February 1998 - The Quick Answer
Contents
1. Minnesota Eliminate Report Headings Yes By default Q amp A uses the field name for the column heading and a dashed line as the separator between the heading and report body Suppressing these involves using special commands For a Customer Name field for example you might use a simple Column Sort Spec code of 10 AS To suppress the heading add H a backslash followed by a space To suppress the separator line add HS to the column s spec The resulting spec would read 10 AS H 15 You can suppress a derived column s heading by placing the H code on the Heading line and suppress the separator by placing the HS code on the Column Sort Spec line If you want something besides a dashed line as the separator simply specify the character to use A few other examples HS _ uses the underscore character as the separator HS uses an asterisk HS creates a continuous double underline using ASCII character 205 To type it hold down the Alt key and type 205 on the numeric keypad Appendix H of the Q amp A User Manual provides a table of ASCII characters and their codes Here are some other codes you can use to create custom separator lines SL suppresses the single separator line on subcalculations and breaks SL changes the single separator line on subealculations and breaks to the plus sign Choose whatever character you like DL Suppresses the double separator line when Send your Q amp2. A automatically after quitting Word you must be running Q amp A in a Window Also Q amp AS shortcut properties must include both Expanded and Extended memory set to 1024 and Q amp A must not be set to prevent it from detecting Windows To find out how to change Q amp A s shortcut properties see David Dvorins articles in the October and November 1997 issues The Quick Answer February 1998 the macro and a set of required WinFax styles the document contains instructions you should read Once you ve installed the WinFax macro any future Word documents you create can be made fax mergeable To make an existing Word document fax mergeable you ll have to copy its text into a new Word document then take it from there Using Word s Mail Merge Helper The following instructions for setting up a Word WinFax fax merge are distilled from a Symantec document available at www symantec com To read and optionally download the document go to symantec comy and choose Technical Support Knowledge Base Select WinFax Pro 8 0 from the Products list and search for the keywords Microsoft Word The document you want is How to Use Microsoft Word Mail Merge with WinFax PRO 7 x or 8 0 Ws also available by return fax as Fax On Demand Document 04240 01142 Word has a Mail Merge Helper To stat it pull down the Tools menu and select Mail merge To start a new merge document from a blank screen select Create Form Letters Active
3. Company 42 characters max WisCompany Subject S characters max Whsubject Keywords 33 characters max Wiskeyword code 26 characters max Wlicode You don t have to use all these merge fields and their corresponding styles Just remember that those you don t use won t appear in your WinFax Send log Word styles affect the entire paragraph so make sure that any line containing a W x style contains only one merge field and nothing else For example you can t have something like Fax Number lt lt Fax gt gt on the same line because WinFax will try to dial the literal string and fail If you want to include a label to identify merged data place it above the field like this Tip You can place Wisstyled merge fields in a Word table and apply your Wix styles to the appropriate calls leaving adjacent cells unstyled This way you can place a WinFax merge feld along with text and non WinFax merge fields on the same line the same row of the table If you like you can format the cell and table borders not to print See Figure 2 Mord Tabie i clear cal rare Figure2 ou eee rem mm nes enin restition by placing our Besut in tax ems oo ane ine Siementsin a roc maemana prone aiaasraasr Mon iie Make sure Fax Preview is turned off in your WinFax Setup or you ll have to manually click the Send button to fax each document When your document is finished pull down the Tools menu select Mail Merg
4. can be the matching key value for the XPost commands in the Donors database Next I added a quantity of records to Donates with AAA in the Form field leaving all the other fields empty To do this I created a Standard ASCII file in Write with 60 lines containing AAA like this d This way when it s time to add some new blank records I can have my program in Donors run a macro that imports this file AAA ASC into Donates The Merge Spec for the import includes a 1 in the Form field so thats the field in all 60 new records that gets the AAA Programming the Donors database In my case the Donors database included a Donor ID field along with the following lineitem donation fields at the bottom of the form TheQuickAnswer February 1998 pate Project Posted Ladded the following program to the Pst field f gerer Than Magbox No blank recorde to post toj Project When a new donation has been entered Q amp A looks for a Donates record with AAA in the Form field If it finds one no error it posts the Donor ID plus the line 1 fields DI CI A1 and PI to it 16 on the other hand the first post attempt generates an error it means Donates needs some more blank records to post to The macro which I l show you later takes care of adding the blank records then returns to the originating Donor record to perform the post The final XPost command blanks the Form field to prevent the r
5. will respond amp with a message saying That key is already used by QSA Do you wantto redefine it YIN Answer Yes press the Tab key then press Shift F2 to save the macro You can name it New Down Arrow then save it to a new macro file One of the first things you l notice is that you can no longer navigate Q amp AS menus or List of Files screens using the Down Arrow key Therefore you as the DB Administrator might want to define a secret Down Arrow key one this isn t normally used such as the right square bracket Do this before you redefine the Down Arrow key Otherwise when you record the keystroke to assign to the right square bracket key the real Down Arrow key won t be available After defining your secret Down Arrow key dont tell anyone about it With the Down Arrow key redefined as Tab users can press Tab Enter or Down Arrow to move through forms correctly helping to ensure that your field programming will be executed Gonnon Mecs 215 598 8440 GMucs conPustnve com The Quick Answer February 1998 Eniten Bv Bit HALPERN fi Updating Fieldsfrom an ASCIIFile Q3 qu Iregulay receive an ASCI file containing updated parts price information and want to use itto update the list price and cost fields in my main parts database ire Q amp A to find matching part numbers in both fles and update the price and costin my parts database only if they ve changed can Q amp A do a mass part number ch
6. window See Figure 1 The Helper will then prompt you to specify the data source for the merge You can specify your existing exported Q amp A data in a form such as dBASE or ASCII If you export as an ASCII file you ll have to create a Word header file containing the field names that correspond to and are in the same order as the data in the export file You can avoid this by using Q amp A s dBASE export format then selecting the dBASE file as your data source in Word With a valid data source Word will let you select the records recipients to include in the fax merge Covel i e E Nar utri dos ema T Genes w UE 383 Ededer wneton non Figure 1 Words Mall Merge Helper When the merge document and data source have been defined asin this example the Merge button under Step 3 will be available TheQuickAnswer February 1999 Once you ve defined your data source you can add your merge fields to the document Creating the merge document First type the document s boilerplate text the text that will appear unchanged in each merged fax Then follow these steps to add and apply the proper WinFax styles your merge fields 1 The document must contain the fax number as the first WinFax merge field Other Q amp A merge fields such as those for the name and address can be above it Place your cursor on an empty line where you want to insert
7. A questions to GHelp The Quick Answer Marble Publications Inc 1927A Harbor Blvd Costa Mesa CA 92627 or email 3 to mailbox ind whether publish those questions we feel are of general TheQuickAnswe February 1998 or Wind Iuickanswer com Includ address phone and s and a detailed description of the problem We ll individual responses aren t possible jer inte aren ee ose ethene tia wish my custom main menu which display by pressing Alt M could have more than nine selections I know I can use other key combinations to call other menus Alt A Alt B and so forth but d prefer having more selections on my one main menu Needs More Cutom Menu Selections Dana Kus Bridgeport N Nine selections is the limit on a custom menu but you can have your custom main menu call other menus giving you fast access to as many selections as you need For instance a custom main menu when viewed at the Application Menu Options screen Shift F2 M Create Menu might look like the sample menu in Figure 1 The macro names listed on the right side of the screen are actually menu names The six selections take you to six other menus each of which can include up to nine choices Those choices can either run macros or call other menus This custom main menu is designed to return to Q amp A s Main menu when the Esc key is pressed To have your submenus return to your custom main menu just enter the
8. Creating Postable RecordsOn the Fly i EE Tom Petit was a non profit organization that sometimes received multiple lonations from the same donor The client wanted the donor s record to show each donation date and amount but he also wanted some donation recap reports that would show brakdowns by date ranges or the various projects donors supported The Donors database was a multi lineitem database Gee Figure 1 With the donation dates amounts and other information stored in the donor records as lineitems the reports posed a problem For example a February 5 donation from donor Jones might be entered on the first donation line of his record whereas a donation on the same day from donor Smith might appear on the second or third donation line of her record How could I create a report sorted by any criteria and hope to include the two donations in the same column m a clients requirements posed an interesting challenge It The first step I started out by copying each donation in the donor s record to a separate donations database I l refer to the original database as Donors dtf and the second database as Donates dif This separate database contained a record for each donation with the following fields With each mm e donation stored m in the separate ree Ea p Seed p sien donation it pies dnos donation date range amount levels or project The Figure 1 The Donors database
9. Word Word might ask you to confirm that you want to open a document containing a macro In addition to installing e Starting Windows Apps Via Extemal Programs When you use Q amp A 5 05 Alt F9 External Programs feature to start Windows applications you have to make sure the command line is propery set up For example a command line to start Microsoft Word and run an autostart Word macro might look like this your path might be different C Meoffice Winuord Winword exe mit As shown in this example you first specify the path to Word You then follow it with a space and the m Word macro startup switch Finally you tack on the if parameter to pick up the value of the current Q amp A database field which in this case contains the name of the Word macro you want to run Ifyou wanted avoid having to press Alt F9 and select Word you could record a Q amp A macro to do it for you You ould then have an GMacro command run the macro from the field that contains the Word macros name The macro would simply press Alt F9to display the Extemal Programs menu then select Microsoft Word from it Ifthe name of the Word macro you wanted to run was always Mergel you could use an Extemal Programs command line like this instead C Meofeice Winword Hinword exe mMergel This would let you start Word from the External Programs menu from anywhere in Q amp A and would always invoke the Mergel Word macro To return to Q amp
10. ange IfI have 50 records with 47 in the part number can I change it to 49 Michel King via emal Q amp A can do both Let s take your questions one at a time Update prices on matching part numbers First create a temporary database with a field for each field in the ASCII file Import the file into it using File Utilities Import ASCII Standard or Fixed depending on the file s structure Make the part number field Speedy Now you can Mass Update your main parts database using the temporary database as a lookup source Use an Update Spec program like the following to lookup the price and cost on each part number match Follow these steps each time you receive an updated ASCII file and your prices will be current with very little effort Just remember that this will work only if the part numbers are unique in both databases Update a portion of a part number If the 47 occurs anywhere in the part number and you want to change it to 48 you can Mass Update the database using 47 in the part number field at the Retrieve Spec In your Update Spec you can use the Replace function to change the 47 to 48 and leave the rest of each part number unaffected If the part number field were 10 the Update Spee would look like this Wosgrepiace 10 are aer 8 AND GonboN Mtics dma Is there any way to create a Q amp A report without column headings and the dashed lines underneath them Justin rtnobor St Paul
11. cords continue from pagel Eventually I decided to use Q amp A 5 0 s XPost command because it would post a new donation to the second database on the fly in real time But this introduced a new problem XPost can t create new records to post to would have to make sure a target record existed in the Donates database for every XPost from the Donors database In the March 1996 issue Tom Marcellus showed how to use Shell to launch a second copy of Q amp A add a new record to the target database then return to the original record in the first copy of Q amp A to execute the post This seemed like a good solution for situations where an occasional new target record was needed In my case though a new target record was needed every time a donation was received I wanted an easier way to get the same result The simplest way it seemed to me was to pre fll the target database Donates with a quantity of blank records This way I could execute an XPost from Donors and have Q amp A simply pick a blank Donates record to post the donation data to Fine so far but what happens when all the blank Donates records have been used up I simply add a bunch of new blank ones And I do it in a way that s fast and efficient and doesn t interrupt the normal flow of data entry Adding the elements to the Donates database Ladded a text field named Form to the end of the Donates database I made it three characters long and Speedy so it s value
12. e then click Merge Select Merge to New Document and Word will create a new document consisting of all the faxes with the data all nicely merged Review the faxes If they re okay you can go ahead and send them this way 1 Pull down the Tools menu and select Macro 2 From the Macro list choose DDEFaxMerge In Word 97 choose DDEFaxMerge Main 3 Click Run A DDEFaxMerge Macro dialog box will appear 4 Select Don t Show WinFax Send Dialog then click OK In eaning Up Your Fax Merge Document You dont have to sacrifice he appearance of your faxes forthe sake the specially styled WinFax merge fields For example the merge document must contain a Whestyled fax number field yet for aesthetic reasons you might not want the fax number to appear in it Here s a trick you can use to make the fax number and any other WinFax merge fields invisible Place the field on a line by itself assign the correct Wx style to it then do this 1 Select highlight the entire line 2 Pull down the Format menu and choose Font 3 Choose the smallest font size and line spacing you can so the ine wont take up much space in the document 4 Change the color of the font to White so it wont print You cant Hide the merge field because then WinFax wont be able to see it if your word processor is set to not print hidden fields Repeat these steps with any other Wfx styled merge fields you don t want to appear in the fax Word 97 Jus
13. e Query Builder database Querybld dtf See Figure 1 It s a one record database I use to find records in an external database named Shipment di Querybld dtf contains the following fields Customer Text PartNumber Tet jinShipDate Date Endshpbate Date RevieveSpee Text accesibleby clicking VienReconts Miewtecords Test JC Set to conirasting color at Palette Spec to look like a button inital Value View Records Rezessibieonlyoy cicing Programming Cea Cuttoner eacthunber Sopinshipate This on record exit statement clears all the fields in preparation for the next query TheQuickAnswer February 1999 M Offers a selection list of customer names to choose from Offers a selection list of part numbers to choose from Makes sure EndShipDate isnt empty if a BeginShipDateis entered Goes to the RetrieveSpec field when clicked Seurtoner and E S ste Beginshipoate che 34 and Ship Date ana Ship Date lt e Gone 24 45te Endshspoate The RetrieveSpec field s program is where all the work gets done It takes the selected and entered values EEEE Figure 1 The Querybld database lets you choose the company and part number to query from pop up selection Its from the other fields and strings them together into an expression suitable for use in a Retrieve Spec See Figure 2 Txt is used to determine i
14. ecord from being posted again Once the post is complete an x is placed in the Pstl field to prevent reposting The other three Post fields Pst2 Pst3 and Pst4 contain the same program except that their references are to the fields on the same donation line such as D2 A2 P2 and Pst2 for the second donation lineitem The record adding macro The program we looked at earlier contains an IMacro Add records to Donates command that triggers if the target database contains no blank records Here s what the macro looks like ae okay lt oey AddcapRaorancepsocep ons These are the steps the macro performs 1 Moves to the Donor ID field in this case the first field on the form and copies the ID to the Clipboard with FIL 2 Saves and exits the Donor record Continuesonpage12 Using Your Q amp A Data in Word WinFax Fax Merges 2 l p WitLiAM HALPERN IN the December 1997 issue Tom Marcellus showed two ways to automate the process of creating a Q amp A lexport file for Microsoft Word and having Word run a mail merge with it Both ways use an Shell technique to create the export file on the fly and start Word with an autorun macro You can also use Q amp A 5 0 s External Programs feature to start Windows 95 programs and run macros in them to automate procedures See the Sidebar So there s no problem mail merging your Q amp A data with Word documents in order to take advantage of the powe
15. eff Nitka show how to create custom interfaces that make Q amp A easier than ever to use And Tom Petit in his first Quick Answer appearance shows how he makes Q amp A automatically create on the fly the new records he can then post to TIT Tidy Date Caloulations Two tricky date calculations are giae fren required to determine billing cycles and the like the number of days in a month and the date of its last day Using MyDate Date DaysinMonth Text or Number and LastDateOfMonth Date fields you can find the two variables with the following program in the MyDate field gt Ran If MyDate ient January add 2 month swer itor Publisher tarsus Tree snr S 10523 plane moti tines aby Mate Reine Short Cora Mea Cist Usk aeons ne he neopets ny tron RR inom abo iade OR fern 2S moltongudarone om pu Fr ta technical spel Srt 92 t1 Sara Co neve Phone e 714 722 9127 fu Denia Wu Eres puros brett oyoate ccm The two parts of the program work independently Thats you don t need the DaysinMonth field to get the LastDateOfMonth Dayetaonth eRight eTodate Ht Oyate 5 value and vice versa For a current month calculation you can er tenonenyoste 1 Y 0 03 hs 2 dump the MyDate field and replace it in the program with GDate The Quick Answer February 1998 Postable Re
16. elds using a combination of picklists and basic data entry The next task is to program the fields in a way that gives users all the flexibility they need to create the kinds of report they want That s where the real fun begins Jeff Nitka develops Microsoft Access and Q amp A applications for Epoch Software 105020 2215 compuserve comJffisthe author of the Program Evaluator a Q amp A program debugging uy SurfDrve a Q amp A isk drive reader and FaxMan a QSA faxing database ll of which are available from Marble Publications pt pur fre mE Figure 2 A representation of the invoice database with additional fields for selecting various crosstab specifications n Postable Records cntined from page3 3 Imports the AAA ASC file as a Standard ASCII file into the Donates database adding 60 new blank records with AAA in the Form field 4 Returns to the Donor record by pasting the Donor ID into the Donor ID field at the Donor dtf Retrieve Spec 5 Moves the cursor into the donation lineitems area so the user can now perform the post Depending on how you use the post to database there might a small liability connected with having blank records in it you have to remember to exclude them during retrieval operations In this case you d have to be sure to exclude any records that contain anything in the Form field You can do this by placing the equals sign in it at
17. f a field is blank before adding its elements to the expression This way it works regardless of whether some fields are left blank Chr 34 is the ASCI character code for a double quote mark The last thing the program does is run a simple macro that exits Querybld dtf opens Shipment dt in Search Update mode and pastes the programming statement into the Retrieve Spec Figure 2 The retrieval expression created by the programming appears long enough for the macro to copy itto the clipboard to past int the target databases Retrieve Spec gant okay maner rnan sapr guery cvidon c11 lt enpat10 gt You can use this technique to create a highly customizable form to allow you and your users to find exactly what they need in a database The programming expression you create can be used in any Retrieve Spec including Report and Print Specs I use this method to create executive report menus record selection forms of all kinds anything where my client can benefit from being able to quickly select a set of records without having detailed knowledge of the data or knowing how to use a Retrieve Spec Erika Yall owns Hammer Data Systemsin Garrettsvile Ohio specializing in Q amp A and Microsoft Access PhonefFax 330 527 4018 hammergapk net Q amp A evaluates a retrieval expression against every record in the database without using any available indexes So expect record retrieval times to correspond roughly to t
18. has a mult lineltem structure t the bottom of the orm that int walled for reports es Theindependent Guide to Q amp A Expertise February 1998 1 Create Postable Records On the Fly Tom Petit 2 Tip Two Tricky Date Calculations 4 Q6ADatain Word WinFax Fax Merges Wiliam Halper 7 Simplify Searches with a Query Builder B Tip Ensure Correct Form Navigation 9 guep Edited by il Halpem amp Gordon Meigs UpdatePartPricesFrom an ASCI fle Eliminate Report Column Headings Get More Custom Menu Selections 10 Tip Add Custom Picklist instructions 11 Design a Custom Report Interface Part 1 Jetta ARBE vex question was how best to copy a new donation from the Donor s record to a new record in the Donates database 1 looked at several options Jeff Nitka s article on how to create reports from a multi lineitem database in the October 1997 Quick Answer offered an interesting approach that exports the records from the original database into a second database designed for reports What I needed though was a way to copy each donation to the second database as soon as it was entered in the Donors database Continueson page Now We re Cookin Tom ManceLLUS the time you read this The Quick Ansuer s Web site should be p and running If you have an Internet connection set your ser to htpy www quickanswer com and give it alook see You ll get the best viewing results with Internet Explorer 3 0 or h
19. he number and size of the records in the database and your PC s speed For a custom interface technique that s similar in some respects see Jeff Nitka s Selective Mail Merge Made Easy in the December 1997 Quick Answer Also see Jeffs article in this issue where he uses a specialized database as an interface to simplify creating reports Ed This application is available for download from The Quick Answer s Web site at http Aowwquickanswercom d Ensure Correct Form Navigation Sometimes clients users outsmart the usual form navigation rules A clever user finds out he or she can move through a form more rapidly by pressing the Down Arrow key rather than the usual Tab or Enter key This con bypass fields and defeat critical on field entry or on field exit programming We don t like to hard code strict cursor movement because it requires a navigation program in virtually every field and makes it difficult for the DB administrator or programmer to Quickly move through a form when necessary So what we sometimes do in cases like this is redefine the Down Arrow key Please read all of this tip before attempting what Im about to suggest You might also want to clear your regular macro file Shift F2 Clear Macros and after defining the new macro save it to afile other than your default qamacro as file Press Shift F2 Define macro When Q amp A prompts for the macro identifier press the Down Arrow key Q amp A
20. how you how I did it in several installments over the next few months First ru deal with the starting point the interface design Interface design Consider a simple invoice database like Figure 1 we acr gt lt cortnane j m etsy gt sb Zipcode ite ueri 2 Gree imo eil Figure LA simplemultinetem invoice database or data entry TheQuickAnswer February 1998 The custom interface shown in Figure 2 is actually a graphic representation of the data entry database form shown in Figure 1 but with a twist It lets users enter record selection criteria into any of the fields just as though they were running the report directly from the Crosstab Spec It also provides fields for the user to select a row field column field a summary field along with the output device all from picklists These four additional text fields are shown in Figure 2 Keep in mind that with a technique like this you can always eliminate any fields that wouldn t be used for record selection The first interface field Start along with the last two Check and Run are needed for programming and macro execution as you ll see in the next installments At this point the interface design is done All the various report characteristics are on one screen instead of three providing a complete picture of the report How users work within the interface will be next month s topic In a nutshell the user fills in the fi
21. igher or Navigator 30 or higher For more on the benefits of subscribing to The Quick Answer Online edition see Upgrading to the Online Edition at the Web site or on page 11 in last month s issue FIM Speaking of the Online edition you ll see this icon at TFI the top of two of this month s articles pages 1 and 7 CETERI din upcoming issues as wel It indicates that the sample databases featured in the article complete with programming and macros ready to use as is or modify are included with the Online edition You can download a sample isue of The Quick Answer Online edition from our Web site Here s a comment from a reader who recently took a look at the new Online edition Got Acrobat Reader 3 01 downloaded and installed Opened the Jan 1998 issue Amazing Looks great Printed darn good on the lowest quality setting on my inkjet Great job Meanwhile at another reader s suggestion we re considering a plan to better serve Online subscribers Each month around the Sth well send each Online subscriber an email notification with a hyperlink in the message This way they simply click on the hyperlink to go to the Web site to pick up their new issue This month Bill Halpern and Gordon Meigs take over the Help column from TJ Shuflin whose professional obligations in the forensic field he directs a crime lab have placed increasing demands on his available time Good luck TJ and don t work to hard Erika Yoxall and J
22. name of the main menu in the On Escape Show Menu line Bill Halper and Gordon Meigs own Profesional Computer Technology Associates CTA in Newtown Pennsylvania PCTA specializes in data management and supporting systems and services 215 598 840 71023 356 compuservecom Figure LA custom Main menu with selectionsthat call other menus irk Userselect and XUserselect lists always appear near the upper right comer ofthe screen one line below the top I place an Instructions field on the top line defined with angle brackets lt and gt so it doesn t show This way whenever I display a selection list can fill the field with custom instructions like this t Customer pXUe D ict Customer Nane You can set the Instructions field to a contrasting color using the Change Palette Spec and place it so the right angle bracket is at the far right side of the screen with the text justified right You can also make your instructions blend in with the list ike they re part of the list as shown in Figure 1 Erika Yoxall 305274018 hammerGapk net Add Custom Instructionsto the Topsof Your Selection Lists amp Cres iglesia Jal EET Figure 1 it you make the Instructions feld 23 characters wide center justified and use the GColor command to temporarily set ts background to white and text to black you can make your custom Instruction ine look like itt part
23. ofthe ics The Quick Answer February 1998 The Program Spec Designing a Custom Report Interface Part 1 Jerr Nitka Iftheresonething that can frustrate a novice user its designing a report But you can simplifying the process with a custom report design interface NE of Q amp A s great strengths is its easy interface Sometimes though it isn t easy enough I had a client who wanted employees to have the freedom to create whatever crosstab reports they needed The problem was that most of them weren t Q amp A savvy enough to deal with the steps a crosstab requires Having to figure out which records to include which fields should be used for the row column and summary then which type of output it involved just too much Rather than train all the employees on how to deal with the various crosstab report specs the client wanted me to design a custom interface that would simplify crosstab setup It had to provide the following features Picklists of available fields for the Row Column and Summary field and a picklis for the type of output The ability to provide flexible record selection criteria Onscreen help to guide users through the process My solution met the client s requirement for ease of use but it took some doing First there was the interface itself what the users saw Then there was the programming to make it functional Finally macros to handle report printing I l s
24. rful formatting font and graphics capabilities of a Windows word processor But what if you want to run a Word fax merge using your Q amp A data Since version 3 0 Q amp A has supported plain Jane fax merges via a SatisFAXtion fax modem but your faxes can t contain fonts or graphics Now with Q amp A 5 0 Word and WinFax Pro 8 0 you can perform a fax merge to multiple recipients with each fax as personalized as any merge letter What s more your faxes can contain attractive fonts tables graphics and features that just come natural to a Windows word processor like Word What makes it possible are special Word macros that come bundled with WinFax Pro 8 0 and Q amp A s ability to run external programs in the Windows 95 environment Using Microsoft Word to illustrate WinFax comes with similar macros for WordPerfect and Ami Pro I ll show you how to set up a Word WinFax fax merge using your Q amp A data Tom covered the finer points of designing a Word merge document and merging the Q amp A data with it so I ll cover only what you need to know about using the resulting merge document in a fax merge Getting started Ifyou haven t installed the Word macro that comes with WinFax Pro 8 0 start Word and select File Open Navigate to your WinFax Macros subdirectory and open the appropriate Word document Word0 doc for Word 6 0 Word70 doc for Word 7 0 Word 95 or Word97 doc for Word 97 Depending on your default settings in
25. sely what you want Wouldnt it be niceif you could choose your retrieval criteria from pop up selection iists You can NE of the things that bugs me about using a Retrieve Spec in Q amp A is that I can t get a list of Values to choose from for a given field I have to try to remember how to spell something or use a wildcard that might not get me exactly what want It also makes it difficult for anyone other than the person who does the data entry to figure out what to search for There had to be a way to create a point and shoot method to find records without having to deal with the Intelligent Assistant so I came up with what I call a Query Builder The key to making the Query Builder work is Q amp A s ability to evaluate a programming expression to retrieve a set of records For example if you have a number field named Apples and another number field named Oranges you can get the records where the total of both fields is greater than 50 by placing Apples Oranges gt 50 in any Retrieve Spec field If you have a LastName field and you want to retrieve the records where LastName Yoxal rather than typing Yoxall into the LastName field you can type LastName Voxall into any field This means that as long as you use correct syntax you can write your retrieval expression anywhere you Want and simply paste it into the first Retrieve Spec field Sample application To illustrate the technique I created a simpl
26. t click OK When the faxes have been sent a WinFax icon will appear in the lower left hand corner of your screen You see we can still use our favorite database manager to store and manipulate our information and at the same time take advantage of the power and flexibility that Windows 95 programs offer Bil Halper is president of Professional Computer Technology Associates in Newtown Pennsylvania His frm specializesin data management and supporting systems and services 215 598 8440 71023 356Gcompuserve com Letters Makingthe Autodialer Work When trying to implement Bill Halpern s Q amp A 5 0 phone autodialer featured in the May 1996 Quick Answer I couldn t figure out why the variable the phone number in field 10 wasn t being passed to the Dial bat batch file It turns out that it must be passed to the batch file as a number not text So for anyone trying to use this great little custom feature the part of the program that invokes the batch file should read as follows d20 gshell C OASVDIAL BAT Num 10 The field containing the program was formatted for text to accommodate the Dial label so the Num function is required to pass the variable correctly James Pocany Oaxvitte Onzanio CANADA The Quick Answer February 1998 Simplify Record Selection with a Query Builder Qufel Erika YOXALL Filing out a Retrieve Spec can be frustrating because you have to tell Q amp A preci
27. the Retrieve Spec for any report you re designing When you have a quick and easy way to keep enough blank records in your post to database as in the two examples I ve shown you ll never have to do double data entry again or interrupt your work flow to add a new record to post to Tom ett isthe owner of DataBase Systems in Indianapolis Indiana He hasbeen designing custom Q amp A applications for a variety of businesses and organizations for 12 years 317 251 854 Visit The Quick Answer s Web Site at http www quickanswer com Completa Back dex 1990 1997 Comprehensive Topic Index 1990 1998 Find Out About Online Subscription Benefits Using This Technique in Non Lineitem Databases For non lineitem databases you can use this same technique to create new records to post to Suppose your Orders database displays an XUserselect picklist of customer names from a customer database You start to enter a new order when you find that the customer s name isnt on the li With some blank records in the customer database you could create a new customer record from the Orders database using a program along these lines Tpost castomer AMA When you XPost using this technique Q amp A will post all the data to the first AAA record it finds The final post command will then blank the Form field to prevent the record from being posted again And the next time the plckistof customer names displays in the Orders database
28. the fax number click the Insert Merge Field button and select the fax number field from the list To make the fax number invisible so it doesn t print in the fax see the sidebar Cleaning Up Your Fax Merge Document 2 With the cursor on the fax number field pull down the styles list on the left side of the screen just below the toolbar it should contain Normal by default and select WisFaxNum from the styles list Word will apply the style to the line and WinFax will recognize the data merged here as the recipient s fax number 3 Place your cursor on another empty line where you want to add the next WinFax merge field insert it then use the Styles list to apply the appropriate style to it Gee Table 1 4 Insert the rest of the merge fields from the Q amp A data source to your document A merge field can appear in a document more than once but a Wix style can t be applied more than once The macro that performs the fax merge scans the document from top to bottom for Wfx style markers so the Wex styles must appear in the document in the precise order listed in Table 1 Table 1 Avalable WinFax Wh styles You dont have to use hem al Those you do wil appear in your WinFax Send lg Each style can appear onyoncein the document Merge Field WinFax Style Fax umber 47 characters max sname 31 charactersmax Wh amp eclpient Transmit time HHMMSStime format Whdime Transmit date MM DD YY date format WhDate
29. the new customer will be on it Q amp A OnlineTip otthe Month Q amp A Brain Tease Copy and Paste Web Site Programs Downloadable Freebie File Database Applications for Sale Q amp A Consultants Directory Linksto Useful Web Sites amp More MARBLE 1927A Harbor Bid Costa Mesa CA 92627 Dated material Please Rush Bulk Rate US Postage PAID Torrance CA Permit No 333
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