Mergefield Consisting of Concatenated Strings

[JennEx]

I'm working on a complex rule for a mail merge field ...

If mail merge field 'r1_relchg' is blank (="") then display "", otherwise display 'r1_sru' (h:mmA/P) - 'r1_srl' (h:mmA/P)

An example of the presentation if r1_relchg <> "" might be:

9:00A-9:30P

I am not certain how, if its possible, to concatenate the 'r1_sru', '-'. and 'r1_srl'

[macropod]

Ordinarily, one would simply use a field coded as:
{IF«r1_relchg» = "" "" "«r1_sru»-«r1_srl»"}

If the «r1_sru» & «r1_srl» mergefields are blank when there's no data, one could instead use a field between them coded as:
«r1_sru»{IF«r1_relchg» = "" "" "-"}«r1_srl»

[JennEx]

Thank you Paul ... I have some tedious time fields to concatenate.

[macropod]

ah, c'mon, it's not that hard

[JennEx]

Hey Paul ...

This is what I came up ....

I got the same results as you ... and they weren't really the results I was looking for.

With my data, one record with r1_relchg = "REL", I was given the following results with both scripts:

12:00 A-12:00 A

r1_srl = 9:30 AM ... confirmed time value, no other dta in the column, just blank cells.
r1_sru = 10:00 AM ... confirmed time value, no other dta in the column, just blank cells.

Real estate in the cell is tight, so I am also trying to eliminate the space between the number and the AM/PM.

[macropod]

So what do you get with just:
{IF{MERGEFIELD r1_relchg}<> "" "{MERGEFIELD r1_srl \@ "h:mm"}-{MERGEFIELD r1_sru \@ "h:mm"}"}

[JennEx]

That worked Paul. It blows my mind that we we were able to concatenate two time strings with simple switches, but to simply use time as itself in a field required a paragraph of formula. (mind you I haven't tried this in the actual report yet ... it may behave quite differently)

How can the A or P for AM or PM be added? I tried the standard method of formatting but it came out looking like this ...

9:30九P -10:00九P

{IF{MERGEFIELD r1_relchg}<> "" "{MERGEFIELD r1_srl \@ "h:mmA/P"}-{MERGEFIELD r1_sru \@ "h:mmA/P"}"}

[macropod]

Originally Posted by JennEx

That worked Paul. It blows my mind that we we were able to concatenate two time strings with simple switches, but to simply use time as itself in a field required a paragraph of formula. (mind you I haven't tried this in the actual report yet ... it may behave quite differently)

Umm, how about trying it there, then?

Originally Posted by JennEx

How can the A or P for AM or PM be added? I tried the standard method of formatting but it came out looking like this ...

9:30九P -10:00九P

The standard field code for the AM/PM is:

{IF{MERGEFIELD r1_relchg}<> "" "{MERGEFIELD r1_srl \@ "h:mm AM/PM"}-{MERGEFIELD r1_sru \@ "h:mm AM/PM"}"}

but I didn't bother with that because you said:

Originally Posted by JennEx

Real estate in the cell is tight, so I am also trying to eliminate the space between the number and the AM/PM.

[JennEx]

Turns out the simple method didn't work in the report. All I was able to manage with that was concatenated decimals.

The original (long) way of doing it seems to be working so far, and with it I managed to just retain either the A or P of AM/PM with the time.

I often format my times in Excel as h:mmA/P which leaves me with 8:30A. I just assumed this was possible in Word as well, so that's what I was aiming for.

Thanks Paul!

[macropod]

Instead of the AM/PM you might consider using a lower-case am/pm, which is a bit narrower or using the std 24-hour time format. You could also reduce in internal cell margin spacing in the affected cells.

[JennEx]

Great ideas! I'm going to combine a couple to achieve what I'm looking for.