Professional layout for a dictionary

Hi,

I use Access 2007 to store the data of a dictionary. Now, when it comes
to print it out, I wonder if the following task can be done from within
Access:

First, I want to explain the structure of my dictionary: The entries in
it, which contain the detailed data, are grouped into chapters. Each
chapter begins with a short descriptor (Aa1, Aa2, Aa3, Ab1, ..., Cd12),
followed by a describing name e.g.:

Aa1 buildings
entry 1
specs for entry 1
entry 2
specs for entry 2
entry 3
specs for entry 3
...
Aa2 countries
entry 4
specs for entry 4
entry 5
specs for entry 5
entry 6
specs for entry 5
...

The length of the chapters, i.e. how many entries there are per chapter
can vary. One chapter can hold only one entry or tens of entries, thus
the range of a chapter can be from 1 part of a page to several pages.

Now, the task to accomplish is, to generate individual page headers,
containing the chapter descriptors and depending on the chapter
displayed on a certain page or a range of pages. E.g., if Aa1
buildings ranges from page 1 to 8, and chapter 2 begins on top of page
9, in the header of pages 1-8 should be written (aligned to the right):
Aa1. If, however, chapter 2 already starts on page 8, the header Aa1
should only appear on pages 1-7, on page 8 the header should be Aa2,
because this is the page chapter 2 begins. If 1 short chapter Cc1 Cars
clompetely fits on a page an chapter Cc2 Compters starts on the same
page, in the header of this page should be Cc1, Cc2.

The descriptors are unique strings which won't occur elsewhere in the
text except as the first part of a chapter.

My approach would be, that this task is some sort of post-processing of
the report. In pseudo-code the task would probably look like this

Generate pages of report
For each page of generated report
HEADER = ""
repeat
Parse page
If descriptor_found then HEADER = HEADER & descriptor
until END_OF_PAGE
Write HEADER at specified position on top of this page
Next

But how would it look like in real VBA-code? If it can be done at all.

Best regards
Klaus

Klaus Martini schrieb:

Hi,

I use Access 2007 to store the data of a dictionary. Now, when it comes
to print it out, I wonder if the following task can be done from within
Access:

First, I want to explain the structure of my dictionary: The entries in
it, which contain the detailed data, are grouped into chapters. Each
chapter begins with a short descriptor (Aa1, Aa2, Aa3, Ab1, ..., Cd12),
followed by a describing name e.g.:

Aa1 buildings
entry 1
specs for entry 1
entry 2
specs for entry 2
entry 3
specs for entry 3
...
Aa2 countries
entry 4
specs for entry 4
entry 5
specs for entry 5
entry 6
specs for entry 5
...

The length of the chapters, i.e. how many entries there are per chapter
can vary. One chapter can hold only one entry or tens of entries, thus
the range of a chapter can be from 1 part of a page to several pages.

Now, the task to accomplish is, to generate individual page headers,
containing the chapter descriptors and depending on the chapter
displayed on a certain page or a range of pages. E.g., if Aa1
buildings ranges from page 1 to 8, and chapter 2 begins on top of page
9, in the header of pages 1-8 should be written (aligned to the right):
Aa1. If, however, chapter 2 already starts on page 8, the header Aa1
should only appear on pages 1-7, on page 8 the header should be Aa2,
because this is the page chapter 2 begins. If 1 short chapter Cc1 Cars
clompetely fits on a page an chapter Cc2 Compters starts on the same
page, in the header of this page should be Cc1, Cc2.

The descriptors are unique strings which won't occur elsewhere in the
text except as the first part of a chapter.

My approach would be, that this task is some sort of post-processing of
the report. In pseudo-code the task would probably look like this

Generate pages of report
For each page of generated report
HEADER = ""
repeat
Parse page
If descriptor_found then HEADER = HEADER & descriptor
until END_OF_PAGE
Write HEADER at specified position on top of this page
Next

But how would it look like in real VBA-code? If it can be done at all.

This task is quite challenging and I don't think it can be done with Access
alone. The problem is that I can't imagine a way to parse a formatted
report. But WORD can parse a document, so consider the following approach:

1. Generate the report
2. Export the report to WORD (rtf)
3. Write a macro in WORD which parses the report and
writes out a table which contains two rows,
Descriptor and Page, Page being the number of the page
where the descriptor appears:

Descriptor Page
Aa1 1
Aa2 8
Aa3 10
... ...
4. Import this table into Access and do the printing
in the reports print event on the basis of the data
in this table. All you need is there.

I don't know if the process can be fully automated.

If you try it and it works, let me know.

Regards,
P. W.


--
Latinitatem colamus!

Peter Wetschnigg schrieb:
Klaus Martini schrieb:

Hi,

I use Access 2007 to store the data of a dictionary. Now, when it comes
to print it out, I wonder if the following task can be done from within
Access:

First, I want to explain the structure of my dictionary: The entries in
it, which contain the detailed data, are grouped into chapters. Each
chapter begins with a short descriptor (Aa1, Aa2, Aa3, Ab1, ..., Cd12),
followed by a describing name e.g.:

Aa1 buildings
entry 1
specs for entry 1
entry 2
specs for entry 2
entry 3
specs for entry 3
...
Aa2 countries
entry 4
specs for entry 4
entry 5
specs for entry 5
entry 6
specs for entry 5
...

The length of the chapters, i.e. how many entries there are per chapter
can vary. One chapter can hold only one entry or tens of entries, thus
the range of a chapter can be from 1 part of a page to several pages.

Now, the task to accomplish is, to generate individual page headers,
containing the chapter descriptors and depending on the chapter
displayed on a certain page or a range of pages. E.g., if Aa1
buildings ranges from page 1 to 8, and chapter 2 begins on top of page
9, in the header of pages 1-8 should be written (aligned to the right):
Aa1. If, however, chapter 2 already starts on page 8, the header Aa1
should only appear on pages 1-7, on page 8 the header should be Aa2,
because this is the page chapter 2 begins. If 1 short chapter Cc1 Cars
clompetely fits on a page an chapter Cc2 Compters starts on the same
page, in the header of this page should be Cc1, Cc2.

The descriptors are unique strings which won't occur elsewhere in the
text except as the first part of a chapter.

My approach would be, that this task is some sort of post-processing of
the report. In pseudo-code the task would probably look like this

Generate pages of report
For each page of generated report
HEADER = ""
repeat
Parse page
If descriptor_found then HEADER = HEADER & descriptor
until END_OF_PAGE
Write HEADER at specified position on top of this page
Next

But how would it look like in real VBA-code? If it can be done at all.

This task is quite challenging and I don't think it can be done with Access
alone. The problem is that I can't imagine a way to parse a formatted
report. But WORD can parse a document, so consider the following approach:

1. Generate the report
2. Export the report to WORD (rtf)
3. Write a macro in WORD which parses the report and
writes out a table which contains two rows,
Descriptor and Page, Page being the number of the page
where the descriptor appears:

Descriptor Page
Aa1 1
Aa2 8
Aa3 10
... ...
4. Import this table into Access and do the printing
in the reports print event on the basis of the data
in this table. All you need is there.

I don't know if the process can be fully automated.

If you try it and it works, let me know.

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your suggestions! It is a bit tedious, but it works! Except
for one thing: There is no print event of the report, the printing of
the header lines has to be done in the format-event of the pageheader.

Best regards
Klaus