Please Fill Out This Form, Part 2

In the November/December 2000 issue of Computor Companion, I showed you just how easy, efficient and fun it can be to build forms using Microsoft Word. (You can find the earlier article at www.computorcompanion.com.) In this article, I take your new-found talents a step further by adding a little automation to direct users to specific locations in a form. This article involves macros, so if you're using Word 2000, click Tools|Macro|Security and set your level to Medium. If you don't, your macros will not run because of the default "high" security setting, which helps avoid viruses.

1  Start with your form template As I described in the earlier article, you start by creating a form template. You use tables and Form Fields to create a basic form that requests personal information and include Yes/No checkboxes asking whether the user is married and/or has children. The form also had an area to add details. However, this time, rather than forcing the user to tab through every field, you add a little Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code to help move the user to appropriate fields.
2  Rename your fields Go through each form field, double-click it, and give it a Bookmark name other than the default Text1, Text2, Text3. Use more descriptive names, such as bkUserName (bk for bookmark) to help you more easily identify each location.
3  Create a directional macro The macro you will create is programming code that evaluates the user's answers. Within the form field options, you can insert macros that automatically run when a user jumps in or out of a form field. Your macro can then decipher what answer the user gave and then depending on the answer, move the cursor to the next appropriate place on the form. To create the macro, click Tools|Macro|Macro. Macro names must be written as one word, but you can make them more descriptive using capitalization. So enter the name FormSingle.
4  Set options Your new macro determines if the user has checked single. Also be sure to click the drop down box for Macros in: and select your form template to ensure the macro stays with the form. Then click Create. If you've never written programming code, you may find you slipped into a bizarre looking world: the Visual Basic Editor!
5  Write your code in the VBE Make sure the cursor is between the Sub FormSingle() and End Sub lines (after the comments in green). Now type the code (starting with Set vSingle) exactly as it's written below: This code says: Set a variable (container) called vSingle equal to (to hold) the results of the Checkbox called "bkSingle" (my bookmark). If the variable called vSingle holds a result equal to "True" (i.e., the CheckBox is selected), you jump the user down to the next question, which is a bookmark called "bkChildrenYes." Now close the Visual Basic Editor program and return to your Word Form.
6  Add the macro into the field To get this code to automatically run and move the user along the form, you need to add this macro into the field. Open the Form Field and add the macro to the Exit option. Form Fields have both an Entry and Exit activation field for macros. If you wanted code to run as soon as the user jumped into a field, you'd add it to the Entry option. But because you want to determine if the box was checked by the user as they jump out of the field, you add it to the Exit option. Double-click the Single checkbox to open its option dialog box. Locate the Run Macros on Exit box. Click the drop-down arrow, select FormSingle, and click OK.

Once your macro is added into the Form Field, you now need to Protect (lock) the form to activate the automation. Click Tools|ProtectDocument. A dialog box appears. Don't bother with a password until you've finished all your testing. For now just choose Forms and click OK. The form will be locked to activate the fields. Start at the top and tab your way through the fields. When you tab to leave the Single checkbox, your macro will activate and read the value of the checkbox. If you checked that option, the macro jumps over the Spouse fields, down to the next relevant question, which asks whether you have any children. If you do not select Single, the form proceeds as usual through the remaining married, divorced, and widow fields. Be sure to test both options. That's it! Now you can use this same code to create more macros. Just modify the code to read/jump to other bookmarked fields. For example, you can have one that jumps over the children's name/age table if users indicate they don't have kids.

For more information on forms, be sure to check out all of Dian's articles
at this link http://www.mousetrax.com/techpage.html#autoforms.

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