execute it when you print with the
Print|Update Fields option set. But if you carefully select the REF
field and press F9, you should see Word insert the value you specified
when you responded to the ASK.

Peter Jamieson

 

[Greg Maxey]

Peter,

I was using Word 2000, but I am at home now and still and see the same
behavior.

I have {REF Age}{ASK Age "How old are you?"}{Ref Age} in the document
header.

The first REF field generates the error you mention on first attempt to
update and the displays on the second update. The REF field following the
ASK field will not display. I see the same behavior if I separate the ASK
and REF field with text {REF Age}{ASK Age "How old are you?"} XXXX {Ref
Age}

If I cut and paste the ASK field into the main document and update, both REF
fields in the header update and display normally. If I cut and paste the ASK
field back in between the two REF fields, the first will udate on the second
attempt but the second REF field retains and displays the previous value and
will not update.

Very odd????

A REF Field in the main document or footer visually following the ASK field
updates and displays normally.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Greg, move the ASK field to the body of the document. Then it should work
pretty well.

 

[Greg Maxey]

Charles,

Yes I have noticed that, I am just confounded by the behavior. Especially
after Peter commented that he wasn't experiencing it. I am using Word2003
here and that following REF field just won't update or display :-(

 

[Graham Mayor]

FWIW I experience the same 'problem' here with Word 2003.
Update of fields in headers has always been a bit hit and miss. The only way
I was able to get this to display correctly was to modify my update macro to
use two techniques - the first to update the fields and the second to switch
print preview which forces the first field to display correctly without
forcing the prompt on the ask field for a second time.

Sub UpdateAll()
Dim oStory As Range
Dim oField As Field
For Each oStory In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges
For Each oField In oStory.Fields
oField.Update
Next oField
Next oStory
Options.UpdateFieldsAtPrint = True
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
PrintPreview = True
PrintPreview = False
ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.View.Type = wdPrintView
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Peter Jamieson]

FWIW I experience the same 'problem' here with Word 2003.
Update of fields in headers has always been a bit hit and miss. The only way
I was able to get this to display correctly was to modify my update macro to
use two techniques - the first to update the fields and the second to switch
print preview which forces the first field to display correctly without
forcing the prompt on the ask field for a second time.

Sub UpdateAll()
Dim oStory As Range
Dim oField As Field
For Each oStory In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges
For Each oField In oStory.Fields
oField.Update
Next oField
Next oStory
Options.UpdateFieldsAtPrint = True
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
PrintPreview = True
PrintPreview = False
ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.View.Type = wdPrintView
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Curious, isn't it? I have no problem either on Word 2000 or Word 2003,
either using manual updates or the for next loop with no additional
code. But I am using a very simple example.

Peter Jamieson

 

[Graham Mayor]

Having re-read Greg's first message, I have to say I don't get the problem
with the second REF field, only the reluctance of the first one to update.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[macropod]

Hi Graham et al,

You can solve the problem of the REF field in the header not displaying by
wrapping both fields with a QUOTE field, as in:
{QUOTE{ASK Age "How old are you?"}{Age}}

To suppress the 'Error! Bookmark not defined.' message before the ASK has
been answered, simply put an empty 'Age' bookmark immediately before the
field.

Cheers

 

[Greg Maxey]

Macropod,

You sure do know your field business. Thanks for the tip.

I was completely dumbfounded as to why I was seeing such odd behavior with
both Word2000 and Word2003 after Peter and Graham replied. I started
digging and realized that a year or so ago I substituted the following macro
for Word's built-in UpdateFields command on both my office and home
computer.

Sub UpdateFields()

'Updates All Fields in Active Document Created by Graham Mayor

Dim oStory As Range

For Each oStory In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges

oStory.Fields.Update

If oStory.StoryType <> wdMainTextStory Then

While Not (oStory.NextStoryRange Is Nothing)

Set oStory = oStory.NextStoryRange

oStory.Fields.Update

Wend

End If

Next oStory

Set oStory = Nothing

End Sub

I removed the macro and restored the original UpdateFields command to the F9
function and things straightened out . Oddly enoungh I went back and
restored the macro to the F9 function and things are still working normally.
I don't understand what happened, but it appears to be normal now.

Thanks again.