Re: Legacy Access2/VB4 app merge errors with Word 11

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

From: Alex Ivanov (consul_at_collegeclub.com)
Date: 01/30/05 

Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2005 18:22:51 -0800

Wthout source code it's difficult to guess what really goes wrong.
You may try to download and run FileMon and RegMon monitoring your app. Then
take a close look for failed operations.

HTH 

-- 
Please reply to NG only. This email is not monitored.
Alex.
"ITJRW" <justice@community.nospam> wrote in message 
news:eOHKHgiBFHA.2076@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>I have a network where all of the client machines were recently replaced 
>and
> are now running XP Pro SP2. Office 2003 is also on the new machines.
>
> The legacy application was written in VB 4 and I have no source code
> available.  The Access version is 2.0.  The application works as expected
> and as it did before the upgrade with the exception of Microsoft Word
> merging capabilities.  The application creates a proper ".dat" merge
> document but is unable to do the link.  The .dat file contains a properly
> generated header with the field names tab separated and the data from the
> requested record (by entering the keycode value in a message box) tab
> deliminted as well.  The data is what it should contain.
>
> The setup settings are properly directing the application to the correct
> directory path and winword.exe file name.  Word does not open and three
> errors occur in succession according to the messages that appear:
> In the title bar of the message box: "Merge Error (Word) #1056 and in the
> center of the message box: "Not a valid filename."
> Clicking on the OK command button brings up another error message box with
> the title bar showing "31031 (0)" and the text in the message box being
> "Invalid Source for link"
> Clicking in the OK command button brings up another error message box with
> the title bar showing "31004(0)" and the text in the message box being "No
> object."
>
> The document is a valid document and the path is correct.  I have written 
> a
> workaround macro in VBA of Word to allow them, after responding OK to the
> three messages in the legacy Access app, to press Alt-M in an open,
> no-document Word application which presents them with the directory
> containing the master merge document and containing the newly created data
> source .dat file containing the header and record data as requested in the
> legacy app.  After selection of the requested file, I test the file name 
> of
> the .doc file and create a DataSourceFileName for .dat files over 8.3 and
> then do the merge of the document to a new file with the .dat file created
> and given as the source for the master document.  This process proceedes
> without a problem.  I suspect that there may be some ODBC connectivity
> problems between the legacy apps that don't know OLE and that are looking
> for another type of data source other than ".dat" files.  This was the old
> way of providing a data source from which to merge via ODBC (to fake it 
> out)
> and the older DDE application connectivity.
>
> I do not have the old app source code, the developer are not at all
> interested in updating to anything later than Access 97 (believing that 
> Bill
> Gates is out to destroy them <bg>.  Is there anything I can do, other than
> writing a new application, to allow the users to merge with this old
> application to Word v. 11?  I have no problem accessing the tables via a
> DSN-less SQLConnect() statement but the record comes through some 24 steps
> in a "Logic" table in a different database than the actual data.  I have
> been doing database programming for 17 years but have little, brief
> experience with Access but quite a bit with VBA, Visual FoxPro, SQL, and 
> C.
>
> It has been suggested that I write a dummy application in VB6 to 
> impersonate Word 6 and receive the file names passed and then use those 
> and call Word 11 from this dummy app, passing the merge file and data 
> source file names to Word 11 on startup.  I don't know how I'd go about 
> "impersonating Word 6" and create this "DDE sink" that's been suggested.
>
> Any suggestions for any approach would be greatly appreciated?  The 
> work-around is getting the users to the goal line but it's taking too many 
> downs to do make the
> touchdown.
>
> Justice
>
>

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