Word Mergefield AddIf Method (2000)

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Hi All,

I’ve been experimenting with the Word Mergefield AddIf Method, and I’m trying to get it to use the original mergefield as the field’s false result. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Sub MergeFieldAddIf()
Dim i As Integer              ' Counter
Dim FldNm As String           ' The field name, excluding any switches
Dim MFld                      ' The original field
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
ActiveWindow.View.ShowFieldCodes = True
With ActiveDocument
    'Limit action to mailmerge fields
    With .MailMerge
        ' Loop backwards through all mailmerge fields and update
        For i = .Fields.Count To 1 Step -1
            'Limit actions to MERGEFIELD fields
            ' (eg ignore MERGEREC & MERGESEQ fields)
            If .Fields(i).Type = wdFieldMergeField Then
                'Get the field's name
                FldNm = .DataSource.DataFields(i).Name
                'Select the current field
                .Fields(i).Select
                MFld = Selection.Range
                .Fields.AddIf Range:=Selection.Range, MergeField:=FldNm, _
                Comparison:=wdMergeIfIsBlank, TrueText:="MISSING DATA", _
                FalseText:=MFld
            End If
        Next i
    End With
End With
ActiveWindow.View.ShowFieldCodes = False
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

What this gives me is the original field code in the false text’s position, but the field braces have been converted to Chrs 19 & 21, respectively. If I don’t use ShowFieldCodes, I get chevrons instead.

I can get around this using:

                FalseText:=""
            End If
            With Selection
                 .Range.Collapse (wdCollapseEnd)
                 .MoveLeft Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=2
                 .MoveLeft Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=2, Extend:=wdExtend
             End With
             ' This loses any switches from the original field
             .Fields.Add Range:=Selection.Range, Name:=FldNm

but this strikes me as a bit of a kludge. I can also get around it by copying the original field and pasting it back in afterwards, which is only marginally better. Any ideas?

Cheers

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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Replies

I think I’d go for copying and pasting the original field. By the way, you can’t rely on the merge fields being placed in the document in the same order as the fields in the data source.

FldNm = .DataSource.DataFields(i).Name

may lead to incorrect results if the merge fields have been inserted out of order, or if they are repeated. You will have to extract the field name from the MERGEFIELD itself.

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Thanks Hans,

This is what I end up with – not pretty but it works:

Sub MergeFieldAddIf()
Dim i As Integer ‘ Counter
Dim FldNm As String ‘ The field name, excluding any switches
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
ActiveWindow.View.ShowFieldCodes = True
With ActiveDocument
‘Limit action to mailmerge fields
With .MailMerge
‘ Loop backwards through all mailmerge fields and update
For i = .Fields.Count To 1 Step -1
‘ Limit actions to MERGEFIELD fields
‘ (eg ignore MERGEREC & MERGESEQ fields)
If .Fields(i).Type = wdFieldMergeField Then
‘Get the field’s name
FldNm = Trim(Replace(.Fields(i).Code, “MERGEFIELD”, “”))
‘Select the current field
.Fields(i).Select
Selection.Copy
.Fields.AddIf Range:=Selection.Range, MergeField:=FldNm, Comparison:=wdMergeIfIsBlank, _
TrueText:=”MISSING DATA”, FalseText:=””_
End If
‘ Re-insert the original mergefield as the false text
With Selection
.Range.Collapse (wdCollapseEnd)
.MoveLeft Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=2
.MoveLeft Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=2, Extend:=wdExtend
.Paste
End With
Next i
End With
End With
ActiveWindow.View.ShowFieldCodes = False
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

By setting TrueText:=””, the approach I’ve used to re-insert the original mergefield as the false text could be used to alter the true text also. I still think it’s a kludge, though.

You’ll also see that I’ve changed the way I get the original field’s name (thanks for the heads-up), to:
FldNm = Trim(Replace(.Fields(i).Code, “MERGEFIELD”, “”))
I could enhance this to remove the original field’s switches, since they arent’t needed where FldNm is used now, but leaving them in doesn’t seem to have any adverse effects.

Cheers

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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