Optionally hiding text in a complicated document

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Clark
  • Start date Start date
J

John Clark

Hi!

I am using Microsoft Word 2003 and I have a document that contains a
number of fairly long lists, and I have had requests to format the
document so that the user can choose whether to display the entire list
or simply to display the first 5 entries in each list. I was hoping to
do this using the "Hidden" font format, but the problem that I run into
is that choosing to display or print text formatted as "Hidden" also
displays/prints all of the field codes embedded in the document.

This seems strange/wrong/broken to me as there is an explicit option to
display field code contents and this option is set to hide field code
contents when I turn on the display of "hidden" text and yet field code
contents are displayed when hidden text is displayed.

Is there a way to toggle the display of only that text that is formatted
as "hidden" rather than the contents of the field codes?

Is using a style for the text that I want to hide, and then
programmatically altering that style definition to include the "hidden"
font format the way to do what I want?

Thanks
-jdc
 
No offense - I'm not being sarcastic - but it may seem less
"strange/wrong/broken" if you keep in mind that Word is primarily
designed/intended to be a word processing program to deliver printed
documents. What you describe sounds more like a web page:)

Not out of the question, though. However, your document has to be treated as
a Form. You may want to turn on the Web Tools toolbar & research the use of
the tools it provides - such as Drop Down Boxes & List Boxes.

This is just one approach, but I'm sure some other suggestions will be
offered. It would probably be helpful to know more about what the type of
content in these lists amounts to & how the document will be used.
 
(My apologies if you get multiple postings of this message - I'm
fighting with my news group reader at the moment...)

No offense - I'm not being sarcastic - but it may seem less
"strange/wrong/broken" if you keep in mind that Word is primarily
designed/intended to be a word processing program to deliver printed
documents. What you describe sounds more like a web page:)
Click to expand...
No offense taken, but I don't think that my usage here is a big stretch
from the primary purpose of MS Word - I am looking at this as a document
that basically has two different print modes - the first mode displays
all values of each contained list, the second mode displays only the
first 5 values in each list - with an indication that there are more
values not shown. I agree that this information could be shown on a
web page, but in this case, a printed document is the primary delivery
method for this information.

My comment on "strange/wrong/broken" was simply that there are two
different switches on the Tools | Options | View panel - one for "Hidden
text" and one for "Field codes" - in my mind, if the field codes switch
is not selected, the document shouldn't display field codes - however,
the application seems to display field codes if either "Field codes", or
"Hidden Text" are selected, and there does not appear to be a way to
turn off the display of field codes if hidden text is selected to be
shown.
Not out of the question, though. However, your document has to be
treated as a Form. You may want to turn on the Web Tools toolbar &
research the use of the tools it provides - such as Drop Down Boxes &
List Boxes.
Click to expand...

I'll do this research, but I am not sure a form is what I am looking for
- again, the primary delivery of the information in the document is as a
printed document - are forms a good fit for this delivery?
This is just one approach, but I'm sure some other suggestions will be
Click to expand...
offered. It would probably be helpful to know more about what the type
Click to expand...
of content in these lists amounts to & how the document will be
used.
Click to expand...

The document is technical documentation of a database - in documenting
each column in the database it is possible that the column has a related
list of values that are valid for that column.

In one mode, the document should exhaustively list every possible valid
value for the columns that have domains associated to them. In the
second mode, the document should list the first 5 values of the domain,
and state that there are additional valid values that are not listed.
What I have done is assign one style to valid values in list position
6+, and another style to text that says "Additional valid values
exist..." that is added at the end of each list. Then I have written a
macro that basically does the following:

If ActiveDocument.Styles("List Members Hidden").Font.Hidden Then
ActiveDocument.Styles("List Members Hidden").Font.Hidden = False
ActiveDocument.Styles("Additional List Items").Font.Hidden =
True
Else
ActiveDocument.Styles("List Members Hidden").Font.Hidden = True
ActiveDocument.Styles("Additional List Items").Font.Hidden =
False
End If

Running the macro should toggle the display of the valid values in
position 6 and beyond (I say should because I am having some problems
getting the "Additional List Items" text to display - I am still working
on figuring out what's going on there).

My question at this point is whether this is the best way to do this, or
if there is a better way - if you still think forms are what I need, I
will look into those more completely.

Thanks
-jdc
 
As I understand your latest post, users are only going to see the document in
printed version(s). Therefore I think that your idea of formatting the text
with special styles and show/hide the text by changing the Hidden property of
the styles via VBA should work well. You do not need a form.

I first thought that users were going to read your document in electronic
version and I was trying to explain all the problems this would give because
you also needed to manipulate the users' options settings of formatting marks
when the document was opened and restore the original settings when the
document was closed. But if you are the only user who has to keep track of
the settings, it is not a problem.

Your problem with column 6 and your macro:
What you refer to as a "list", is it actually a row in a table? (I first
thought you meant an entire table). If a "list" is a row, I suppose that the
last column in the table is the one that contains the "Additional valid
values exist..." strings. If this is correct, have you tried selecting the
entire last column and applying the "Additional List Items" style to the
column?

An idea you could use instead of hidden text:
If the document versions are going to be used by others in electronic
versions as well, you could you the following method instead of the hidden
style method (I have used the method with success):

Keep a "master" of your document that contains all text for both versions
visible. Instead of setting the two special styles to hidden/not hidden,
change the style definitions so that you apply another font color and
background shading (or highlight). Make sure that it is easy to distinguish
the two styles on screen. Then create macros that save 2 copies of the
document:
1. One copy where you delete everything marked by one of the styles and
remove the color/shading from the other style.
2. Another copy where you do the opposite.
Then distribute those two copies and keep the master for yourself only. Make
all updates in the master and repeat the copy creation when needed.

A comment regarding field codes and hidden text:
Showing/hiding hidden text is not in general related to showing/hiding field
codes. However, index fields are an exception because index fields are
formatted as hidden text (there may be other types too that act this way).

--
Regards
Lene Fredborg
DocTools - Denmark
www.thedoctools.com
Document automation - add-ins, macros and templates for Microsoft Word
 
John Clark said:
(My apologies if you get multiple postings of this message - I'm
fighting with my news group reader at the moment...)


No offense taken, but I don't think that my usage here is a big stretch
from the primary purpose of MS Word - I am looking at this as a document
that basically has two different print modes - the first mode displays
all values of each contained list, the second mode displays only the
first 5 values in each list - with an indication that there are more
values not shown. I agree that this information could be shown on a
web page, but in this case, a printed document is the primary delivery
method for this information.

My comment on "strange/wrong/broken" was simply that there are two
different switches on the Tools | Options | View panel - one for "Hidden
text" and one for "Field codes" - in my mind, if the field codes switch
is not selected, the document shouldn't display field codes - however,
the application seems to display field codes if either "Field codes", or
"Hidden Text" are selected, and there does not appear to be a way to
turn off the display of field codes if hidden text is selected to be
shown.


I'll do this research, but I am not sure a form is what I am looking for
- again, the primary delivery of the information in the document is as a
printed document - are forms a good fit for this delivery?




The document is technical documentation of a database - in documenting
each column in the database it is possible that the column has a related
list of values that are valid for that column.

In one mode, the document should exhaustively list every possible valid
value for the columns that have domains associated to them. In the
second mode, the document should list the first 5 values of the domain,
and state that there are additional valid values that are not listed.
What I have done is assign one style to valid values in list position
6+, and another style to text that says "Additional valid values
exist..." that is added at the end of each list. Then I have written a
macro that basically does the following:

If ActiveDocument.Styles("List Members Hidden").Font.Hidden Then
ActiveDocument.Styles("List Members Hidden").Font.Hidden = False
ActiveDocument.Styles("Additional List Items").Font.Hidden =
True
Else
ActiveDocument.Styles("List Members Hidden").Font.Hidden = True
ActiveDocument.Styles("Additional List Items").Font.Hidden =
False
End If

Running the macro should toggle the display of the valid values in
position 6 and beyond (I say should because I am having some problems
getting the "Additional List Items" text to display - I am still working
on figuring out what's going on there).

My question at this point is whether this is the best way to do this, or
if there is a better way - if you still think forms are what I need, I
will look into those more completely.

Thanks
-jdc
Click to expand...
Like Lene, I took from your original post that users had to manipulate this
on screen.

If printing is your only concern, perhaps I'm being a little dense but I
don't see where the problem is. The display of text formatted as Hidden is
triggered along with Formatting Marks (*non-printing* characters), such as
the ¶ at the end of paragraphs. Having these characters visible has nothing
to do with _field codes_ and has no impact on the printed page. They're only
visible on screen - primarily to indicate white space where nothing will
print & why. Field codes, OTOH, are toggled on/off by the Alt+F9 keystroke
regardless of whether non-printing characters and Hidden text are displayed.

Also, the Hidden text *can* be displayed independently of the other
Formatting Marks. Tools>Preferences>View has checkboxes for the individual
Formatting Marks so you can display only the ones you want in any
combination you wish... one of which is Hidden.
 
The only field codes that should be displayed automatically when you display
Hidden text are those that are formatted as Hidden, viz., TC and XE fields.
These are not toggled with Alt+F9 as other field codes are. If any other
field codes are displaying/printing when you have only "Hidden text" and not
"Field codes" checked on the View/Print tab of Tools | Options, then there
is definitely something wrong.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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