Access output question

Question

Hi,
I'm new at CF. I have an access database that is taking in
form data. That
part I got working fine, but what I'd like to know is there a
way to use cf
(6.1) to extract the data and format it into either a word
document, or
excel spreadsheet, then either email it and/or dump it into a
directory on
the server?
Thanks

Answer 1

I did this a few years back when we had 6.1. It may have not
been the best way but it worked. You first need to create a
template document. Create it in MS Word or whatever but it needs to
be saved as a .rtf file instead of a .doc (6.1 couldn't write to a
.doc file or something but it didn't matter because all you have to
do is change the extension after you're finished.) Format the
document a required then everywhere you want to insert data from
Access add a unique variable in the form of %variableName%.
Next in you cfm file you have to query the data. Then using
cffile read the template file into memory, something like
<cffile
action="Read"
file="#TemplatePath#"
variable="RTF">
Now replace the placeholder variables you created in the
template with the data, like so:
<cfset RTF = Replace(RTF, "%variableName%",
queryname.datacolumn)>
Finally, I suggested a new default filename for document with
<cfheader name="Content-Disposition"
value="filename=Letter.doc">
and then set the content-type so Word is invoked
<cfcontent
type="application/msword"><cfoutput>#RTF#</cfoutput>
This of course opened Word on the Client's computer and wrote
all the information to the document which would be saved to
wherever they wanted as letter.doc unless they specified otherwise.
If you want it to write to a folder on the server just skip the
last two lines above and use cffile again to write the RTF variable
back to a file
younameit.doc to whatever path you want. You can then attach
it to an email or have a page link displayed on screen.
It's been a while since I wrote this but I quite sure that
how I did it. Hope it helps.