Yes/No and check boxes (again)

[Stephen Glynn]

Sorry to keep on bashing on about this but I'm trying to get the
question straight in my own mind.

Is there a way, other than in VB, Word can reference the
checked/unchecked value of a check box in a Word data source?

I suspect I can't because when I need to refer to the value of an
unbound check box in Access I have to use VB (if the box is bound then I
use an expression reference the value of the particular table field to
which it's bound). As far as I can make out in Excel I need to link
the check box to a particular cell and then, if I'm using an Excel
funtion, base everything on the value returned by cboMyCbo to that
particular cell rather than to the value of cboMyCbo.

I suppose, in a nutshell, I want to know whether, as I suspect, if I'm
using a Word table as my data source I need to have a text value like Y
or N recorded in a field rather than use a check box.

Steve

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Can you achieve what you want with the check box that appears when you view
the mail merge recipients (may only be Word XP and later)?

--
Please post any further questions or followup to the newsgroups for the
benefit of others who may be interested. Unsolicited questions forwarded
directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis.

Hope this helps
Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Stephen Glynn]

Can you achieve what you want with the check box that appears when you view
the mail merge recipients (may only be Word XP and later)?

I've only got Word 2000, which doesn't include the feature (I think it's
in 2002). It's not a big deal since it's as easy to use "Y" or "N" or,
as you suggested in answer to an earlier question, to use Access (or
Excel if Access isn't available). Normally I'd use one of those to
create a data source anyway since I'd probably want to do things with
the data other than merge it and those things would be far easier to do
in Access or Excel.

I'm really just trying to get a handle on what I can and can't do with
controls in Word, and it looks as if Yes/No boxes in Word tables don't
behave the same as they do in Access tables (which I'm more used to) --
they seem to behave in the same way they would if they were unbound
controls in an Access form, where I'd have to use code or an Access
function to get the value.

If I use an Access table as my Word datasource and put a Y/N field in
it, Word "sees" the value as 0 or -1 in the merge document. I suppose,
therefore, that that the checkbox in the Access table is actually just a
cosmetic device to save the user having to enter the 0 or the -1.

Steve

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Stephen,

If I use an Access table as my Word datasource and put a Y/N field in
it, Word "sees" the value as 0 or -1 in the merge document. I suppose,
therefore, that that the checkbox in the Access table is actually just a
cosmetic device to save the user having to enter the 0 or the -1.

Correct

Is there a way, other than in VB, Word can reference the
checked/unchecked value of a check box in a Word data source?

With Word, this really depends on what you're talking about There are
checkbox symbols, which are really just characters formatted in a
particular font. If we're talking mail merge, then you should be able to
determine which character in an IF field.

Formfields and ActiveX controls are the other two possibilities that come
to mind. And no, there's no way an IF field can check the "state" of these.
Put very simply, the first is not Text, so an IF field can't interpret it;
the second is an "object window" to another application. IF fields can't
"see into" graphical objects, even if they are OLE.

I suppose, in a nutshell, I want to know whether, as I suspect, if I'm
using a Word table as my data source I need to have a text value like Y
or N recorded in a field rather than use a check box.

Basically, yes. Or type an X vs. leaving it blank.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep 30 2003)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or
reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail