Updating Word tables from a .txt source file using VBA (or some other method).

["bja" <bashley -at- preston -dot- net>]

Hi everyone.

This is one for the VBA'ers out there. I'm also cross-posting so please
forgive any overlap.

Having spent the last four hours unsuccessfully trying to nut out a solution
(I've spent two hours on-line trying to find an answer without success and
have tried a number of merging/conversion strategies that failed miserably),
time issues now forces me to throw this to the group in the hope that
someone more proficient in VBA etc can offer some assistance.

I have a .txt file called, say, STAFF.TXT that looks as follows:

File: STAFF.TXT
Date: 15/09/2003
Title: Output to a text file
*****************************
******** Columns *********
*****************************
Table                     Field       Value       Type
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
NAME_AGE          S_Name	YN     Alpha
                            F_Name        YN     Alpha
                            Age              YN     Num

ADDRESS	    Address1      YN     Alpha/Num
                            Address2      YN     Alpha/Num

ETC.                     Field1           NULL Char(4)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-


Previously, someone set up a Word file where each block of information (ie
NAME_AGE, ADDRESS, ETC - in the above example) was manually placed into
separate tables along with addition information.

The trouble is that the source file is updated regularly so the final Word
document also needs updating each time (in the real document, there are some
230 tables).

I'm mostly FrameMaker these days but the boss has asked me to help him find
a solution

What I'm hoping for is a Word 2000 solution using VBA. I'm hoping VBA can
interrogate the source document and somehow identify each item in the
'Table' column as these form the headings of each table in the Word document
(I'm hoping it can use an empty row as a separator) .

I then need it to identify that the items in the 'Field' and subsequent
columns 'belong' to the items in the 'Table' column and then output these to
the Word document, replacing the existing data in each relevant table cell.
I know that Word can do much of this when converting text to tables but
there are only single spaces between two of the columns on occasion and it
also needs to exclude repeated '====' and I'd like it to source the
information from the text file directly.

The task is as follows:

EXISTING WORD FILE

Table 1:
NAME_AGE
Fields                  Type            Extra Field 1 Extra Field 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------
S_Name              Alpha            Black           ABCD
Age                     Num             Black            -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------

Table 2:
ADDRESS
Fields                  Type            Extra Field 1 Extra Field 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------
Address1             Alpha/Num     Black           A-K
Address2             Alpha/Num     Blue              -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------

Table 3:
ETC.....


NEW STAFF.TXT generated (as shown above) that now includes a field called
F_Name in the NAME_AGE table and with a 'Type' change in the ADDRESS table.

VBA then needs to look at STAFF.TXT, recognise the parts of the file, remove
empty spaces and then overwrite the existing information in the EXISTING
WORD FILE to create a new Word file as follows:

NEW WORD FILE.doc

Table 1:
NAME_AGE
Fields                  Value            Type            Extra Field 1 Extra
Field 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------
S_Name               YN              Alpha            Black           ABCD
F_Name               YN              Alpha            Black           -
Age                      YN             Num              Black           -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------

Table 2:
ADDRESS
Fields                  Value            Type            Extra Field 1 Extra
Field 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------
Address1             YN              Alpha             Black           A-K
Address2             YN              Alpha/Num     Blue              -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------

Table 3:
ETC.....

Note that the Extra Field 1 and Extra Field 2 data is untouched.

Any help would be greatly appreciated (I hope I've presented the problem
clearly enough).

I'm using Windows98/Word2000.

TIA.

Regards,
Bruce Ashley
Senior Technical Writer
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------
Preston Aviation Solutions Pty Ltd	Website:  http://www.preston.net
488 Victoria Street			email: bashley -at- preston -dot- net
Richmond VIC 3121			Ph:    +61 3 9429 2266
Australia				Fax:   +61 3 9429 8284
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------
Setting the standard in software solutions for the global aviation industry,
utilising advanced simulation, scheduling, optimisation and visualisation
technology.
A subsidiary of The Boeing Company



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