Populate Merge Fields via VB.NET

[ben]

I have several documents that have merge fields identified. I am not able to
populate the forms using mail merge, I need to populate programatically via
VB.NET. I noticed the Word.Document.Fields.count matches the number of merge
fields in the document while Word.Document.FormFields.count = 0. Can someone
point me in the correct direction on populating a merge field programatically

 

[Peter Jamieson]

"Fields" include Merge fields and Form fields. Form fields and Merge fields
are typically used for different purposes. Generaly speaking, it is probably
a good idea to populate Merge fields by setting up and executing a mail
merge (and letting Word fill in the values of each field).

If the documents that have been given to you were designed to be used in a
particular way, it may not be a straightforward process to adapt them so
that they can be used with mailmerge, or any other form of document
automation. It may help if you can provide some more details about what you
are trying to do,

Peter Jamieson

 

[ben]

I have a word document with a header, body, and footer sections. Merge
fields are located in all sections. I am receiving the data needed to
populate these documents via a web service. The web servcie will populate
the document, then send the document to the printer. Using a datasource is
the last option I have. The preferred option is to have the webservice
populate the document via vb.net code and send to a printer. i am also
struggling on how to get a reference to the header and footer objects.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

OK, unless you are actually using an OpenDataSource to open a data source,
you can't actually use Mailmerge to populate those merge fields for you.
Since you're getting your data from a web service, you probably are not able
to use OpenDataSource because that requires the data to come from a file, or
a type of data source recognised by Word such as OLEDB or ODBC. If you are
able to create a file with a local or Microsoft network address (i.e. one
that you can only open using an Internet URL won't work because
OpenDataSource will not open it) then that is probably the simplest way to
populate your merge fields.

If you cannot do that (e.g. because you are not allowed to create local
files) then the only approach is to replace whatever placeholders exist in
the document with your own data, i.e. simulate a merge. That's what I'm
assuming you are trying to do, and if so:
a. be aware that Mailmerge actually does quite a lot of stuff that it is
non-trivial to write yourself. For example, if for some reason there are
nested fields in your document, you may have to ensure that your code
replaces the placeholders in a specific sequence. Inserting data in headers
and footers can also be tricky if you need to create multi-section documents
as output.
b. you may find it useful to use field types other than MERGEFIELD fields
as placeholders. In particular, you can consider using { DOCVARIABLE } or
{ DOCPROPERTY } fields in the main document - the advantage is that you can
populate the Document variables and/or Document properties in code, then
select the document and re-execute all the fields, and Word will do the
rest. You don't need to find the fields in the document etc. etc. The main
drawback is that if you try to put an empty string in a Document variable,
Word will delete the variable and the { DOCPROPERTY } field will display an
error message when evaluated.
c. if you use that approach, you may need to loop through all the "Stories"
in the document to update the fields, e.g. using the VB.NET equivalent of
the following VBA code:

'---------------
Sub RefreshAllStories()
Dim r As Range
For Each r In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges
r.Fields.Update
Next
'---------------


Otherwise, to go back to original question, to loop round all the fields in
a document, you need something more like the following, which should find
most of them but may have trouble detecting some fields in the graphics
layer:

'---------------
Sub IterateMergeFields()
Dim r As Range
Dim f As Field
Dim s As Shape
For Each r In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges
If r.StoryType <> wdTextFrameStory Then
For Each f In r.Fields
If f.Type = wdFieldMergeField Then
' do whatever you need
End If
Next
End If
Next
For Each s In ActiveDocument.Shapes
If s.Type = msoTextBox Then
For Each f In s.TextFrame.TextRange.Fields
If f.Type = wdFieldMergeField Then
' do whatever you need
End If
Next
End If
Next
End Sub

'---------------

To get references to Headers and Footers, use the StoryRanges collection to
access specific types of header and footer, e.g.

ActiveDocument.StoryRanges(wdPrimaryHeaderStory)

You may need to trap errors in the case where the specified Story does not
exist.

Peter Jamieson

 

[ben]

Peter - Thanks for the help. That was very usefull info you provided. I am
able to access all the merge fields, but would like to verify that I am
correctly setting the merge field text correctly. Is the below code correct,
or is there a better more efficient way?
---------------------------
Dim r As Range
Dim f As Field
Dim s As Shape
For Each r In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges
If r.StoryType <> wdTextFrameStory Then
For Each f In r.Fields
If f.Type = wdFieldMergeField Then
f.Select()
Dim oSel as Selection
oSel = ActiveDocument.Selection
oSel.TypeText("text to enter for merge field")
End If
Next
End If
Next
---------------------------

Also, I have one more issue. That is in the header, there is a text box
field that I can not seem to figure out how to get access. When I use your
example for accessing the header / footer, the text box never is accessable.
Could you please shed some light on that for me also?

Thanks. Your input is very helpful

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Is the below code correct,

or is there a better more efficient way?

tend to take the "if it works, it works" view of software these days - in
other words, I can't tell you if your code is "correct". In this case I
would be inclined to test a few special cases, e.g. what if the field is
right at the beginning or end of a range, what if the text is an empty
string, perhaps check that leading/trailing spaces are retained, and if you
are dealing with "international" data, see what happens to unusual accented
characters.

Also, I have one more issue. That is in the header, there is a text box
field that I can not seem to figure out how to get access. When I use
your
example for accessing the header / footer, the text box never is
accessable.
Could you please shed some light on that for me also?

I think you have encountered the "may have trouble detecting some fields in
the graphics layer" problem I mentioned. I haven't checked this in detail
but I think if you access the appropriate header object (and I didn't realy
give you the complete story about that before) you will be able to get these
too, e.g. to inspect one such object

For Each s In
ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Headers(wdHeaderFooterFirstPage).Shapes
If s.Type = msoTextBox Then
For Each f In s.TextFrame.TextRange.Fields
If f.Type = wdFieldMergeField Then
' do whatever you need
End If
Next
End If
Next
End Sub

If you need to deal with multiple sections or multiple types of
header/footer, you'll need to wrap that in another suitable loop. My memory
of this is a bit dim, but I think Word actually finds some fields in more
than one of the collections being processed in these code snippets - in your
case that's probably not going to do any harm except maybe to performance.
If you do mange to work out a more precise algorithm that always works,
please do post it back here.

Peter Jamieson
and I don't know how to solve it. Is it possible in this case to convert
the text box to a frame that will do the same job (select the box and use
Fomat Text Box|Text Box|Convert to Frame).

Peter Jamieson