Re: Word 2000/2002 - Proper Mail Merge steps for ODBC?

From: Peter Jamieson (pjj_at_KillmapSpjjnet.demon.co.uk)
Date: 09/01/04 

Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 18:10:15 +0100

> Question: Is this the proper way of getting a Word
> Document to connect to a Secured Access Database, by
> having to create a separate Connection File for each Mail
> Merge Letter I am wanting to create?

IMO there is no "proper" way. At best, there may be a way that works for
your application and minimises problems if you need to distribute your
solution to mutliple systems.

There are a number of issues here and unfortunately I don't think I can give
you reliable suggestions in all cases, but here goes.

First, if you want to connect the same way in Word 2000 and Word 2002, you
have to use ODBC (or the old DDE method). OLEDB is only supported in Word
2002 and later. Unfortunately, the route you have taken in your example
actually uses OLEDB, using the ODBC provider for OLEDB. Any connection that
uses a .odc (or .udl, as we will see) is actually using OLEDB. So those
connections won't work with Word 2000. But in addition, you may find that
ODBC connections set up in Word 2000 are discarded when you open the .doc in
WOrd 2002 and/or vice versa.

> This brings up the "Select Data Source" dialog box. Here,
> the "My Data Sources" is selected in the "Look in:" combo
> box and all my ODBC entries are showing EXCEPT my newly
> created Access ODBC entry I created in my above steps (a-

The reason (probably) that some ODBC entries appear here and some do not is
that there are three types of ODBC DSN, as follows:

FIle DSNs: these are just text files in "INI" format that contain the
connection information you provided in the ODBC administrator. Typically
they have a .dsn extension. These are probably the ones you can see

Machine DSNs: these DSNs are not stored in text files. They are stored in
the Windows registry, so I do not think you will see them listed in "My Data
Sources". There are two types of Machine DSN:
 a. User DSNs. These are intended to be visible to a single user on a
machine which may have several different users. They are stored in the
per-user part of the registry.
 b. System DSNs (the type you created). These are intended to be visible to
all users on a particular machine.

Neither Word 2000 nor Word 2002, as far as I know, lets you open a .dsn file
directly (in the Open/Select Data Source dialog box). Word just tries to get
the data directly from the .dsn file, not from the database it refers to. If
you are trying to open a file data source such as a .mdb in Word 2000, you
can select the .mdb in the Open Data Source dialog, check "Select method",
and click Open. If the DSN is a Machine DSN you will probably see it in the
list of connection methods. Otherwise, you have to use MS Query to select
the DSN (of any type) and set up the connection. You can do the same in Word
2002, although MS Query is a little harder to find - it's on the Tools menu
in the top right hand corner of the Select Data Source dialog. (You may also
find you need to install MS Query to get what you want).

In both Word 2000 and 2002, you should only need one DSN to allow you to use
all the tables and queries in your database that are accessible via ODBC.
But you will need to go through the MS Query route to choose the table/query
or define your own.

An alternative to all this is to write, or macro record, a short macro
containing an OpenDataSource command that uses an ODBC connection string in
the Connection parameter. Then you have to work out the corrct SQL to get
the data you want, and insert it in the SQLStatement parameter, then run the
macro. You will find examples I've posted if you search this newsgroup, e.g.
using Google. One of the problems here is that Word 2002 requires an
additional parameter (Subtype) if you want to connect via ODBC.

If you are /only/ concerned with Word 2002 and prefer to use OLEDB, there
are a couple of ways you can proceed without creating an ODBC DSN.
 a. use a .udl file. If you create a Notepad (.txt) file and rename it to
something.udl, then double-click on the file name, you should see the
Datalink editor. This is like, if not identical to, the editor you used to
select your DSN in your point 2. However,
 a. in the Provider tab, select the Jet provider rather than the ODBC
provider
 b. in the Connection tab, you may need to check Blank password and Allow
saving password
 c. in the All tab, you will need to edit the valueJet OLEDB:System databse
to be the pathname of your workgroup file.
 d. When you click OK, you do not see the questions that come at the end of
the dialog you used to set up your .odc

If you select this file as your data source, you should be presented with a
list of tables, so you only really need one .udl for all your documents. It
may be possible to use it to connect to a specific table or query, but
that's for you to discover if you want.

Alternatively, you can set up a .odc using much the same process you used
before in your point (2), but choose the Other/Advanced option instead of
ODBC DSN. Then fill in the datalink dialog options in the same way as for
the .udl file above. When you get to save the .odc, there is a checkbox that
lets you specify whether your .odc should cause Word to display a list of
tables/queries within your .mdb, or whether Word should connect to a
prespecified table/query. Again, if you use the former, you should be able
to use a single .odc for all your mailmerge documents. 

-- 
Peter Jamieson
"Tony_VBACoder" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:42db01c49037$6c339f60$a601280a@phx.gbl...
> I am new at setting up a Word document as a Mail Merge to
> an Access Database.  My situation involves a secured
> Access 2000/2002 Database, with a Word 2000/2002 Mail
> Merge Letter.  My Access Databases are secured with a MDW
> Security File required to open my Database.  I have
> various queries within my Access database are specific for
> each Word Mail Merge document.  In my Access DB workgroup
> security file, I have created a user called "WordUser"
> whose sole purpose is to be able to run the Word Mail
> Merge Letters.  This user has no password and only
> has "Read" permission on all the tables/queries required
> for each letter and nothing else.  I have had no luck
> being able to get my Word 2002 letter to connect to my
> secured Access database with the Mail Merge Wizard within
> Word (I have posted a few questions in the newsgroups, but
> have not gotten any responses).  So instead, I have tried
> to go the ODBC route, where I would create a new DSN entry
> that points to my Access database, in hopes that I could
> use this ODBC entry as my datasource for my Word Mail
> Merge document.  However, this method has also raised some
> questions that I hope someone can answer for me or help in
> the right direction.
>
> 1) To create a new ODBC entry, I do the following:
>    a) click on "System DSN" Tab in the ODBC Data Source
> Administrator
>    b) click the "Add" button
>    c) select "Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)"
>    d) click the "Finish" button
>    e) In the "ODBC Microsoft Access Setup" Form I:
>    f) enter "MyDB" in the "Data Source Name:" text box
>    g) click the "Select..." button in the "Database" Frame
> to located my Access Database
>    h) click the "Advanced..." button
>    i) enter my "WordUser" in the "Login name:" text box in
> the "Set Advanced Options" form and click the "OK" button.
>    j) select the "Database:" radio button in the "System
> Database" frame
>    k) click the "System Database..." button to select my
> MDW file for my secured database
>    l) click the "OK" button on the ODBC Microsoft Access
> Setup form to complete setting up my new ODBC entry
>
> 2)  Now, once my ODBC entry has been created, I go to my
> Word 2002/2000 letter and select Tools>Letters and
> Mailings>Mail Merge Wizard.  At the Wizard's Step #3, I
> select "Browse" from the "Use an existing list" option.
> This brings up the "Select Data Source" dialog box.  Here,
> the "My Data Sources" is selected in the "Look in:" combo
> box and all my ODBC entries are showing EXCEPT my newly
> created Access ODBC entry I created in my above steps (a-
> l).  However, there are 2 entries that I am not familiar
> with: "+Connect to New Data Source.odc" and "+New SQL
> Server Connection.odc".  I selected the "+Connect to New
> Data Source.odc" option and it took me into a new "Data
> Connection Wizard" where I did the following:
>    a) Select "ODBC DSN" from the "What kind of data source
> do you want to connect to?" list and clicked the "Next"
> button
>    b) Now my newly created ODBC entry shows up in
> the "ODBC data sources" list.  I selected it and clicked
> the "Next" button
>    c) At this point, all my tables and queries were
> listed.  From the list, I selected my query for the letter
> I am creating and clicked the "Next" button.
>    d) Now, the "Save Data Connection File and Finish"
> dialog box is shown, prompting me to save this as a
> connection file (*.odc).  I entered a name and clicked
> the "Finish" button.
>
> Question: Is this the proper way of getting a Word
> Document to connect to a Secured Access Database, by
> having to create a separate Connection File for each Mail
> Merge Letter I am wanting to create?
>
>