I need to create an auto fill application 1

[doctorjellybean]

At work we have 5 or 6 different documents, of which all but one are Word docs, the other being a PDF. All of them relates to a single customer, and they contain the customers name, address, etc, etc. All this are being completed by hand, which can take a long time, especially if there are more than one customer.

What I want to do, is create an app which is basically a data input screen. Once I have filled the required details, I want to click a button which then generates the 5 or 6 word documents, with the required info taken from the input screen and filled in on the generated docs. The main contents of each the docs are the same, all which changes are the customers details itself. An example:

Document One:
Name:_________
Adress:__________
Telephone Number:________

Bla bla bla

Document Two:
Dear Mr ______

Bla bla

Hopefully you get the picture.

My main problem at the moment is how to set up a template which takes the details from the input form.

I hope this is clear to you

 

[TonHu]

Can't you just use the mail merge functions from Word and use an Excel sheet to fill in the required fields? Most office clerks know how to use those tools.
With the latest Office 2007 updates, you can even output to pdf without any special tools.

HTH
TonHu

 

[doctorjellybean]

I suppose I could, but the program could save the docs with specified names and create folders for it (each client has it's own folder). This is something the mail merge can't do, the folders and file saving would have to be done manually.

 

[softhemc]

Whenever I have to produce Word documents in this way, I create a Word Template for each of the documents, in the Template place a Bookmark at each of the required locations, and then programatically create a new Word Document based on the appropriate Template and populate the Bookmarks.

This obviously also allows me to give the file any name and place it anywhere.

I've never needed to create PDFs so I have no idea how to work with them, but I have never had any problems with the Bookmark/Template method with Word and I've used it with all versions from 6 to 2003 inclusive.