Put data in columns on an open form

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Hi again everyone.

I have input from a database which consists of a Description and a currency Amount.

I have to put these descriptions and amounts into an email (or NotePad type sheet) in columns and I am going crazy trying to get the amounts to line up.

The descriptions may be EG:

aaaaaaaaaa
AAAAAAAAAA

and the amounts 99.99 and 120.55 respectively. Note that there are 10 a's in each description.

if I use something like :

VB

theString = Description & " - " & Amount

in a loop then I end up with columns that are not aligned like:

aaaaaaaaaa - 99.99
AAAAAAAAAA - 120.55

Using the .Length attribute is pointless because both Description strings are 10 characters in length.

Could someone please suggest how I could do this.
I have tried using padding and FixedLength but to no avail.
I have also tried using tabs (Chr(9)) but that also does not work because the lengths of Description are the same.

Posted 24-Oct-14 0:52am

Darrell de Wet

Updated 24-Oct-14 0:54am

v2

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Maciej Los 24-Oct-14 6:57am

It depends on many factors. Does email application supports rtf of html format?

Darrell de Wet 24-Oct-14 7:03am

Hi. It is currently HTML. But problem still exists if I write to NotePad.

Maciej Los 24-Oct-14 7:51am

Please, see my answer.
Next time, please use 'Reply' widget, then i'll be informed via notification system about your reply.

2 solutions

Solution 2

Thank you for clarification.

If email client supports html format, put the data between html (table) tags:

HTML

<table>
<!-- headers -->
<tr><th>Description</th><th>Amount</th></tr>
<!-- rows -->
<tr><td>AAAAAAAA</td><td>99</td></tr>
<tr><td>aaaaaaa</td><td>126</td></tr>
</table>

Result:

Description	Amount
AAAAAAAA	99
aaaaaaa	126

Posted 24-Oct-14 1:49am

Maciej Los

Comments

Darrell de Wet 24-Oct-14 8:03am

My HTML skills are almost non existent but I see what you are saying.
I am going to give it a try.

thanks very much for your time and effort

Maciej Los 24-Oct-14 8:51am

You're very welcome ;)

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OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-24T01:14:00

There are only two ways to "line things up":
1) You need to specify the font: you need a "non-proportional" font - which means all teh characters are the same width. So "i" is the same as "W". Courier is a good choice, and it's on most systems.
2) You need to be able to specify tab points in non-character increments: pixels perhaps, or millimeters. This is harder, as it depends on teh application.

Me? I'd use Courier!
The HTML for that would be: