Re: [libreoffice-users] How to change Writer form letter database connection

Thanks Paul. You're right, that does work. However it begs the question 
of why bother to bring up the database selection dialogue in the initial 
Mail Merge panel - especially given that it doesn't actually work?

IMHO the Edit | Exchange Database menu item is a travesty that should be 
removed. Instead the database selection dialogue in the Mail Merge panel 
should be used at run time to select the database/query rather than just 
the specific records.

I will further note that having to go through arcane gyrations to change 
the query is also nuts. A common use case to have multiple different 
queries that can be associated with a specific form letter. Each query 
would be given a meaningful name and the secretary / office 
administrator who is responsible for the getting the letters out selects 
the appropriate one.

Again, this functionality appears to be present in the Mail Merge panel 
but doesn't work.

Or to put it in more direct terms, the database/query selection should 
be part of the mail merge operation, not part of the document 
definition. The document should contain simply the database field name.



On 14/10/16 11:20 AM, Paul D. Mirowsky wrote:
> In my circumstance, I am copying over an old database to a new one and 
> changing the name. Then I add new data to the new database. After that 
> I update the query to access the new data only.
>
> I copy over to a new database as a way to remove old records (data) 
> and keep Base from losing it when it has to many records. No data lost 
> and old data is stored away.
>
> In every case, in Writer, from the menu <Edit><Exchange Database>, I 
> select the new database and select the new query. All fields update 
> appropriately except <new record> which I do manually.
>
> As I understand it, if you are not changing database or fields. You 
> should be able to just update your query to select the records you want.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
>
> On 10/13/2016 4:46 PM, Gary Dale wrote:
> > On 12/10/16 11:00 AM, Paul D. Mirowsky wrote:
> > > Are the field names identical from original to newer data?
> > >
> > > Are you creating new/updated queries?
> > >
> > > I'm always switching to new single source databases from boilerplate 
> > > Writer and haven't had a problem. I have not tried multiple sources 
> > > though.
> > >
> > > Also beware that while the fields may update to the new data, <next 
> > > record> has to be applied manually.  (Seems to be true in most 
> > > versions of LibreOffice).
> > I'm using a Base database (pasted the data in from a spreadsheet so I 
> > could run queries that were apparently too complex for simple 
> > conditional text). The field names haven't changed. If they did, then 
> > I would expect that I'd have to update the merge document.
> >
> > When I View | Field Names (ctrl-F9), I not only see the database name 
> > for both the old database (in the fields that I haven't updated 
> > manually) and the new database (in the fields that I did re-insert to 
> > this year's database) but also the name of the query that was used.
> >
> > This is absurd. The form letter should just contain the name of the 
> > fields and let the user select which database and/or query they wants 
> > to use. As it stands, I am apparently required to not only stick with 
> > the same database but also keep the same query name.
> >
> > Even the menu item (Field Names) seems to be poorly thought out. 
> > Toggling it switches the view from just the Field Names to the full 
> > database, query, Field Names. In both cases I see Field Names. It 
> > probably should be named "Query Path" - although as I have stated, 
> > the document shouldn't even use that information.


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