ACC: Sending the Current Record to Word 97 with Automation
This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.
This article was previously published under Q131583
Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.
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SUMMARY
This article shows you how to merge the current record in a Microsoft
Access 7.0 and 97 object into a Microsoft Word 97 document, print it, and
then close Microsoft Word 97.
This article assumes that you are familiar with Visual Basic for
Applications and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the
programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information
about Visual Basic for Applications, please refer to your version of the
"Building Applications with Microsoft Access" manual.
Microsoft Word 97 uses the Visual Basic for Applications programming model
instead of the WordBasic flat command model used in earlier versions.
For information about how to send the current record to Microsoft Word
version 7.0 or earlier using WordBasic, please see the following article in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
124862 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/124862/EN-US/)
ACC: Sending the Current Record to Word with OLE Automation
The following example uses bookmarks in a Microsoft Word 97 document to
mark the locations where you want to place data from a record on a
Microsoft Access form.
Start Microsoft Word 97 and create the following new document:
First Last
Address
City, Region, PostalCode
Dear Greeting,
Northwind Traders would like to thank you for
your employment during the past year. Below
you will find your photo. If this is not your
most current picture, please let us know.
Photo
Sincerely,
Northwind Traders
2.
Create a bookmark in Microsoft Word 97 for the words "First," "Last,"
"Address," "City," "Region," "PostalCode," "Greeting," and "Photo":
a.
Select the word "First."
b.
On the Insert menu, click Bookmark.
c.
In the Bookmark Name box, type "First," (without the quotation
marks) and then click Add.
d.
Repeat steps 2a through 2c for each of the remaining words,
substituting that word for the word "First" in steps 2a and 2c.
3.
Save the document as C:\My Documents\MyMerge.doc, and then quit
Microsoft Word 97.
Sending Data to Microsoft Word from a Microsoft Access Form
1.
Start Microsoft Access and open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
2.
Set a reference to the Microsoft Word 8.0 Object Library. To do so,
follow these steps:
a.
Open any module in Design view.
b.
On the Tools menu, click References.
c.
Click Microsoft Word 8.0 Object Library in the Available References
box. If that selection does not appear, browse for Msword8.olb,
which installs by default in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\Office folder.
d.
Click OK.
e.
Close the module.
3.
Open the Employees form in Design view.
4.
Add a command button to the form and set the following properties:
Command Button:
Name: MergeButton
Caption: Send to Word
OnClick: [Event Procedure]
5.
Set the OnClick property of the command button to the following event
procedure.
NOTE: In the following sample code, you must remove the comment from one
line of code as indicated, depending on your version of Microsoft
Access.
Private Sub MergeButton_Click()
On Error GoTo MergeButton_Err
Dim objWord As Word.Application
' Copy the Photo control on the Employees form.
DoCmd.GoToControl "Photo"
' Remove the following comment in Microsoft Access 97.
' DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdCopy
' Remove the following comment in Microsoft Access 7.0.
' DoCmd.DoMenuItem acFormBar, acEditMenu, acCopy, , acMenuVer70
' Start Microsoft Word 97.
Set objWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
With objWord
' Make the application visible.
.Visible = True
' Open the document.
.Documents.Open ("c:\my documents\mymerge.doc")
' Move to each bookmark and insert text from the form.
.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("First").Select
.Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!FirstName))
.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Last").Select
.Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!LastName))
.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Address").Select
.Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!Address))
.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("City").Select
.Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!City))
.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Region").Select
.Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!Region))
.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("PostalCode").Select
.Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!PostalCode))
.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Greeting").Select
.Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!FirstName))
' Paste the photo.
.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Photo").Select
.Selection.Paste
End With
' Print the document in the foreground so Microsoft Word 97
' will not close until the document finishes printing.
objWord.ActiveDocument.PrintOut Background:=False
' Close the document without saving changes.
objWord.ActiveDocument.Close SaveChanges:=wdDoNotSaveChanges
' Quit Microsoft Word 97 and release the object variable.
objWord.Quit
Set objWord = Nothing
Exit Sub
MergeButton_Err:
' If a field on the form is empty
' remove the bookmark text and continue.
If Err.Number = 94 Then
objWord.Selection.Text = ""
Resume Next
' If the Photo field is empty.
ElseIf Err.Number = 2046 Then
MsgBox "Please add a photo to this record and try again."
Else
MsgBox Err.Number & vbCr & Err.Description
End If
Exit Sub
End Sub
6.
Save the Employees form and open it in Form view.
7.
Click the Send To Word button to start Microsoft Word 97, merge data
from the current record on the form into MyMerge.doc, print the
document, and then close Microsoft Word 97.
NOTE: When you use this method of inserting text into a Word Document, you
are deleting the bookmark when you insert the record field content. If
you need to reference the text that you entered into the document, you
must bookmark it. You can use the following sample to add the bookmark "Last" to the text inserted from record field "LastName."
.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Last").Select
.Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!LastName))
'add this line to reapply the bookmark name to the selection
.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks.Add Name:="Last",Range:=Selection.Range
This macro could be used to simulate a mailmerge with Word that includes
the picture field from an Access record, by placing the above code in
a "For...Next", While...Wend, or "For...Each" Loop.
For additional information about Automation theory and multiple examples on automating all the Office 97 products, click the article number below
to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
167223 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/167223/EN-US/) OFF97: Microsoft Office 97 Automation Help File Available
For additional information about Automation between Microsoft Access 97 and
Microsoft Word, search the Help Index for "sharing data between
applications, Microsoft Word mail merge data."
For additional information about Automation between Microsoft Access 7.0 and Microsoft Word, search the Help Index for "Word (Microsoft), sharing data."
For additional information about bookmarks, search the Microsoft Word 97 Help Index for "bookmarks," or ask the Microsoft Word 97 Office Assistant.
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This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.
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