VBA named range in Word? - vba

Is there a way to put invisible markers or id's in a document such that I can
get quick access to a fragment (paragrahp, table), in a way similar to the DIV/id combination used in HTML documents?
Yes, I can use bookmarks to point to a specific location in the document, but they do not the include the fragment itself, I'd be using two bookmarks, one to mark the start and the other for the end. Essentially what I'm looking for is a Word equivalent for named ranges as they are defined in Excel.
Any ideas?

Related

Unable to extract and re-insert MS Word Content Control using VBA and InsertXML

This question is related to my other question: Range.InsertXML using Transform
In MS Word it is easy to insert a content control using VBA, for example:
ThisDocument.ContentControls.Add wdContentControlRichText, Selection.Range
I've recently started exploring more in the XML side of things, e.g.:
Debug.Print ThisDocument.Range.XML seems to (or actually does) produce the XML for a Word document. However, if I create a NEW, BLANK document and add a Content Control I am unable to extract and reinsert the Content Control (oCC).
My steps:
added 2 blank paragraphs to a new document
added oCC to the 2nd paragraph
selected the oCC paragraph
immediate window: thisdocument.Paragraphs(1).Range.InsertXML selection.Range.XML
At first glance it LOOKS like the Content Control was duplicated, BUT on closer inspection, it was deleted and only the formatted text remains (see image, top paragraph is actually just formatted text).
Thinking I could out smart MS Word I set the properties of the Content Control to '...can not be deleted', but that didn't help.
I've also tried to insert into a separate document in case the issue had something to do with duplication of something that ought to have been unique.
In a nutshell:
To answer this question I need a way to insert a Content Control to a document using a combination of VBA and XML (or confirmation that what I am attempting is not possible).
Just realized I should use Selection.Range.WordOpenXML instead of Selection.Range.XML

Word - Conditional Text

I'm having to convert some documents which had been built in OpenOffice over to word, and one thing which seems overly complicated in Word is conditional text. OO had some features which made this a breeze, but I'm thinking I'm missing something in Word.
For more simple pieces of text I've used the {IF {DOCVARIABLE xxxx} = ...} method which seems to work well with single lines of text.
For longer blocks of text I've tried using a similar method but inserting an Autotext block. This works well if the content is static, but if the content I'm inserting needs to be edited, updating the document ends up replacing any changes with the Autotext block. So this method won't work for parts of my document.
Most of the search results I'm seeing use some variation of the two methods above. Is there something else I can use which allows blocks of text, possibly including tables, to be conditionally inserted or hidden and also editable?
Macros are okay since this is how I'm setting various DOCVARIABLE parameters in the document.
I'm using Word 2016 on Windows 7.
After doing more experimenting, it looks like I can use bookmarks to do what I need.
I can select the block of text I want to conditionally show/hide, then create a bookmark for the selection.
Then in my macro I can hide the section when necessary with:
ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("MyBookmarkName").Range.Font.Hidden = True
or show it again using False instead of True. This seems to hide tables and other things within that block of text. I'd love it if the Word developers would add some of the features for this type of thing which are in OpenOffice.

How can I build custom Word fields with VBA

I've found a question in stackoverflow: "How can I build Word fields with VBA" by JonnyGold.
I'm interested in the same question, but possibly on other reasons. The answers to JonnyGold question doesn't satisfy me. I'm still in MS-word 2003. My problem is to construct a custom word field, which would recognize a bookmark name around cursor location, saves that name in some custom variable/property, so that in a case of need a hyperlink of ref field could return a cursor to the said bookmark.
I need that mechanism to facilitate an easy work with a list of bibliographic sources, so that a user can by one click to go from a reference to a source and then to return back. Note that one source could be referenced in several different places and a user should be able to return to a reference, he/she clicked before.
I tried to use REF field with MACROBUTTON field inside, but MACROBUTTON requires double or one click on a button/text, which I want to avoid. I would like to create a field {RUNMACRO MacroName}, which would run a specified VDA Macro.

Word / PDF - Merge Documents

I am looking to merge two documents, however it is not your typical merge.
My first document is a mailmerge, creating a cover letter, basically each page has a name and address
My next document is a static document that cannot be changed.
I need to insert the static document into my first merged document, but after every page, therefore, for every one page a document is inserted.
I have tried the insert document in both word 2010 and pdf using adobe acrobat, and as you have thought it only inserted one document after the first page.
I'm looking at VBA, but I have never utilized VBA and word before
Any pointers would be appreciated.
Many thanks
I should have spent more time on this.
The original template contains fields to merge.
On the static document that I mention, click insert tab, Text Section, select Object - Text From File
Select the cover letter / template that contains the fields to merge. This will insert the template followed by the static document that cannot be changed
Note I have spotted some formatting changes on the template following merge - further work required
From this point start your mail merge, and complete merge to Adobe or word.
This creates a mail merged document containing the cover letter with name and address fields followed by the static document.
Extremely simple. I always over complicate things!
I'll work on the changed formatting, but other then that this works

Using VBA in MS Word 2007 to define page elements?

I'd like to be able to create a page element which I can feed text and it will form itself into the preferred layout. For instance:
{MACRO DocumentIntro("Introduction to Business Studies", "FP015", "Teachers' Guide")}
with that as a field, the output should be a line, the first two strings a certain size and font, centred, another line and then the third string fonted, sized and centred.
I know that's sort of TeX-like and perhaps beyond the scope of VBA, but if anyone's got any idea how it might be possible, please tell!
EDIT:
Ok, if I put the required information into Keyword, as part of the document properties, with some kind of unique separator, then that gets that info in, and the info will be unique to each document. Next one puts a bookmark where the stuff is going to be displayed. Then one creates an AutoOpen macro that goes to that bookmark, pulls the relevants out of the keywords, and forms the text appropriately into the bookmark's .Selection.
Is that feasible?
You're certainly on the right track here for a coding solution. However, there is a simpler way with no code - this is the type of scenario that Content Controls in Word 2007 were built for and with Fields/Properties, you can bind to content controls (CC). These CC can hold styles (like centered, bold, etc.). No VBA required.
The very easiest thing to do is to pick 3 built-in document properties that you will always want these to be. For example, "Title" could be your first string, "Subject" your second string and "Keywords" your third. Then, just go to the Insert ribbon, Quick Parts, Document Properties and insert, place and format those how you like. Then go to Word's start button (the orb thingy) and then under Prepare choose Properties. Here you can type, for example "Introduction to Business Studies", into the Title box and then just deselect it somehow (like click in another box). The Content Control for Title will be filled in automatically with your text.
If you want to use this for multiple files, just create this file as a .dotx (after CC insertion/placement/formatting and before updating the Document Properties' text). Then every time all you'll have to do is set these three properties with each new file.
Well, yes, it did turn out to be feasible.
Sub autoopen()
Dim sKeywords As String
sKeywords = ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties(4)
ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("foo").Select
Selection.Text = sKeywords
End Sub
Okay, I have some filling out to do, but at least the guts of it are there.