WD2000: How to Use Other Converters with the FileFormat Property

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This article was previously published under Q209186

SUMMARY

The SaveAs method of the Document object in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications has an optional parameter called FileFormat that you can use to specify the save format for the document.

This article describes how to use the FileFormat property of the SaveAs method to specify a converter that is not supported with one of the supplied constants (values).

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MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.
For more information about how to use the sample code in this article, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

212536 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/212536/EN-US/ ) OFF2000: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

The FileFormat optional variant (argument) specifies the format in which the document is to be saved and can be one of the following native (built-in) wdSaveFormat constants.

Constant	Description

wdFormatDocument	Saves as a Word document.

wdFormatHTML	Saves the file in HTML format (a Web page) so that it can be viewed in a Web browser.

wdFormatTemplate	Saves as a Word template.

wdFormatText	Text Only: Saves text without its formatting. Converts all section breaks, page breaks, and new line characters to paragraph marks. Uses the ANSI character set. Select this format only if the destination program cannot read any of the other available file formats.

wdFormatDOSText	MS-DOS Text: Converts files the same way as Text only format (wdFormatText). Uses the extended ASCII character set, which is the standard for MS-DOS-based programs. Use this format to share documents between Word and non-Windows-based programs.

wdFormatTextLineBreaks	Text only with line breaks: Saves text without formatting. Converts all line breaks, section breaks, and page breaks to paragraph marks. Use this format when you want to maintain line breaks; for example, when transferring documents to an electronic mail system.

wdFormatDOSTextLineBreaks	MS-DOS text only with line breaks: Saves text without formatting. Converts all line breaks, section breaks, and page breaks to paragraph marks. Use this format when you want to maintain line breaks; for example, when transferring documents to an electronic mail system.

wdFormatRTF	Rich Text Format (RTF): Saves all formatting. Converts formatting to instructions that other programs, including compatible Microsoft programs, can read and interpret.

wdFormatUnicodeText	Saves as a Unicode text file: Converts text between common character encoding standards, including Unicode 2.0, Mac OS, Windows, EUC, and ISO-8859 series.

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Other File Types

If you record a macro that saves a file as a type that is not supported by one of the constants described earlier, the FileFormat property will contain a number. The following sample macro was recorded by using RFT-DCA as the Save As Type:

Sub Macro1()

      ActiveDocument.SaveAs FileName:="Doc1.rft", FileFormat:=101

End Sub

NOTE: The number 101 that was recorded for the RTF-DCA FileFormat argument is system specific. This number may not be the same on another computer.

To retrieve the correct FileFormat number for a conversion type for any computer, use the FileConverters collection. The following sample Visual Basic for Applications macro saves a document in RTF-DCA format on any computer.

NOTE: In the following sample, replace "RFTDCA" with the class name that you want to Save As. For a list of class names, see the "How to Obtain Class Names" section later in this article.

Sub SaveAsRFTDCA()

   Dim fcCnv As FileConverter
   Dim strClass As String
   Dim strFileName As String
   Dim x As String

   ' If there are no documents open to
   ' save, exit this routine.
   If Documents.Count = 0 Then Exit Sub

   ' Set the ClassName to use for saving.
   strClass = "RFTDCA"

   ' Set the FileName to use for saving.
   strFileName = "MyFile"

   ' Loop through all installed converters.
   For Each fcCnv In FileConverters

      With fcCnv

         ' Test for conversion ClassName.
         If .ClassName = strClass Then

            ' Save using the FileConverters.ClassName.
            ActiveDocument.SaveAs FileName:=strFileName, _
               FileFormat:=.SaveFormat
            x = "Saved"
               
         End If

      End With

   Next fcCnv

   If x = "Saved" Then

      ' If converter found, tell user document saved with converter.
      MsgBox "Your document has been saved in the " & Chr$(34) _
         & strClass & Chr$(34) & " format."
     
   Else

      ' If converter not found, tell user to install converter. 
      MsgBox "The " & Chr$(34) & strClass & Chr$(34) & _
         " converter is not installed. Please install it!"
 
   End If

End Sub

For more information about the SaveFormat property, in the Visual Basic Editor, click Microsoft Visual Basic Help on the Help menu, type SaveFormat in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

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How to Obtain Class Names

The following list contains converters and class names that are installed by Word and that you can use for saving a document.

Converter	ClassName

MS-DOS Text with Layout	MS-DOS Text with Layout
Text with Layout	Text with Layout
Word 2.x for Windows	MSWordWin2
Word 4.0 for Macintosh	MSWordMac4
Word 5.0 for Macintosh	MSWordMac5
Word 5.1 for Macintosh	MSWordMac51
WordPerfect 5.0	WrdPrfctDOS50
WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS	WrdPrfctDOS51
WordPerfect 5.x for Windows	WrdPrfctWin
WordPerfect 5.1 or 5.2 Secondary File	WrdPrfctDat
WordPerfect 5.0 Secondary File	WrdPrfctDat50
Works 4.0 for Windows	MSWorksWin4
Word 6.0/95	MSWord6Exp
Word 97-2000 & 6.0/95 - RTF	MSWord6RTFExp

To retrieve other class names for an installed converter to Save As, you can loop through the FileConverters collection.

The following sample macro loops through all installed converters that you can use for saving, and then it inserts the converter name and associated class name into a blank document:

Sub GetConvClassName()

   Dim fcCnv As FileConverter

   ' Create blank document.
   Documents.Add

   ' Loop through all installed converters.
   For Each fcCnv In FileConverters
      With fcCnv
         ' If the converter can be used to save...
         If .CanSave = True Then
            ' Insert the converter name and class name in the document.
            Selection.TypeText "Converter: " & .FormatName & vbTab _
            & "ClassName: " & .ClassName & vbCr
         End If

      End With

   Next fcCnv

End Sub

For more information about the ClassName property, in the Visual Basic Editor, click Microsoft Visual Basic Help on the Help menu, type ClassName in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

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REFERENCES

For additional information about the text converters included with the Microsoft Office 2000 Setup or the Microsoft Office Converter Pack, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

235928 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/235928/EN-US/ ) WD2000: Supported File and Graphics Formats

For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

212623 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/212623/EN-US/ ) WD2000: Macro Programming Resources

226118 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/226118/EN-US/ ) OFF2000: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

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