Report Template and Access (Big Task)

[Eric]

Hi all, I have read almost all posts in these Discussion Groups and still
can't get a handle on what I'm doing. I now have a great library of
favorites to use in the future but still need some advice.

I am developing a template for our agency. The goal is to standardize our
formal reports and also capture specific elements of the reports for use in
an access database. These reports can be as large as 100 pages sometimes.
The Template will actually be the final report and needs to be formal.

I have protected sections and non protected sections, form fields and tables
etc. But exporting the data to .txt seems to be an issue and I am
questioning my approach.

1. Exporting the fields are not a problem. Except if the user has to add
an additional field. The new field does not have a name, or takes on a
generic (Text1) name. This creates an export and database issue.
2. If I use tables then the "convert tables to text" can be a huge task
doing them individually. Plus tables want the first row as labels and that
really doesn’t' work with the formatting I'm trying to maintain.
3. Form fields seem to be the best way to go, except in a protected
document the user looses all the formatting flexibility; underlining, bullets
etc.

Capturing the data in these reports is just as important as the report
itself. The protection of the document is vital because of the possibility
of fields being deleted etc.

Does anyone have a better approach then any of the ones I have mentioned?
Maybe a combination of methods? I really don't know.

I appreciate any and all comments, best wishes and prayers.

LOL

Thanks

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

We would need to know a lot more about your requirements to give specific
advice, but see the following page of fellow MVP Greg Maxey's website:

http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Extract_Form_Data.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

 

[Eric]

Thanks for taking a look Doug.

To simplify, Maybe I should stick with the form Field option. I don't like
the inability to format and add bullets etc, but I can try to work around
that.

So Now If I want to use the AutoText to insert/add 4 new fields in the
Template, How can I run a macro that would name those 4 new fields?

Sorry for long previous post. I appreciate your help!
--
Eric the Rookie

We would need to know a lot more about your requirements to give specific
advice, but see the following page of fellow MVP Greg Maxey's website:

http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Extract_Form_Data.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

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

See the article "How to assign a Name to a FormField that doesn't already
have a Name, using VBA" at:

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/AssignNameToFmFld.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

Thanks for taking a look Doug.

To simplify, Maybe I should stick with the form Field option. I don't
like
the inability to format and add bullets etc, but I can try to work around
that.

So Now If I want to use the AutoText to insert/add 4 new fields in the
Template, How can I run a macro that would name those 4 new fields?

Sorry for long previous post. I appreciate your help!

 

[Eric]

Thanks Doug
--
Eric the Rookie

See the article "How to assign a Name to a FormField that doesn't already
have a Name, using VBA" at:

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/AssignNameToFmFld.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