Re: Solutions for producing pretty letters

One customer had a vb programmer write a generic tool to read iSeries files of which docs (can be multiple), then parse the docs looking for substitution markers like <CUSNAME> and call my pgm to get the cusname. It produces a final merged doc the user can email, print, save, etc. Has worked well for years.
Using the substitution names, I can add as many as needed, its all table driven.
This replaced Officevision merge docs.
With Word, user can set up shell docs, any font, underline, bold, etc.
Jim Franz

---- David FOXWELL <David.FOXWELL@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi,

We have an application that is used to generate letters to clients automatically.

The header depends upon client information, date, type of letter etc.

The user types the body of the text in to a 5250 screen and each line is saved in a PF on the i5. He is aided by function keys to insert many repetitive clauses.

The finished letter is composed from client/contract information, type of job, text saved by user, etc.

The user wants to be able to type in text as he would in a word processor, with as much of that functionnality as possible ( bold text, images, etc). With the 5250 screen, he has to justify each line manually.

I've thought about using Word with macros to replace the function keys, and saving this as an XML file instead of each line in a PF. The RPG program would have to wait until Word was exited again.

I'd like to hear about ways others of you may have used to evolve this kind of system.

Thanks.
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