Extracting data from word

[nallapambu]

Hai all,

I have this problem with a system I need to create for a company:

#1 The User fills in a Word Document Form with data
#2 The User emails this form
#3 The program will read the filled in document and do database entries.


Does anyone have an idea how I can in word set up fields that I can access programmatically in word using Java and third party library (open source, if it exists). I guess I just would like to know about how to obtain the libraries and how to set up fields.

Many Thanks.....

nallapambu

 

[penfold]

I don't know - it sounds more like something one would do with Access rather than Word, if it's even possible.

 

[nallapambu]

You try getting your users to email a database every day -- bad enough a word document.

Think of it as automatically processing an order form or something, just I want to grab the text - not have someone type it in.

 

[ryno]

This sounds like something I'd write a web front end for. Failing that I'd probably have them save the document in plain text, making it easier to read.

I'd venture that writing a web front end to do this and setting up the server which will run it would be quicker and easier for the end user.

If you were to do it with an access database then what you would do is create a simple VB form that the user enters the information with and that form in turn inserts the information to the access database which the user in turn could email to you.

My recommended solution for this is take the VB form recommendation I mentioned above and go a step further with it. Have it connect to the database remotely and insert the data directly to the end machine. This would be the most convenient for all involved and would probably take the least amount of server configuration to accomplish.

There are just a few ideas for you to think about.

 

[_Jack]

If doing this via word and email is a requirement what you will want to look at is either using the Word Object Model (if the data is still in a Word Doc) or the MAPI interface/Outlook Object MOdel to extract the data. You can write a program that will open a Word doc get the active document object and from there access the objects within that document. If the doc is being converted to an HTML email and sent via Outlook what you will need to do is use the Outlook object to grab the email and then parse it. You can write an Outlook agent that responds to the item added or new mail events that will trigger a routine that will test the message against a set of criteria and then take a response path based upon what is found.