Re: [sqr-users] reading a word doc

[Ray Ontko <rayo@ontko.com>]

Good point.  Another question is whether Open Office documents might be 
an acceptable substitute for the same reason.

Ray

Beller, Jay wrote:
> Ray,
>
> Another question would be what version of Office.  I read that Office 2007 
>supports an XML version of documents (.docx rather than .doc) which would make 
>generating the letters a lot easier since XML is text-editable.
>
> Jay
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sqr-users-bounces+jbeller=lbisoftware.com@sqrug.org
> [mailto:sqr-users-bounces+jbeller=lbisoftware.com@sqrug.org]On Behalf Of
> Ray Ontko
> Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 10:15 AM
> To: This list is for discussion about the SQR database reporting
> languagefrom Hyperion Solutions.
> Subject: Re: [sqr-users] reading a word doc
>
>
> Noah,
>
> If I understand correctly, you want:
>
> 1) to be able to create templates using MS Word possibly containing 
> graphics and save them to a file that can be read by SQR,
> 2) have your application allow the user to select a template and a data set,
> 3) have SQR apply each row of a data set to the template file and 
> produce Postscript output to send to a printer.
>
> It would be helpful to know:
>
> 1) whether you're running SQR on a Windows server, Unix server (Solaris, 
> AIX, HP-UX, etc.), or something else.
> 2) what version of SQR you're running
> 3) what format the graphics are that you want to include (.eps, .gif, 
> .jpg, or what).
>
> Ray
>
> Jamie Harris wrote:
>   
>> Noah, 
>>
>> I tend to agree with the others here - this is extraordinarily
>> difficult to do all in one program.  
>>
>> Here's what I'd do if I absolutely had to do it without requiring any
>> user interaction:
>>
>> 1.  Make a word macro in my template documents that does the mail merge
>> function (from a specific text file that your SQR creates) automatically
>> upon startup.
>> 2.  In your SQR, create the file you need to print your letter from and
>> as the last step use 'call system using' to issue a "start" command (if
>> your app. server is a Windows environment) to cause Word to open your
>> document and perform the mail-merge.  "Start" treats it's parameter as
>> if you double-clicked it, so you'd say 'start c:\templates\letters.doc'
>> for example and that document would open.
>>
>> The downside there is that you'll need to install Microsoft Word on
>> your app. server for this to work.   Also if two people are running the
>> same letter at once, they'll conflict with each other - no easy way
>> around that unless you can pass command-line parameters into a Word
>> macro somehow.   You can ease that a little by making the file name
>> different for each letter template used (make the text file name the
>> same as the letter template or something).   If you have Peoplesoft 8.9
>> you can also set the process up so that only one person can run it at
>> once - a second person has to wait until the first is done.  That would
>> help with your concurrency issue too.  
>>
>> If you don't have Peoplesoft or your app. server runs on some other OS
>> than Windows this idea won't work at all.  It may not work even if you
>> do have those environments.  
>>
>>
>>
>> Seriously, though, it's a lot easier to make a word macro and give it
>> to the users, they can right-click the file, save it somewhere specific,
>> run the macro on it, etc.  It's not that much farther away from them
>> choosing which letter they want and running the SQR.  
>>
>>
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------
>> James Harris
>> Enterprise Application Analyst/Programmer
>> Information Technology Division
>> Frederick Community College 
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------
>>
>>   
>>     
>>>>> Noah Panayotis <npanayotis@yahoo.com> 1/14/2007 11:16 PM >>>
>>>>>         
>>>>>           
>> My compelling reason for not using Word is because we are trying to
>> create a production program that would generate the letters at run time.
>> This is not a one time deal.  Based on the users selection criteria,
>> I'll need to select the specific letter template to generate the letter
>> add the mailing address info as well as generate a report to be sent
>> along with the letter. I will need to do all this in one program using
>> sqr. So you see I really could not use WORD to do what I need to be
>> done. 
>>    
>>   Thanks,
>>   N.P
>>
>> George Jansen <GJANSEN@aflcio.org> wrote:
>>   Do you have a compelling reason not to use the built-in mail merge
>> feature of Word? It certainly strikes me as the easiest answer.
>>
>>
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