Reading rtf files into Access (2003)

[MKMIW]

I need to include the contents of many .rft files in an Access report. I have been searching through the forum and haven't found quite what I was looking for. The only idea I have is to automate Word, loop through the files and save the contents of each one in a memo field in a table. All the files are in one location and the names are all the same format with a file number included in the name. Does anyone have any other ideas? Any help or suggestions would really be appreciated.

Thanks,

Kevin

[HansV]

How are you going to display the .rtf files on the report? I don't have Access 2003, but in earlier versions, the Microsoft Rich Textbox Control cannot be used on a report - see ACC2000: Contents of Rich TextBox Control Not Viewable in Report.

You could use code to print the .rtf files from Access (they will probably be printed by Word.)

[MKMIW]

Wow! That was fast! I guess I thought I would use a text box but is there another control that should be used? The contents of each file is related to and will be displayed with records from another table.

[WendellB]

The problem is that RTF characters won't be displayed in a standard Access text box. I would suggest you look at creating an Automation report in Word, opening the RTF file and then putting the data from the associated record into the Word document, along with the appropriate labels, etc. In your Access record you would simply store the name of the related file (and perhaps it's path).

[HansV]

Text boxes won't display .rtf files correctly - they display the RTF source instead of the formatted text.

The MSKB article I posted a link to contains a reference to a third-party memo control that can be used in a report. I haven't tried it myself.

[MKMIW]

Thanks Wendell. Would you put the data and the contents of the .rtf file into cells in a Word table?

Kevin

[WendellB]

You could do it that way, or you could use bookmarks, or even a Word template that contained all the headings and labels. In many cases it might make sense to use a table as well as bookmarks, as tables often make formatting easier. It probably depends mostly on the format that the report is required to present.

[johnhutchison]

I have used rich text controls to display the contents of rtf files on forms a bit, but I haven't done it on reports. I find them very quick - just set the filename property to the full path of the rtf file and the contents appear instantly.

This thread prompted me to try using them in reports, so I saved a form as a report, and as the article Hans referred to says, you can't print preview the rtf, however you can actually print it ok. You don't seem to be able to set a can grow/shrink properties, so I imagine this would create problems.