MS-Access and Mail Merge-3 ~ LEARN MS-ACCESS TIPS AND TRICKS

Continuation of MS-Access and Mail Merge-2

Continued from the previous post, MS-Access and Mail Merge-2.

MAIL MERGE IN MS-ACCESS

We have already designed and tested the Form Letter preparation process in the earlier article. All the objects created during that process will also be required for implementing Mail Merge in Access, which means there is now less work involved. I hope you have understood the intricacies of the procedure and how the various objects and methods work together to generate the Form Letter. Since the major design tasks are already complete, we can now focus on implementing the Mail Merge functionality with just a few minor adjustments in two or three places.

Below are a few examples demonstrating how to insert field values from the report's source query or table, as well as how to incorporate built-in functions directly into the body text of the letter using the editing form. To effectively use the Mail Merge method, the user simply needs to follow a few basic rules.

I will insert the Main Program Codes at the end of this Article. You may copy and paste them into the appropriate locations in your Project as suggested there.

Usage of Field Values to merge with the Text:

Data Field Names must be enclosed in square brackets [], and there should not be any typographical errors in Field Names.
If field names are placed next to each other, use at least one space between them, but they can be placed without a space in between, too.
Field Names must be picked from the Report Source Data Table/Query only and can be inserted anywhere in the text.
Data field values from another Table/Query can be inserted with the help of built-in Functions (like DLOOKUP()), see the usage of built-in functions given below.
If Field Names are joined with & + ' * / (for character or numerical values), it will not be treated as an expression; instead, the symbol will appear between the field values. (See Usage of built-in functions for expressions involving Field Values).

Usage Example -1: A Statement of Year-wise special Sales Incentive, credited to [TitleofCourtesy] [Firstname] [LastName]'s personal Account, is given below for information. His request for transfer to his hometown [City]&[Zip] has been approved.

Output: A Statement of Year-wise special Sales Incentive, credited to Dr. Andrew Fuller's personal Account, is given below for information. His request for transfer to his hometown, Tacoma 9801, has been approved.

NB: The inserted text will not appear in bold as shown above; it is used here for highlighting the results only.

Usage of Built-in Functions to Merge the result with the Letter text:

Built-in Functions must be enclosed in { } brackets.
Nested Functions should have only the outermost pair of {} brackets, like in {Format(Date(),"mmm-yy")}
Data Field Names enclosed in [ ] can be inserted as parameters for Built-in Functions, like DLOOKUP().
Expressions involving data field names enclosed in square brackets ([ ]) can be used with arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /) in numerical calculations, and with the ampersand (&) for text concatenation. When using built-in functions, these field references must be passed as parameters within the function.

Example: To calculate the expiry date of a 90-day credit period, use the following expression:

{Format([InvoiceDate] + 90, "dd/mm/yyyy")}

Usage Example-2:
A statement of year-wise special sales incentive for [TitleOfCourtesy] [FirstName] [LastName], amounting to ${DLOOKUP("TotalAmt", "Yearwise_Incentive", "EmployeeID = " & [EmployeeID])}, has been credited to his personal account during {Format(DateAdd("m", -1, Date()), "mmm-yyyy")}. His request for transfer to his hometown, [City], has been approved effective {Date() + 15}.

Output: A statement of Year-Wise special Sales incentive for Dr. Andrew Fuller, amounting to $8696.41, has been credited to his personal Account during Sep-2007. His request for transfer to his hometown, Tacoma, has been approved effective 10/30/2007.

Don'ts:

Note: Square brackets [ ] and curly braces { } should only be used in the letter body to enclose field names and built-in functions, respectively. They should not be used elsewhere in the text.

Note: A basic validation check is performed on the input text to ensure matching pairs of square brackets [ ] and curly braces { }. However, if you accidentally leave out a closing bracket ']' in one field and an opening bracket '[' In another, the validation may not catch the error, resulting in unexpected issues during processing. In such cases, carefully review and correct the text before rerunning the report.

Always print a trial copy of the letter and thoroughly verify the output for accuracy before proceeding with the final print.

As a final step, we will make a few adjustments to the following components:

The Crosstab Query
The Letter Editing Form
The Report Design

Update the SQL of the Yearwise_FreightQ1 Query:

Open the Yearwise_FreightQ1 Query in SQL View, delete the existing SQL string, and copy and paste the updated SQL string provided below into the SQL window. This modification will add a new column that calculates the Total Amount by summing the sales figures (Freight values) for the years 1996, 1997, and 1998.
After pasting the SQL, save the query.

✅ Note: Ensure you overwrite the old SQL code completely to avoid syntax errors.

TRANSFORM Sum(Yearwise_FreightQ0.Sales) AS SumOfSales
SELECT Yearwise_FreightQ0.EmployeeID,
 Sum(Yearwise_FreightQ0.Sales) AS TotalAmt
FROM Yearwise_FreightQ0
GROUP BY Yearwise_FreightQ0.EmployeeID
PIVOT Yearwise_FreightQ0.Year;

After saving the Yearwise_FreightQ1 run the Make-table Query: Yearwise_IncentiveQ by double-clicking on it to create the output table 'Yearwise_incentive' with the new column TotalAmt, which we have used within the DLOOKUP() Function in the usage Example-2 above.

Open the Mail editing Form (Letter) in design view, and create a Combo Box to display the Report Source Data Field Names, which the Users can reference and type correctly in the Body Text. See the image below:
Click to Enlarge
🧭 Inserting a Combo Box for Field Name Reference
To help users insert field names accurately into the letter body text, follow these steps:
1. Turn Off Control Wizards
  On the Toolbox, make sure the Control Wizards (the magic wand icon) is turned off.
  
  🔄 Click the wand icon to toggle it off before inserting the Combo Box.
2. Insert the Combo Box
  - Click on the Combo Box control in the Toolbox.
  - Draw the Combo Box on the form — place it anywhere convenient, such as to the left of the body text area (Para1 and Para2).
3. Set Combo Box Properties
  With the Combo Box selected, open the Property Sheet (F4 If not visible) and update the following properties:
- Name = cboFields
- Row Source Type = Field List
- Row Source = LetterQ
- Column Count = 1
- Column Width = 1"
- List Rows = 8
- List Width = 1"

Copy and paste the following revised Code into the VB Module of the above Form (Letter) for the cmdPreview Button:

Private Sub cmdPreview_Click()
On Error Resume Next
Me.Refresh
DoCmd.OpenReport "Letter", acViewPreview

If Err > 0 Then
  MsgBox "Errors in Report source Data."
  Err.clear
End If

End Sub

Save the Form with the above change.
Open the Report named Letter in design view. Click on the Para1 text box control and remove the field name Para1 from the Control Source property. Change the Name property to Para1x.
Remove the Field Name Para2 of the second Text Box's Control Source property and change its Name Property to Para2x.
Both Controls now show as Unbound Text Boxes.

Click to Enlarge

Copy and paste the following VB Code into the VB Module of the above Report:

Private Sub Report_Open(Cancel As Integer)
Dim xPara1, xPara2, ErrFlag1 As Boolean
Dim ErrFlag2 As Boolean, x

On Error Resume Next

xPara1 = DLookup("Para1", "LetterQ")
xPara2 = DLookup("Para2", "LetterQ")

'submit para1 for parsing
ErrFlag1 = False
x = MailMerge(xPara1)
Me![Para1x].ControlSource = x

If Err > 0 Then
    ErrFlag1 = True
    Err.Clear
End If

'submit para2 for parsing
ErrFlag2 = False
x = MailMerge(xPara2)
Me![Para2x].ControlSource = x

If Err > 0 Then
    ErrFlag2 = True
    Err.Clear
End If

If ErrFlag1 Or ErrFlag2 Then
   MsgOK "Errors Found, Correct them and re-try."
End If

End Sub

Save the Report after the changes.

Open a new Global VBA Module in your Project. Copy and paste the following Main Programs and save the Module. The lines of code above the Function MailMerge() are Global Declarations and must appear at the topmost area of the Module.

Type ParaTxt
    text As Variant
    status As Boolean
End Type

Type SpecRec
    LsStart As Integer
    Lsend As Integer
    LfStart As Integer
    Lfend As Integer
    Str As String
    fun As String
End Type

Dim V As ParaTxt, DatF() As SpecRec, DatF2() As SpecRec

Public Function MailMerge(ByVal inpara) As String  
'------------------------------------------------------  
'Author : a.p.r. pillai  
'Date   : 01-10-2007  
'Remarks: Scan and Parse Text  
'------------------------------------------------------
Dim i As Integer, k As Long, L As Long
Dim i2 As Integer, xpara, ypara, yxpara
Dim j As Integer, xchar As String
Dim qot As String, size As Long
Dim curlbon As Boolean

On Error GoTo MailMerge_Err

yxpara = inpara

V.text = inpara
V.status = True

qot = Chr$(34)

strValidate 'run validation check

If V.status Then
  MailMerge = yxpara
  Exit Function
End If

'scan for Merged Fields
'ignore if embedded within built-in Function

xpara = V.text

i = 0
For j = 1 To Len(xpara)
  xchar = Mid(xpara, j, 1)
  If xchar = "{" Then
     curlbon = True
  End If
  If xchar = "[" And curlbon = False Then
     i = i + 1
  ElseIf xchar = "}" And curlbon = True Then
      curlbon = False
  End If
Next

If i > 0 Then
  i = i + 1
  ReDim DatF2(1 To i)
Else
  GoTo chkFunction
End If

'Parse embedded fields
L = 1: curlbon = False
For j = 1 To Len(xpara)
  If j = 1 Then
    DatF2(L).LsStart = 1
  End If

  xchar = Mid(xpara, j, 1)
  If xchar = "{" Then
     curlbon = True
  End If
  If xchar = "[" And curlbon = False Then
    DatF2(L).Lsend = j - 1
       size = DatF2(L).Lsend - DatF2(L).LsStart + 1
       DatF2(L).Str = Mid(xpara, DatF2(L).LsStart, size)
       DatF2(L).LfStart = j
  End If
  If xchar = "]" And curlbon = False Then
       DatF2(L).Lfend = j
       size = DatF2(L).Lfend - DatF2(L).LfStart + 1
       DatF2(L).fun = Mid(xpara, DatF2(L).LfStart, size)
       L = L + 1
       DatF2(L).LsStart = j + 1
  End If
  If xchar = "}" And curlbon = True Then
      curlbon = False
  End If

Next
DatF2(L).Str = Mid(xpara, DatF2(L).LsStart)
DatF2(L).fun = ""

'create output from parsed string
ypara = ""
For j = 1 To L - 1
  If j = 1 Then
    ypara = DatF2(j).Str & qot & " & " & DatF2(j).fun
  Else
    ypara = ypara & " & " & qot & DatF2(j).Str & qot & " & " & DatF2(j).fun
  End If
Next

ypara = ypara & " & " & qot & DatF2(j).Str
If Len(DatF2(j).fun) > 0 Then
   ypara = ypara & qot & " & " & DatF2(j).fun
End If

xpara = ypara

chkFunction:

'scan for embedded built-in functions
i2 = 0
For j = 1 To Len(xpara)
  If Mid(xpara, j, 1) = "{" Then
    i2 = i2 + 1
  End If
Next

If i2 > 0 Then
  i2 = i2 + 1
  ReDim DatF(1 To i2)
Else
  GoTo Finish
End If

'parse built-in functions
L = 1
For j = 1 To Len(xpara)
  If j = 1 Then
    DatF(L).LsStart = 1
  End If
  If Mid(xpara, j, 1) = "{" Then
    DatF(L).Lsend = j - 1
       size = DatF(L).Lsend - DatF(L).LsStart + 1
       DatF(L).Str = Mid(xpara, DatF(L).LsStart, size)
    DatF(L).LfStart = j + 1
  End If
  If Mid(xpara, j, 1) = "}" Then
    DatF(L).Lfend = j - 1
       size = DatF(L).Lfend - DatF(L).LfStart + 1
       DatF(L).fun = Mid(xpara, DatF(L).LfStart, size)
    L = L + 1
    DatF(L).LsStart = j + 1
  End If
Next
DatF(L).Str = Mid(xpara, DatF(L).LsStart)
DatF(L).fun = ""

'format the paragraph
ypara = ""
For j = 1 To L - 1
  If j = 1 Then
    ypara = DatF(j).Str & qot & " & " & DatF(j).fun
  Else
    ypara = ypara & " & " & qot & DatF(j).Str & qot & " & " & DatF(j).fun
  End If
Next

ypara = ypara & " & " & qot & DatF(j).StrIf
 Len(DatF(j).fun) > 0 Then
   ypara = ypara & qot & " & " & DatF(j).fun
End If

Finish:

'if there is no value for merging then
If i2 = 0 And i = 0 Then
  ypara = yxpara
End If

xpara = "=" & qot & ypara & qot

MailMerge = xpara

MailMerge_Exit:
Exit Function

MailMerge_Err:
MsgBox Err.Description, , "MailMerge()"
MailMerge = ""
Resume MailMerge_Exit
End Function

Public Function strValidate()  
'------------------------------------------------------  
'Author : a.p.r. pillai  
'Date   : 01-10-2007  
'Remarks: Pre-parsing validation check  
'Returned Valule = False, if no errors in Expressions  
'------------------------------------------------------   
Dim xpara, j As Long, xchar As String   
Dim msg As String, flag As  Boolean   
Dim SBopen As Integer, SBCIose As Integer   
Dim CBopen As Integer, CBclose As Integer   
Dim str1 As String, str2 As String

   On Error GoTo strValidate_Err

    xpara = V.text
    xpara = Trim(xpara)

    SBopen = 0: SBCIose = 0
    CBopen = 0: CBclose = 0
    str1 = "missing for built-in Function(s)."
    str2 = "missing for Fieldname(s)."

    For j = 1 To Len(xpara)
        xchar = Mid(xpara, j, 1)
       Select Case xchar
            Case "["
                SBopen = SBopen + 1
            Case "]"
               SBCIose = SBCIose + 1
            Case "{"
                CBopen = CBopen + 1
            Case "}"
                CBclose = CBclose + 1
        End Select
    Next
    msg = ""
    If SBopen = SBCIose Then
       GoTo nextstep
   Else
       If SBopen > SBCIose Then
         msg = "1. Closing ] " & str2
         flag = True
       Else
         msg = "1. Opening [ " & str2
         flag = True
      End If
   End If
nextstep:
    If CBopen = CBclose Then
       GoTo FinalStep
    Else
       If CBopen > CBclose Then
         If flag Then
          msg = msg & vbCr & "2. Closing } " & str1
         Else
           msg = "1. Closing } " & str1
         flag = True
         End If
       Else
        If flag Then
            msg = msg & vbCr & "2. Opening { " & str1
        Else
            msg = "1. Opening { " & str1
           flag = True
         End If
       End If
   End If

FinalStep:
   If flag Then
      msg = "Errors found in field/function definitions." & vbCr & vbCr & msg & vbCr & vbCr & "Program Aborted. " & vbCr & "Correct the errors and re-try."
      MsgBox msg
      V.status = True
    Exit Function
   End If

  V.status = False

strValidate_Exit:
Exit Function

strValidate_Err:
MsgBox Err.Description, , "strValidateQ"
strValidate = True
Resume strValidate_Exit
End Function

In Case of Errors

Note: If you encounter errors when you compile or run the program for the first time, it may be due to missing library references. To fix this, ensure all essential library files are correctly linked to your project.

For a list of required library files and step-by-step guidance on linking them, visit the Page Command Button Animation article.

The validation program performs a basic check on the input data and displays warnings if any inconsistencies or errors are detected.

Open the letter editing form (Letter) and test the examples described earlier by inserting field names, built-in functions, or expressions using field values as parameters. Click the Preview command button to generate the report and verify that the merged output appears correctly as expected.

Although simple in design, this program is highly effective within its controlled environment. It is user-friendly and serves as a powerful tool for enhancing your projects.

Any suggestions for improvement of the program are welcome.