test/validate selected text

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a macro which will take the text N (an abbreviated reference number) selected manually by the user in Doc1, open Doc2, which contains a complete list of referenced information, search for N and present the user with the full and correct reference. The goal is to check information against an authoritative list.

So far so good, but I want to check the initial selection for length and format to avoid people making nonsensical selections.

1. There must be a selection, so:

Code:

---

If Selection.Type <> wdSelectionNormal Then
  MsgBox ("Please select a reference number" & vbCrLf & "(example: 123/00) and try again.")
  End
Else

---

2. The selection must be at least 4 characters long, so:

Code:

---

If Len(N) < 4 Then
  MsgBox ("Oops. Please try again.")
  End
End If

---

3. It must have the format #/## (number-slash-number-number); there can be between 1 and 3 characters to the left of the slash (so ##/## and ###/## would be okay as well).

I suppose this can be done using wildcards, but i don't know how to get this into code.

A related question: would it be prefereable to assign the variable N right away (N = Selection.Text) before running the tests (as in 2), or should I run the tests directly on the Selection (as in 1)?

Thanks for your help and have a great day!

kobber

Okay, done a bit of research on wildcards word.mvps.org.

My expression must correspond to the following wildcard description: ([0-9]{1,3})</>([0-9]{2})
or "number 0-9, 1 to 3 occurrences; slash; number 0-9, 2 occurrences".

Now, how to put this into practice ...

No luck so far with either of these approaches:

N As Range

Code:

---

Set N = Selection.Range
If N.Find.Execute(FindText:="([0-9]{1,3})</>([0-9]{2})") Then
  MsgBox ("Eureka!")
End If

---

N As String

Code:

---

N = Selection.Text
If N = "([0-9]{1,3})</>([0-9]{2})" Then
  MsgBox ("Eureka!")
End If

---

I'd really appreciate some pointers. I suppose I need to define the range and search for any text corresponding to the format, but I'm not sure how to implement it.

Thanks and take it easy!

kobber

There is undoubtedly a regular expression that would work, but this seems to work just a well:

Code:

---

Sub ScratchMacro()
'A basic Word macro coded by Greg Maxey
  Select Case True
    Case Selection Like "###/##", Selection Like "##/##", Selection Like "#/##"
      'Eureka
    Case Else
      Beep
  End Select
End Sub

---

Hi gmaxey,

That works beautifully. Thanks very much for the help.

I have another variation of the macro that searches for the references, using a regular expression (in this case ([TC]{1})([ \^~-]{1})([0-9]{1,3})[/]([0-9]{2}), with a letter at the beginning), but your solution is much simpler.

Have a great day.

kobber