How to Access Word for Windows Document Variables from VB

The information in this article applies to:

- Standard and Professional Editions of Microsoft Visual Basic for

  Windows, versions 2.0 and 3.0

SUMMARY

This article describes and demonstrates how to pass information from Word for Windows to Visual Basic using Word document variables. The example included in this article uses a WordBasic macro and a Visual Basic Sub procedure.

You can pass information from Word to Visual Basic using any of the following methods:

• Store the information in a text file.
• Store the information in a Word AutoText entry.
• Store the information in document variables.

For more information about retrieving dialog box values in Word, query on the following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ole and automation and retrieving and settings and dialog

MORE INFORMATION

Using WordBasic (the Word for Windows macro language), you can retrieve values stored in Word dialog boxes and use them in Visual Basic. The example in this article uses OLE automation to launch a WordBasic macro that retrieves all the values from the File Summary Info dialog box in Word and displays them in a Visual Basic message box. (The File Summary Info dialog box corresponds to the FileSummaryInfo statement in WordBasic.)

The WordBasic macro, named PassSummaryInfo, creates a ParamList document variable, which is a comma-delimited string of all the document variables to be extracted. Then, using OLE automation, Visual Basic extracts and displays the document variables.

The advantage of using this method is that you can save the document variables along with your document, where you can retrieve them at any future time.

Visual Basic Sub Procedure

1. Start a new project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.

2. Add the following code in the Form_Click event of the form:

   Sub File_Click ()
      'Dimension variables:
      Dim sReturn As String, Msg As String
      Dim ParamArray() As String, ParamElement As String
      Dim count As Integer, j As Integer
      Dim wb As Object
   
      'Run Word Macro Block:
      Macro$ = "PassSummaryInfo"
      On Error Resume Next
      Set wb = CreateObject("Word.basic")
      wb.FileNew
      wb.ToolsMacro Macro$, True
   
      If Err Then
         MsgBox "Err #" & Str$(Err) & ", " & Error
      End If
   
      'Extract Document variables:
      sReturn = wb.[getdocumentvar$]("ParamList")
      If Err Then
         MsgBox "Err #" & Str$(Err) & ", " & Error
         Exit Sub
      End If
      'Parse Document variable list from ParamList:
      Do While InStr(sReturn, ",")
         j = InStr(sReturn, ",")
         ParamElement = Left(sReturn, j - 1)
         sReturn = Mid$(sReturn, j + 1)
         ReDim Preserve ParamArray(count)
         ParamArray(count) = ParamElement
         count = count + 1
      Loop
      'Retrieve Last Document variable name:
      ReDim Preserve ParamArray(count)
      ParamArray(count) = sReturn
      'Extract values from document variables:
      For j = 0 To count
         Msg = Msg & ParamArray(j) & " = "
         Msg = Msg & wb.[getdocumentvar$]((ParamArray(j))) & Chr$(10)
      Next
      'wb.FileClose (2)
      If Err Then
         MsgBox "Err #" & Str$(Err) & ", " & Error
      End If
      'Display values in message box:
      MsgBox Msg
   
   End Sub
   
   

WordBasic Macro

Create the following WordBasic macro in Word and name it PassSummaryInfo. Store the macro in the global template (NORMAL.DOT).

1. Start Word for Windows.

2. Create the macro by choosing Macro from the Tools menu.

3. Type in the name as PassSummaryInfo, and choose Create.

4. Add the following code to the macro. When you are done, choose Close from the File menu and respond Yes to the "save" dialog box.

   Sub MAIN
   

End Sub

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Word User's Guide," version 6.0, pages 216-217, 220-223, 749, 755

"Microsoft Word Developer's Kit," version 6.0, Microsoft Press, 1994, pages 174-182, 446-447, 492, 679-680