Bjorn Behr wrote:
> We generate a 'text/word' document from Universe.
> What I would like to know is does anybody know what
> characters I need to place in the document so that when
> it is opened up in Word, it is in landscape format?
In order to get Word to do things you need to provide more than plain text,
you need to provide specific instructions. Of course instructions need to
be formatted, and there are different ways to format instructions for Word,
including XML and HTML, using macros from existing Word docs/templates, or
you can use Word add-ins to pump data to/from Word and U2. See an example
of a product that was written (not currently offered anymore, subject to
change based on "encouragement" from the market) to do this:
http:// removethisNeebula-RnD .com/products/doc.htm
For your purposes right now, you can use HTML as a base rather than plain
text. Below this note is full HTML source which can be used as the base
for a landscape document. Save this HTML page with a .DOC extension. Word
will opens it, but to be considered a real Word Doc the user must SaveAs
DOC. There is no getting around this: again, if you want Word to do
special things you must somehow integrate with it.
Rather than plain text, if you do use some method of using Word as a server
and pumping data into it, then you can execute a macro like this to change
the orientation:
Sub SetLandscape()
ActiveDocument.PageSetup.Orientation = wdOrientLandscape
End Sub
Combining the HTML provided below with macros, you could save your HTML as
.DOC, then open Word and using command-line switches cause it to execute
your macros, SaveAs DOC, then mail this final document to users. Lots of
ways to skin this cat.
Rather than using Universe as your base, it might make more sense to ask
Universe to fire up a Windows process which will then read your text into a
formatted Word document (template), perform the orientation change, then
save the document where it can be used, e-mailed, etc. You can even tie
this to standard Word mailmerge functions. You can still use your BASIC
business rules, and data and everything else, it's just being initiated
from somewhere else. For this, you can use tools like UO, UO.NET, mv.NET,
or PDP.NET as the data conduit and for executing your BASIC code and
returning data. My preference would be to use the more advanced features
of the Visual Studio Tools for Office in conjunction with .NET, and then
use mv.NET as the link to U2. I'll be happy to work on a project like this
if requested.
Before jumping into development, people might want to consider firing off
an instance of Word every time they want to generate a document. Not only
is this a very bad use of resources but it's subject to many issues.
Opening an instance of Word (or other MS Office apps) in a Windows Service
is a straight-forward process for someone who knows how, but there are MANY
issues that need to be addressed, and Microsoft strongly discourages using
these user-oriented products in a server context. Having a lot of
experience in this area, I also discourage that sort of usage, and that's
one of the reasons I no longer offer NebulaDoc as it was originally
designed.
HTH,
Tony Gravagno
Nebula Research and Development
TG@ removethisNebula-RnD .com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<!-- Save this file as "landscape.doc", then open with Word -->
<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40";>
<head>
<style>
<!--
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:11.0in 8.5in;
mso-page-orientation:landscape;
margin:1.25in 1.0in 1.25in 1.0in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal>your content goes here</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
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