Issue 71595 - Mail Merge to single file without formfeeds
Summary: Mail Merge to single file without formfeeds
Status: CONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: Writer
Classification: Application
Component: code (show other issues)
Version: OOo 2.4.0
Hardware: All All
: P3 Minor (vote)
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: AOO issues mailing list
QA Contact:
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2006-11-16 01:06 UTC by aexl
Modified: 2014-03-17 19:13 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Issue Type: ENHANCEMENT
Latest Confirmation in: 4.1.0-beta
Developer Difficulty: ---


Attachments
Sample database (6.03 KB, application/vnd.sun.xml.base)
2008-05-15 23:33 UTC, aexl
no flags Details
Sample mailmerge source text (7.94 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text)
2008-05-15 23:34 UTC, aexl
no flags Details
Result of mail merge "how it is" (8.23 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text)
2008-05-15 23:35 UTC, aexl
no flags Details
Result of mail merge "how it should be possible" (17.05 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text)
2008-05-15 23:36 UTC, aexl
no flags Details

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Description aexl 2006-11-16 01:06:23 UTC
Mailmerge creates one page per Database record.
I want to use Mailmerge to create a database report with my own custom layout,
but  the new-page-per-record thing is a showstopper for me.
Coule "new page per record" be made an option in mailmerge?
Comment 1 michael.ruess 2006-11-16 07:23:25 UTC
Reassigned to HI.
Comment 2 h.ilter 2006-11-16 08:45:59 UTC
Please give more details. This description is a little bit superficially.
You can save the merged document as a single file or as individual files.
And you can also use a existing document or templates.
Comment 3 aexl 2006-11-16 10:08:26 UTC
I'll try to give an example:
- create a video database with 10 items
- create a template with just 1 sentence and 2 database filds in it:
  "Video number <id> has title <title."
- do a mailmerge against the video database
- result: 10 sentences on 10 pages
- expected result: 1 page with 10 sentences
can this clarify? 
Comment 4 h.ilter 2006-11-16 12:02:21 UTC
I'd say you should go another way
- Menu File - New - Labels
- Select the Brand "Avery Zweckform" and as Type "4746 Video-Etiketten"
- In this dialog, you can also type the text and insert the data fields
- Click on button "New Document" when you finished.
- Click on print button and answer the following question with yes
- A small mailmerge dialog will open where you can print the labels.
This shall solve your problem so I can close this issue.
Comment 5 aexl 2006-11-16 12:36:53 UTC
Videos was just an example to make it not too complex.
One of the use cases i want is to print out tasks.
As the field "description" can be arbitrary large, the "labels" suggestion
cannot do the job, as a label has a fixed layout with limited space per item,
but my "description"s vary from two words to two pages.
of course i can do a mailmerge but having all the two-word-descriptions on
separate pages is not acceptable.
of course i can print out a naked database table with my tasks, this might be ok
for me, but in a business presentation i need additional layout around these tasks.

there are other use cases for "formfeed-free mailmerge", but i hope this one can
clarify the idea. please try to understand. i am pushing free software like OOo
in business contexts, but sometimes small limitations can be big showstoppers! 
Comment 6 h.ilter 2006-11-16 13:29:53 UTC
Please provide a sample to evaluate.
Comment 7 h.ilter 2006-11-20 10:39:10 UTC
Reassigned to requirements
Comment 8 ace_dent 2008-05-15 13:28:52 UTC
This Issue requires more information ('needmoreinfo'), but has not been updated
within the last year. Please re-test with one of the latest versions of OOo -
the problem(s) may have already been addressed. Either use the recent stable
version: http://download.openoffice.org/index.html
or consider trying the new OOo 3 BETA (still in testing):
http://download.openoffice.org/3.0beta/
 
Please report back the outcome so this Issue may be closed or progressed as
necessary - otherwise it may be Resolved as Invalid in the future. You may also
wish to search for (and note) any duplicates of this Issue that may have
advanced further :
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/query.cgi
 
Regards,
Andrew
 
Cleaning-up and Closing old Issues as part of:
~ The Grand Bug Squash, pre v3 ~
Comment 9 aexl 2008-05-15 23:32:45 UTC
thanks andrew for giving me a ping to do it now and not some time in the
futute(tm). this is still an issue with 2.4.

here is a sample to evaluate. hope this makes it more clear.
Comment 10 aexl 2008-05-15 23:33:38 UTC
Created attachment 53683 [details]
Sample database
Comment 11 aexl 2008-05-15 23:34:30 UTC
Created attachment 53684 [details]
Sample mailmerge source text
Comment 12 aexl 2008-05-15 23:35:19 UTC
Created attachment 53685 [details]
Result of mail merge "how it is"
Comment 13 aexl 2008-05-15 23:36:07 UTC
Created attachment 53686 [details]
Result of mail merge "how it should be possible"
Comment 14 Rob Weir 2013-02-02 02:56:12 UTC
This Issue requires more information ('needmoreinfo'), but has not been updated
within the last year. Please provide feedback as requested and re-test with the the latest version of OpenOffice - the problem(s) may already be addressed. 

You can download Apache OpenOffice 3.4.1 from http://www.openoffice.org/download

Please report back the outcome of your testing, so this Issue may be closed or
progressed as necessary - otherwise the issue may be Resolved as Invalid in the
future.
Comment 15 Edwin Sharp 2014-03-17 19:13:39 UTC
Confirmed with
AOO410m14(Build:9760)  -  Rev. 1573062
2014-03-01_04:11:01 - Rev. 1573123
Debian