I'm trying to create a fluid document which will populate text based on selections from drop down lists and checkboxes.
E.g., if I check this box, then a section of text will be inserted into the document.
I've done a lot of searching online, and the closest I've come is using https://www.msofficeforums.com/word-vba/16498-multiple-entries-dropdown-lists.html#post46903
Unfortunately, I do not know VBA (or indeed any other programming language at all). I am looking for a solution which allows me to paste in a VBA solution like the one provided above:
Private Sub Document_ContentControlOnExit(ByVal ContentControl As ContentControl, Cancel As Boolean)
Dim i As Long, StrDetails As String
With ContentControl
If .Title = "Client" Then
For i = 1 To .DropdownListEntries.Count
If .DropdownListEntries(i).Text = .Range.Text Then
StrDetails = Replace(.DropdownListEntries(i).Value, "|", Chr(11))
Exit For
End If
Next
ActiveDocument.ContentControls(2).Range.Text = StrDetails
End If
End With
End Sub
But which will allow me to call each listbox/checkbox by its name, as figuring out which field has which ID is making me tear my hair out.
Basically, I want the above code, but instead of calling each Content Control by its ID number, I want to call it by its name, so that the listbox/checkbox selections will auto-populate different text into the document.
I am using Microsoft Home and Business Office 2016.
Thank you all in advance for your help!
For example:
ActiveDocument.SelectContentControlsByTitle(title).Items(1).Range.Text = StrDetails
Or
ActiveDocument.SelectContentControlsByTitle(title)(1).Range.Text = StrDetails
Related
Good morning!
I have a "fancy" search function in Microsoft Access where the list of possible options shrinks as you type in the search field. Unfortunately the computer and server can't keep up with these rapid requeries of the data.
Currently the command to requery with the field in the 'onchange' function of the search box. I'd like to add a delay so it only runs the requery when the search box has not changed for a second. Thus if someone types in a 8 letter word, it isn't running 8 requeries.
The current idea I have for it, which I know there must be something better, is..
"On change, set search box value to X and wait 1 second. After 1 second, if X = search box value, run the requery. An issue is that it would be rapidly rewriting the X value and have a 'wait' command floating for each letter.
Hopefully there's a way to write an event trigger of "When field X has changed, but not changed for the past second."
Thank you!
As requested, here is my current code
'Create a string (text) variable
Dim vSearchString As String
'Populate the string variable with the text entered in the Text Box SearchFor
vSearchString = SearchFor.Text
'Pass the value contained in the string variable to the hidden text box SrchText,
'that is used as the sear4ch criteria for the Query QRY_SearchAll
SrchText = vSearchString
'Requery the List Box to show the latest results for the text entered in Text Box SearchFor
Me.SearchResults.Requery
Me.SearchResults2.Requery
'Tests for a trailing space and exits the sub routine at this point
'so as to preserve the trailing space, which would be lost if focus was shifted from Text Box SearchFor
If Len(Me.SrchText) <> 0 And InStr(Len(SrchText), SrchText, " ", vbTextCompare) Then
'Set the focus on the first item in the list box
Me.SearchResults = Me.SearchResults.ItemData(1)
Me.SearchResults.SetFocus
'Requery the form to refresh the content of any unbound text box that might be feeding off the record source of the List Box
DoCmd.Requery
'Returns the cursor to the the end of the text in Text Box SearchFor,
'and restores trailing space lost when focus is shifted to the list box
Me.SearchFor = vSearchString
Me.SearchFor.SetFocus
Me.SearchFor.SelStart = Me.SearchFor.SelLength
Exit Sub
End If
'Set the focus on the first item in the list box
' Me.SearchResults = Me.SearchResults.ItemData(1)
Me.SearchResults.SetFocus
'Requery the form to refresh the content of any unbound text box that might be feeding off the record source of the List Box
DoCmd.Requery
'Returns the cursor to the the end of the text in Text Box SearchFor
Me.SearchFor.SetFocus
If Not IsNull(Len(Me.SearchFor)) Then
Me.SearchFor.SelStart = Len(Me.SearchFor)
End If
Obviously this is not MY code, it's from somewhere on the interweb. It works fantastic for databases stored locally, but everything is moving to our Sharepoint server which is running on a 386 in a moldy basement powered by a narcoleptic gerbil.
You can simply use the Timer of the current form. No need for a separate form or anything.
Private Sub DoSearch()
' Your current code
' but you should look into removing as many "Requery" from there as possible!
End Sub
Private Sub SearchFor_Change()
' Wait for x Milliseconds until the search is started.
' Each new change restarts the timer interval.
' Use 1000 (1 s) for slow typists or a really slow server
' 200 ms feels right for a normal typist
Me.TimerInterval = 200
End Sub
Private Sub Form_Timer()
' Disable timer (will be enabled by the next SearchFor_Change)
Me.TimerInterval = 0
' Now run the search
DoSearch
End Sub
Note: you may need to move some of the cursor-handling code from DoSearch() to SearchFor_Change(), specifically:
Me.SearchFor.SelStart = Len(Me.SearchFor)
Assign a shortcut key like (Ctrl+ J) to the logic in on change event and call it on demand once you have finished typing search keyword.
Remove on change event.
Create other procedure which has the logic of on change event and assign a shortcut key
Press shortcut to get search suggestion
Other approach
Add below validation to Change event which will check for length of string and will trigger only if length of string is >=8
Private Sub txtSearch_Change()
If Len(Nz(txtSearch.Text, 0)) >= 8 Then
End If
End Sub
I'm going a little outside my comfort area, since I hardly use MS Access forms, but why are you bothering the Server/Database so much? In my experience, each query costs the same amount of time, whether it returns 1 record or 100,000 records.
So even before the user types anything, why don't you just do a single query to return a sorted list. After that, it takes almost no time to use VBA to process the results and find everything in the list that starts with whatever the user types in (it's sorted after all).
Except for the initial load, users who are local to the database or on the other side of the world will experience the same snappy response from your interface.
----------
Like I said, I haven't messed with Access Forms a lot, so this is more of a strict VBA solution. Maybe there is a better way to do it without going outside the Access Forms box that someone could enlighten us with.
You should basically just call LoadItemList when you load the form, or whenever you need to.
Public dbConn As ADODB.Connection
Private ItemList As Variant
Private RecordCount As Long
Sub LoadItemList()
Dim SQL As String
Dim RS As New ADODB.Recordset
SQL = "SELECT T.Name FROM Table T"
Set RS = dbConn.Execute(SQL)
If Not RS.EOF Then
ItemList = RS.GetRows
RecordCount = UBound(ItemList, 2) - LBound(ItemList, 2) + 1
End If
End Sub
Then replace DoCmd.Requery with AddItemtoCombobox SearchResults, SearchFor.Text
Sub AddItemtoCombobox(Control As ComboBox, Filter As String)
Dim Index As Long
Control.Clear
If Not IsEmpty(ItemList) Then
For Index = 0 To RecordCount - 1
If ItemList(Index) Like Filter Then Control.AddItem ItemList(Index)
Next
End If
End Sub
Again, maybe there is a better way that is built into Access...
The technical term that you're looking for is debounce.
What you can do is on your on change event, keep track of the current search string
in terms of pseudocode.
sub onChange()
Form.timerinterval = 0
setSearchString
form.timerinterval = delay
So in terms of the explanation, if your on change is called, disable the timer. Update your search string, then reset the timer to fire after a certain amount of time. The form should be a hidden form that contains the code that you want to execute
Good morning!
I have a "fancy" search function in Microsoft Access where the list of possible options shrinks as you type in the search field. Unfortunately the computer and server can't keep up with these rapid requeries of the data.
Currently the command to requery with the field in the 'onchange' function of the search box. I'd like to add a delay so it only runs the requery when the search box has not changed for a second. Thus if someone types in a 8 letter word, it isn't running 8 requeries.
The current idea I have for it, which I know there must be something better, is..
"On change, set search box value to X and wait 1 second. After 1 second, if X = search box value, run the requery. An issue is that it would be rapidly rewriting the X value and have a 'wait' command floating for each letter.
Hopefully there's a way to write an event trigger of "When field X has changed, but not changed for the past second."
Thank you!
As requested, here is my current code
'Create a string (text) variable
Dim vSearchString As String
'Populate the string variable with the text entered in the Text Box SearchFor
vSearchString = SearchFor.Text
'Pass the value contained in the string variable to the hidden text box SrchText,
'that is used as the sear4ch criteria for the Query QRY_SearchAll
SrchText = vSearchString
'Requery the List Box to show the latest results for the text entered in Text Box SearchFor
Me.SearchResults.Requery
Me.SearchResults2.Requery
'Tests for a trailing space and exits the sub routine at this point
'so as to preserve the trailing space, which would be lost if focus was shifted from Text Box SearchFor
If Len(Me.SrchText) <> 0 And InStr(Len(SrchText), SrchText, " ", vbTextCompare) Then
'Set the focus on the first item in the list box
Me.SearchResults = Me.SearchResults.ItemData(1)
Me.SearchResults.SetFocus
'Requery the form to refresh the content of any unbound text box that might be feeding off the record source of the List Box
DoCmd.Requery
'Returns the cursor to the the end of the text in Text Box SearchFor,
'and restores trailing space lost when focus is shifted to the list box
Me.SearchFor = vSearchString
Me.SearchFor.SetFocus
Me.SearchFor.SelStart = Me.SearchFor.SelLength
Exit Sub
End If
'Set the focus on the first item in the list box
' Me.SearchResults = Me.SearchResults.ItemData(1)
Me.SearchResults.SetFocus
'Requery the form to refresh the content of any unbound text box that might be feeding off the record source of the List Box
DoCmd.Requery
'Returns the cursor to the the end of the text in Text Box SearchFor
Me.SearchFor.SetFocus
If Not IsNull(Len(Me.SearchFor)) Then
Me.SearchFor.SelStart = Len(Me.SearchFor)
End If
Obviously this is not MY code, it's from somewhere on the interweb. It works fantastic for databases stored locally, but everything is moving to our Sharepoint server which is running on a 386 in a moldy basement powered by a narcoleptic gerbil.
You can simply use the Timer of the current form. No need for a separate form or anything.
Private Sub DoSearch()
' Your current code
' but you should look into removing as many "Requery" from there as possible!
End Sub
Private Sub SearchFor_Change()
' Wait for x Milliseconds until the search is started.
' Each new change restarts the timer interval.
' Use 1000 (1 s) for slow typists or a really slow server
' 200 ms feels right for a normal typist
Me.TimerInterval = 200
End Sub
Private Sub Form_Timer()
' Disable timer (will be enabled by the next SearchFor_Change)
Me.TimerInterval = 0
' Now run the search
DoSearch
End Sub
Note: you may need to move some of the cursor-handling code from DoSearch() to SearchFor_Change(), specifically:
Me.SearchFor.SelStart = Len(Me.SearchFor)
Assign a shortcut key like (Ctrl+ J) to the logic in on change event and call it on demand once you have finished typing search keyword.
Remove on change event.
Create other procedure which has the logic of on change event and assign a shortcut key
Press shortcut to get search suggestion
Other approach
Add below validation to Change event which will check for length of string and will trigger only if length of string is >=8
Private Sub txtSearch_Change()
If Len(Nz(txtSearch.Text, 0)) >= 8 Then
End If
End Sub
I'm going a little outside my comfort area, since I hardly use MS Access forms, but why are you bothering the Server/Database so much? In my experience, each query costs the same amount of time, whether it returns 1 record or 100,000 records.
So even before the user types anything, why don't you just do a single query to return a sorted list. After that, it takes almost no time to use VBA to process the results and find everything in the list that starts with whatever the user types in (it's sorted after all).
Except for the initial load, users who are local to the database or on the other side of the world will experience the same snappy response from your interface.
----------
Like I said, I haven't messed with Access Forms a lot, so this is more of a strict VBA solution. Maybe there is a better way to do it without going outside the Access Forms box that someone could enlighten us with.
You should basically just call LoadItemList when you load the form, or whenever you need to.
Public dbConn As ADODB.Connection
Private ItemList As Variant
Private RecordCount As Long
Sub LoadItemList()
Dim SQL As String
Dim RS As New ADODB.Recordset
SQL = "SELECT T.Name FROM Table T"
Set RS = dbConn.Execute(SQL)
If Not RS.EOF Then
ItemList = RS.GetRows
RecordCount = UBound(ItemList, 2) - LBound(ItemList, 2) + 1
End If
End Sub
Then replace DoCmd.Requery with AddItemtoCombobox SearchResults, SearchFor.Text
Sub AddItemtoCombobox(Control As ComboBox, Filter As String)
Dim Index As Long
Control.Clear
If Not IsEmpty(ItemList) Then
For Index = 0 To RecordCount - 1
If ItemList(Index) Like Filter Then Control.AddItem ItemList(Index)
Next
End If
End Sub
Again, maybe there is a better way that is built into Access...
The technical term that you're looking for is debounce.
What you can do is on your on change event, keep track of the current search string
in terms of pseudocode.
sub onChange()
Form.timerinterval = 0
setSearchString
form.timerinterval = delay
So in terms of the explanation, if your on change is called, disable the timer. Update your search string, then reset the timer to fire after a certain amount of time. The form should be a hidden form that contains the code that you want to execute
I am making a document in Microsoft Word 2016 and I would like this to be a form that a user will fill out (using Dropdown list content control)- from there I have assigned all of the items in the list with numbers for their values. I need to populate a text box with some words (determined by the sum of the values) and I am having trouble. Never used VBA- I don't even know if my first line is correct. I'm really not sure how to begin the document and how to populate the sum of all the dropdowns. I'm not using macros from another document, I just want to populate based upon what users select in the word document. I named my field with a tag on a text box that I want the text "account" "account 2" etc to appear in. Thanks!
Set myField = Selection.FormFields(1)
If myField.Type = wdFieldFormDropDown Then
Num = myField.DropDown.ListEntries.Count
If Num >= 75 Then
myField.Value = "Account 1"
End If
If Num > 50 Then
myField.Value = "Account 2"
End If
If Num <= 50 Then
myField.Value = "Account 3"
End If
End If
End Sub
If you plan to use Content Controls then FormField object in your code is not correct. Form fields are "legacy" - they're still quite useful, but it's a different part of the object model.
Content Controls are "embedded" in the document and have events to trigger code. That means you need to double-click the ThisDocument entry in the Project for the parent document in the VB Editor. Then select "Document" from the dropdown to the left of the Code Window and "ContentControlOnExit" from the dropdown on the right. That will insert the event stub in the code window for ThisDocument (see picture).
A Content Control event will trigger for all content controls in the document, which means you need to distinguish which content control triggered it. The event passes in a ContentControl object which can be tested for this purpose, usually using Select Case.
The sample code shows how to do this, how to get the count of the ListEntries, how to select a specific content control by its title (or by its tag) and how to write content to the content control. (Since what you want to do with Num in your code, above, is not clear to me I don't try to include that. But it looks like here, as well, you could use Select Case.)
Private Sub Document_ContentControlOnExit(ByVal ContentControl As ContentControl, _
Cancel As Boolean)
Dim cc As Word.ContentControl
Dim doc As Word.Document
Dim countListEntries As Long
Set doc = ContentControl.Parent
Select Case ContentControl.Title
Case "SelectAccount"
countListEntries = ContentControl.DropdownListEntries.Count
Set cc = doc.SelectContentControlsByTitle("Account").Item(1)
'Set cc =doc.SelectContentControlsByTag("Account").Item(1)
cc.Range.Text = ContentControl.Range.Text & " " & countListEntries
Case Else
End Select
End Sub
I'm busy with some word automation and have run into an issue whereby a context menu within a document has items in, that I wish to remove.
Once the document is open, through vba I can remove these items by running the following code;
[VBA]
Dim oContextMenu As CommandBar
Dim oContextMenuItem As CommandBarControl
'Make changes to the ActiceDocument only (this is needed to make any changes to this document).
CustomizationContext = ActiveDocument
For Each oContextMenu In ActiveDocument.CommandBars
If oContextMenu.Type = MsoBarType.msoBarTypePopup Then 'Loop through all the context menus of type (msoBarTypePopup)
For Each oContextMenuItem In oContextMenu.Controls
If (InStr(oContextMenuItem.Caption, "Smokeball")) Then
oContextMenuItem.Delete
End If
Next
End If
Next
If I execute this code and check the document, all contextMenu sub items that contain the text "smokeball" are removed.
When I try move this code to my VB.NET solution (I have no choice of language, so VB it is), I get errors on the CustomizationContext = ActiveDocument line (this line has to be there for it to affect the current document).
The error I get is CustomizationContext' is not a by reference property.
Does anyone know how to get just that ONE line equivalent for vb.net?
Thanks in advance.
EDIT: In case you need to see the vb.net sub:
Private Sub RemoveUnwantedContextMenuItems()
Dim oContextMenu As CommandBar
Dim oContextMenuItem As CommandBarControl
'Make changes to the ActiceDocument only (this is needed to make any changes to this document).
WordApplication.CustomizationContext = WordApplication.ActiveDocument 'This is the error.
For Each oContextMenu In WordApplication.CommandBars
If oContextMenu.Type = MsoBarType.msoBarTypePopup Then 'Loop through all the context menus of type (msoBarTypePopup)
For Each oContextMenuItem In oContextMenu.Controls
If (InStr(oContextMenuItem.Caption, "Smokeball")) Then
oContextMenuItem.Delete()
End If
Next
End If
Next
End Sub
PS - I have also already tried using the .AttachedTemplate as well as .Normal / .NormalTemplate
Jules pointed me in the right direction with his sample code.
After lots of playing around I noticed that somewhere in the solution, the [TYPE] of WordApplication was getting changed to a dynamic type of sorts, hence, it couldn't use CustomizationContext.
My solution was this:
I changed this line;
WordApplication.CustomizationContext = WordApplication.ActiveDocument
To this:
CType(WordApplication, Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application).CustomizationContext = WordApplication.ActiveDocument
Forcing the types to be correct.
Simple solution but took some time.
Thanks to Jules for pointing me in the right direction.
(Points should go to you).
I have the unfortunate task of being forced to design a Word-based electronic production card for the unit at my company, even though I've never worked with VBA. I would much rather have done this in Excel since I wouldn't have to wrestle with content control and hard-to-find locations in various tables over the pages, but the company's documentation-system forces this particular one to be in Word.
My issue is that for proper form of the production card I need to use tables, and I need the production card to be dynamic to limit its size to what operations that are relevant for a specific order. My chosen solution is to create a full form, and to use a user form/prompt where they can choose which parts to use and which parts to ommit, and the ommitted ones will then be deleted. Part of reason for the solution is because that is how their previous (and Excel-based) production card works, so it would make it more familiar for the end user.
Because MS Word is finicky I need to use content control within these tables to not have the end user accidentally destroy half of it, but after a full workday I still cannot figure out how find and shut off the content control of the cells in tables that I want to delete. I do have the content controls tagged since that seems like the only reasonable way to find them.
This is my current code for the subprocedure, but for some reason I cannot get the ID through the ccID line, even though I have verified that the string supplied as argument is correct.
Private Sub DeleteCCByTag(ccTag As String)
Dim cc As ContentControl
Dim ccID As String
ccID = ThisDocument.SelectContentControlsByTag(ccTag).Item(1).ID
'MsgBox ccID 'Debug prompt
Set cc = ThisDocument.ContentControls(ccID)
cc.LockContentControl = False
cc.LockContents = False
cc.Delete (False)
End Sub
First of all- your code is working find for me but...
ContentControls tag is case-sensitive which could be a problem in your situation
You could solve your problem without searching for ID value in this way:
Private Sub DeleteCCByTag_Alternative(ccTag As String)
Dim cc As ContentControl
Set cc = ThisDocument.SelectContentControlsByTag(ccTag).Item(1)
With cc
.LockContentControl = False
.LockContents = False
.Range.Delete 'to delete CC content
.Delete (False)
End With
End Sub
CC.Delete in your code deletes only ContentControl objects itself but not its content. To delete content you need to add additional line which I did in my code above.
I would add this as a comment to KazJaw's answer but I don't have the rep.
According to Microsoft's documentation, if you pass True to the Delete method it removes both the content control and its contents.
So: just get the Item as KazJaw showed, without jumping through the hoop of getting its ID:
Set cc = ThisDocument.SelectContentControlsByTag(ccTag).Item(1)
then call .Delete(True) on it.