how to have user control over (RTF) tekst in report?

[Nifrabar]

I am having an application for churchmembers.
If a new member arrives I put codemark in member-record.
I like to create 'welcome'-report for new-members.
Pulling the members from the app is easy but I have next problem:
I like to give users posibility to very easy create own tekst for report-body using e.g. RTF.
Is there a sample somewhere which shows me the way?
I found _format class but as far as I can see that gives no possibility to mix e.g. normal, bold, italic, colors etc.
Or do have to do some automation with Word and use Word's mailmerge?
-Bart

 

[alvechurchdata]

If all the users have the same version of Word then that's likely to be the best approach. It's a familiar tool and it gives them all the control over formatting that they're ever likely to need.

Geoff Franklin

http://www.alvechurchdata.co.uk

 

[Mike Lewis]

Bart,

You could use the Rich Text ActiveX control to let your users create and edit the text. It would also be possible to insert the text into a report, using an OLE control. However, I wouldn't recommend it. It's clumsy, poorly documented, and probably won't give the results you want.

Personally, I'd go for a Word / Mailmerge solution. The chances are that your users are familiar with Word, and they will appreciate being able to use their familiar templates, auto-correct entries, custom dictionaries, and the like.

You just need to get the user to set up a model welcome letter as a mailmerge master document, then use Automation to merge in the data from your database.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[Nifrabar]

Hi Geoff and Mike,
Thanks for your replies.
I once tried using the ActiveX for RTF but could noy manage it to get it to work easily.
So I will set my heading now to the mailmerge of Word.
I am going to roll into my APP a doc holding required msword-tables for, as we call in Holland, NAW data (which stands for Name Adress City). From within my application they easily can pull this document if they want as kind of template for new mailmerge-documents meanwhile I am sure that I can address the data to Word from VFP in a controlled way.
Thanks for your time!
KR
-Bart

 

[Mike Lewis]

Bart,

as we call in Holland, NAW data (which stands for Name Adress City).

Ah, that brings back memories of my Cobol days. Presumably N = Naam, A = Adres, but I never knew what W stands for. Woonplats, perhaps?

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[Nifrabar]

Mike for 99.9999% correct.

N aam
A dres
W oonplaats

just one more 'a'

I remeber you once informed you lived/worked in Holland.
Good to see you still remember!!

KR
-Bart