Using field calculations in MS Word 2004 for Mac

[Dwain]

I am trying to implement a processing document to detect what a client
has selected and calculate and sum the charges for each item. It seems
straightforward, from the MS Word help, but it simply doesn't work!

I can get the formulas sort of right -- at least I can get a formula
to compute a sum of charges. But the summation will not occur unless I
unprotect the document. Additionally, I can't find any workable syntax
for an IF or COMPARE function to determine a charge based on an item
selected from a menu of choices.

Does anyone have a pointer toward a full, workable explanation of how
to use calculated fields in MSW 2004 (MAC) template? Thanks mucho.

Dwain

 

[macropod]

Hi Dwain,

To see how to do a wide range of math calculations in Word, check out my Word Field Maths Tutorial, at:
http://www.wopr.com/index.php?showtopic=365442
or
http://www.gmayor.com/downloads.htm#Third_party

For just about everything else you might want to do with dates in Word, check out my Word Date Calculation Tutorial, at:
http://www.wopr.com/index.php?showtopic=249902
or
http://www.gmayor.com/downloads.htm#Third_party

Do read both documents' introductory material.

For calculations involving formfields, make sure each formfield contributing to the calculation has the 'calculate on exit' property
checked.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Dwain:

Sure. The full, workable explanation of how to use calculated fields in MSW
(any version) template is "DON'T".

You end up with these endless rounds of gotchas, which you have to use VBA
to fix, which means the solution is broken in Office 2008.

For example, in this case you must unprotect the section of the document you
want the formulas to change: That would involve surrounding the changeable
part with section breaks, and then unprotecting that section. Which means
you would have to do the protect/unprotect from VBA. Which means it won't
work in Word 2008 or any of the freebie clones.

Make your questionnaire in Excel, which expects to do these kinds of things
and is fast, accurate, and stable with them; because it's built for it. If
you want, you can embed this Excel sheet in a Word document (but I
wouldn't...)

Hope this helps

I am trying to implement a processing document to detect what a client
has selected and calculate and sum the charges for each item. It seems
straightforward, from the MS Word help, but it simply doesn't work!

I can get the formulas sort of right -- at least I can get a formula
to compute a sum of charges. But the summation will not occur unless I
unprotect the document. Additionally, I can't find any workable syntax
for an IF or COMPARE function to determine a charge based on an item
selected from a menu of choices.

Does anyone have a pointer toward a full, workable explanation of how
to use calculated fields in MSW 2004 (MAC) template? Thanks mucho.

Dwain

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

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

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Dwain]

Hi Dwain,

To see how to do a wide range of math calculations in Word, check out my Word Field Maths Tutorial, at:http://www.wopr.com/index.php?showtopic=365442
orhttp://www.gmayor.com/downloads.htm#Third_party

For just about everything else you might want to do with dates in Word, check out my Word Date Calculation Tutorial, at:http://www.wopr.com/index.php?showtopic=249902
orhttp://www.gmayor.com/downloads.htm#Third_party

Do read both documents' introductory material.

For calculations involving formfields, make sure each formfield contributing to the calculation has the 'calculate on exit' property
checked.

--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]

I am trying to implement a processing document to detect what a client
has selected and calculate and sum the charges for each item. It seems
straightforward, from the MS Word help, but it simply doesn't work!

I can get the formulas sort of right -- at least I can get a formula
to compute a sum of charges. But the summation will not occur unless I
unprotect the document. Additionally, I can't find any workable syntax
for an IF or COMPARE function to determine a charge  based on an item
selected from a menu of choices.

Does anyone have a pointer toward a full, workable explanation of how
to use calculated fields in MSW 2004 (MAC) template? Thanks mucho.

Dwain

Wow! Thanks!

 

[Dwain]

Hi Dwain:

Sure.  The full, workable explanation of how to use calculated fields in MSW
(any version) template is "DON'T".

You end up with these endless rounds of gotchas, which you have to use VBA
to fix, which means the solution is broken in Office 2008.

For example, in this case you must unprotect the section of the document you
want the formulas to change:  That would involve surrounding the changeable
part with section breaks, and then unprotecting that section.  Which means
you would have to do the protect/unprotect from VBA.  Which means it won't
work in Word 2008 or any of the freebie clones.

Make your questionnaire in Excel, which expects to do these kinds of things
and is fast, accurate, and stable with them; because it's built for it.  If
you want, you can embed this Excel sheet in a Word document (but I
wouldn't...)

Hope this helps






--
Don't wait for your answer, click here:http://www.word.mvps.org/

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

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia.   mailto:[email protected]

Thanks, John. Your warnings are well taken, but the solution to move
the problem to Excel isn't going to help. I send this document as a
questionnaire to clients around the world, and MS Word is the only
software I can usually count on their having access to. I guess I'm
going to have to go with a less smart form than I'd hoped.

 

[Dwain]

Hi Dwain:

Sure.  The full, workable explanation of how to use calculated fields in MSW
(any version) template is "DON'T".

You end up with these endless rounds of gotchas, which you have to use VBA
to fix, which means the solution is broken in Office 2008.

For example, in this case you must unprotect the section of the document you
want the formulas to change:  That would involve surrounding the changeable
part with section breaks, and then unprotecting that section.  Which means
you would have to do the protect/unprotect from VBA.  Which means it won't
work in Word 2008 or any of the freebie clones.

Make your questionnaire in Excel, which expects to do these kinds of things
and is fast, accurate, and stable with them; because it's built for it.  If
you want, you can embed this Excel sheet in a Word document (but I
wouldn't...)

Hope this helps






--
Don't wait for your answer, click here:http://www.word.mvps.org/

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

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia.   mailto:[email protected]

Thanks, John. Your warnings are well taken, but the solution to move
the problem to Excel isn't going to help. I send this document as a
questionnaire to clients around the world, and MS Word is the only
software I can usually count on their having access to. I guess I'm
going to have to go with a less smart form than I'd hoped.

 

[Rob Schneider]

For what it's worth, my experience from seeing how many in the world use
computers is that hardly anyone anywhere in the world buys Word only. If
they have Word, they will most likely have got it via Office which also
includes Excel. And if they don't have Excel, they will likely have a
spreadsheet program that can read and use Excel files. Perhaps you can
ask your clients what they have. Or do something even better and get it
done in some stand-alone program. Or use a web-based questionnaire.

Just some ideas to avoid the traps and trouble you'll get into using
Word for this sort of thing.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Dwain:

If they've got Word, they've got Excel It's actually quite rare for a
user to have one without the other. Folks quickly discover that the cost of
buying "one" is 95 per cent of the price of buying all four

Cheers

Thanks, John. Your warnings are well taken, but the solution to move
the problem to Excel isn't going to help. I send this document as a
questionnaire to clients around the world, and MS Word is the only
software I can usually count on their having access to. I guess I'm
going to have to go with a less smart form than I'd hoped.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

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

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[macropod]

Hi John,

AFAIK, all there 'gotchas' you're talking about have nothing to do with formula fields, but with calculation formfields - quite a
different beast - and, so, unless checkbox formfields are involved, vba is pretty much a non-issue.

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

I am trying to implement a processing document to detect what a client
has selected and calculate and sum the charges for each item. It seems
straightforward, from the MS Word help, but it simply doesn't work!

I can get the formulas sort of right -- at least I can get a formula
to compute a sum of charges. But the summation will not occur unless I
unprotect the document. Additionally, I can't find any workable syntax
for an IF or COMPARE function to determine a charge based on an item
selected from a menu of choices.

Does anyone have a pointer toward a full, workable explanation of how
to use calculated fields in MSW 2004 (MAC) template? Thanks mucho.

Dwain

Hi Dwain,

Calculations work only when a Word document has protection turned on,
not off. Book II of our new book (see signature, below) goes into detail
about making electronic forms with calculations. The information applies
equally to Word 2004, as this feature is essentially the same in 2004
and 2008.

-Jim

 

[macropod]

Hi Jim,

Calculations work only when a Word document has protection turned on

Not so! Protection, per se, makes no difference. It only makes a difference when a formfield in a protected document has the
'calculate on exit' property checked. In a normal document, recalculations are manual, though doing a Print Preview is generally
sufficient to update the fields in the body of the document (one might also need to check the 'update fields' option under
Tools|Options|Print (or whatever the Mac equivalent is)).