word integration

[Joshua Morgan]

Mr. Appell-

There are two methods of Word integration: Bookmarks and Fields. I prefer the latter, but am willing to use either. The both work fine but I came across two limitations:

1. Formatting from A1 Law is not preserved. I have been unable to find a way to pull something from A1Law with any kind of special formatting and have the formatting be retained in Word. Word always determines the formatting. However, some of the Getlist commands I use have changes in formatting, for example, some words will be underlined or bolded. All the text will appear as regular text.

2. A1Law will not integrate blanks into Word. Attempting to do so produces an error and will force you to shut down A1Law. I have tried integrating spaces and tabs, but they will not appear by themselves, they need text to be integrated. Is there a way to let A1Law integrate a blank or some invisable character into Word?

Thanks for putting up with my constant bombard of questions!

Joshua Morgan

[Michael Appell]

Hello,

I think I already replied to this post also but again - my web host provider is upgrading their host while testing my patience.

Please see:

>

for more information.

Mike.

[Joshua Morgan]

Mr. Appell-

I may be missing something obvious, and if I am, I'd apprciate if you could point it out for me. I've read all three documents provided in the above link, they even have a special place of honor in my A1Law folder. But I can't seem to find anything in them that abswers my above questions. I've been fiddling with this problem, try all sorts of combinations of commands and such, but those two problems remain. Is there a way that I'm just not seeing?

Thanks!

Josh

[Michael Appell]

I'll really need more detail from you to help you out. I need to know what version you have of A1-Law (click Help, About to get the version number). Next, perhaps you could cut and paste the form letter or part of it with the codes. I need to know what you are integrating it with (Word or Word Perfect). All of the formatting is done in the Word or Word Perfect letter not A1-Law. A1-Law contains the document that defines the codes for the Word or Word Perfect document. Did you try the sample from the link provided in my above reply? Please cut and paste some of the codes you are using and provide me with more detail so I can help you out.

Basically, you have a Word or Word Perfect document and you just start typing the document and bold or underline anywhere in the document and insert the codes to be merged from A1-Law into the document. Feel free to Email me the documents if you prefer. I can tell you this though - it should integrate really well with either word processor and I have several offices doing just that so don't give up but provide me with the details so I can assist you further.

Mike

[Joshua Morgan]

Mr. Appell-

Ok, start from the top. My version is 4.1.10d, I downloaded it on May 29, 2002. I thought I had the latest version, but I see that I do not. I just tried to download, but I couldn't access your ftp site. I will try again later, maybe that will solve my problem.

Second and third, I am integrating with MS Word XP and, like those other offices, it works wonders, especially for complex pleadings and the like.

Onto the nitty-gritty: My first problem arises when I try to fill a field in word with a blank. For example, in the word document I have a field:

>>

and in A1Law I have:

DebugOff (I've also tried with DebugOn)
WordStyle = 2
Path = h:\a1law\word
Filename = f1042.doc

{FieldName = input8
>}

This works fine if somebody enters X, or anything else, but if they enter nothing or a space, the integration will stop when it reachs that field and A1Law will freeze with this message:

Error: 1429
Message: OLE IDispatch exception code 0 from Microsoft Word: Command failed..
Message1:
Program: FRMEDITA!LAWDOC.REPLACEALLFIELDWD
Line No: 50

I can't seem to get around this. I've even tried using code and the
CHR(00) command. I get the same error. I've gotten around it by placing "." in all fields that may end up blank, but this, as I've been told, looks "dirty." Any advice?

Ok, second problem: I don't want to copy the complete text for this one because it's pretty big. I'll try to abbreviate it, let me know if you need more.

In word:

>>

In A1Law:

{FieldName = list1
>}

Does that make sense at all? What I'm saying is, I can't change format within the Getparty command because it won't be preserved in Word. Is there a way around this?

I hope this clarifies my problems. Thanks for your time!

Joshua Morgan

[Michael Appell]

Thank you for the extra information. This helps a lot. First, the ftp site will be up early next week for new downloads. However, the problem has nothing to do with an update at this time. You are correct, that pressing ENTER without entering anything produces this error which is a bug but there is a workaround. Use the INPUT4 command instead and pass a memory variable to Word like this:

(for the form letter in A1-Law):

>}
>>

DebugOff
WordStyle = 2
Path = h:\a1law\word
Filename = f1042.doc

{FieldName = input8
>}

If you still get the error (I'm not at a place where I can test this right now) then do this for the last few lines instead:

{FieldName = input8
> }

Regarding the second problem - the question is whether Word has a built in GetList command - I think it does. See the Merge commands and capabilities within Word. The idea would be to code that part in Word instead of A1-Law.

Hope that helps - let me know.

Mike

[Joshua Morgan]

Mr. Appell-

As to the Getlist command in Word, I couldn't find it immediately, but I shall keep looking.

As to the other problem, with the blanks, none of the suggestions worked. I can't seem to integrate blanks. I will keep testing different commands, but as before, I seem to have hit a wall.

Joshua Morgan

[Joshua Morgan]

Mr. Appell-

As to the Getlist command in Word, I couldn't find it immediately, but I shall keep looking.

As to the other problem, with the blanks, none of the suggestions worked. I can't seem to integrate blanks. I will keep testing different commands, but as before, I seem to have hit a wall.

Joshua Morgan

[Michael Appell]

Hello,

I have studied the situation and it appears to be a bug in Microsoft Word. I know it's a bug because this problem does not exist when I do the same thing with Word Perfect integration. There are two solutions of which you may try one at this time:

You may test the variable to see if it is empty and insert a special character (not a blank space) instead. This may be done as follows (there are no guarantees, you will just have to try this with your printer and see if it works):

>

>

{FieldName = input8
>}

As you can see we are testing to see if memory cell 41 is empty and if so we replace it with a chr(31).

The second solution is done through programming where I will release a new version that tests for blanks, then insert a code instead so that Word does not crash, then convert the code back to a space or spaces or a null character.

Mike.

[Michael Appell]

I have fixed the problem and the next release of A1-Law will take care of it. It's actually a bug in Word and not A1-Law but I have recoded the routines to circumvent the bug.

Mike.