Hiding "Overflow" Linked Text Box when Empty

[Tony Robbins]

Aloha all,

I am trying to a form for work under Word 2003. The form itself has two
text (A and B) boxes, each of which is linked to an overflow text box (A2 and
B2). If there is too much text in textbox A, I want it to create a textbox
A2 on page 2 where it continues the data.

Now, simply linking the text boxes will create the effect, except it leaves
a second page on every form that doesn't need it. Rather than leaving the
linked text box (A2) in, I'd like to make it dynamically created or hidden
unless textbox A has overflowed.

This is slightly more complicated because I want similar behavior from
textbox B and B2.

Any suggestions? Do I need to use VBA for this or is there a simpler method
I haven't tracked down?

Thanks!
Tony

 

[John McGhie [MVP Word, Word Mac]]

Hi Tony:

Ask yourself if you REALLY need to do this with Text Boxes. I would try
very hard to return the answer "No" to that question.

Otherwise, yes, you will need some serious VBA to compute that the text box
needs to overflow, create the second text box if it does, and link it.

It may be a lot simpler to create VBA that simply determins whether the end
of the text is in Text Box A or B, and deletes B if it's empty

Had you thought that maybe having a second empty page is really not such a
bad thing?

Cheers

--

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John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Tony Robbins]

The issue is that I'm converting a paper form to digital. As it stands, I've
got a text field sitting in a table. If you overfill the table, the form
"breaks" and starts to fill two pages. I'd prefer it to create the second
page to overflow, though your recommendation is fair. I could put a macro in
that completes the form and deletes the unnecessary area -- or at least, I
could try.

It's preferable to teaching several non-user to light-user employees to
delete the 2nd page in the vast majority of cases. These note forms are
generally very brief, so the overflow is an exceptional case and not the rule.

I am a little surprised though -- it seems like having an overflow field for
text that is too big for its text area wouldn't be so out of the ordinary.
Are there any other solutions?

 

[John McGhie [MVP Word, Word Mac]]

Hi Tony:

That's what a Linked Text Box *is* -- an overflow field

If you build this using just a table without any text boxes, then you won't
get a second page unless you need one. That's what I meant by "Do you
really need a text box?" If you can do this with a table only, it will grow
only if it needs to. You might use two tables: one for the top of the form,
and another immediately following for the expandable area.

Hope this helps

--

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

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John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Tony Robbins]

Hi Tony:

That's what a Linked Text Box *is* -- an overflow field
Exactly.

If you build this using just a table without any text boxes, then you won't
get a second page unless you need one. That's what I meant by "Do you
really need a text box?" If you can do this with a table only, it will grow
only if it needs to. You might use two tables: one for the top of the form,
and another immediately following for the expandable area.

The problem is that, if the table gets overfilled, it pushes information
down. I need the additional data to get moved to a second page, *after* the
remaining contents of the form. However, if I put an overflow textbox on
page 2, I still get page 2 even if the contents are empty.

I'm still surprised there's not a non-scripty solution. A lot of forms have
a small text field on a first page and then ask you to attach additional
information on additional sheets. I'm just trying to automate this on a form.

Thanks for your ideas,
Tony

 

[John McGhie [MVP Word, Word Mac]]

Hi Tony:

No, there is no way other than linked text boxes to do what you want.

It's not really an appropriate design for an electronic form: With a paper
form, you *can* run out of yoom and need to attach extra information. With
an electronic form, you never "run out of room" so you never need to attach
or append extra information: just let the form grow if it needs to.

Use the Table>Properties>Row>Allow row to break over pages (switch it OFF)
to ensure that the form breaks cleanly at a logical division if it needs to,
then just let it grow

Please allow me to suggest that you are trying to solve a problem that only
exists on paper: you can take advantage of the medium you are in now to
solve the problem a different way.

Cheers

--

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hi Tony

The problem is that, if the table gets overfilled, it pushes information
down. I need the additional data to get moved to a second page, *after* the
remaining contents of the form. However, if I put an overflow textbox on
page 2, I still get page 2 even if the contents are empty.

The only way this would be feasible is when you position everything
below the table in question, say, in the footer area. Then the table
will be at the bottom of the normal text layer of this page, and will
flow to the 2nd page as needed (see John's remark).

This makes only sense if the user does not have to fill anything out in
this footer area (you cannot have form fields in the footer of a
protected form), or if you capture his data differently (UserForm,
ASK/FILLIN fields) and only reference it in the footer.

2cents
Robert