MailMerge from Access to Word 2003

[sweetguy1only]

Hi all,

I am using VBA to create MS Access applications. When my clients get
the application, they are only getting the Access run-time; they
don't
need the full version of Access in order to run the application. The
problem that I am having with is, I am using VBA to do a mailmerge
from a recordset in Access to a new word document or existing word
document. This feature works on most of my cleints' machines.
However, for certain clients, when the word document comes up, the
Insert Merge Fields option in the Mail Merge Toolbar would be greyed
out. For these clients that are having problem, they are all using
Windows XP Professional with MS Word 2003. The weird thing is, I
have
Windows XP Professional with MS Word 2003 too but it works for me
every single time. My codes are as follows, can anyone give me some
pointers on how to correct the problem please?


Thanks in advance,
Monte


Set WordApp = CreateObject("Word.Application")


If stMergeDoc = "" Then 'Create a new Word doc


Set WordDoc = WordApp.Documents.Add


Else 'Open the word document selected by the user


Set WordDoc = WordApp.Documents.Open(stMergeDoc)
'Set objWord = GetObject(stMergeDoc, "Word.Document")


End If


WordApp.Visible = True
'objWord.Application.Visible = True


WordDoc.MailMerge.OpenDataSource _
Name:=CurrentDb.Name, _
LinkToSource:=True, _
Connection:="QUERY " & stMergeSrc, _
SubType:=wdMergeSubTypeWord2000
'SQLStatement:=strSQL


If Err.Number = 448 Then 'they have word 2000, so try again
without the subtype argument


WordDoc.MailMerge.OpenDataSource _
Name:=CurrentDb.Name, _
LinkToSource:=True, _
Connection:="QUERY " & stMergeSrc
End If

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Maybe the "Opening This Will Run the Following SQL Command" Message is
getting in the way.

See:http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=825765


--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[sweetguy1only]

Maybe the "Opening This Will Run the Following SQL Command" Message is
getting in the way.

See:http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=825765

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP


















- Show quoted text -

No, my clients don't get that message. However, they do get a message
saying Windows has problem starting Microsoft Word.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Do you ship a .doc with the connection already made to the correct Access
path name - i.e. if they opened the Word .doc in Word directly, would you
expect it to be connected to the database? If so, it is worth asking them to
try that to see what error message they get. It is probably also worth
asking them to connect manually to the query to see what happens - if there
is no suitable document, asking /one/ of your clients to try that probably
wouldn't be too onerous as long as they are reasonably technically-minded,
particularly if you can get them to display the mail merge toolbar.

Peter Jamieson

 

[sweetguy1only]

Do you ship a .doc with the connection already made to the correct Access
path name - i.e. if they opened the Word .doc in Word directly, would you
expect it to be connected to the database? If so, it is worth asking them to
try that to see what error message they get. It is probably also worth
asking them to connect manually to the query to see what happens - if there
is no suitable document, asking /one/ of your clients to try that probably
wouldn't be too onerous as long as they are reasonably technically-minded,
particularly if you can get them to display the mail merge toolbar.







- Show quoted text -

Thank you very much for your response.

To answer your question, no, I don't ship any .doc with the software.
It is up to my clients to define their mail templates.

Most of my clients are not computer savvy at all. Lots of them don't
even know how to copy files from their own desktop to a CD or to a
flash drive. That's the difficult part. If they know something, I
can ask them to try certain thing for me. But since lots of them are
not computer savvy, it may do more harm than good if I were to tell
them to try things.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

OK, so you can't experiment in the client environment.

Questions/thoughts:
a. is there any other obvious difference between the client systems that
work and the ones that don't? Perhaps the systems that do not work are
operating in a more tightly controlled network environemt? That kind of
thing? Maybe you cannot tell.
b. Do you have a testbed that more accurately reflects a likely client
environment, e.g. does not have any development tools on it? Perhaps in a
VM?

Peter Jamieson

 

[sweetguy1only]

OK, so you can't experiment in the client environment.

Questions/thoughts:
a. is there any other obvious difference between the client systems that
work and the ones that don't? Perhaps the systems that do not work are
operating in a more tightly controlled network environemt? That kind of
thing? Maybe you cannot tell.
b. Do you have a testbed that more accurately reflects a likely client
environment, e.g. does not have any development tools on it? Perhaps in a
VM?

Peter Jamieson









- Show quoted text -

a. Not to my knowledge. The thing is some of my other clients also
have Windows XP and Office 2003 and they have no problems either.
Only a few of them are having this problem.

b. Yes and it works on my end in the test computer.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Stepping back a bit...

<<
No, my clients don't get that message. However, they do get a message
saying Windows has problem starting Microsoft Word.
What is this message exactly? Earlier you were saying that the users ended
up seeing an open document (I think) but with the field dropdwon greyed out,
which suggests that despite a problem starting Word, Access does manage to
do it.

Also, when you are automating Word, you would not typically see the SQL
message mentioned by Doug. What actually happens is that if the
SQLSecurityCheck value in the registry is not set appropriately, Word
silently fails to execute the OpenDataSource - in other words, you probably
still need to get the users to check and alter that registry value - which
may not be easy to do either because they are not technically minded or
because its against their network admin's policy. But maybe you can check
that on your own test system?

Peter Jamieson

 

[sweetguy1only]

Stepping back a bit...

<<
No, my clients don't get that message. However, they do get a message
saying Windows has problem starting Microsoft Word.



What is this message exactly? Earlier you were saying that the users ended
up seeing an open document (I think) but with the field dropdwon greyed out,
which suggests that despite a problem starting Word, Access does manage to
do it.

Also, when you are automating Word, you would not typically see the SQL
message mentioned by Doug. What actually happens is that if the
SQLSecurityCheck value in the registry is not set appropriately, Word
silently fails to execute the OpenDataSource - in other words, you probably
still need to get the users to check and alter that registry value - which
may not be easy to do either because they are not technically minded or
because its against their network admin's policy. But maybe you can check
that on your own test system?








- Show quoted text -

Is there a way to set that SQLSecurityCheck value programmatically?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

This is outside my familiar territory, but you can probably do it using a
WIn 32 call from VBA, as long as the user who runs the code has permission
to make that change. But I don't have code for that. You /should/ be able to
provide a .reg file with just the necessary registry keys and values (export
one from regedit.exe and you have the starting point for what you need), and
either get the user to double-click on that .reg file or find some other way
to "execute" it.

Peter Jamieson

 

[Dixie]

This should work. Put it in a .reg file, then just double click it. If
they have registry editing rights, it will write the key they need into the
registry. You can run .reg files programatically.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Options]
"SQLSecurityCheck"=dword:00000000

dixie