VB.NET 2005 WORD Mail Merge using Bookmarks

Question

Hi Everybody out there!

I'm learning VB.net on my own and struggling!

I'm trying to develop a Mail Merge using Bookmarks in a word template (1 page doc).  It works ok for the 1st record from a datatable (source of data for bookmarks), and then just piles the other records into the same bookmarks.  After the 1st insertion I need the code to goto the end of the doc, insert a page break and append a fresh copy of the template for the next insertion.  The mail merge could have many 1 page letters in it.

 

        strTemplateDir = Trim(txtDocument.Text)

 

        wrdApp = CreateObject("Word.Application")

        wrdApp.documents.add(strTemplateDir)    'open new word doc based on template

        'make it the active doc

 

        'template already has 6 bookmarks created.

        'these are:-

        'Name

        'Add1, Add2, Add3, Add4, Add5

        'PostCode

 

        iRecords = CInt(dtNurseries1.Rows.Count)

        wrdDoc = wrdApp.activedocument

        wrdApp.Visible = True

 

 

        For i = 0 To iRecords - 1     'remember datatable starts row 0

 

 

            sName = dtNurseries1.Rows(i).Item("Name")

            sAdd1 = dtNurseries1.Rows(i).Item("Add1")

            sAdd2 = dtNurseries1.Rows(i).Item("Add2")

            sAdd3 = dtNurseries1.Rows(i).Item("Add3")

            sPostCode = dtNurseries1.Rows(i).Item("PostCode")

 

            'got the data to insert into Bookmarks

 

            wrdDoc.Bookmarks.Item("Name").Range.Text = sName

            wrdDoc.Bookmarks.Item("Add1").Range.Text = sAdd1

            wrdDoc.Bookmarks.Item("Add2").Range.Text = sAdd2

            wrdDoc.Bookmarks.Item("Add3").Range.Text = sAdd3

            wrdDoc.Bookmarks.Item("PostCode").Range.Text = sPostCode

            i = i + 1

            'need to ensure merge to a fresh page of the template now.  ??How??

 

 

            'wrdDoc.Selection.InsertBreak(Type:=wdPageBreak)

            'wrdDoc.document.selection.insertPageBreak()

            'wrdDoc.Bookmarks.selection.insertpagebreak()

            'wrdDoc.Range.MoveEnd()

 

            'GOTO End of Doc

            wrdDoc.GoTo(Word.WdGoToItem.wdGoToLine, Word.WdGoToDirection.wdGoToLast)

            wrdDoc.GoTo(Word.WdBreakType.wdPageBreak)

            'wrdDoc.Select(Word.WdTemplateType.wdAttachedTemplate = WdTemplateType.wdAttachedTemplate)

 

        Next

 

        dNow = Now()

        'strMergedName = CStr(My.Settings.Path & cboArea.Text & "Merged" & dNow.ToString("d") & ".doc")

        strMergedName = CStr(My.Settings.Path & cboArea.Text & "Merged.doc")

        wrdApp.ActiveDocument.SaveAs(strMergedName)

 

        wrdDoc = Nothing

        wrdApp = Nothing

 

 

    End Sub

Any ideas would be much appreciated. thanks.

Answer 1

Hi

I have the same problem, I have 1 template from which I want to create multiple pages in the same document

Has anyone found a solution yet?

Thanks

Answer 2

Waldek and Parus2 ,

 

There is a KB article on mail merge in VB.NET. I tested the code and it works well on my side. Please try to run the application in the article and I hope that can help you with the problem:

 

How to automate Word to perform a mail merge from Visual Basic .NET

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301656/

 

Word exposes this programmatic functionality through an object model. The object model is a collection of classes and methods that serve as counterparts to the logical components of Word. For example, there is an Application object, a Document object, and a Paragraph object, each of which contain the functionality of those components in Word. To access the object model from Visual Basic .NET, you can set a project reference to the type library.

 

This article demonstrates how to set the proper project reference to the Word type library for Visual Basic .NET and provides sample code to automate Word.

 

 

 

Answer 3

Hi,

Mail merge is usually defined with merge fields, not bookmarks. MS Word as many other Word libraries use merge fields to identify placeholders for data.

If you are working with VB.NET DOCX file format, you can easily do VB.NET Word mail merge so that each record gets imported to its own page - with this C# / VB.NET Word component.

Here is a sample VB.NET code:

' Use the component in free mode.
ComponentInfo.SetLicense("FREE-LIMITED-KEY")

' Create a DataTable with letter recipients.
Dim dataTable = New DataTable()
dataTable.Columns.Add("FullName", GetType(String))
dataTable.Columns.Add("Location", GetType(String))
dataTable.Rows.Add("John Doe", "New York City")
dataTable.Rows.Add("Fred Nurk", "Chicago")
dataTable.Rows.Add("Hans Meier", "Los Angeles")

' Create a template document for demonstration purpose.
Dim document = New DocumentModel()
document.Sections.Add(
	New Section(document,
		New Paragraph(document,
			New Run(document, "Recipient:"),
			New SpecialCharacter(document, SpecialCharacterType.Tab),
			New Field(document, FieldType.MergeField, "FullName"),
			New SpecialCharacter(document, SpecialCharacterType.LineBreak),
			New Run(document, "Location:"),
			New SpecialCharacter(document, SpecialCharacterType.Tab),
			New Field(document, FieldType.MergeField, "Location"))))
' If you have already existing template document, load it like this:
' Dim document = DocumentModel.Load("TemplateDocument.docx", LoadOptions.DocxDefault)

' Execute a mail merge. Letter for every recipient will be on a new page.
document.MailMerge.Execute(dataTable)

' Save the document to a file.
document.Save("Document.docx", SaveOptions.DocxDefault)