I rarely have to delve into the pain that is MS Word Field Codes, and whenever I do, I end up pulling my hair out.

I need to have show a value ONLY if a bookmark is NOT empty.



I tried using a COMPARE, but it only seems to work if I specify the EXACT value (e.g. "Test"). If I compare it to an empty string (""), it doesn't work. The following code:

{COMPARE{REF TestBookmark} = "Test"}

gives me a result of 1 if 'TestBookmark' does equal "Test". But if I try to use the following:

{COMPARE{REF TestBookmark} = ""}

I always get a 0 result.

Is there any way to tell if a Bookmark is empty?

What I'm looking for is something like this:

{IF{={COMPARE{REF TestBookmark} = ""} > 0} "Bookmark Is Empty" "Bookmark Is NOT Empty"}

{IF{REF TestBookmark}<> "" "Conditional Output"}
or:
{IF{REF TestBookmark}= "" "" "Conditional Output"}

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Thanks. I’ll check that tomorrow when I’m back in the office. I thought I tried both of those options, but I might have not had the exact correct syntax.

I believe the spaces can matter.

Yes, but that wasn't an issue with the field codes Cosmo posted and isn't an issue with those I've posted; mine have the minimum allowable spaces.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

I wouldn't necessarily count that out, as I may have typed it differently in my post here than I had entered it in the document. Wasn't aware that the spaces could be an issue.

Thanks.

Ok, I figured out my problem - it wasn't due to any errors with the field codes (surprisingly), it was the value I was referring to by the bookmark name was a text Form Field. Apparently the text field doesn't evaluate to an empty string in the comparison, or something like that.

Problem solved, and I learned a few things here. Thanks.

You are welcome.