"too many data fields " error

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zSplash - 18 May 2006 00:14 GMT

When I run my mail merge for a single record, I get no errors. When I run
the mail merge with more than one record, I get a "Record contained too many
data fields" error.

Others' help with this question suggested "usually caused by a mismatch
between the number of fields listed in the header record of the data source
and the number of fields Word finds in the data records." I have tried to
compare these two, but evidently they're REALLY different, unless I'm
misinterprinting the following:
MsgBox ActiveDocument.MailMerge.Fields.Count = 60
MsgBox ActiveDocument.MailMerge.DataSource.DataFields.Count = 277

My delimiter is "|", and I don't believe it's anywhere it shouldn't be. As
I've said, individual records work great, but multiple records give me this
error, and generate only one document.

Any suggestions as to how to solve this problem?

TIA

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Peter Jamieson - 18 May 2006 11:46 GMT

> MsgBox ActiveDocument.MailMerge.Fields.Count = 60
> MsgBox ActiveDocument.MailMerge.DataSource.DataFields.Count = 277

The first of these is related to the number of Word fields in the document
(well, certain types of fields, anyway) - e.g. if you just have one {
MERGEFIELD } field, the count should be 1.
The second is the number of columns in the data source, and as far as I
know, that means the number of columns in the header, not in the current
record.

So these two numbers describe completely different things.

However, that doesn't really help, so:
a. how many columns do you expect Word to find in the data source? Is it
60, 277, or something else?
b. If you execute the following VBA code and look at the results in the VBE
Immediate window, does that give you any clues about what is happening?

Sub showds()
Dim objDataField As MailMergeDataField
For Each objDataField In ActiveDocument.MailMerge.DataSource.DataFields
Debug.Print objDataField.Name, objDataField.Value
Next
End Sub

Peter Jamieson

> When I run my mail merge for a single record, I get no errors. When I run
> the mail merge with more than one record, I get a "Record contained too
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
>
> TIA

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zSplash - 18 May 2006 23:54 GMT

Thanks, Peter for the help and suggestions.

Well, the only thing that looks unusual from running your sub is an
AutoMerge field, which I can't find in the doc.
Anyway, since the first page works great, I just cut everything but the
first page out of the dataSource, and then copied the first page a second
time. Should have generated 2 documents. Got the same error message, and
only one document generated.

Any other hope?

st.

...

> However, that doesn't really help, so:
> a. how many columns do you expect Word to find in the data source? Is it
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
> >
> > TIA

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Peter Jamieson - 19 May 2006 00:17 GMT

Hi st,

I'm running out of steam a bit here, so can probaby only reply properly
2morrow, but can you bie a bit more specific about the format and content of
the data source? What do you mean by the "First page" etc.? I had the
impression from your earlier message that you were using a delimited text
file as the data source, but now it sounds more like a Word document or
Excel file.

"Automerge" fields generally indicate that Word could not find a heading for
a column that contains data, e.g. if you have an Excel sheet with colum
heading in row 1 for columns 1 to 9, but data in column 10 with no heading
in that column, you might get an Automerge field - if you're using an Excel
file, make sure there is a heading for each column that has not been
"cleared" in the excel sheet.

best I can do for now,

Peter Jamieson

> Thanks, Peter for the help and suggestions.
>
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>> >
>> > TIA

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zSplash - 19 May 2006 17:10 GMT

Thanks, Peter, for your help.

Yes, I am using a delimited text file as the datasource. Excel is not
involved. As I said, the mail merge works great on individual records, but
once I put two records in the datasource, I get the error.

By "first page", I meant the document containing the data for the first
record. (With this error, subsequent documents are never generated.)

The only thing "unusual" is that I have opened the datasource file before
the merge and replaced any " character in the datasource file with `, and
then saved the file.

st.

> Hi st,
>
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> >> >
> >> > TIA

Reply to this Message

Peter Jamieson - 20 May 2006 00:35 GMT

Unfortunately, if Word doesn't recognise the record/field structure
properly, there's not a lot you can do. There are Windows functions that
guess the encoding of a file and they work using a number of rules which may
not always give the right answer. You could try the suggestion I posted
elsewhere

If the data source is not confidential, I'd be happy to have a look at it
here and see if I can spot anything. Otherwise, what to do depends on
whether the data has to be in this format in the first place, and if not,
what the best alternative is - if for example there are no more than 63
columns you could consider using Word, but there are other possibilities.

One other thing may be worth trying: if you check Word
Tools|Options|general|Confirm conversion at open then just try to open your
deleimited file in Word, what type of file does it think it is? Does Word
think it is an encoded text file, and if so, what does it think the encoding
is?

Peter Jamieson

> Thanks, Peter, for your help.
>
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>> >> >
>> >> > TIA

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zSplash - 22 May 2006 08:20 GMT

Hej, Peter, thanks for all your help. I believe if I replace the "~"
throughout the file, I can get it to work, but I don't know how to replace a
"~" with a CarrierReturn. Here's what I try, and I don't get a CR, but a
box.
Sub test()
Dim fso As Object, theFile As Object, theText As String
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set theFile = fso.opentextfile("c:\datasource1.dat", 1)
theText = theFile.readall
theFile.Close
theText = Replace(theText, "~", vbLf)
Set theFile = fso.opentextfile("c:\crth6005.dat", 2)
theFile.write (theText)
theFile.Close
End Sub

If you can tell me how to replace the ~ with a CR, I'll try that before
bothering you with the datasource. I've tried it manually, and it seems to
do the trick.

TIA.

st.

> Unfortunately, if Word doesn't recognise the record/field structure
> properly, there's not a lot you can do. There are Windows functions that
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> >> >> >
> >> >> > TIA

Reply to this Message

Peter Jamieson - 22 May 2006 09:36 GMT

Light dawns, a bit...

I would try vbCrLf instead of vbLf.

Certainly if Word is opening a delimited file using ODBC, it must have a
CrLf type record separator - the same may be true of OLEDB files.

Peter Jamieson

> Hej, Peter, thanks for all your help. I believe if I replace the "~"
> throughout the file, I can get it to work, but I don't know how to replace
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>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > TIA

Reply to this Message

zSplash - 23 May 2006 16:55 GMT

Thanks SO MUCH for your help, Peter. Your suggestions solved my problem
completely! So simple, yet so elusive... You're the best!

st.

> Light dawns, a bit...
>
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> >> >> >> >
> >> >> >> > TIA

Reply to this Message

Peter Jamieson - 23 May 2006 18:03 GMT

Actually I should have asked you that very question much earlier as it had
occurred to me, but when you mentioned you were using | as a field delimiter
I'd made the assumption that you'd have mentioned it if your record
deleimiter was also unusual. Maybe you did mention it.

Assumptions always catch you out - I should know better really as I've been
doing this for long enough :-)

Anyway, glad it all works now!

Peter Jamieson

> Thanks SO MUCH for your help, Peter. Your suggestions solved my problem
> completely! So simple, yet so elusive... You're the best!
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>> >> >> >> >
>> >> >> >> > TIA

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