Merge Fields

To ensure that you select the appropriate table and merge field, think carefully about the recipients of this template and determine which field will best fulfill the purpose of the document.

For example, if you select merge fields related to a “Contact”, and try to send the document to an “Attendee”, the fields will remain blank because EventPro cannot find the appropriate information to pull into the document.

There are two kinds of Merge Fields you can enter into a template: Simple and Multiple-Record.

1.	Open the template in the Word Processor.

2.	From the main menu, select View \| Mail Merge Dialog. This opens the Merge Fields/Bands dialog.

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3.	From the drop-down list, select the table that contains the merge field you want to use. The fields related to the table will appear in the list below. Select the field you want to use.

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4.	Click to place your cursor in the document where you want to insert the merge field and double-click on the field in the merge dialog or click Insert Merge Field. Alternatively, you can drag and drop the field from the merge dialog into the document at the appropriate place.

5.	To remove a merge field, highlight the entire word and the surrounding < >, and press the Delete key. You can also click on the merge field and select Edit \| Delete Merge Field. You cannot remove the field by deleting or backspacing one letter at a time.

6.	If you click on the merge field in the body of the document, the Status Bar along the lower edge of your screen will display the contents of the Merge Field as Table.Field (e.g. Attendee.FullName or Event.StartDate).

7.	To preview the document, click the Merged Text tab or select File \| Print Preview. Note that the preview text will be pulled from your database, so if some of the fields are incomplete for the company, event, attendee, etc., no text will appear in the preview fields.

a.	You can choose whether you want the preview panel to appear along the left side of the preview screen in the Merged Text tab.

b.	From the main menu, select View \| Preview Panel to remove or restore the preview panel.

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Here are examples of some commonly used merge fields:

1.	Date and Time: From the Word Processor’s main menu, select Insert \| Date, Time or Date/Time.

2.	Address: If you want to add return address information for the recipient, select the table related to the group of recipients, e.g. Contact, Company, Attendees, etc. Insert the appropriate merge fields, such as Address, City, State, ZipCode and Country.

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3.	Greeting: You may want to create an automatic greeting that will be customized for each individual to whom you send the document. E.g. Dear <FirstName>, or Dear <Title><LastName>: Dear Jane, or Dear Mrs. Smith.

From the list of tables, select the table related to the group of people to whom you will be sending the document (e.g. Contacts, Attendees, etc.). For example, if you are creating a template that you intend to send to company contacts in communications or mail merges, you would select the Contact table. If you are creating a letter template that will be sent to attendees, you should select the Attendee table. If you use the contact table to add the greeting “Dear <FullName>”, and include the template in a communication sent to an Attendee (who is not a company contact), the merge fields will be blank, as they are looking for the contact name, not an attendee name.

After "Dear" or "To", insert the appropriate merge fields to fill in your greeting, such as <FullName>. Note that one of the fields available is <Greeting>. When you create contacts and attendees, the greeting will default to the greeting you choose in System Settings, e.g. <Title><FirstName><LastName>, <FirstName>, etc. See Chapter 1: Setting Up EventPro, Step 1: System Settings, Contacts.

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Event Name, Locations and Other Details: You may want to put the event name and locations into a document. In this example, we have selected the Event table and inserted the Locations, EventName and ContractRequiredBy fields. If, however, you want to merge a list of an event’s booked locations and show the different function names for each booked location, follow the instructions detailed below under Multiple-Record Merge Field.

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5.	Closing: You may also want to create an automatically generated closing that will come from the appropriate user at your facility.

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a.	From the Table list you can choose the Current User, the User assigned to the event (Event User-Assigned), the Sales Rep for the event (Event User-Sales Rep) or a User assigned to any of the Roles you created in your System Settings.

b.	Then insert the appropriate merge fields for your closing, which may include Name, Phone, Email, etc.

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The simple merge method will only work for fields that have just one matching record. For example, if you pick the Contact table and the <FirstName> field, only one record will match that field for each recipient of the communication.

However, some fields will have more than one matching record. For example, the event “Smith-Brown Wedding” has three functions, each in a different location: the Friday Rehearsal Dinner taking place in the Seabreeze Lounge, the Saturday Wedding Reception taking place in the Royal Ballroom, and the Sunday Gift Opening taking place in the Opal Dining Room. If you sent a communication using a template that contained the <LocCode> (Location Code) field from the Event Location table, EventPro would only merge the location code from the first record, i.e. the Seabreeze Lounge. You need to insert the merge field in a different way so that it includes all of the records that match.

Therefore, if you want to insert a merge field that has multiple records, you must use the Groups buttons in the merge dialog.

1.	Open the template in the Word Processor.

2.	Select View \| Mail Merge Dialog from the main menu.

3.	In the Merge Fields/Bands dialog, click the Advanced>> button to see the Groups buttons (Insert Start, Insert End, Set Dataset) to the right.

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4.	Place your cursor in the document where you want to insert the merge field.

5.	Select the appropriate Table from the drop-down list in the merge dialog. In our example, we are using Event Location.

6.	Under Groups, click the Insert Start button.

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7.	In the document, the Group start will appear. In our example, it is EVENTLOCATION.

8.	If the Group name is not correct for the merge fields you want to use, simply click on the line, select the correct table from the drop-down list in the Merge Fields/Bands dialog and click Set DataSet.

9.	You can now choose fields from the correct table.

10.

The cursor will be bumped to the line below the Group Start. Select the Field you want to place in the document. Double-click the field, drag-and-drop the field or click Insert Merge Field to insert the desired Merge Field from the Merge Fields/Bands dialog. To add another, adjust the placement of the cursor in your document (by pressing Enter, Tab, etc.) and add another merge field.

a.	In our example, we are adding the LocCode, FunctionName and EventDate fields.

b.	Adjust the space between the fields and change the font and paragraph formatting as you wish.

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11.	When you have added all the merge fields you require, place the cursor behind or below the merge field(s) you just added, and click the Insert End button. You may want to leave some space after the last field and before the group end. The Group End appears.

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12.	The Groups Start and End mark the start and finish of the multiple-entry merge field. All records that match the field will merge into the document as a vertical list at that point.

13.	See below for the example and result:

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14.	To preview the document and ensure that the spacing and formatting are correct, click the Merged Text tab or select File \| Print Preview.

a.	Remember, you can remove or restore the preview panel in the Merged Text tab by selecting View \| Preview Panel.

b.	Note that the preview text will be pulled from your database, so if some of the fields are incomplete for the company, event, attendee, etc., no text will appear in the preview fields.

Help url: http://www.yourdomain.com/help/index.html?ch12_merge_fields.htm

Merge Fields						CH12_Merge_Fields Dear EventPro Documentation Department,
Merge Fields