ACC2: How to Open/Edit MS Word Document in Bound Object Frame

This article demonstrates sample Access Basic code that you can set for the OnDblClick property event procedure of a bound OLE object control so that you can open/edit a previously embedded OLE object. If no object exists, a new Microsoft Word document is embedded.

This article assumes that you are familiar with Access Basic and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Access Basic, please refer to the "Building Applications" manual.

To create the sample Access Basic code so that you can open/edit a previously embedded OLE object, follow these steps.

CAUTION: Following the steps in this example will modify the sample database NWIND.MDB. You may want to back up the NWIND.MDB file, or perform these steps on a copy of the NWIND database.

1. Create a document in Microsoft Word to be used as the template for the new embedded documents, and save it as C:\TEST.DOC.
   
   NOTE: If you change the name or location of this document, be sure to change the sample code to reflect this change.
2. Start Microsoft Access and open the Employees form in Design view.
3. View the property sheet of the OLE object control bound to the Photo field and make sure that the AutoActivate property is set to Manual.
4. On the View menu, click Code and type the following code in the Module window:
   

         Sub Photo_DblClick (Cancel as Integer)
         On Error GoTo NoOLEObject
   
         Me![Photo].Verb = VERB_OPEN
         Me![Photo].Action = OLE_ACTIVATE
   
         Exit Sub
   
         NoOLEObject:
         If Err = 2684 Then
            Me![Photo].OLETypeAllowed = OLE_EMBEDDED
            Me![Photo].SourceDoc = "C:\TEST.DOC"
            Me![Photo].Action = OLE_CREATE_EMBED
            Resume
         Else
            MsgBox "Error - " & Str(Err) & " : " & Error
            End If
   
            Exit Sub
         End Sub
   						

5. Use one of the following methods to create a new module:
   
   - Create a new module named DATA CONSTANTS and type the following lines in the Declarations section:
   

            Global Const VERB_OPEN = -2
            Global Const OLE_ACTIVATE = 7
            Global Const OLE_EMBEDDED = 1
            Global Const OLE_CREATE_EMBED = 0
   						

   -Or-
   
   - Create a new module named DATA CONSTANTS, and on the File menu, click LOAD TEXT. Click the CONSTANT.TXT file in the ACCESS directory and click the Merge button. Close and save the module.
6. View the Employees form in Form view. Note that double-clicking the object frame activates the OLE object. If an OLE object does not exist, double-clicking the object frame embeds a new Word document into the object frame.

NOTE: Some embedded objects may look slightly garbled if the OLE object frame's SizeMode property is set to Zoom or Stretch as is the case with the Employees form in the sample database NWIND.MDB.

Microsoft Access "Building Applications," version 2.0, Chapter 13, "Creating an Embedded OLE Automation Object from a File," page 297

For more information about OLE Automation and the Verb property, search for "Verb" using the Microsoft Access Help index.

For more information about OLE Automation, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

123859  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/123859/EN-US/ ) ACC: Sample OLE Automation for Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel

124862  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/124862/EN-US/ ) ACC: Sending the Current Record to Word with OLE Automation