Fields?

[Tom Brown]

Hi,

Forgive me if I am posting to the wrong newsgroup.

I need to have a method (Template maybe?) that I can insert fields into. I
would email this document to others and ask them to fill in the required
fields. I hope they could just create a document from the template and when
it opens, it will show gray boxes that allows them to enter the data (name,
address, etc). I know I have seen this somewhere before but I can't seem to
get it going.

Any suggestions? Any help will be appreciated.

TIA,

Tom

 

[Charles Kenyon]

What you are talking about is what Word calls an "online form." Check this
in help. For more about online forms, follow the links at
http://addbalance.com/word/wordwebresources.htm#Forms or
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/FillinTheBlanks.htm especially Dian
Chapman's series of articles. You may also want to look at
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/LinesInForms.htm.

Hope this helps,
--

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


--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
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.

 

[Tom Brown]

Charles,

Thanks for the help. This looks like just the ticket .... almost. Although
I have not delved too deeply into it yet, it looks like what I need. But, I
have gotten stuck almost at the beginning. I downloaded a zipfile with the
sample form from http://www.mousetrax.com/pub/FormsFive.zip and I have some
problem with it.

I can enter data (first name, last name, etc) in the fields but when I click
on the Update New command button, it just focuses on it and shows me the
eight black squares that allows me to resize the button. In other words, it
looks like it is in the Edit/Design mode and I am not able to get it to
function (write my data to the Access table) correctly. While it is open in
Word, I have checked and the document is Protected.

Again, any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Unless you need to, you shouldn't be messing about with Design Mode or the
Controls Toolbox! Stick to the forms toolbar unless it won't do what you
need.
--
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


--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
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.

 

[Tom Brown]

Charles,

I don't even know how to "mess about" with Design Mode or Controls Toolbox!
<g>

It looks like I am in it but I don't know how since all I did was open the
Word document. I just downloaded that sample from Dian Chapman and unzipped
it into the specified directory. It included a Word document and also a
small Access database including one table to store the data entered into the
form.

All the things I described were there when I opened the Word Document. I
was able to enter data into the fields, but then when I click on the "Update
New" command button, instead of writing the data to the database, it just
focused on the button with the resizing buttons showing. Unfortunately,
I've been messing with it all day, I'm running out of time, and I'm still
stuck.

Thanks for any help you can offer,

Tom

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Go back to her first two articles. Use the Forms toolbar.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Have you set the proper ADO references as described in the article?

 

[Tom Brown]

Suzanne,

Thanks for jumping in on this one. I am sure Charles was starting to think I
was developing into a pest. I'm sorry, but I do have an urgent need for
this type function and I am quickly running out of time.

Yes, I checked the ADO reference. I have now found out that when I
downloaded the sample Word document and Access database zipfile from
http://www.mousetrax.com/DownloadsFormsFive.html, for some reason, it opens
in the design mode, without ever telling me to enable the
View/Toolbars/Control Toolbox to allow me to close the design mode.

I found detailed instructions for this sample at
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=22 In there, it details
how to lock the form but my version of Word (Office 2003) apparently
doesn't have the same prompts. In Section 4 referring to testing the form,
she said to choose Tools/Protect Document/Forms .... well, when I selected
Tools/Protect Document I was presented with three different options and none
of them was Forms. In choice #2, Editing Restrictions, "Allow only this type
of editing in the document" I found a dropdown box with one choice being
"Filling in the forms." Then, after you make those selections, you need to
click on Begin Protection. I guess someone more knowledgable would have
been able to figure it out, but it took me a couple of days. I think the
directions might be a little clearer but I don't want to complain about
someone offering me free code. <g> I realize that it might have been written
for a different version of Word.

So, I am now on to more complicated problems. I can Protect the form and get
out of the Design mode and click on the two Command Buttons ... and it still
doesn't work. I have placed both the form and the database in the
C:\ComputorCompanion directory but the database doesn't seem to be attached
to the form. In the underlying VBA code for both CommandButtons, I see a
section that is supposed to test for a connection to the database and tell
me "The connection to this database is working!" or "You were unable to
connect to the assigned database!" This is not working and it is not
commented out.

When I click the Command button for "Update New" I expect that the data
would be written to the database and the hopefully the form would be cleared
so I can enter another set of data.

So, Suzanne, if you or anyone else is still with me after this long,
detailed message, I would still appreciate any help determining what the
problem is. It should not be this hard as I do have some Access experience
but I think something else is in play. I just have not figured it out yet.
Help.

TIA,

Tom

 

[Tom Brown]

I just discovered a very small dialogue box sitting down near
my System Tray. It can't be resized to see what it is, but apparently it is
the method to close the Control Toolbox. I still think it would be better
if the document opened NOT in the design mode or at least have the
instructions mention that if it does open in Design Mode, you can close it
by clicking the little box in the corner. I didn't notice it for two days.

I had to go through the drill of enabling the Control Toolbox on the
Toolbars to find how to close it. But, the connection between the form and
database is still not working.

Tom

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Again, rather than jumping into the more advanced methods, start with the
beginner articles and use the Forms toolbar. 95% of the time it should meet
your needs.
--
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


--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
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.

 

[Tom Brown]

Hi again,

I am still working my way through Dain's set of articles but I have a
question about the basic goal I am trying to achieve. If it will not do
what I need, I guess I should find a more suitable method.

So, do I understand correctly that a locked/protected MS Word form can hold
data (First Name, Last Name, Address, etc) and then dump it into an MS
Access database table. Would I be able to send (email) that MS Word form to
people in remote locations and then have them email it back to me (with data
added) and let me accumulate the data in a master table?

I think most people have access to MS Word but everyone doesn't have MS
Access. So, I am hoping that this would be a method to allow non-Access
people to send data into my database. One of the things I have not gotten
to yet in Dain's set of articles is exactly HOW you get the data to move
from the Word document into the Access table so I am working in the dark on
how the process might work.

Thanks in advance for any guidance you can give me,

Tom

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

As an attachment to an email it can be sent other people for them to
complete. If they return it as an attachment and you save all of them in a
separate folder, then it would be possible to use a macro to run through
each of the documents in that folder and extract the information from the
formfields and place it into an access database.

If you want to use mailmerge to distribute the document, See the article
"Mail Merge to E-mail with Attachments" at:

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MailMerge/MergeWithAttachments.htm

--
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

 

[Tom Brown]

Great, that sounds like it's do-able. I assume you mean that I would save
each of the docments in a particular folder. In other words, one folder,
many documents.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Yes that is what I meant, all of the returned documents in one folder so
that the macro when it processed all of the documents in that folder came
across those documents and nothing else.

--
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