Letter Generation

[Kaylen]

I am seeking direction on how to create a database of auto generation
letters. I would like to have information entered into a form and the data
entered in the form will be used to generate letters. I know how to create
forms and tables. I just don't know how to go about creating the letter
templates and how to transfering the data from the form into those letters
templates that would auto generate the letters. Any suggestion is greatly
appreciated.

 

[Daniel Pineault]

In Access letter generation is done through the use of Reports. They are
built in a similiar manner as forms. You create a new report add your static
text as required and add your dynamic text which pulls data from your
tables... What is great about access is the ability to Sort, Group, etc...

Anyways, what you need is to go through a few good report tutorials and
simply try and create some on your own. Once you create 1 or 2 you'll be at
ease.

Here are a few link to start you off with:

http://www.functionx.com/access/Lesson19.htm
http://databases.about.com/od/tutorials/l/aareports1.htm
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/micr...report-in-ms-access-2003-using-report-wizard/
--
Hope this helps,

Daniel Pineault
http://www.cardaconsultants.com/
For Access Tips and Examples: http://www.devhut.net
Please rate this post using the vote buttons if it was helpful.

 

[Kaylen]

Can you elaborate on what is is "static text"? I would like the field to grow
and shrink according to the entered text size. For example:

"This letter is to inform _____that......"

I would like the "____" to grow and shrink relative to the size of the text
going to be entered so in the end, the letter will look professional, not a
big or tight gap between the words.
So do I enter the template text into the report design view? What if the
letter template is going to be 4-5 pages long? I think there is a limit to
the size of the design view, and that would be a problem for a letter that
might be 4-5 pages long. Any help is appreciated.

 

[John W. Vinson]

Can you elaborate on what is is "static text"? I would like the field to grow
and shrink according to the entered text size. For example:

"This letter is to inform _____that......"

I would like the "____" to grow and shrink relative to the size of the text
going to be entered so in the end, the letter will look professional, not a
big or tight gap between the words.
So do I enter the template text into the report design view? What if the
letter template is going to be 4-5 pages long? I think there is a limit to
the size of the design view, and that would be a problem for a letter that
might be 4-5 pages long. Any help is appreciated.

You could store the text starting with "that..." in a Memo field, and set the
control source of the report textbox to

="This letter is to inform " & [FirstName] & " " & [LastName] & " " &
[memofield]

to incorporate the full text. The size of a memo field is 65536 characters if
entered manually (about 20 normally typed pages), 2 Gigabytes if you populate
it programmatically, so there's no problem with running out of room!

The one drawback is that you can't easily use special formatting or special
characters as you can in Word - just straight text, no bold, no italics, no
superscripts etc. If you need those, or need to insert Word Tables, bullet
lists, etc. then you'll need to take the next step and use Word automation or
a Word Merge document (see the help in Word for details).

 

[brlubman]

Can you elaborate on what is is "static text"? I would like the field to grow
and shrink according to the entered text size. For example:

"This letter is to inform _____that......"

I would like the "____" to grow and shrink relative to the size of the text
going to be entered so in the end, the letter will look professional, not a
big or tight gap between the words.
So do I enter the template text into the report design view? What if the
letter template is going to be 4-5 pages long? I think there is a limit to
the size of the design view, and that would be a problem for a letter that
might be 4-5 pages long. Any help is appreciated.

You could store the text starting with "that..." in a Memo field, and set the
control source of the report textbox to

="This letter is to inform " & [FirstName] & " " & [LastName] & " " &
[memofield]

to incorporate the full text. The size of a memo field is 65536 characters if
entered manually (about 20 normally typed pages), 2 Gigabytes if you populate
it programmatically, so there's no problem with running out of room!

The one drawback is that you can't easily use special formatting or special
characters as you can in Word - just straight text, no bold, no italics, no
superscripts etc. If you need those, or need to insert Word Tables, bullet
lists, etc. then you'll need to take the next step and use Word automation or
a Word Merge document (see the help in Word for details).

 

[Kaylen]

Thank you for your directions. I got the lettters to work! However, I have
another situation. For certain letter templates that I have, I have
conditional paragraphs, for example, a letter will include a special paragaph
if a condition is not met, and after that to include another paragraph if
another conditon is met or not met...etc. How can I program or create a form
to include an option to include or exclude a paragraph or text if a condition
is met?

Can you elaborate on what is is "static text"? I would like the field to grow
and shrink according to the entered text size. For example:

"This letter is to inform _____that......"

I would like the "____" to grow and shrink relative to the size of the text
going to be entered so in the end, the letter will look professional, not a
big or tight gap between the words.
So do I enter the template text into the report design view? What if the
letter template is going to be 4-5 pages long? I think there is a limit to
the size of the design view, and that would be a problem for a letter that
might be 4-5 pages long. Any help is appreciated.

You could store the text starting with "that..." in a Memo field, and set the
control source of the report textbox to

="This letter is to inform " & [FirstName] & " " & [LastName] & " " &
[memofield]

to incorporate the full text. The size of a memo field is 65536 characters if
entered manually (about 20 normally typed pages), 2 Gigabytes if you populate
it programmatically, so there's no problem with running out of room!

The one drawback is that you can't easily use special formatting or special
characters as you can in Word - just straight text, no bold, no italics, no
superscripts etc. If you need those, or need to insert Word Tables, bullet
lists, etc. then you'll need to take the next step and use Word automation or
a Word Merge document (see the help in Word for details).