Using Active Server Pages to Build Microsoft Word Documents
By Gardiner B. Jones
Background
BuildDoc.asp is an Active Server Page (
asp) that reads the output of a
Web page form, and creates as output a Microsoft Word document contai
ning a table of changed data within the form. Forms are no longer limi
ted to containing static information. With database connectivity, the
increasing use of Dynamic HTML (DHTML), and the growing interest in XM
L, it has become common practice in business Web pages for the data co
ntained in them to be dynamic. That is, what is shown in the form may
change based on user interaction (see the sample input form below).
The business need filled by BuildDoc is to enable sales associates to
create form letters from the changed records of a Web page table. Only
the data modified by the sales person is sent to Word, where it is fo
rmatted into a table. Obviously, all samples here are fictitious.
BuildDoc will read all of the information on the form, identifying whi
ch rows have been changed, and then creates the Microsoft Word documen
t using only the information contained within the changed rows (see th
e sample output document below). BuildDoc uses a template file (buildD
oc.dot) that contains the address header, and some preformatted text.
It then writes a table into the document that has a row for each modif
ied row from the Web page form.
How To Do It
We start by reading all of the Web page form fields into hidden form f
ields on the receiving Web page. In the source code below, note the "
onLoad " call in the body tag. It calls the buildDoc VBScript subrouti
ne, passing three parameters to it: the contents of the page''s form (a
ll the hidden fields), the location of the Word template file, and the
number of rows received from the input form. The input form fields ar
e all read and then, when the page loads, it calls the buildDoc subrou
tine. For the sake of brevity, we will assume that all variables have
been first declared before use.
The code for the loading of the input form fields into buildDoc.asp is
thus: -
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C/DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Build Document</TITLE>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="30;URL=''orderForm.asp''">
</HEAD>
<%
dotLocation="''\\servername\directory\theTemplate.dot''"
intRowCount = Request.Form("rowCount") ''initialize a row counter
%>
<BODY Language="VBScript" onLoad="buildDoc document.theForm,
<%=dotLocation%>,intRowCount>
<FORM NAME="theForm">
<%
itemCount = 0 ''set field counter to zero
For Each Item in Request.Form ''count up