Merging/database management

[Anthony J. B.]

I have created an excel database, which includes 1 column with various
numbers representings comments that were made. Each records has an entry in
this column which is either a single digit number, or a combination of single
digit numbers, separated by a comma, ie., 1 / 1,2,3 / 1,4,2.

From word what I am trying to do is filter the records out from excell so
that only the records containing, for example, 2, either in combination with
other numbers, or singularly, only those records will merge with excell. I
have been trying to do this using the "Insert Word Field" option as sort of a
filter, but it is not working. I'm not sure which one I probably should use,
if there is one. I have also tried using the "merge query to filter" but
that doesn't seem to work. Both options give me the records containing the
singluar 1, but it doesn't pull them out of a group.

Help

 

[Graham Mayor]

You'll make things much simpler for yourself if you create separate columns
for each comment number.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Anthony J. B.]

That would have been my preference too, however, I got this database, and
short of re-inputting it, can you think of a way around this?

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Still much easier to do it in the data source. You should not need to
re-enter everything that is already there.

--
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

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Have you tried
a. use Tools|Customize to enable the mailmerge toolbar (I'm assuming you're
using Word 2002/3)
b. click Mail Merge Recipients (3rd icon on the toolbar)
c. click on the drop-down in the header of the column you want to filter -
let's say the field is called "myfield"
d. select "(Advanced...)", the Filter Records
e. select myfield in the drop-down list of fields
f. select Contains in the "Comparison"
g. select the number you want to compare with for the current merge in
"Compare To"

Your message suggests that you may have tried that, but please confirm/deny
etc.

Here, that results in an SQL query along the following lines

SELECT * FROM `Sheet1$` WHERE `myfield` LIKE '%1%'

and the filter does appear to work.

(if that doesn't mean anything to you, I'll explain)

Peter Jamieson

 

[Anthony J. B.]

Thank you for this. I'm using Word 2000, so you know of anyway using this
version that I can get it to work. The database file is in Excel 2000 as
well. Can I filter it through there better do you think?

Awesome answers from everyone. Thank you so much.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Unfortunately, the "Contains" option does not exist in Word 2000 as you
probably discovered, so to do the same thing you would have to issue the SQL
using VBA and an OpenDataSource command, and I think you also have to
connect using ODBC, which must be installed on your system. e.g. something
like:

Sub OpenExcelDS()
Dim strExcelPath As String
Dim strExcelDSN As String
Dim strConnection As String

' The following is the standard DSN name but change it if yours is different
strExcelDSN="Excel Files"
' Substitute the pathname of your file here
strExcelPath="c:\myexcelfiles\myxls.xls"
strConnection = strExcelDSN & ";DBQ=" & strExcelPath & ";DriverID=790;"

' Substitute the field names etc. that you need.
ActiveDocument.MailMerge.OpenDataSource _
Name:="", _
Connection:=strConnection, _
SQLStatement:="SELECT * FROM `Sheet1$` WHERE myfield like '%'2%"

End Sub

Peter Jamieson

 

[Anthony J. B.]

Peter, thank you sooooo much for your help. This was invaluable.
Fortunately my client who I am doing this work for, had Word 2002, so I spent
the afternoon with them at their office, and your instructions WORKED LIKE A
CHARM. We spent a couple of hours extracting information from the database
and she was very pleased. This makes me consider an upgrade at my end. Your
generous response was very much appreciated. THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Glad it all worked and thanks for the feedback.

Peter Jamieson