Insert part of Filename in Header

[Wendy V]

Is it possible to insert only part of a file name into the header? I have a
document named "HSE-I.1-001-P HS&E Manual.doc" and I would like to insert a
field that would display "HSE-I.1-001-P". I know I could accomplish this
using VBA but don't want the user to have to "enable macros" when they open
the document. If I could insert this function:
mid(FILENAME,1,instr(FILENAME," ")) into the header it would accomplish what
I want to do.

If anyone could offer any suggestions, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Wendy

 

[Peter Jamieson]

If the name of the document is being set up by a macro at some point, i.e.
not on the user's machine, you should consider creating a Document Property
or Document Variable containing the text you want,and use a { DOCPROPERTY }
or { DOCVARIABLE } field to insert it in the header. NB, in older versions
of Word, { DOCVARIABLE } fields in the header used to crash Word.

Otherwise, it may be possible to do this but there are so many gotchas that
using a macro is probably safer and easier (and I say that with some
reluctance).

Precisely how to do it depends on the version of Word. In the current
version of Word 2003, you can get away with the following:

Create a .mdb file (if you don't have Access, you can create one by creating
a new mail merge list which is just a .mdb with a special format) or a .xls
file. There are other possibilities but this is the simplest approach. Let's
say you created c:\a\a.mdb.

Then insert the following nested field in your header

{ DATABASE \d "C:\\a\\a.mdb" \s "SELECT left('{ FILENAME }',instr('{
FILENAME } ',' ')-1)" }

(All the {} have to be the special field braces you can insert using
ctrl-F9, and all the single quotes need to be straight quotes. Note also the
doubled up backslashes in the file name, and the fact that there is a space
after the second { FILENAME } in case the filename has no spaces)

Gotchas include:
a. You have to distribute the .mdb But you do only need /one/ dummy .mdb
for all such applications.
b. The user may face security-related dialogs
c. If there are ever any single-quote characters in the filename, the field
will fail.

Peter Jamieson

 

[Wendy V]

Peter,

Thanks so much for responding to my post and I apologize for the late
response.

I tried the .mdb method and it worked great when the field was inserted in
the main body of my document. However, I when I inserted the field into a
table I received the following error: "Error! Not a valid result for table."
Is there any way to fix this error (other than not inserting the field in a
table) or is this just a limitiation of Word?

Thanks
Wendy

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Yes, it won't work in a table. I don't know why. But it works in a header
(as per your original post). Can a table be avoided?

Peter Jamieson

 

[Wendy V]

I figured out that if I put the field in a text box, it the field displays
properly. I then overlayed the text box on top of the position in the table
where I need the resulting field information. Works great.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Wendy V]

Just wondering if you know why this field (in the text box) will not update
unless I manually press F9. I have "Update Fields" selected in Options. Do I
need to use a macro? If so, how would I capture the "Save" event and update
just before the save? ( I wasn't sure if I should post this question in
another forum or in this one for continuity.)

Thanks,
Wendy

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Two possibilities off the top of my head:
a. a lot of fields behave differently in text boxes (if they behave at all)
b. it could be to do with the security-related registry settings described
in

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330554/en-us

which also apply to Word 2003 (except you need to adjust the version numbers
in the relevant registry paths.

Peter Jamieson

 

[Wendy V]

Thank you, thank you! that link to the MS article did the trick.