How to automate Word with Visual Basic to create a Mail Merge

Summary

This article discusses how to automate Word to create a mail merge for an external data source. This article also explains the code differences between accessing the data with OLEDB, ODBC, and dynamic data exchange (DDE).

More Information

Data access methods

To programmatically set up a data source for a Word mail merge document, you first call the OpenDataSource method of a MailMerge object. The syntax for the OpenDataSource method is as follows:

<MailMergeObject>.OpenDataSource(Name, [Format], [ConfirmConversions], [ReadOnly], [LinkToSource], [AddToRecentFiles], [PasswordDocument], [PasswordTemplate], [Revert],[WritePasswordDocument], [WritePasswordTemplate], [Connection], [SQLStatement], [SQLStatement1], [OpenExclusive], [SubType]) 

Using OLEDB

OLEDB is the recommended data access method. To specify OLEDB as the data access method with OpenDataSource, supply the Name argument with the path and the file name to either the database or an Office DataSource Connection (.odc). If you provide a database for the Name argument, Word will automatically use OLEDB if there is an OLEDB provider installed that supports the database format.

Example

<MailMergeObject>.OpenDataSource Name:="C:\MyDB.mdb", _
           SQLStatement:="SELECT * FROM [MyTable]"

or

<MailMergeObject>.OpenDataSource Name:="C:\MyDataSource.odc", _
           SQLStatement:="SELECT * FROM [MyTable]"

Word and other Office XP applications use the Office DataSource Object (ODSO) for OLEDB access to external data sources. ODSO is the only mechanism by which Word can access data by using OLEDB for a mail merge. ODSO requires that the Name argument for OpenDataSource be either a complete path to a database or a complete path to a valid ODC file. ODSO ignores any information in the Connection argument.

Using ODBC

You can use ODBC for your mail merge to access data for which a user data source name (DSN) has been set up on the system. To specify ODBC as the data access method with OpenDataSource, supply an empty string for the Name argument, an ODBC connection string for the Connection argument, and wdMergeSubTypeWord2000 for the SubType argument.

Example

<MailMergeObject>.OpenDataSource Name:= "", _
     Connection:= "DSN=MySQLServerDSN;DATABASE=pubs;uid=sa;pwd=;", _
     SQLStatement:= "Select au_id, au_lname, au_fname from authors", _
     SubType:= wdMergeSubTypeWord2000

Using DDE

You can use DDE to access data in Microsoft Access databases or Microsoft Excel workbooks. To specify DDE as the data access method with OpenDataSource, supply the path and the file name to the database or the workbook for the Name argument, and wdMergeSubTypeWord2000 for the SubType argument.

Example

<MailMergeObject>.OpenDataSource Name:="C:\MyDB.mdb", _
           SQLStatement:="SELECT * FROM [MyTable]", _
           SubType:=wdMergeSubTypeWord2000

Automation sample

The following sample code creates and executes a mail merge for form letters by using OLEDB (by way of ODSO). The data source that is used is the sample Access database Northwind.mdb. If Northwind is not installed, start Microsoft Access 2002 or Microsoft Office Access 2003. On the Help menu, click Sample Databases, and then choose Northwind Sample Database to install this feature.

To run this sample, follow these steps:

1. Start a new Standard EXE project in Visual Basic. By default, Form1 is created.

2. On the Project menu, click References.

3. Click Microsoft Word 2000 Object Library in the list of references, and then click OK.

   Note To use the Microsoft Office Word 2003 Object, add the Microsoft Word 11.0 Object Library in the list of references and then Click OK.

4. Add a CommandButton control to Form1.

5. Add the following code to the code module for Form1.

   Note If it is necessary, modify the path to Northwind.mdb to match your installation for Office XP.

   Dim WithEvents oApp As Word.Application
   
   Private Sub Form_Load()
       'Start Word.
       Set oApp = CreateObject("Word.Application")
   End Sub
   
   Private Sub Command1_Click()
   
   Dim oMainDoc As Word.Document
       Dim oSel As Word.Selection
       Dim sDBPath as String
   
   'Start a new main document for the mail merge.
       Set oMainDoc = oApp.Documents.Add
   
   With oMainDoc.MailMerge
   
   .MainDocumentType = wdFormLetters
   
   'Set up the mail merge data source to Northwind.mdb.
           sDBPath = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\" & _
                     "OfficeXP\Samples\Northwind.mdb"
           .OpenDataSource Name:=sDBPath, _
              SQLStatement:="SELECT * FROM [Customers]"
   
   'Add the field codes to the document to create the form letter.
           With .Fields
               Set oSel = oApp.Selection
               .Add oSel.Range, "CompanyName"
               oSel.TypeParagraph
               .Add oSel.Range, "Address"
               oSel.TypeParagraph
               .Add oSel.Range, "City"
               oSel.TypeText ", "
               .Add oSel.Range, "Country"
               oSel.TypeParagraph
               oSel.TypeParagraph
               oSel.TypeText "Dear "
               .Add oSel.Range, "ContactName"
               oSel.TypeText ","
               oSel.TypeParagraph
               oSel.TypeParagraph
               oSel.TypeText " This letter is to inform you..."
               oSel.TypeParagraph
               oSel.TypeParagraph
               oSel.TypeText "Sincerely, [Your Name Here]"
           End With
       End With
   
   'Perform the mail merge to a new document.
       With oMainDoc
           .MailMerge.Destination = wdSendToNewDocument
           .MailMerge.Execute Pause:=False
       End With
   
   End Sub
   
   Private Sub oApp_MailMergeAfterMerge(ByVal Doc As Word.Document, ByVal DocResult As Word.Document)
   
   'When the mail merge is complete, 1) make Word visible,
       '2) close the mail merge document leaving only the resulting document
       'open and 3) display a message.
       Doc.Close False
       oApp.Visible = True
       MsgBox "Mail Merge Complete: " & oApp.ActiveDocument.Name
   
   End Sub
   
   Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
       Set oApp = Nothing
   End Sub
   

6. Press F5 to run the program.

7. Click the CommandButton control on Form1 to perform the mail merge.

When the code completes, Word is made visible with a new document open. The new document contains form letters that result from a mail merge containing data that is extracted from the Customers table in Northwind.mdb.

References

For more information, view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

285176 How to automate Word to perform a client-side Mail Merge using XML from SQL Server