Control Toolbox vs. Formfield Toolbar

[Markus]

I am kind of new at this, but have a very basic question, I think.

Word has a Control Toolbox, which includes text box, etc. It also has a form
field toolbar, which also includes a text box.

It is not clear to me why you would use the text box from the Control
Toolbox instead of the text box from the formfield toolbar. Could someone
explain.

In particular, I am interested in using the Option Button in the Control
Toolbox in a survey form since there is not a comparable control in the
formfield toolbar. I have seen articles from MVP on making a formfield
checkbox act like an option button, but was wondering why not just use the
Control Toolbox option button instead?

Thanks for any and all advice on this,
Mark

 

[Jean-Guy Marcil]

Markus was telling us:
Markus nous racontait que :

I am kind of new at this, but have a very basic question, I think.

Word has a Control Toolbox, which includes text box, etc. It also has
a form field toolbar, which also includes a text box.

It is not clear to me why you would use the text box from the Control
Toolbox instead of the text box from the formfield toolbar. Could
someone explain.

In particular, I am interested in using the Option Button in the
Control Toolbox in a survey form since there is not a comparable
control in the formfield toolbar. I have seen articles from MVP on
making a formfield checkbox act like an option button, but was
wondering why not just use the Control Toolbox option button instead?

Thanks for any and all advice on this,
Mark

Control Toolbar controls are ActiveX controls that can accept code and
events (Click, Double Click, Get Focus, Change, etc.) built into them. For
this reason, the latest version of Office will automatically deactivate them
if the security is set to High, as it will probably be in large offices
where IT people are on the look out...
Also, they can be somewhat unstable and unreliable in Word documents. They
are much more stable in Excel.

Formfield controls do not have the problems I outlined above. But, to be
useful, the document must be protected for forms and there are not events
associated with them, except for the possibility of having a macro execute
when entering or exiting the formfield.

Personally, I think the disadvantages of the ActiveX Controls are too
serious too ignore. The only time I have ever use them was in a very
controlled environment in a very simple document.

I always use a Userform, Formfields or MACROBUTTON fields.

--
Salut!
_______________________________________
Jean-Guy Marcil - Word MVP
(e-mail address removed)
Word MVP site: http://www.word.mvps.org

 

[Markus]

Jean-Guy,

Many thanks. This clears it up for me.

My plan is to email a word .doc file that is a survey form to people. One
big concern is how often a word .doc file as an attachment might be blocked
due to it's content. Clearly, given this concern, using controls is not
something I can do. But to what extent are macros used in formfields a
security risk, and will I expect a number of surveys from being blocked
because of macros in the word .doc file I attach?

Appreciate your experience and help,
Mark

 

[Jean-Guy Marcil]

Markus was telling us:
Markus nous racontait que :

Jean-Guy,

Many thanks. This clears it up for me.

My plan is to email a word .doc file that is a survey form to people.
One big concern is how often a word .doc file as an attachment might
be blocked due to it's content. Clearly, given this concern, using
controls is not something I can do. But to what extent are macros
used in formfields a security risk, and will I expect a number of
surveys from being blocked because of macros in the word .doc file I
attach?

Macros, whether connected to a formfield or not, will be deactivated if a
user has his security set to "High" or higher.

--
Salut!
_______________________________________
Jean-Guy Marcil - Word MVP
(e-mail address removed)
Word MVP site: http://www.word.mvps.org