Drop down options and controls in a Word form

Begadoc · #1 05-31-2016, 03:03 PM

I have a simple form with most fields using Plain Text Content Control. A few use Date Picker Content Control. The only other one I use is Drop-Down List Content Control for choice of names and for their addresses.

If the person filling in the form wishes to enter the date themselves they can simply click in the box and type the date, ignoring the option of the arrow that allows selection from a calendar.
However, if the person does not find the name they want in the Drop-Down List Content Control, they can't enter any data as you can with the date field.

Is there any way of allowing the user to either pick a name from the list or enter their own name?
Secondly, rather than have to select the address that goes with the name in the next field, can I automatically fill in the address that goes with the name, other than just using a single box for both name and address? If this single box method is the only way, how do I insert carriage returns into the lines of the address. (Tried ^p - doesn't work!).

Many thanks for considering my questions.

Ian

gmayor · #2 05-31-2016, 09:05 PM

Use a combo box rather than a list box to allow the user to enter values not in the list.

You will need macros to automatically insert addresses associated with listed items, but that creates other issues when using a combo box to allow users to enter a name, which is thus unlikely to be associated with an address. If you want multiple lines, you need a text box control.

There is a lot of useful information on content controls on Greg Maxey's web site - start with the basics at http://gregmaxey.com/word_tip_pages/..._controls.html then move on to http://gregmaxey.com/word_tip_pages/...om_events.html

Guessed · #3 05-31-2016, 10:17 PM

You can use a macro to allow the user to add an entry to the dropbox. An example would be

Code:

Private Sub Document_ContentControlOnExit(ByVal aCC As ContentControl, Cancel As Boolean)
  Dim sName As String
  If aCC.Range.Text = "Add another..." Then
    sName = InputBox("What name do you want to add?")
      aCC.DropdownListEntries.Add sName
    aCC.Range.Text = sName
  End If
End Sub

Where is the address information going to come from? If there is a data store somewhere that can be read by a macro then you could populate the address automatically but we would need to know where that information is going to come from.

A return in vbaspeak is usually vbCr instead of ^p
aString = "some text" & vbCr & "some more text"

Begadoc · #4 06-06-2016, 03:14 PM

Thank you Gents.

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