OVER 2 YOU, 153 (28/10/03)

BOWLS TICKETS

I am about to print tickets (10 per A4 card: 5 rows and 2 columns) in MS Word for my local Bowls Club. Can anyone suggest a way of numbering them from 001 to 200, preferably in the bottom right hand corner where there will be a 'Lucky Number'?

Ted Creswell, via email

Create a table of 5 rows and 2 columns and drag the cell bars to the desired sizes for your page. Select the table, go to Format/Bullets and Numbering and choose the simple numbering. To format the numbers in each cell, go to View/Toolbars/Tables and Borders and choose the button with a picture of some text and arrow; this gives you nine options, one of which is text at bottom right of every cell.  Click outside the table and press Ctrl + Enter to create a page break. Press Ctrl + A then Ctrl + Insert, then click once after the page break and press Ctrl + V nineteen times. Remove the final page break. Word will treat this as one table with 2 columns and 20 rows, with consecutively numbered cells.
Nicholas Blake

The following macro in Word would do the job:

Sub TicketMaker()
  
Dim strLine(8) As String
Dim bytTicketNumber As Byte
 
'Sets document to 2 columns
    With ActiveDocument.PageSetup.TextColumns
        .SetCount NumColumns:=2
        .EvenlySpaced = True
        .LineBetween = False
        .Width = CentimetersToPoints(7.0)
        .Spacing = CentimetersToPoints(1.27)
    End With
'Asks for text for each of eight lines
strLine(1) = InputBox("First Line")
strLine(2) = InputBox("Second Line")
strLine(3) = InputBox("Third Line")
strLine(4) = InputBox("Fourth Line")
strLine(5) = InputBox("Fifth Line")
strLine(6) = InputBox("Sixth Line")
strLine(7) = InputBox("Seventh Line")
strLine(8) = InputBox("Eighth Line")
  
'Loops through 200 tickets
For bytTicketNumber = 1 To 200
Selection.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = wdAlignParagraphLeft
Selection.TypeText (strLine(1) & Chr(10) & strLine(2) & Chr(10) & strLine(3) & Chr(10) & strLine(4) & Chr(10) & strLine(5) & Chr(10) & strLine(6) & Chr(10) & strLine(7) & Chr(10) & strLine(8) & Chr(10) & Chr(10))
Selection.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = wdAlignParagraphRight
Selection.TypeText (bytTicketNumber)
Selection.TypeText (Chr(10))
Next bytTicketNumber
End Sub

Robert Hammond-Smith. Via email

Use an Excel worksheet as the data source for a Word Mail Merge.  Each column on the worksheet will be a mail merge field.  In each column of Row 1 type a column heading to identify the field i.e. Number for the ticket, Venue, Date, etc. In Row 2 of the Number column type 1, then use Fill Series until the Number column contains the range you want. In Row 2 of the other columns type the information for the other mail merge fields, then fill-down.  Save and close Excel

In Word use the mail merge wizard for address labels, using the label J8414, which prints 10 to a page.  Select your previously saved Excel workbook as the data source, selecting the worksheet containing the mail merge data.  Insert the mail merge fields. The Wizard will place them on the first label only. Arrange the fields on the label and click on Update all Labels.  Preview the labels, edit if necessary then Merge.

Marlene Schieder

One solution is to use the Label Wizard in Access. Create two tables, one with three fields, header, body and footer for the ticket text. The second table should have a single field populated 1 to a nominal 1000 (the easiest way to do this is to use the number drag facility in Excel and import the Excel table)

By leaving the two tables unrelated in a query, this will create the desired number of labels via Label Wizard and importantly the sequential number on each label/ticket
Simon Michell

I'm not sure about Word but why not use Excel? Starting with cell B1 set up some rows and columns with suitable height and widths to accommodate tickets in your 5 x 2 arrangement. (You can have some rows and columns dedicated to space between tickets or to help the layout of the ticket. Put the text and graphics in the cells as required. You could put a small, centre-aligned plus sign in a blank cell between tickets to assist in cutting.

Lets suppose each ticket is 5 rows high and there is one row vertical space between tickets. In cell A1 put the number '1'. Suppose the ticket numbers are to appear in rows 5, 11, 17, 23, 29. Then in Cell A5 put the formula =A1*10-9 (the 10 being the number of tickets on a sheet). In A11 put the formula =A5+1, in A17 put =A5+2 and continue similarly in cells A23 and
A29.

Let's say you want the ticket numbers in cells  B5, B11 etc. then in these put something like =CONCATENATE("Admit 1 - £1 paid Ticket No ",A5),=CONCATENATE("Admit 1 - £1 paid Ticket No ",A11) etc. In the second column of tickets change the formulae to =CONCATENATE("Admit 1 - £1 paid Ticket No ",(A5+5)) etc.

You then have a sheet of tickets numbered 1 to 10. Set the print area to exclude Column A. To print the second sheet simply change cell A1 to the value 2 and the tickets are numbered 11 to 20. If you really want the leading zeros in the numbers then Excel's number formatting will allow this also albeit through a few more steps. Similarly if you don't want to sit at the printer inserting the sheet numbers set up separate worksheets for each
ticket sheet and calculate the numbers from one sheet to the next.
Charles Cooke

VINTAGE TV
 I recently inherited a beautiful old wooden cased Ferguson television set, made in the early 1960s. It appears to work and the screen lights up, but I cannot get a picture as it uses the obsolete 405-line television system. Is there any way I could connect it to modern video equipment or maybe even a PC, using some sort of converter perhaps?

Daniel Sutter, via email 

My first piece of advice to anyone with an old TV is do not plug it in! You can never be sure of the condition of the electronic components inside, and if it hasn’t been stored properly it’s not unknown for parts to explode, or catch fire! However, since yours appears to work then the good news is that it is possible to convert current 625 line broadcasts to the old 405-line standard. Your first port of call should be the ‘405 Alive’ section of the British Vintage Wireless Society (http://www.bvws.org.uk/405alive/), where you will find lots of useful information in its faqs, plus a very useful article by Malcolm Burrel on getting old TVs to work again at: http://www.bvws.org.uk/405alive/

tech/625_on_405.html

Peter Hill, Loughton, Essex

I am aware of two 625-to-405-line TV converters, called Pineapple, and Domino, costing around £200 and £400 respectively. Details of both can be found at:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/

pineapple_converter.html

Daniel Frances, via email

You should read the articles and faqs on the Eclipse Co. UK and Radiocraft UK web sites, which have some interesting articles and faqs on the subject of 405-line television, along with links to a manufacturer of standards converters, so you can connect your old TV up to modern video equipment, like VCRs and DVD players.

http://www.eclipse.co.uk/mikey/tvmuseum/

technicalfaqs.html

http://www.radiocraft.co.uk/vintage_television/ vintage_television_more_info.htm

Mike Dewey

Over a period of about forty years the cathode ray tube will have gone slightly 'soft', that is the vacuum will not be as good as it was. The CRT emission will also be impaired, resulting in loss of brightness and focus.     The fluorescent screen will also have deteriorated. It is also possible that there will be a slightly dark patch near the screen centre; this is ‘burn’ caused by the electron gun. The original picture would have been quite acceptable for entertainment viewing, but close inspection of a test card pattern would have shown that both line and frame time bases were non-linear to some degree. This is also shown up when captions are scrolled across the screen, and the lettering may be seen to vary in size and spacing as it moves. 

H. M. Jenkins, Paignton.

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Niall Hall, via email