VBA Compare positions of two words in a Word document - vba

Question

I'm writing a module for defining acronyms in Word documents. The script gets the acronym and definition from an Excel document. What I'm having trouble with is comparing the location of the first instance of the acronym with the location of the first instance of the full definition.
Ultimately, I need to make sure the first instance of the acronym occurs immediately after the first instance of the definition, enclosed in parentheses. After this is done, the script will need to remove subsequent instances of the definition, so I also need to figure out how to remove all but the first instance of a definition.
The end result should look something like this:
....This document is about software as a service (SaaS). SaaS is software that is hosted by someone else. Rather than installing it on your own computer, you access it through a Web browser. There are many types of SaaS.
....
How can I get the positions of these two elements and or compare their positions?
In the example above, how would I find the first instance of "SaaS" and make sure it occurred exactly two positions after (space, open parentheses) the definition (assuming the definition actually appears in the document)?
'Selects first instance of acronym. Get start and end positions of first instance of acronym.
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Selection.Find.Execute Acronym 'Acronym is a variable. Now that it's selected, I need to get it's start position (or the position of the cursor if the cursor is at the start of the acronym) or find a way to compare it's position to the UserSelection variable.
'Is the definition in the document?
'If no, add definition before first instance of acronym.
'If yes, get start and end positions of first instance of definition.
'Is end position of first instance of definition adjacent to start position of first instance of acronym? If not, which is first?
'If definition is first, add acronym behind definition.
'If acronym is first, add definition in front of acronym and delete remaining instances of definition.
'Highlights all instances of the acronym in green
With ActiveDocument.Content.Find
.MatchCase = True
.MatchWholeWord = False
With .Replacement
.Highlight = True
End With
.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll, Wrap:=wdFindContinue, FindText:=Acronym, ReplaceWith:=Acronym
End With
Any help or insight would be appreciated, as I'm completely at a loss and having no luck with Google.
-Vince

Answer 1

I think the following code snippet can help you:
Sub example(acronym, definition)
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Replacement.Text = ""
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindStop
.Format = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchWildcards = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
End With
ActiveDocument.Range(0, 0).Select ' go to beginning of document
Selection.Find.Text = acronym
Selection.MatchSoundsLike = False
If (Not Selection.Find.Execute) Then
' acronym not found in this document
Exit Sub
End If
ActiveDocument.Range(0, 0).Select ' go to beginning of document
Selection.Find.Text = definition
Selection.MatchCase = False
Selection.MatchSoundsLike = True
While (Selection.Find.Execute)
'
Selection.Delete ' delete all definitions
'
Wend
ActiveDocument.Range(0, 0).Select ' go to beginning of document
Selection.Find.Text = acronym
Selection.MatchSoundsLike = False
If (Selection.Find.Execute) Then
Selection.InsertBefore "(" & definition & ")"
End If
End Sub
Note: I also found that authors make mistakes in the definitions (minor variations) and even an extra unintended space messes up the find.