Yet another automated document question

[dasadler]

I have a small event management business. Typically, I am contacted
by a prospective client and I send a proposal/quote which, hopefully,
is followed by a contract. Both the proposal and contract use
slightly different text depending on the type client, the type of
event, and the timing (how soon before the event date). If the event
date is very close, then the proposal and contract are in the same
document and the payment terms are different. Each document also has
an appropriate FAQ appended to it, depending on the type of event.

Currently I am using a ‘master document’ and adjusting as necessary to
meet my needs but it is prone to error. I would like to create a word
document (I am using Word 2007) that is interactive where I could
check some boxes, enter some dates and pricing information and then
the document would be automatically filled with the appropriate
(boilerplate) text and FAQ. All I would need do at that point is enter
client info, event info (venue, event #, times, etc), and the event
equipment information (what all is included in the package).

I know this sounds like a form (and maybe it is, technically) but when
completed, I do not want to have any checkboxes or other form controls
showing.

What would be th ebest way to do this?

 

[Greg Maxey]

While it would have to be taylored to your specific need,
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/DocumentBundler.htm could be used for this
purpose.

Your bundles would be small (the proposal and the contract).

Or you could create a userform for gathering information and produce
documents based on two templates (proposal and contract). You could get
started with:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Create_and_employ_a_UserForm.htm

The best way, if you want focus your time and attention on your business, is
probably to hire someone to do it for you. That person would need a
clearly defined scope of work with examples of both completed documents and
explanation/example of how you want to input and change data. You could
probably get it done cheap ($60.00\hr) or pay $100.00\hr plus. It would be
difficult for anyone to offer a reasonable fixed price up front until the
detailed scope of work is known.

 

[dasadler]

While it would have to be taylored to your specific need,http://gregmaxey..mvps.org/DocumentBundler.htmcould be used for this
purpose.

Your bundles would be small (the proposal and the contract).

Or you could create a userform for gathering information and produce
documents based on two templates (proposal and contract).   You could get
started with:http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Create_and_employ_a_UserForm.htm

The best way, if you want focus your time and attention on your business,is
probably to hire someone to do it for you.   That person would need a
clearly defined scope of work with examples of both completed documents and
explanation/example of how you want to input and change data.  You could
probably get it done cheap ($60.00\hr) or pay $100.00\hr plus.  It would be
difficult for anyone to offer a reasonable fixed price up front until the
detailed scope of work is known.







--
Greg Maxey

See my web sitehttp://gregmaxey.mvps.org
for an eclectic collection of Word Tips.

Thanks Greg - very useful information. A follow-on question, though...
Both solutions employ a data gather form that can have different
controls such as check boxes as well as text fields. If I use a
checkbox control then evaluate the response to determine what text
goes into the document, is there a VBA command that will insert
another document in that place or must I have the entire text in the
code as a string? If so, what is the max length?

 

[Greg Maxey]

There are several was of inserting longs strings of text in a document based
on a checkbox selection on a UserForm.

In this bit of code, the UserForm is passed as argument to a procedure that
builds a new proposal. The proposal document is created based on a tempalte
named Proposal.dot. The userform contains two checkboxes chkFAQ1 and
chkFAQ2. If these are checked the text of either a complete FAQ Item 1
and/or FAQ Item 2 document is is ammended to pFAQStr (or you could use a
table in a single FAQ sheet to contain all of the FAQs). Finally pFAQStr is
inserted at a bookmark in the proposal document.

Sub BuildNewProp(ByRef oDSUF As UserForm)
Dim oDoc As Word.Document
Dim oFAQFile As Word.Document
Dim pFAQStr As String
Dim oRng As Word.Range
Set oDoc = Documents.Add(pPath & "Proposal.dot")
'Using individual FAQ files
'If oDSUF.chkFAQ1 Then
' Set oFAQFile = Documents.Open(FileName:=pPath & "FAQ Item 1.doc",
Visible:=False)
' pFAQStr = pFAQStr & oFAQFile.Range.Text
' oFAQFile.Close
'End If
'If oDSUF.chkFAQ2 Then
' Set oFAQFile = Documents.Open(FileName:=pPath & "FAQ Item 2.doc",
Visible:=False)
' pFAQStr = pFAQStr & oFAQFile.Range.Text
' oFAQFile.Close
'End If
'Using a FAQ Table in a single FAQ file
Set oFAQFile = Documents.Open(FileName:=pPath & "FAQ Sheet.doc",
Visible:=False)
If oDSUF.chkFAQ1 Then pFAQStr = pFAQStr & oFAQFile.Tables(1).Cell(1,
1).Range.Text
If oDSUF.chkFAQ2 Then pFAQStr = pFAQStr & oFAQFile.Tables(1).Cell(2,
1).Range.Text
oFAQFile.Close
Set oRng = oDoc.Bookmarks("PropFAQs").Range
oRng.Text = pFAQStr
oDoc.Bookmarks.Add "PropFAQs", oRng
End Sub

Ohter methods might include creating AutoText entries of the various FAQs
and inserted them using code.