360Works Scribe - Word Export

[Spiro]

Hi,

I am having difficulty getting any great answers from 360Works Support on this issue. Has anyone managed to use the ScribeDocWriteValue to write to a word document? Support at 360 say it isn't supported and that I must use ScribeDocSubstitute, which firstly is not in keeping with their online manual (which says that the docwrite function does work with word files) and secondly the substitute functions has several limitations, in particular that it ignores carriage returns.

I have been unable to get this to work and am not even sure how to make a placeholder tag in the word document, they talk about in their online manual.

Any help would be great

[Smef]

The ScribeDocWriteValue function DOES work with word documents. It is used to fill in Content Control fields, which are a special type of form fields which can only be created in Word 2007 on Windows. We've updated our documentation for the plugin to clarify the type of fields this function should be used to fill in. You can read about creating content control fields in Word at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/eric_carter/archive/2009/03/24/content-control-event-model-in-word-2007.aspx

If you want to go through and replace the word "myClient" with your client name, like "Joe Smith" then you only need to type "myClient" in your word document wherever you would like it to be replaced. You do not need to create a special form field or do any special formatting for it. You would use the ScribeDocSubstitute function to perform the find and replace of "myClient" (your placeholder text) with "Joe Smith" (your text to replace it with).

Please let me know if you have any further questions about these functions.

[Spiro]

Thanks yes I figured this out - it is not very clear in the online manual that this only works in windows. I managed to create the placeholders however again Scribe looses the carriage return so formatted text (e.g. an address with three lines) is converted into one line. Is this going to be addressed in newer versions?

[Smef]

The docwritevalue function works on both mac and windows, but the fields you are replacing can only be created on windows. The content control fields can only be created in Word on Windows, but you can use scribe to fill the content control fields in on either platform.

The carriage returns is something we've had a number of people ask about, and we're looking at what is involved in doing that. For now, you will need to do three separate lines for your find and replace.

address1

address2

address3

and then do your substitution separately for each line.

[Spiro]

Yes, I have been doing separate lines but unfortunately it is not a very elegant solution as there are gaps if no data is entered in the field and the other issue is not only with addresses but also with paragraphs of text that are formatted with a carriage return. I think once this issue is solved, this will be a very useful plugin.

[DaveWheelock]

The docwritevalue function works on both mac and windows, but the fields you are replacing can only be created on windows. The content control fields can only be created in Word on Windows, but you can use scribe to fill the content control fields in on either platform.

The carriage returns is something we've had a number of people ask about, and we're looking at what is involved in doing that. For now, you will need to do three separate lines for your find and replace.

address1

address2

address3

and then do your substitution separately for each line.

Hi David! Is there any new development related to this issue? I have spent a fair amount time trying to force FileMaker/Scribe to insert different forms of carriage returns into winword, with no success. Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers!

Dave Wheelock

[oilcan]

The carriage returns is something we've had a number of people ask about, and we're looking at what is involved in doing that. For now, you will need to do three separate lines for your find and replace.

address1

address2

address3

and then do your substitution separately for each line.

This is very much a bummer and I'd like to see this behavior changed. I'm not sure what exactly is gained by ignoring carriage returns, but there are a wealth of possibilities if you are able to include them.

For example, I am currently trying to print out various lists in word using a looping script, and the lists are of variable lengths (the people that require this list insist on it being in Word). I've got my logic designed, but the lack of being able to write in carriage returns has made this avenue appear to be a dead end. I can't think of a workaround given the limitations of this function.

Please consider investing some development time into allowing the use of carriage returns, it is quite crippling to this software to exclude such seemingly basic functionality.

[Smef]

The issue comes from the way that the xml in the word document handles paragraphs. You have to make a lot of changes in the structure of the word docx for each paragraph that you add, which is why they are currently not carried over. It's something we're looking to add, but it's surprisingly difficult, unfortunately, and I don't have a timeframe for you right now.

[solucionesfilemaker]

Any news about this issue? Still unsolved?

[wbasham]

There is currently no time frame for adding this functionality into Scribe. I apologize for any inconvenience.

[DaveWheelock]

I know this topic is quite old, but has there been any advancement on Scribe to recognize carriage return in Windows?

Has anyone found a workaround for this limitation? Or, even without Scribe, has anyone else found a way to insert or replace text in a .docx file from FileMaker?

I understand the xml formatting within a .docx file is difficult, but without support for carriage returns, it really limits Scribe's usability.

TIA,

Dave Wheelock

[wbasham]

I am happy to announce the release of Scribe 1.3 which includes support for carriage returns in the ScribeDocSubstitute function.