Apart from just inserting and parsing text into a blank Word field, is there any way to programmatically build user-defined fields and field codes into my own templates with VBA? Furthermore, is there a way to make these fields show up in the list of available fields?
I recently developed a solution that used Word's MACROBUTTON and ADDIN field types.
I found MACROBUTTON useful because the third whitespace-delimited entry inside the field (programmatically field.code.text) is displayed within Word. This allows my users to watch fields as they move around. { MACROBUTTON NoMacro * } would display an "*" in Word, e.g. And it would do nothing when the user double-clicked on it, because I have purposefully not defined a macro named "NoMacro".
The ADDIN field does not display (except when display field codes is turned on) and stores a hidden string in its field.data property. Using this field I could have a hidden field the contents of which could not be seen or modified by users (excepting that if they turn on "show field codes" they can see that it is an ADDIN field (but they cannot see/edit the "data" property), and that they can delete this field just like any other field.)
I found these pages useful:
Using MacroButton fields
Using Addin Fields
What had you in mind? It is possible to add custom document properties either manually or with VBA. These are the accessible as fields under DOCPROPERTY:
{ DOCPROPERTY "Test" \* MERGEFORMAT }
You can use a macro to ensure that the custom property is added to documents:
Sub AutoNew()
Dim objCustomProperties As DocumentProperties
Set objCustomProperties = ActiveDocument.CustomDocumentProperties
objCustomProperties.Add Name:="Test", _
Type:=msoPropertyTypeString, Value:="Blah", _
LinkToContent:=False
End Sub
Further Information
Automacros: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa263747(office.10).aspx
Understanding Custom Document Properties in Microsoft Office Word 2003: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa537154.aspx
Related
I am trying to create a code that need to change a custom document property in a word document. This custom document property is the information that must be inserted in the document but sometimes need to be changed as requested. So far I have created the code for inserting the custom document property, it works fine, see below.
Sub AddCustomDocProperty()
Selection.Fields.Add _
Range:=Selection.Range, _
Type:=wdFieldEmpty, _
Text:="DOCPROPERTY ""ProjectName"" ", _
PreserveFormatting:=False
End Sub
The custom document property is named as ProjectName which will be linked with a specific field where the user will input the project name, e.g. New Screwdriver
Let's say the custom document property shows New Screwdriver and I need to change to New Screwdriver 2021.
How can I write a code that change the docproperty based on the new input given in Project name field?
I tried to find something in the forum but I did not find anything.
Thanks in advance.
A user can't easily change the value of such a field by simply typing. Whatever additional text they type will fall outside the field. Then it's difficult for you to retrieve with VBA. Consider using a content control, formfield, or even a bookmarked table cell for their input instead.
But to answer your question, this will update a custom document property:
Sub SetProp()
ActiveDocument.CustomDocumentProperties("ProjectName").value = "New Screwdriver 2021"
End Sub
I have a Microsoft Word document with .docm format. A first glance it does not contain any macros (as when clicking the following on the ribbon; View -> Macros -> View macros pops up a window having an empty list).
But when enabling the Developer ribbon tab, and clicking the Visual Basic icon there, and then selecting the Document and ContentControlonEnter from the dropdowns in the VB window the following code appears:
Private Sub Document_ContentControlOnEnter(ByVal ContentControl As ContentControl)
Dim i As Long, j As Long
With ActiveDocument
If ContentControl.Title = "Classification" Then
ContentControl.DropdownListEntries.Clear
For i = 1 To .ContentControls.Count
If Left(.ContentControls(i).Title, 5) = "Level" Then
j = j + 1
ContentControl.DropdownListEntries.Add Text:=j & " - " & .ContentControls(i).Range.Text
End If
Next
End If
End With
End Sub
Selecting the other options in the dropdowns give only "blank" code (that is they contain only function declarations followed by theEnd keyword).
My question is what is the code meant to do?
*
Details:
The Word document in question contains hyperlinks to parts of the same document and a couple of links to Word files and Excel files of the same folder. It also contains lots of content control boxes, which I'm guessing is the focus of the code (as the code contains the ContentControl keyword)
Content controls can trigger macros when the user enters and exits them. Microsoft made the design decision that all content controls should trigger the same "events" - Document_ContentControlOnEnter / Document_ContentControlOnExit - and that the code in the event needs to check which content control was entered / exited.
Content controls are considered as part of the Document because the Document can trigger events. That's why they're in (and MUST be in) the ThisDocument class module.
(Note: View Macros can only show you PUBLIC SUB procedures with no arguments that are located in "normal" code modules. Any Private Sub, any Function, anything that takes a parameter and anything in a class module will not appear in that list. So you can't use that list to determine whether a document contains any code.)
The If ContentControl.Title = "Classification" Then checks which content control was entered. (Note: it usually makes more sense to use Select Case rather than If, especially when the event needs to distinguis between multiple content controls.) What's inside the If only executes if it was a content control with the Title "Classification". (Note that more than one content control can have the same Title, so more than one content control could run the code.)
If another content control is entered, the event is still fired, but nothing happens (in this case).
Catalin Pop correctly explained that the code is, in essence, "resetting" the drop down list.
Legacy Form fields use a similar pattern - macros can fire when the user enters/exits an form field. But the design for that was you had to create a Public Sub and assign that to the form field in the Properties.
I think the logic here is quite simple.
Basically the code searches for a content control named Classification within the entire document.
After it finds it, it clears all of its drowdown entries - like a reset.
After the cleaning part it again searches through the entire document for all content control that start with word "Level" and it collect the text for those controls and their order in appearance.
With this info collected it then fills the dropdown optios for the classification control above. (e.g. 1 Level X, 2 Level Y.. - based on what it finds in the document for controls starting with Level in their name)
I know how to use variables in Word 2010 using VBA. However, they are all reset when the document in closed and reopened.
How do I store a variable permanently in a Word document?
This can be used:
Sub Test()
ActiveDocument.Variables.Add Name:="PermanentVar", Value:=100
'ActiveDocument.Variables("PermanentVar").Delete
End Sub
Check if it is retained:
Private Sub Document_Open()
Msgbox ActiveDocument.Variables("PermanentVar")
End Sub
Ref MS kb Link
Ref SO link
Use a custom document property instead. These are stored on the Word document permanently, and can be edited and retrieved using VBA.
To create a custom property, go to File > Properties > Advanced Properties (this will be in a slightly different place in older version of Word but will still be there somewhere...).
Go to the Custom tab from the advanced properties, and fill in the name of your custom document property, the field type (you can select text, date, number or a Yes/No flag, which should cover off most options), and a starting value - you have you include a starting value or the Add button will be greyed out. Click Add.
You now have a custom property in your document, and you can use VBA to manipulate and reference it.
To change the value of your property, use the following code:
Application.ActiveDocument.CustomDocumentProperties.Item(1).Value = "Your new value..."
Item(1) is set because this is reference the first custom document property in your document. If you have more than one custom property, you'll need to change the number to reference the correct property, or write some VBA that will reference the property by name.
To pass the property to a variable, use the following code:
strYourVariable = Application.ActiveDocument.CustomDocumentProperties.Item(1).Value
I am trying to export items from my access database into lotus notes. The document I am trying to export to is a stationary, and has all the data written into it, I just need to somehow mark placeholders and then update the values. I have read the documentation and it appears I will need to address fields and then call a method to replace the text like so:
'where body is the field and the following string is what to replace field with
Call doc.ReplaceItemValue("body", "REPLACE BODY")
To be clear, my entire code looks like:
Set session = CreateObject("Notes.NotesSession")
Set maildb = session.GetDatabase("server", "mail\box.nsf")
Set View = maildb.GetView("Stationery")
Set entries = View.AllEntries
Set entry = entries.GetFirstEntry
Set doc = entry.Document
Call doc.ReplaceItemValue("Subject", "Report - " & Date)
'add code here
Call doc.send(False, "person.to.receive#thisemail.com")
End Sub
I have noticed that while perusing documentation, there seems to be an ability to create fields, and then address those fields to update values. So for example, if I have a field named $COST, then one could do:
Call doc.ReplaceItemValue("$COST", "The cost is $3000")
And that field should be updated to reflect the value I passed through the method. My big problem is, even looking through documentation, I cannot figure out where I need to go to add in my custom fields. It seems that the documentation assumes that you know how to create these fields and just address them. Or am I only supposed to create these fields programatically and then fill in the data? My client is Lotus Notes 8. Thanks!
Yes, that is the cool thing about IBM Lotus Notes databases: you can put items (=fields) in a Notes document without a prior definition of fields.
If you create items in a document with doc.ReplaceItemValue() and save or send the document then the items are just there. You can check the items when you open the property box for a selected document. All items are listed on document properties' second tab.
Another question is of course to define fields in a form so that the created items are visible to user without looking at document properties box. Open database in Designer and put the fields in right position and size to form.
Your question and comments telling that you want to create a document, fill it with data and send it to users.
If all users have access to your Notes server then you can create that document in your existing database and send just a link mail to users. This way you can create a good looking form and position all your data fields. Users will access the document in database through link.
An alternative is to create an nice looking HTML file, attach it to the mail and send it.
In this case you would add this code to your example at 'add code here:
Call doc.RemoveItem("Body")
Set rtitem = doc.CreateRichTextItem( "Body" )
Call rtitem.AppendText("your mail text")
Call rtitem.EmbedObject(EMBED_ATTACHMENT, "", "report.html")
Based on the comment thread on #Knut Herrmann's answer, I believe that the solution you really want involves using "stored form". The first argument to the NotesDocument.Send() method is a boolean that specifies whether you want to store the form or not.
Normally, you would use Domino Designer to create a stored form. You would not need Designer rights to anyone's mailbox. You would just need to create an empty database of your own, and put a form into it. You woould change your code to open that database and create the document in there instead of in a mailbox database as you are doing now. (One of the other cool things about Notes is that you don't actually have to be working in a mailbox database in order to mail a document. You can mail any document from any database, as long as you put the approporiate fields into it.)
There is also a way to do this without Domino Designer, and you could even dynamically generate the form with truly custom fields that your code only discovers as it runs. You could do this with DXL, which is an XML format for describing Lotus Notes objects, including forms. You would just need some sample DXL to work from. Preferably that should be of an empty database that contains a simple form that is set up more or less in the layout that you would want, though again you would need Domino Designer for that. You could just use the same mailbox database that your code is currently using, but that will leave you with a lot of extra stuff in the DXL that doesn't need to be there; and given that you're not all that familiar with Notes, it would likely be difficult for you to navigate through it all to find what you need.
Either way, though, you could use the NotesDXLExporter class to generate the DXL file. Your code could manipulate the DXL, adding/changing elements as needed (following the pattern that you see in sample, of course), and they you could use NotesDXLImporter to create the database that your code will actually use to create the document in and mail the message with the stored form.
I need a non-editable field in a word form that can be read in vba.
Currently I use a text field, which is hidden. As in:
ActiveDocument.FormFields("DocID").Select
Selection.Font.Hidden = false
//do read then re-hide it.
However users can still 'tab' in to this text field and overwrite the document ID that is there and thus invalidate the vba macro. And unfortunately that is what happens.
I can set the text field property 'Fill-in enabled' to false which gives the desired effect in the form, i.e the user cannot edit it. However now this text field cannot be read in vba.
ActiveDocument.FormFields("DocID").SomeProperty
//throws error 'The requested member of the collection does not exist'
So my question is, is there a way I can store a hidden variable in a word form that can be read in a vba macro?
Unfortunately this has to be a Word-97 compatible solution.
You could use custom document properties instead, see here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa537154(v=office.11).aspx