Storing data for use within a procedure

[Jfp87]

Guys,

General question regarding the storage of data which will be used regularly by a procedure;

Say the data is 100+ MS Word pages, all containing tables of data which relate to different things. Would it be better storing it in:

• the template which will use the data
• a seperate Word document
• multiple word documents dependant on data

An additional Excel worksheet may also be used for certain data.

I am basically trying to get a general idea of the best way to store data for use within an application - if that exists.

Cheers,
Joe

[SamT]

best way to store data for use [by MS Office Applications]

IMO, MS Access, followed by MS Excel, with *.csv files a distant third. Word not in the same class.

[Jfp87]

Is it common to use MS Access for a database of common text / paragraphs?

[SamT]

Best is Access or Excel

Say the data is 100+ [???], all containing tables of data

Access or Excel might not be best

common text / paragraphs

If you change your mind again and say that it is images you want to store, then I give up.

[Paul_Hossler]

General question regarding the storage of data which will be used regularly by a procedure;

What is the data?

Numbers?

Blocks of text?

Tables an tables?

[Jfp87]

It will mostly be blocks of text Paul. How would you do it?

[gmaxey]

If you need to store blocks of text then simply store them as building blocks in the template with the running code or any loaded template. It really doesn't matter.

[SamT]

@ Greg,

The OP says he has hundreds of Tables of blocks of text. Would that make a difference?

[gmaxey]

SamT,

I created a new template containing a single table then ran this code:

Sub Test()
Dim oTbl As Table
Dim i As Long
Dim oRng As Word.Range
For i = 1 To 500
Set oRng = ActiveDocument.Tables(1).Range
ThisDocument.AttachedTemplate.BuildingBlockEntries.Add Name:="New BB Entry" & i, Type:=wdTypeAutoText, Category:="General", Range:=oRng
Next i
End Sub

The macro took about 45 seconds to run, and I was left with 500 building blocks (all the same of course) which I could select and insert into any document. A similar process could be used to create 500 unique building blocks and is should work equally as well.

I don't think "several hundred" is a critical factor. How the OP intends to use the data, e.g., insert it, read it, etc. is probably the significant factor.

[SamT]

Thanks,

I do hope that Jfp87 comes back and sees that there are experts here who can help him/her.