Open other application from vba - vba

Question

I am working on a macro to open a file(might already be open) and save with new name and then open the new file from vba in excel.
This file can Powerpoint,mathcad,visio, word etc..(can also be template files such as dotx etc..)
So my idea is that:
I first need to figure out if the application is open or not,
then I somehow need to figure if the file is open or not,
then save it with the new filename.
Open the new document
Go through the document and dumps custom variables into the database, populate custom variables from database(Not shown in code below, seperate module)
Activate the new document so that the user can edit it.
Public Sub saveAsVBADocument(filenameNew As String, fileNameOld As String, applicationType As String)
Dim objectApplication As Object
Dim documentApplication As Object
On Error Resume Next
Set objectApplication = GetObject(, applicationType)
On Error GoTo 0
If objectApplication Is Nothing Then
Set objectApplication = CreateObject(applicationType)
End If
objectApplication.Visible = True
On Error Resume Next
Set documentApplication = objectApplication.Workbooks(FileHandling.GetFilenameFromPath(fileNameOld)) 'Excel
Set documentApplication = objectApplication.Documents(FileHandling.GetFilenameFromPath(fileNameOld)) 'Word
Set documentApplication = objectApplication.WorkSheets(FileHandling.GetFilenameFromPath(fileNameOld)) 'Mathcad
Set documentApplication = objectApplication.Presentations(FileHandling.GetFilenameFromPath(fileNameOld)) 'PowerPoint
Set documentApplication = objectApplication.Projects(FileHandling.GetFilenameFromPath(fileNameOld)) 'MS Project "Msproject.Application"
Set documentApplication = objectApplication.Documents(FileHandling.GetFilenameFromPath(fileNameOld)) 'MS Visio "Visio.Application"
If documentApplication Is Nothing Then
Set documentApplication = objectApplication.FileOpen(fileNameOld) ' add read only
End If
documentApplication.SaveAs filename:=filenameNew
Set objectApplication = Nothing
Set documentApplication = Nothing
End Sub
What is a possible solution to handle all vba acceptable document types?

Answer 1

You can use GetObject("Filename") to open a file directly in its application. So something like this can open any file that has its extension in the Windows Registry. That will be most file types; certainly the Office applications. Whether you'll be able to use SaveAs will depend on whether those applications support OLE Server (meaning they have a coding interface exposed). Again, all the Office applications do support this.
You'll probably want to put in some error-handling for the case the application for the file extension can't be found in the Registry. And of course in case the file name doesn't exist.
My example is for Excel and Word, only - you should be able to fill in others. My code makes sure the file is visible and available to the user as that makes it easier to trouble-shoot. You can, of course, change that once you have everything working satisfactorily.
Sub OpenFileInUnknownApp()
Dim objFile As Object
Dim objApp As Object
Dim sPath As String, sExt As String
Dim sFileName As String
Dim sAppName As String
Dim snewfilename As String
sPath = "C:\Test\"
sFileName = sPath & "Quote.docx" 'RngNames.xlsx"
snewfilename = sPath & "NewName"
'''Open the file in its application
Set objFile = GetObject(sFileName)
Set objApp = objFile.Application
sAppName = objApp.Name
Select Case sAppName
Case Is = "Microsoft Excel"
Dim wb As Excel.Workbook
sExt = "xlsx"
objApp.Visible = True
Set wb = objFile
wb.Activate
wb.Windows(1).Visible = True
objApp.UserControl = True 'so that it "lives" after the code ends
objApp.Activate
wb.SaveAs "sNewFileName" & sExt
Case Is = "Microsoft Word"
Dim doc As word.Document
sExt = "docx"
objApp.Visible = True
Set doc = objFile
objApp.Activate
doc.SaveAs2 "sNewFileName" & sExt
Case Else
End Select
Set objFile = Nothing
Set objApp = Nothing
End Sub