Mail Merge Operation: Record XX contained too many data fields?

Question

I have created a simple C# Winforms Application. This application allows the user to query a 400 system for data, select desired records, and then write selected records to a .txt file. The .txt file is then used as the data source for a Microsoft Word Mail Merge operation. Below is Mail Merge outline:

This is my code for writing the data to the .txt file:

private void btnMerge_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            try
            {
                string docLoc = "";
                string docSource = "";
                StringBuilder sb;
                // Change this to the DataSource FilePath
                StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("C:\\Users\\NAME\\Desktop\\Test2.txt");
                string fileHeaderTxt = "memno!name!address1!address2!sys!fuldate!sal!address3";
                sb = new StringBuilder();
                sb.Append(fileHeaderTxt);
                sw.WriteLine(sb.ToString());
                sb.Clear();

                if (lvData.Items.Count > 0)
                {
                    foreach (ListViewItem lvI in lvData.Items)
                    {
                        var indices = new int[] { 0, 1, 2, 3, 12, 13, 16, 17 };
                        foreach (int i in indices)
                        {
                            sb.Append(string.Format("{0}!", lvI.SubItems[i].Text));
                        }
                        sw.WriteLine(sb.ToString());
                        sb.Clear();
                    }
                    sw.WriteLine();
                }

                switch (cmbLetterType.SelectedIndex)
                {
                    case 0:
                        docLoc = "\\\\file\\...\\B-AIAddChgDual10-06-PREV.doc";
                        docSource = "\\\\file\\...\\B-AIAddChgDual10-06-PREV.txt";
                        break;
                    case 1:
                        docLoc = "\\\\file\\...\\B-AIAddChgDual10-06-NEW.doc";
                        docSource = "\\\\file\\...\\B-AIAddChgDual10-06-NEW.txt";
                        break;
                    case 2:
                        docLoc = "\\\\file\\...\\BothNCAckDist.doc";
                        docSource = "\\\\file\\...\\BothNCAckDist.txt";
                        break;
                }
                //sb.Clear();
                sw.Close();
                MessageBox.Show("Complete");

                if (rbPrint.Checked)
                {
                    Print(docLoc, docSource);
                }
                if (rbCommit.Checked)
                {
                    Commit_NetFYI();
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Source:\t" + ex.Source + "\nMessage: \t" + ex.Message + "\nData:\t" + ex.Data);
            }
            finally
            {
                //
            }
        }

This is my code for executing the MailMerge operation:

public void Print(string docLoc, string docSource)
        {
            try
            {
                Word.Application oWord = new Word.Application();
                Word.Document oWrdDoc = new Word.Document();
                oWord.Visible = true;
                Object oTemplatePath = "C:\\Users\\NAME\\Desktop\\B-AIAddChgDual10-06-NEW.doc";
                oWrdDoc = oWord.Documents.Open(oTemplatePath);
                Object oMissing = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;
                oWrdDoc.MailMerge.OpenDataSource("C:\\Users\\NAME\\Desktop\\Test2.txt", oMissing, oMissing, oMissing,
                    oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing);
                oWrdDoc.MailMerge.Execute();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Source:\t" + ex.Source + "\nMessage: \t" + ex.Message + "\nData:\t" + ex.Data);
            }
            finally
            {
                //
            }
        }

When the operation is completed, I get all the documents like I would expect, but I also get a word document with the following:

Can someone tell me why I am getting the Mail Merge Errors document when I am providing 8 specific data source fields to 8 specific Mail Merge fields?

Answer 1

You have 8 columns in the header, i.e. separated by 7 "!" delimiters.

But you are writing your data like this:

foreach (int i in indices)
{
  sb.Append(string.Format("{0}!", lvI.SubItems[i].Text));
}

so your data will have 8 "!" characters per record, i.e. 9 columns.