Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 12:11 pm Post subject: New User Needs Help with Merge
Hello,
I am new to NeoOffice having just downloaded and starting playing with it yesterday. One of my goals is to create print merge documents. I have done this for years with Word 5.something and Filemaker, and now want to move all of my apps out of Classic. Will NeoOffice allow me to merge data into a letter from a Filemaker file? I need more then just names and addresses, more like putting specific data in several places throughout the document. Is there a way to have placeholders that then read the data from the Filemaker document? I have tried using the Mail Merge Wizard but this seems to be geared towards only merging name and address data.
Speaking generally, the answer to your question is yes; I've used the merge feature once to create nametags ("custom" fields) based on an existing datasource I had. It's been quite some time, however, so I don't remember the exact steps.
What I'm not sure of is if Neo will talk directly to a FileMaker db....
Hopefully there are others here who have more recent experience and can provide more useful answers
And welcome!
Smokey _________________ "[...] whether the duck drinks hot chocolate or coffee is irrelevant." -- ovvldc and sardisson in the NeoWiki
Thanks for your response. Filemaker can export the data in several many formats, so it is my hope that NeoOffice can read at least one of them. Does anyone know which formats it can read?
Also, I forgot to mention that I am using version 2.0 Alpha 3 Patch 0.
Joined: Dec 08, 2005 Posts: 291 Location: Berlin, Germany
Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 5:49 pm Post subject:
sardisson wrote:
I've used the merge feature once to create nametags ("custom" fields) based on an existing datasource I had. It's been quite some time, however, so I don't remember the exact steps.
Out of curiosity, I played a bit around & found out, that it's quite easy: While Step 3 of the Mail Merge Wizard ("Insert adress block") allows to match database fields to entries of an adress block, this has the limitation that all the data go into one block, which can't have other (static) data or formatting.
But you can create an individual document, by inserting database fields from the command menu Insert > Fields > Other ... and select there via Database > Mail merge fields the respective database (or query) fields. Afterwards, a run of the Mail Merge Wizard without creating an adress block or a salutation creates the document series with the actual database data. I tested it, and it worked with data from a MySQL database & a query based on the database (There was mysterious freezing, crashes & empty data fields when working with a query. So that part seems - at least in connection with MySQL - to be quite buggy. I had first used the query for the field insert, and then I had to choose it a second time in Mail Merge Wizard as adress list, and at least once it worked fine. Probably luck).
sardisson wrote:
What I'm not sure of is if Neo will talk directly to a FileMaker db....
Isn't there a JDBC database driver for FileMaker? NeoOffice can talk via JDBC ... and I think otherwise, it's possible to export FileMaker data as dBase or flat text file (csv et. al.). Seeing the problems with queries within NeoOffice, maybe that's a better way: Exporting a query from FileMaker as flat file, and then using that as database with Neo.
Joined: Dec 08, 2005 Posts: 291 Location: Berlin, Germany
Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 5:58 pm Post subject:
Charles218 wrote:
Filemaker can export the data in several many formats, so it is my hope that NeoOffice can read at least one of them. Does anyone know which formats it can read?
When choosing File > New > Database, you may check out the options via "Connect to an existing database". There's also quite some documentation in the help system NeoOffice Writer > Database functionality > Data Sources
I don't have the exact details but I have used these resources to answer many other questions I have had.
Please let us know if this helps.
Philip (using NeoOffice 2.OH! and Loving it. )
Well, I spent an hour or so looking at and searching through these links, and have to admit that I am totally lost. I can see that this is not going to be as straight forward as I had hoped.
When I go to "Data Sources" I can not locate my db file, I saved it in the same directory as the Bibliography" but it does not show up so I can not select it. I know that I am using a Filemaker text file so perhaps that is the reason. Although I feel like I am just going about it incorrectly.
So in short, I am just confused but will spend some more time seeing if I can stumble across the correct path. Thanks for your replies, please let me know if you come up with any other suggestions on how I can get there.
Joined: Dec 08, 2005 Posts: 291 Location: Berlin, Germany
Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 1:40 pm Post subject: Re: Mail Merge
Charles218 wrote:
When I go to "Data Sources" I can not locate my db file, I saved it in the same directory as the Bibliography" but it does not show up so I can not select it. I know that I am using a Filemaker text file so perhaps that is the reason. Although I feel like I am just going about it incorrectly.
That's right. I would suggest to read the Help info about databases from the Help menu, it's really helpful & describes each step: You have first to create a new database based on the text files(s) (or, see later in the post, spreadsheet), which will then be registered as datatasource & appear in the datasource panel.
If you go the text-file-route, some hints based on my tests:
- NeoOffice will take the whole folder as "database" & each text file in it as "table" (therefore, when creating the database you choose a folder & don't see the files in the filepicker)
- NeoOffice expects the first line containing the field names. I had some quite funny experiences not knowing that. Don't know how to manage that with FileMaker (doesn't put field names in csv- or tab-files), you probably have to edit the file in a plain text editor
- You should use when exporting from FileMaker tab separation, for having the comma as thousands-separator when importing
- If you use another encoding than ASCII, then probably you will see some weird characters in your NeoOffice tables. There's an option to correct that: Open the database for editing (in datasource view ctrl-click on database name), and select the correct encoding via Edit > Database > Properties... > Additional Settings > Character set
The second and the fourth item on the list represent for me showstoppers concerning text file export. My FileMaker version 8 allows exporting as MS Excel document, and importing that as database (spreadsheet) avoided all those problems. So I would suggest to go that route.
Joined: Nov 21, 2005 Posts: 1285 Location: Witless Protection Program
Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 11:43 pm Post subject: Re: Mail Merge
doctype wrote:
Charles218 wrote:
When I go to "Data Sources" I can not locate my db file, I saved it in the same directory as the Bibliography" but it does not show up so I can not select it. I know that I am using a Filemaker text file so perhaps that is the reason. Although I feel like I am just going about it incorrectly.
So in short, I am just confused but will spend some more time seeing if I can stumble across the correct path. Thanks for your replies, please let me know if you come up with any other suggestions on how I can get there.
That's right. I would suggest to read the Help info about databases from the Help menu, it's really helpful & describes each step: You have first to create a new database based on the text files(s) (or, see later in the post, spreadsheet), which will then be registered as datatasource & appear in the datasource panel.
If you go the text-file-route, some hints based on my tests:
<snip>
FileMaker version 8 allows exporting as MS Excel document, and importing that as database (spreadsheet) avoided all those problems. So I would suggest to go that route.
Martin
Charles218, I would follow doctype's suggestions about going from FileMaker to Excel spreadsheet.
I wish I had more detailed hints but it's been a while since I used FileMaker. I have used Neo/OOo to access Spreadsheet & MySQL databases.
It is easier once you get all the steps completed. Hang in there and try again with very simple steps. I'm sure you will get it right.
Philip (So many options, too many reference docs! )
This looks like what I need to get this done, now if I can just find the time to get at it. It will probably be the weekend before I can work on it, but the kind of instructions that she gives looks like it should work.
Thanks for your help!!!
Charles
Read anything you can find by Solveig Haugland. Mage of using OOo for documents!
Philip (thinks he has a ... crush on Solveig Haugland! )
Joined: Dec 08, 2005 Posts: 291 Location: Berlin, Germany
Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:57 am Post subject:
Charles218 wrote:
This looks like what I need to get this done
I think so, too. Especially interesting: The last paragraph on page 2 of Solveig Haugland's tutorial ("Creating a mail merge document from scratch") - I learned from there, that a run with the wizard is totally unnecessary. Simply drag fields from a data source into the document, if you're going to print the document, NeoOffice asks you to choose a range of rows from your database, and bing! you get your serial letter/document. Great.
Martin
// I'd like to be a "technical writer". Seems to be a great occupation.
Joined: Nov 21, 2005 Posts: 1285 Location: Witless Protection Program
Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 12:54 pm Post subject:
doctype wrote:
Charles218 wrote:
This looks like what I need to get this done
I think so, too. Especially interesting: The last paragraph on page 2 of Solveig Haugland's tutorial ("Creating a mail merge document from scratch") - I learned from there, that a run with the wizard is totally unnecessary. Simply drag fields from a data source into the document, if you're going to print the document, NeoOffice asks you to choose a range of rows from your database, and bing! you get your serial letter/document. Great.
Martin
// I'd like to be a "technical writer". Seems to be a great occupation.
Martin, As a BONUS - "Technical Writers" also get low pay for detailed and complex work.
What more could you ask for! (Note: maybe not a low as a NeoOffice developer - tho! )
I'm glad the Solveig Haugland's tutorial's were helpful. EVERY time I read one of them I learn something New! Even If I don't understand (or need) all the details. I'll keep posting items when I find them (or maybe we should just fill the Wiki with her links?!? ).
Philip (amazed at the amount, and quality, of resources available to the OOo community! )
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum
)
)
(Note: maybe not a low as a NeoOffice developer - tho!