Word Form - How to print a list of fields and drop down menu items

[HighlandScott]

Does anyone know how to print a list of the field names used in a form?

Also would be good to be able to print (either as part of above or seperately) a list of items that are in the drop down menu fields.


I'm aware there are some print options available in Tools > Options > Print but they don't fit the bill (that I can see!)

[Andy Pope]

This should get you started.

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[HighlandScott]

I have created that Macro in the .dot template for the form.

It appears to run but not change or display anything. I'm unclear what output I'm expecting?

[Andy Pope]

Currently the output information is written to the immediate window in VBE

ALT+F11 (VBE)
CTRL+G (Immediate window)

[HighlandScott]

Thanks I can see that now I'm aware of the immediate window - I'm a bit of a novice with macros.

Thanks a lot for your help that was very useful.

[HighlandScott]

Is there a way to amend the macro so it also includes values set on field options:
Type
Maximum Length
Text format

Can I also remove
Default
Actual


And in an ideal world is possible to replace the output codes 70, 71, 83 with "Check Box", "Free Text", "Drop Down" - to make the output readable for normal people lol. I worked around by Find > Replace after copying the output to word.

[HighlandScott]

The code is missing out some fields???

[Andy Pope]

What type of fields? Post example file.

The idea of the forum is you take the information and have a go yourself. Posting questions when you get stuck.

Use the Object Browser (F2) in VBE and Intellisense to see what properties are available to use for a formfield object.

To see other form type you need to extend the Select Case statement.
And within a Case you can output a description of the type rather than a numeric value.

[HighlandScott]

I mean the form fields on the word document itself. The fields the VB code should be referring to.

What I mean is that I have, for example, 60 form fields on
the document (i.e. text/date/list fields), yet the VB output randomly misses some fields and only gives me a list of say 45.

Nothing wrong with the VB code that I can see.

[Andy Pope]

Can you post example?

[HighlandScott]

2 files attached. I have had to rename then to .xls because the forum has a 10kb limit on uploading .doc or .dot files.

Example Form.xls
Rename this to Example Form.dot
This is the form itself. It has the fist macro you supplied inside it:

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Data Fields Information (created manually).xls
Rename this to Data Fields Information.doc
This is a document I have created that lists all the form fields (field/bookmark name + actual description used on the form itself), type of field, and all items used in the drop down fields.
There are 86 fields in total:
Type No of Fields
List 18
Text 56
Date 4
Number 4
Check Box 4

[Andy Pope]

You are hitting a limit of the immediate window.
It can only display ~200 lines.

You .dot file has 86 Formfields and if you only output their names you can see all 86.

[HighlandScott]

Ah I see.

Is there a way to output to a document instead of the "immediate window"?

[Andy Pope]

You can write to a text file

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[HighlandScott]

Many thanks Andy, that worked a treat.

I amended the code to also include

Print #intUnit, , "F1 Help Text:", objFormItem.HelpText

This prints the help text saved against the field - accessed by the user by pressing F1 in the field.

Problem is it only shows in the output text file the help text against standard text fields. Although there is help text against some lists and check boxes for some reason the script isn't picking it up? Any ideas?

PS - the example I posted DOES NOT have help text. I have added it since.

[Andy Pope]

This works for me.

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[HighlandScott]

Thanks, but I've been messing around and think I've lost track of all the different bits of code. I'd be grateful if someone could join it all up into one piece that I can copy into visual basic.

All I really need is:
Field Name
Field Type
Drop Down List Options
F1 Help Text

I don't need Default or Actual Values.

Just wish I had enough time to work it all out myself!

Cheers

[HighlandScott]

Nobody able to help on this?

[Andy Pope]

Seriously ?!?!

You want somebody to do a cut and paste excerise because, to quote yourself, you don't have enough time.

[HighlandScott]

Not exactly. There's parts in the code I don't understand, and after copying and pasting myself it wouldn't work. If I knew which segments of code I needed and in what order and knew what conditions and statements to make then I'd do it. I meant I don't have time to learn enough about VB in order for me to even know what to copy and paste.

[Andy Pope]

Why not post what you do have, explaining what's not working.

[HighlandScott]

I'm currently using:

Sub DumpForms()

Dim objFormItem As FormField
Dim objItem As ListEntry
Dim strFileName As String
Dim intUnit As Integer

strFileName = "C:\temp\FormField.log"
intUnit = FreeFile
Open strFileName For Output As intUnit

For Each objFormItem In ActiveDocument.FormFields
Print #intUnit, objFormItem.Name, objFormItem.Type
Select Case objFormItem.Type
Case wdFieldFormDropDown
For Each objItem In objFormItem.DropDown.ListEntries
Print #intUnit, , objItem.Name
Next
Case wdFieldFormTextInput
End Select
Next

Close intUnit

End Sub

This provides me with an output (example of 9 fields):

EDEmployeeType 83

Select from list:
NEW STARTER
EXISTING EMPLOYEE
EX-EMPLOYEE RETURNING TO THE COUNCIL

EDEmployeeNumber 70
EDContractType 83

Select from list:
PERMANENT
FIXED TERM
SEASONAL
RELIEF
TEMP COVER

PHDHoursFullTime 71
PHDHoursWeek1Mon 70
PHDHoursWeek1Tue 70
PHDHoursWeek1Wed 70
PHDHoursWeek1Thu 70
PHDHoursWeek1Fri 70

My requirements have changed slightly. The above output format is all I need - but if possible I'd like to substiture the numbers that represent the type with the following:
70: (Text)
83: (Drop Down List)
71: (Check Box)

[Andy Pope]

Not tested

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[HighlandScott]

Thanks Andy, it works great. But I've made a couple of tweeks to it:

It was giving me "FALSE" as a check box value:

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To try and remove the "FALSE" changed

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to

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But all that did was change the "FALSE" to "TRUE"

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So I then removed the bit of code completely

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And it worked fine giving me

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Complete script now:

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[Andy Pope]

Was the checkbox ticked?

[HighlandScott]

No, not at any time. I couldn't understand why the script output changed between FALSE/TRUE, but the check box has never been ticked at any point.

[Andy Pope]

The value property will return FALSE (not ticked) or TRUE (ticked).

When you leave .Value off of the command the Default property will be used.
I'm not sure what the default property is but it would appear not to be the Value.

What did you expect to see as output, if not TRUE or FALSE ?

[HighlandScott]

The value property will return FALSE (not ticked) or TRUE (ticked).

I know

When you leave .Value off of the command the Default property will be used.
I'm not sure what the default property is but it would appear not to be the Value.

I understand what you're saying

What did you expect to see as output, if not TRUE or FALSE ?

I don't think you've understood me quite right somewhere. If I expected an output I would expect TRUE or FALSE. There just seemed to be no apparent logic to why it changed, without the real checkbox value being changed.

[Andy Pope]

I thought I understood.
Are you saying that the T/F output varied between runs without you changing either the checkout or the code?

I can see the reason for the change between code changes as the code is reporting different things.

[HighlandScott]

Using the last full script you gave me reported the value as FALSE (Correct).

I then (guessed) to remove the ".Value" from the end of this line:

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That's when it starting reporting the value as TRUE. There was no other change to the data or the script. You suggested this may result in the default value being printed, but this default obviously isn't the value. This seems correct (value is and always has been FALSE). Why it prints a value at all after removing ".Value" is another question.

At this point I removed the entire line

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And that solved the problem as far as the output I require. I don't want any value at all.

[Andy Pope]

I did not say default value I said default property , subtle difference.

If you use the object browser (F2) you will see that the default member for a checkbox is actually the Valid property.

and the help says,

Valid Porperty:
True if the specified form field object is a valid check box form field. Read-only Boolean.

[HighlandScott]

Sorry, yes it was Property. I've had a look at the object browser and help, and won't claim to understand everything your saying or I'm reading but I get the idea.

Thanks for your help on everything. This code will save me plenty time on a few form projects I've got going or coming up. Then hopefully I'll not have to touch Word again for a few years....and get back to my spreadsheets and databases!