Merging in a file at a URL

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vhikida - 28 Sep 2004 01:33 GMT

Why is it that I can open a word document at a url eg

x.Documents.Open("http://xxx/template.doc",false,false);

but I can't get the data source to merge in eg

x.application.ActiveDocument.MailMerge.OpenDataSource("http://xxx/source.txt");

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Peter Jamieson - 28 Sep 2004 09:59 GMT

That's just the way it is. I don't know whether this is "by design" or
whether it's simply that WOrd uses different methods to open files depending
on what it is doing.

Things may have changed for INCLUDETEXTing files in Word 2003, but I don't
think there is an equivalent change for Mail Merge data sources.

Signature

Peter Jamieson

> Why is it that I can open a word document at a url eg
>
> x.Documents.Open("http://xxx/template.doc",false,false);
>
> but I can't get the data source to merge in eg

x.application.ActiveDocument.MailMerge.OpenDataSource("http://xxx/source.txt
");

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vhikida - 28 Sep 2004 17:01 GMT

Thanks Peter.

How can I feed back a file back to the client to be merged? Can I merge in a
cookie?

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Peter Jamieson - 29 Sep 2004 14:33 GMT

I suspect the only viable options are:
a. to copy the file programmatically to the client system.
b. (maybe) to have a Jet .mdb on the client system, or create one
programmatically using ADOX, then link to the text file and use the linked
table as your data source. I don't know if that is feasible, and I have to
say I wouldn't want to have to rely on it.

Signature

Peter Jamieson

> Thanks Peter.
>
> How can I feed back a file back to the client to be merged? Can I merge in a
> cookie?

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vhikida - 29 Sep 2004 18:29 GMT

Thanks Again Peter. I'm afraid I'm pretty much of a novice in this area so I
didn't quite understand your solutions. However, I did find a solution that
may work for my users.

Basically I created a web page with two buttons. Since I can open a word
document at the URL, I have the user open the source text file in word using
one button. The user then saves the text file.

There is an input text area where the user can specify the file name and
path of the text file. The second button then opens the mail merge template
and then merges in the local file specified in the text area.

> I suspect the only viable options are:
> a. to copy the file programmatically to the client system.
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> a
> > cookie?

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