Passing MSForms.Control as argument in Word VBA - vba

Question

I have to set ActiveX control tab order in MS Word using VBA. So here is the basic code:
Private Sub radioFull_KeyDown(ByVal KeyCode As MSForms.ReturnInteger, _
ByVal Shift As Integer)
If KeyCode = 9 Then
radioIntern.Activate
End If
End Sub
Problem is I have an active Restrict Editing Protection on the document set by password. Thus after starting protection, while pressing a tab on any control, it deny to functioning saying that I have a protection on the document.
So, during execution of the above function, I first have to un-protect the document, moving tab to next field and then re-protect by the following function:
Private Sub ToggleProtect()
If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType <> wdNoProtection Then
ActiveDocument.Unprotect Password:="password"
Else
ActiveDocument.Protect Password:="password", NoReset:=True, _
Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, _
UseIRM:=False, EnforceStyleLock:=False
End If
End Sub
Private Sub radioFull_KeyDown(ByVal KeyCode As MSForms.ReturnInteger, _
ByVal Shift As Integer)
If KeyCode = 9 Then
ToggleProtect
radioIntern.Activate
ToggleProtect
End If
End Sub
It works well. So I intend to shorten the main code a little bit more by something like this:
Private Sub radioFull_KeyDown(ByVal KeyCode As MSForms.ReturnInteger, _
ByVal Shift As Integer)
tabOrder(KeyCode, controlName)
End Sub
and the tabOrder function in this case like the follwoing:
Public Sub tabOrder(K as integer,t as string)
If KeyCode = K Then
ToggleProtect
t.Activate
ToggleProtect
End If
End Sub
But I am not familiar on VBA function argument. So please tell me how to pass the argument or write the function correctly so that I can maintain tab order in MS Word form?

Answer 1

Even though the MS Forms controls are derived from MSForms.Control VBA is apparently unable to "cast" them to this data type. It can work with the general type, however. The trick is to declare the procedure argument as data type Variant.
While I was at it, I made another small optimization to the code by declaring an object variable of type Word.Document for passing the document to ToggleProtect. While it's unlikely, it is theoretically possible that the user will change documents during code execution, making the ActiveDocument a different one than that which triggered the code. So if you get the target document immediately then the code will always execute on the correct document, no matter which one currently has the focus.
Private Sub TextBox1_KeyDown(ByVal KeyCode As MSForms.ReturnInteger, _
ByVal Shift As Integer)
Dim doc As Word.Document
Set doc = Me
tabOrder KeyCode, doc, Me.TextBox1
End Sub
Public Sub tabOrder(ByVal KeyCode As MSForms.ReturnInteger, _
ByRef doc As Word.Document, ByRef t As Variant)
If KeyCode = 9 Then
ToggleProtect doc
t.Activate
ToggleProtect doc
End If
End Sub
Private Sub ToggleProtect(doc As Word.Document)
If doc.ProtectionType <> wdNoProtection Then
doc.Unprotect Password:="password"
Else
doc.Protect Password:="password", NoReset:=True, _
Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, _
UseIRM:=False, EnforceStyleLock:=False
End If
End Sub

Answer 2

In your KeyDown event, it looks like you want to pass the KeyCode and the Control. Therefore, the arguments you pass must match the signature of the tabOrder sub. Look how KeyCode is defined and copy/paste to your tabOrder sub. The second argument will be defined as Control allowing for any control to be passed. Here is an example of what I am talking about:
Private Sub radioFull_KeyDown(ByVal KeyCode As MSForms.ReturnInteger, ByVal Shift As Integer)
tabOrder KeyCode, radioFull
End Sub
Public Sub tabOrder(ByVal KeyCode As MSForms.ReturnInteger, ByRef t As MSForms.Control)
If KeyCode = 9 Then
ToggleProtect
t.Activate
ToggleProtect
End If
End Sub