MailMergeSettings.setDataSource keeps a reference to the PREVIOUS data source

Aspose.Words Product Family
1

MailMergeSettings.setDataSource() on the face of it works.

Using the example below, it seemingly switches the document’s datasource from old-datasource to new-datasource (e.g. in Word, mailmerged document gives different output, the list of mailmerge fields changes).

However, (in Word 2007), there is still a reference to the old datasource:-

  • Open test-out.doc
  • Click on mailings->Start Mail Merge-> Step by Step mail merge wizard.
  • On the window that opens to the right, there is text that says "Currently, your recipients are selected from “old-datasource”.
  • If you choose to “select a different list”, the displayed text changes to something like:-
    [......\new-datasource.doc] in new-datasource.doc

Curious, I converted the output document to .docx, and unzipped the contents. The following file has a reference to BOTH datasources:-

\word\_rels\settings.xml.rels

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<Relationships xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/relationships">
    <Relationship Id="rId2" Type="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/recipientData" Target="recipientData.xml"/>
    <Relationship Id="rId1" Type="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/mailMergeSource" Target="file:///C:\data\java\MaggieMM\new-datasource.doc" TargetMode="External"/>
</Relationships>

import com.aspose.words.License;
import com.aspose.words.Document;
import com.aspose.words.MailMergeSettings;
import com.aspose.words.MailMergeMainDocumentType;

//*************************************************************************************
public class Test
{
   //*************************************************************************************
   public static void main (String args[]) throws Exception {


 License license = new License();
    license.setLicense("Aspose.Words.Java.lic");

 System.out.println ("Opening test-in.doc");
    Document doc = new Document ("test-in.doc");

    MailMergeSettings mms = doc.getMailMergeSettings();
    mms.setMainDocumentType (MailMergeMainDocumentType.FORM_LETTERS);

    System.out.println ("OLD Datasource : "+mms.getDataSource()+mms.getHeaderSource());

    String newDataSource = System.getProperty ("user.dir")+"\\new-datasource.doc";
    mms.setDataSource (newDataSource);
    System.out.println ("NEW Datasource : "+mms.getDataSource());
 doc.setMailMergeSettings(mms);

 System.out.println ("Saving test-out.doc");
    doc.save ("test-out.doc");

   }
   //*************************************************************************************
}
2

Hi

Thanks for your request. Maybe in your case you should simply clear mail merge settings before setting new data source:
https://reference.aspose.com/words/java/com.aspose.words/mailmergesettings#clear()

hope this helps.

Best regards,

3

I tried that, and got the same results.

I noticed that even after clear() was called, the datasource was still set, as seen in the output:-

Opening test-in.doc
clearing mailmerge settings
OLD Datasource : C:\Data\Java\MaggieMM\old-datasource.doc
NEW Datasource : C:\Data\Java\MaggieMM\new-datasource.doc
Saving test-out.doc

import com.aspose.words.License;
import com.aspose.words.Document;
import com.aspose.words.MailMergeSettings;
import com.aspose.words.MailMergeMainDocumentType;
import com.aspose.words.MailMergeDataType;

//*************************************************************************************
public class Test
{
    //*************************************************************************************
    public static void main (String args[]) throws Exception {

        License license = new License();
        license.setLicense("Aspose.Words.Java.lic");

        System.out.println ("Opening test-in.doc");
        Document doc = new Document ("test-in.doc");

        MailMergeSettings mms = doc.getMailMergeSettings();
        System.out.println ("clearing mailmerge settings");
        mms.clear();
        mms.setDataType (MailMergeDataType.TEXT_FILE);
        mms.setMainDocumentType (MailMergeMainDocumentType.FORM_LETTERS);

        System.out.println ("OLD Datasource : "+mms.getDataSource());

        String newDataSource = System.getProperty ("user.dir")+"\\new-datasource.doc";
        mms.setDataSource (newDataSource);
        System.out.println ("NEW Datasource : "+mms.getDataSource());
        doc.setMailMergeSettings(mms);

        System.out.println ("Saving test-out.doc");
        doc.save ("test-out.doc");

    }
//*************************************************************************************
}
4

Hi

Thank you for additional information. Probably, what you need is simply reset Query as shown below:

String newDataSource = "C:\\Temp\\new-datasource.doc";
mms.setDataSource(newDataSource);
mms.setQuery("SELECT * FROM " + newDataSource);

Best regards,

5

No, I’m afraid that didn’t work.

Just to reiterate - the change of datasource is MOSTLY working, as seen by the attached image:-

  • Working - mailmerged fields say “New X” etc.
  • Working - The list of MM fields includes Field_4 - which is in the new datasource only.
  • Not working - there is a reference to the old mailmerge, highlighted in the attached image.

Thanks, Jonathan.

6

Hi

Thank you for additional information. It seems MS Word takes this information from Odso. So you should simply set data source in Odso as shown below:

mms.setDataSource(newDataSource);
mms.setQuery("SELECT * FROM " + newDataSource);
mms.getOdso().setDataSource(newDataSource);

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

7

This now works!

Thanks, Jonathan.