Multiuser access to a file on our server

We are using a number of "boiler plate" type text entries that get
inserted into documents by a function "fnInsertText" that's in the
Normal template on each workstation. The text entries are arguements
passed to fnInsertText, which performs certain operations on them and
then inserts them into the document. There are about 100 text
entries of one-sentence size. They are subject to continual
Add/Change/Delete operations.

I'd like some ideas on how and where to store these text entries on
our network so that they are available to all the workstations, and
can be maintained by editing a single file on the server. I thought
about retrieving them from the server as a tab-delimited text file and
putting them into an array in the workstation module that contains
"fnInsertText" ... something like that, but there are probably better
ways ...

I assume that accessing them directly from a file on the server would
create a great many problems related to sharing, network speed, etc.

Thanks very much

Jonathan
Fri Jan 23 15:28:55 CST 2004

Hi Charles,

I would recommend that you have a central location for your masters which
you edit, and an automated means of copying the masters to the individual
PCs, using login scripts or SBS or something similar.

You could include them all within a single template file as AutoText
entries. The template would reside Word's startup folder, where the AutoText
entries would be available to all macros.

See here for more ideas

Distributing macros to other users
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/MacrosVBA/DistributeMacros.htm

--
Regards
Jonathan West - Word MVP
http://www.multilinker.com
Please reply to the newsgroup




"Charles Warner" <rathernot@havemail.com> wrote in message
news:kn0310p4e7egmie3ntf9k8bucgio3ia7f5@4ax.com...
> We are using a number of "boiler plate" type text entries that get
> inserted into documents by a function "fnInsertText" that's in the
> Normal template on each workstation. The text entries are arguements
> passed to fnInsertText, which performs certain operations on them and
> then inserts them into the document. There are about 100 text
> entries of one-sentence size. They are subject to continual
> Add/Change/Delete operations.
>
> I'd like some ideas on how and where to store these text entries on
> our network so that they are available to all the workstations, and
> can be maintained by editing a single file on the server. I thought
> about retrieving them from the server as a tab-delimited text file and
> putting them into an array in the workstation module that contains
> "fnInsertText" ... something like that, but there are probably better
> ways ...
>
> I assume that accessing them directly from a file on the server would
> create a great many problems related to sharing, network speed, etc.
>
> Thanks very much
>
>

Doug
Fri Jan 23 17:18:44 CST 2004

Hi Charles,

You can have a logon script check the version of a file on the user's
machine against the version of the same file on the server and copy it to
the user's machine if the server version is later.

--
Please post any further questions or followup to the newsgroups for the
benefit of others who may be interested. Unsolicited questions forwarded
directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis.
Hope this helps
Doug Robbins - Word MVP
"Charles Warner" <rathernot@havemail.com> wrote in message
news:kn0310p4e7egmie3ntf9k8bucgio3ia7f5@4ax.com...
> We are using a number of "boiler plate" type text entries that get
> inserted into documents by a function "fnInsertText" that's in the
> Normal template on each workstation. The text entries are arguements
> passed to fnInsertText, which performs certain operations on them and
> then inserts them into the document. There are about 100 text
> entries of one-sentence size. They are subject to continual
> Add/Change/Delete operations.
>
> I'd like some ideas on how and where to store these text entries on
> our network so that they are available to all the workstations, and
> can be maintained by editing a single file on the server. I thought
> about retrieving them from the server as a tab-delimited text file and
> putting them into an array in the workstation module that contains
> "fnInsertText" ... something like that, but there are probably better
> ways ...
>
> I assume that accessing them directly from a file on the server would
> create a great many problems related to sharing, network speed, etc.
>
> Thanks very much
>
>

Perry
Sat Jan 24 10:04:24 CST 2004

> I'd like some ideas on how and where to store these text entries on
> > our network so that they are available to all the workstations, and
> > can be maintained by editing a single file on the server.

If y're networked is equiped with a Share Point portal server
you can also think about using Document Workspaces:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/spptsdk/htm
l/AboutDocWorkspace.asp

Krgrds,
Perry

"Doug Robbins - Word MVP - DELETE UPPERCASE CHARACTERS FROM EMAIL ADDRESS"
<dkr@mOSTvALUABLEpROFESSIONALs.org> wrote in message
news:uRTz$cg4DHA.1636@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Hi Charles,
>
> You can have a logon script check the version of a file on the user's
> machine against the version of the same file on the server and copy it to
> the user's machine if the server version is later.
>
> --
> Please post any further questions or followup to the newsgroups for the
> benefit of others who may be interested. Unsolicited questions forwarded
> directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis.
> Hope this helps
> Doug Robbins - Word MVP
> "Charles Warner" <rathernot@havemail.com> wrote in message
> news:kn0310p4e7egmie3ntf9k8bucgio3ia7f5@4ax.com...
> > We are using a number of "boiler plate" type text entries that get
> > inserted into documents by a function "fnInsertText" that's in the
> > Normal template on each workstation. The text entries are arguements
> > passed to fnInsertText, which performs certain operations on them and
> > then inserts them into the document. There are about 100 text
> > entries of one-sentence size. They are subject to continual
> > Add/Change/Delete operations.
> >
> > I'd like some ideas on how and where to store these text entries on
> > our network so that they are available to all the workstations, and
> > can be maintained by editing a single file on the server. I thought
> > about retrieving them from the server as a tab-delimited text file and
> > putting them into an array in the workstation module that contains
> > "fnInsertText" ... something like that, but there are probably better
> > ways ...
> >
> > I assume that accessing them directly from a file on the server would
> > create a great many problems related to sharing, network speed, etc.
> >
> > Thanks very much
> >
> >
>
>

Charles
Sat Jan 24 10:43:14 CST 2004

Thank you Jonathan ... the article from the MVP site was very helpful
... and not something I noticed when I was over there.


On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 21:28:55 -0000, "Jonathan West" <jwest@mvps.org>
wrote:

>Hi Charles,
>
>I would recommend that you have a central location for your masters which
>you edit, and an automated means of copying the masters to the individual
>PCs, using login scripts or SBS or something similar.
>
>You could include them all within a single template file as AutoText
>entries. The template would reside Word's startup folder, where the AutoText
>entries would be available to all macros.
>
>See here for more ideas
>
>Distributing macros to other users
>http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/MacrosVBA/DistributeMacros.htm

Charles
Sat Jan 24 10:49:44 CST 2004

Thank you Doug for your idea ... but it's something I'd have to work
out with the Network Admin, who has not been very cooperative in
adding "all kinds of wield stuff" to the network ... I'd like to try
an approach I can use directly within Word, if that is possible.


On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 09:18:44 +1000, "Doug Robbins - Word MVP - DELETE
UPPERCASE CHARACTERS FROM EMAIL ADDRESS"
<dkr@mOSTvALUABLEpROFESSIONALs.org> wrote:

>Hi Charles,
>
>You can have a logon script check the version of a file on the user's
>machine against the version of the same file on the server and copy it to
>the user's machine if the server version is later.

Charles
Sat Jan 24 10:54:48 CST 2004

Thanks Perry ... I'm not sure whether Share Point is on the network.
My preference is to work within Word if at all possible, as the
Network Admin is a little hard to deal with. That way, if revisions
need to made in what I'm doing, I can manage it without a hassle.



On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 17:04:24 +0100, "Perry" <p.lima@chello.nl> wrote:

>> I'd like some ideas on how and where to store these text entries on
>> > our network so that they are available to all the workstations, and
>> > can be maintained by editing a single file on the server.
>
>If y're networked is equiped with a Share Point portal server
>you can also think about using Document Workspaces:
>
>http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/spptsdk/htm
>l/AboutDocWorkspace.asp
>
>Krgrds,
>Perry
>
>"Doug Robbins - Word MVP - DELETE UPPERCASE CHARACTERS FROM EMAIL ADDRESS"
><dkr@mOSTvALUABLEpROFESSIONALs.org> wrote in message
>news:uRTz$cg4DHA.1636@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>> Hi Charles,
>>
>> You can have a logon script check the version of a file on the user's
>> machine against the version of the same file on the server and copy it to
>> the user's machine if the server version is later.
>>
>> --
>> Please post any further questions or followup to the newsgroups for the
>> benefit of others who may be interested. Unsolicited questions forwarded
>> directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis.
>> Hope this helps
>> Doug Robbins - Word MVP
>> "Charles Warner" <rathernot@havemail.com> wrote in message
>> news:kn0310p4e7egmie3ntf9k8bucgio3ia7f5@4ax.com...
>> > We are using a number of "boiler plate" type text entries that get
>> > inserted into documents by a function "fnInsertText" that's in the
>> > Normal template on each workstation. The text entries are arguements
>> > passed to fnInsertText, which performs certain operations on them and
>> > then inserts them into the document. There are about 100 text
>> > entries of one-sentence size. They are subject to continual
>> > Add/Change/Delete operations.
>> >
>> > I'd like some ideas on how and where to store these text entries on
>> > our network so that they are available to all the workstations, and
>> > can be maintained by editing a single file on the server. I thought
>> > about retrieving them from the server as a tab-delimited text file and
>> > putting them into an array in the workstation module that contains
>> > "fnInsertText" ... something like that, but there are probably better
>> > ways ...
>> >
>> > I assume that accessing them directly from a file on the server would
>> > create a great many problems related to sharing, network speed, etc.
>> >
>> > Thanks very much
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>

Charles
Sat Jan 24 11:11:07 CST 2004

A question, after reading your replies: Can I use FileCopy to
accomplish the transfer to the workstation?

Typically, the user only opens Word once or twice a day, and the file
could be copied at that time. Are there some disadvantages to this
approach?


On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 20:31:48 GMT, Charles Warner
<rathernot@havemail.com> wrote:

>We are using a number of "boiler plate" type text entries that get
>inserted into documents by a function "fnInsertText" that's in the
>Normal template on each workstation. The text entries are arguements
>passed to fnInsertText, which performs certain operations on them and
>then inserts them into the document. There are about 100 text
>entries of one-sentence size. They are subject to continual
>Add/Change/Delete operations.
>
> I'd like some ideas on how and where to store these text entries on
>our network so that they are available to all the workstations, and
>can be maintained by editing a single file on the server. I thought
>about retrieving them from the server as a tab-delimited text file and
>putting them into an array in the workstation module that contains
>"fnInsertText" ... something like that, but there are probably better
>ways ...
>
>I assume that accessing them directly from a file on the server would
>create a great many problems related to sharing, network speed, etc.
>
>Thanks very much
>

Perry
Sat Jan 24 11:19:51 CST 2004

You can use FileCopy to copy files across as long as
the document/template the code is executing from isn't
the one y're trying to copy.

If y're trying to copy TemplateA.dot, no instances of TemplateA.dot are open
and y're running the code from TemplateB.dot, y're ok.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vbenlr98/ht
ml/vastmfilecopy.asp

Krgrds,
Perry

"Charles Warner" <rathernot@havemail.com> wrote in message
news:209510t1u085p9kg27c6frfk3t2dfgir9i@4ax.com...
> A question, after reading your replies: Can I use FileCopy to
> accomplish the transfer to the workstation?
>
> Typically, the user only opens Word once or twice a day, and the file
> could be copied at that time. Are there some disadvantages to this
> approach?
>
>
> On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 20:31:48 GMT, Charles Warner
> <rathernot@havemail.com> wrote:
>
> >We are using a number of "boiler plate" type text entries that get
> >inserted into documents by a function "fnInsertText" that's in the
> >Normal template on each workstation. The text entries are arguements
> >passed to fnInsertText, which performs certain operations on them and
> >then inserts them into the document. There are about 100 text
> >entries of one-sentence size. They are subject to continual
> >Add/Change/Delete operations.
> >
> > I'd like some ideas on how and where to store these text entries on
> >our network so that they are available to all the workstations, and
> >can be maintained by editing a single file on the server. I thought
> >about retrieving them from the server as a tab-delimited text file and
> >putting them into an array in the workstation module that contains
> >"fnInsertText" ... something like that, but there are probably better
> >ways ...
> >
> >I assume that accessing them directly from a file on the server would
> >create a great many problems related to sharing, network speed, etc.
> >
> >Thanks very much
> >
>

Lars-Eric
Sat Jan 24 14:34:04 CST 2004

Charles,

If you have Windows 2003 Server you have Windows Sharepoint Services alredy.
It's included in Win 2003 Server. What you don't have (unless you buy it) is
Sharepoint Portal Server which is installed on top of WSS and requires SPS
clients on the client machines.

--
Regards,
Lars-Eric Gisslén

"Charles Warner" <rathernot@havemail.com> skrev i meddelandet
news:ma8510tsp47ntopifb4siq3l1p1tca8c1g@4ax.com...
> Thanks Perry ... I'm not sure whether Share Point is on the network.
> My preference is to work within Word if at all possible, as the
> Network Admin is a little hard to deal with. That way, if revisions
> need to made in what I'm doing, I can manage it without a hassle.
>
>
>
> On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 17:04:24 +0100, "Perry" <p.lima@chello.nl> wrote:
>
> >> I'd like some ideas on how and where to store these text entries on
> >> > our network so that they are available to all the workstations, and
> >> > can be maintained by editing a single file on the server.
> >
> >If y're networked is equiped with a Share Point portal server
> >you can also think about using Document Workspaces:
> >
>
>http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/spptsdk/ht
m
> >l/AboutDocWorkspace.asp
> >
> >Krgrds,
> >Perry
> >
> >"Doug Robbins - Word MVP - DELETE UPPERCASE CHARACTERS FROM EMAIL
ADDRESS"
> ><dkr@mOSTvALUABLEpROFESSIONALs.org> wrote in message
> >news:uRTz$cg4DHA.1636@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> >> Hi Charles,
> >>
> >> You can have a logon script check the version of a file on the user's
> >> machine against the version of the same file on the server and copy it
to
> >> the user's machine if the server version is later.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Please post any further questions or followup to the newsgroups for the
> >> benefit of others who may be interested. Unsolicited questions
forwarded
> >> directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis.
> >> Hope this helps
> >> Doug Robbins - Word MVP
> >> "Charles Warner" <rathernot@havemail.com> wrote in message
> >> news:kn0310p4e7egmie3ntf9k8bucgio3ia7f5@4ax.com...
> >> > We are using a number of "boiler plate" type text entries that get
> >> > inserted into documents by a function "fnInsertText" that's in the
> >> > Normal template on each workstation. The text entries are arguements
> >> > passed to fnInsertText, which performs certain operations on them and
> >> > then inserts them into the document. There are about 100 text
> >> > entries of one-sentence size. They are subject to continual
> >> > Add/Change/Delete operations.
> >> >
> >> > I'd like some ideas on how and where to store these text entries on
> >> > our network so that they are available to all the workstations, and
> >> > can be maintained by editing a single file on the server. I thought
> >> > about retrieving them from the server as a tab-delimited text file
and
> >> > putting them into an array in the workstation module that contains
> >> > "fnInsertText" ... something like that, but there are probably
better
> >> > ways ...
> >> >
> >> > I assume that accessing them directly from a file on the server would
> >> > create a great many problems related to sharing, network speed, etc.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks very much
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>

Charles
Sat Jan 24 16:08:46 CST 2004

Thank you Lars-Eric ... I'll have to ask the network people about this
on Moday.




On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 21:34:04 +0100, "Lars-Eric Gisslén"
<nowhere@inter.net> wrote:

>Lars-Eric