Concatenating two DOCPROPERTY fields via field coding 1

[soreed]

thread68-1581008

In this thread -

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1581008&page=3

- macropod said "Your best bet is to use two separate DOCPROPERTY fields. It's always possible to concatenate two such fields via field coding, including conditionally inserting a comma & space if both DOCPROPERTY fields have data".

I'd like to do two things -
1. Concatenate two fields and place comma space between them if they're both not empty
2. Do this as a single field (so that it's a single right-click to Update the field)

I think I understand the conditional formatting part (sort of), but don't seem to be able to check for empty properties only specific values.
I could do the second part as three fields (i.e. first property, conditional comma space, second field) but it's cumbersome unless the user does an "update all" which realistically they're not going to do.

What's the smart way to put this all together?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[TonyJollans]

I'm not sure there is a 'smart' way! Fields are complex and macropod is the expert, but I don't think you can combine multiple conditions with string comparands, and what you have to do is check your two DocProperty fields individually, and concatenate with logic like this:

Output FirstProperty
If FirstProperty = "" Then
(output nothing)
Else
If SecondProperty = "" Then
(output nothing)
Else
Output comma separator
EndIf
EndIf
Output SecondProperty

To make it into a single field you could wrap it in a quote. Put it all together as Fields and you get:

{ QUOTE { DOCPROPERTY FirstProperty } { IF "{ DOCPROPERTY FirstProperty }" = "" "" { IF "{ DOCPROPERTY SecondProperty }" = "" "" ", " } } { DOCPROPERTY SecondProperty } }

Enjoy,
Tony

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[soreed]

Perfect, thank you.

It was the QUOTE command I was missing, plus a syntax error with my IF.

Thanks again!

 

[macropod]

FWIW, the field code could be reduced to:
{QUOTE{DOCPROPERTY FirstProperty}{IF{DOCPROPERTY FirstProperty}<> "" {IF{DOCPROPERTY SecondProperty}<> "" ", "}}{DOCPROPERTY SecondProperty}}

Cheers
Paul Edstein
[MS MVP - Word]

 

[TonyJollans]

Hi Paul,

Technically marginally reduced, I'll grant but you can't remove the quotes round the DocProperty fields in the conditions unless you are sure that they don't contain spaces.


Enjoy,
Tony

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[macropod]

Hi Tony,

Re:

but you can't remove the quotes round the DocProperty fields in the conditions unless you are sure that they don't contain spaces

Yes you can! It really doesn't matter what the property contains.

Of potentially greater significance to the OP, though, is that a DOCPROPERTY can't be empty - delete the content and the property goes too. In that case, you could simply populate the property with a space and use field coding like:
{QUOTE{DOCPROPERTY FirstProperty}{IF{DOCPROPERTY FirstProperty}<> " " {IF{DOCPROPERTY SecondProperty}<> " " ", "}}{DOCPROPERTY SecondProperty}}
This is essentially the field from my last post with the two "" instances replaced with " ". Alternatively, if you want to allow for the possibility that the property might contain just a space or be missing, you can use code like:
{QUOTE{SET Val {={IF{={IF{DOCPROPERTY FirstProperty}= "Error!*" 1 0}+{IF{DOCPROPERTY FirstProperty}= " " 1 0}}= 1 0 10}+{IF{={IF{DOCPROPERTY SecondProperty}= "Error!*" 1 0}+{IF{DOCPROPERTY SecondProperty}= " " 1 0}}= 1 0 1}}}{IF{Val}= 11 "{DOCPROPERTY FirstProperty}, {DOCPROPERTY SecondProperty}" {IF{Val}= 10 {DOCPROPERTY FirstProperty} {IF{Val}= 1 {DOCPROPERTY SecondProperty}}}}}

Cheers
Paul Edstein
[MS MVP - Word]

 

[TonyJollans]

I did test what I posted and ISTR that spaces were causing me problems, but ...

This is why I bow to you


Enjoy,
Tony

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