>I know, as you point out, that text and merge fields can be created >in Layout Mode and also by export and form letter merge in a word >processor. > >In addition to these two ways to create a form letter with merge, >ebase seems to make provision for a third way that I can not make >work. This is a detailed description of what I don't understand: > >For a record or set of records, if you click Output, then click >Letter under CONSTITUENT COMMUNICATIONS, a window opens called >Letter: Text Creation Methods. Under HOW WILL TEXT BE CREATED? you >get (1) Create Text from Scratch, (2) Copy Text from an Existing >Source Code and (3) Select an Existing Source Code and Text. > >If you choose (1) Create Text from Scratch, an Edit Letter window >opens in which you are invited to "Create your Text" (This is where >I was typing a letter "somewhere" that you had to guess about.).
You're right, there is another way to create the letter text, but I don't use it very much and forgot about it. >However, if you create text from scratch and merge fields in *this* >window (as opposed to in a Letter # Layout) and proceed by Wizard >past the source code window and Print Letters Now window options, >you come to a Print Letter window in which you *must* select a >Letter #1 through Letter #10. The result of this choice in Preview >and Print Letter is not the letter you composed in (1) Create Letter >from Scratch, but from the example Layout Letter # you choose and >includes the example prompt "This is where you type in the body of >your message." > >What happened to the text you created (1) Create Text from Scratch? When you select "Create Letter from Scratch" and type you letter into the wizard, the text is captured in a global field called "gLetter". Merge fields inserted into that text are not "real" merge fields, but just text strings. The text strings are replaced by the values of the merge fields and the when you click the Next button on the wizard. At the same time, the text is copied into a field called "FINAL LETTER\MESSAGE" in the custom file. This is where the letter you typed ended up. So to get it to show up on a letter layout, the "real" merge field "Custom::FINAL LETTER\MESSAGE" must appear on the layout. My copy of ebase shows this field on Letter #1, #3, #7, #8, #9, #10. You can of course add it to any letter layout if you have FileMaker, but if you're using the runtime application, you've go to choose one of these letter layouts. -- -- Dave Shaw H4 Consulting tel: 206-954-7526 fax: 206-625-1338 ------------------ Reminder to each recipient: To change your list account preferences, go to http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and enter the email address you used to subscribe to the ebase support list:: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------
