Ad Hoc mailing lists

[ptaylor-west]

I have been asked if I can provide an ad hoc mailing list, a one off. The requirement is to be able to browse the database and click a radio button to identify which records should be added to the list. OK straightforward enough but a bit messy as you would have to go back through and remove your selections each time after runing off your query and generating the list.

I don't like the idea of any ad hoc lists or the thought of people sitiing there endlessly trawling through records instead of selecting sensible criteria, however I aim to please.

My idea is to have a command button that when clicked will add the record to a table which is then used to generate the mailing list and a housekeeping command button that would clear all the records from the table when clicked.

Am I on the right lines or has anyone used anything like this before?

 

[glynch]

If the list of possible mailees isn't ever going to be too large you could display the list in a listbox which allows multiple selections, allow the users to scroll thru the list, make their selections, and then print the list or whatever you do from there. If the list is longer than 200 - 300 records it may be too large to be practical.

Another posibility is to have a form which displays the data for each mailee one at a time. Have a checkbox on the form "Add to Ad Hoc mailing list", on the AfterUpdate event or something insert code to update a boolean field in that table to True. When you are done adding all of the people you want to the mailing list, have a button somewhere to produce the list based on a query looking for all of the records where the ad hoc boolean is true.

In the same event that produces the list, at the end, after the list is produced, run an update query to set all of the values in the ad hoc field to null or false.

HTH

 

[ptaylor-west]

This looks spot on, I will try later and come back to you,

Thanks

 

[ptaylor-west]

Right, all sorted and working perfectly, process as follows:

I added an 'Ad Hoc Tag' Field to the table with a Yes/No box.

Then I created a new form that referred to said table

On the form I placed the Yes/No 'Ad Hoc Tag' box

I then created a list box

By highlighting a record and clicking the 'Ad Hoc Tag' box it marked the field in the original table.

I then created a query using Yes as the criteria and then created a report from the query.

To streamline I placed a command button the new form that ran the query/report directly

Finally I ceated an Update Query to zero the Yes box and I placed a command button on the new form to activate that directly.

The only thing you have to watch is if you add this to your switchboard is that you open the form in Edity Mode and not Add Mode otherwise the form gives you an error message that it can't find the current record

Many thanks for the help and advice