A client of mine has a similar requirement. They need to print personalized exam result letters, the content of which depends on several variables. The upshot was that 60 different letters (which still needed to be personalized) were required. Rather than create the letters on the fly, we created 60 queries to segment the candidates and 60 different form letters. We then merged the 60 candidate groups with the form letters. Automatically, of course. Using R:Base and LAUNCHing the Word letters with a VB macro to control the merge. You could use R:Merge as well. I can provide more details if you wish.
In our case, the logic was too convoluted to use a variable content report, but if there were 10,000 possible form letters. Regards, Stephen Markson ForenSys The Forensic Systems Group www.ForenSys.ca <http://www.forensys.ca/> 416 512 6950 _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Lawrence Lustig Sent: January 28, 2009 9:33 AM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: Mail Merge and Database RTF columns << Larry: I'm not following exactly, but since you say you cannot use the DB field because you need to do text substitutions -- can you base your report on a temp table so you can do your substitutions in the temp table? >> That lovely mail merge feature applies only to the non-db, non-variable version of the RTF memo field in the report writer, the one in which you "hard code" the memo contents when you create the report. I could put my info into a temporary table and print the report from there. That assumes I can apply SRPL against LONG VARCHAR columns. I just tried a quick test and got an INSUFFICENT BUFFER SPACE error. But I could write a DLCALL dll to allow this kind of substitution -- I think that system supports LONG VARCHAR and as an added plus I could take into account the fact that I'm dealing with RTF formatted code (which can make the substitutions a little more difficult). That's a good idea. So I'll add to my original question -- does anyone have experience using SRPL, or other replacement technique, against RTF text in a LONG VARCHAR column? -- Larry No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.10/1906 - Release Date: 1/28/2009 6:37 AM
