Custom template or custom assistant

[cdarbaud]

Hello,

I am trying to help a friend write assessment reports. I'm wondering if I should use a custom template or a custom assistant.

My friend would need to enter the person's name, their date of birth, some test results.

The report needs to be generated, depending on the results and based on the person's age.

Currently, I'm thinking:
- when the document opens , a window pops for entering the data (alternatively, or entered in fields?)
- data gets stored in variables
- computation is done (date - date of birth > age; for every test, search for "normal" values for that age, compare with test results => populate variables)
- conditional test is displayed depending on the content of the variables

- for simpler data (like the persons name), I could simply use some substitution fields.

The thing is, I can't quite figure out how the variables work. And how they relate to macros. How can I get some events to trigger a macro (like when the date of birth is entered, compute the age...).

Am I making sense?

I'm very happy to read docs/books/watch tutorials. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot

Claire

[cdarbaud]

I have continued reading and searching and trying out things.

I have setup a calc file that does all the "messy" work.

Now I'm looking to write a macro that would be attached to my writer document
- when the user enters data in some specific fields
- grad the data
- send it to the calc spreadsheet to put into specific cells
- retrieve the results from other cells
- display it in other writer fields

Can I do that?