Add FormField and Text to text that already Exists in a Table Cell

[Thyme2Cook]

I have a Word Template that uses VBA to maintain Legacy form fields in over in thousands of documents that are based on that template. The maintenance of the form fields and updating dropdown options works great with this method. However, now I need to add an Active checkbox to the cell in the second table, in the third row, in the second column. I need it to check if the Active checkbox has already been added and only add it if not. I also need it to fill in any value that may be present in the External ID field. The bookmark for the External ID field is "External_ID"

Here's a screenshot of what the impacted section currently looks like.
CurrentState.jpg
This screenshot is what I need it to look like.
FutureState.jpg

I keep running into an issue at the FormFields.Add Range. I just can't get it to add it in the right spot. I also don't know how to get it to only add the Active and the checkbox if the check box is missing.
Please Help.

Sub AddCheckbox()
Dim ExtID As String, ExtChk As Integer
'
'
'
ExtID = ActiveDocument.FormFields("External_ID").Result
ExtChk = ActiveDocument.FormFields("ExtID_Checkbox").Result


ActiveDocument.Unprotect




With ActiveDocument.Tables(2).Cell(Row:=3, Column:=2).Range
    .Delete
    .InsertAfter Text:="External ID: "
    .MoveEnd Unit:=wdCell, Count:=1
    With ActiveDocument.FormFields.Add(Selection.Active, wdFieldFormTextInput)
        .Name = "External_ID"
        .Result = ExtID
    With ActiveDocument.FormFields.Add(Selection.Range, wdFieldFormCheckBox)
        .Name = "ExtID_Checkbox"
    End With
End With


ActiveDocument.Protect wdAllowOnlyFormFields, True




End Sub

Cheers,
Thyme2Cook

[macropod]

You seem to be making this a whole lot harder than it needs to be:

Sub AddCheckbox()
Dim Rng As Range, FmFld As FormField
With ActiveDocument
  .Unprotect
  If .Bookmarks.Exists("ExtID_Checkbox") = False Then
    Set Rng = .Bookmarks("External_ID").Range
    With Rng
      .Collapse wdCollapseEnd
      .Text = " Active: "
      .Collapse wdCollapseEnd
      Set FmFld = .FormFields.Add(.Duplicate, wdFieldFormCheckBox)
      FmFld.Name = "ExtID_Checkbox"
    End With
  End If
  .Protect wdAllowOnlyFormFields, True
End With
End Sub

[gmayor]

Or another way

Sub Macro1()
Dim oRng As Range
Dim oFf As FormField
Dim bProtected As Boolean
    'Unprotect the file
    If Not ActiveDocument.ProtectionType = wdNoProtection Then
        bProtected = True
        ActiveDocument.Unprotect Password:=""
    End If
    Set oRng = ActiveDocument.Tables(2).Cell(2, 2).Range
    oRng.End = oRng.End - 1
    If oRng.FormFields.Count = 1 Then
        oRng.Collapse 0
        oRng.Text = " Active "
        oRng.Collapse 0
        oRng.FormFields.Add oRng, wdFieldFormCheckBox
    End If
    'Reprotect the document.
    If bProtected = True Then
        ActiveDocument.Protect _
                Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, _
                NoReset:=True, _
                Password:=""
    End If
    Set oRng = Nothing
    Set oFf = Nothing
End Sub

[Thyme2Cook]

Paul,
This worked marvelously and I understand it. However, in testing, I ran into an issue where some older documents, that were created from earlier versions of the template do not recognize the "External_ID" as a bookmark. The issue went away simply by opening the form field properties box and visually checked that the correct bookmark name was present (it was) and closing without changing anything. I'm concerned that there could be more documents with that same issue. Any ideas as to how to mitigate such an issue if it does arise again?

This is the code that I put into place. I added a check for un-named form fields because they are managed and referenced elsewhere in the code (this is a snippet of the whole code). Since I am adding a new form field the index number for all those fields will change. Do you have any thought on what I have below?

Sub AddCheckbox()
Dim Rng As Range, FmFld As FormField


' Checks for un-named form fields and renames them if they are only referenced by the index number.
With ActiveDocument
    If .FormFields.Count = 90 Then
        If .Bookmarks.Exists("POI") = False Then
            .FormFields(42).Name = "POI"
        End If
        If .Bookmarks.Exists("State") = False Then
            .FormFields(43).Name = "State"
        End If
        If .Bookmarks.Exists("RSVPReferral") = False Then
            .FormFields(44).Name = "Referral"
        End If
    End If
    .FormFields("POI").Enabled = True
    .FormFields("Referral").Enabled = True
    If .Bookmarks.Exists("Dropdown1") = True Then
        .FormFields("Dropdown1").Name = "AddressType"
    End If
    If .Bookmarks.Exists("Dropdown4") = True Then
        .FormFields("Dropdown4").Name = "TC_Name"
    End If
    .FormFields("Record_Date").TextInput.EditType wdCurrentTimeText, , "M/dd/yyyy h:mm am/pm", False
End With


' Checks for the existence of Active checkbox and adds when necessary.
With ActiveDocument
  .Unprotect
  With .Tables(2).Cell(3, 2)
    .Range.Bold = False
    .SetWidth ColumnWidth:=InchesToPoints(2.3), RulerStyle:=wdAdjustFirstColumn
  End With
  If .Bookmarks.Exists("ExtID_Checkbox") = False Then
    Set Rng = .Bookmarks("External_ID").Range
    With Rng
      .Collapse wdCollapseEnd
      .Text = " Active: "
      .Collapse wdCollapseEnd
      Set FmFld = .FormFields.Add(.Duplicate, wdFieldFormCheckBox)
      FmFld.Name = "ExtID_Checkbox"
    End With
    With .FormFields("ExtID_Checkbox").CheckBox
        .AutoSize = False
        .Size = 8
    End With
  End If
End With


End Sub

Thanks,
Thyme2Cook

[Thyme2Cook]

Graham,
If I understand your solution correctly it is looking at that table cell and counting the number of form fields. If it is 1 then it will add "Active" and the checkbox. If you see my response to macropod's solution you can see that Word is occasionally not recognizing the External ID bookmark in earlier iterations of the document. I think your solution may address that issue nicely.

Thanks,
Thyme2Cook

[macropod]

There is a difference between Word not recognising a bookmark and the bookmark not being present. I cannot see how it is possible for the macro to not recognise the 'External_ID' bookmark if it's present. If the code isn't adding the checkbox to an existing document, the strong implication is that the 'External_ID' is missing. Do note that 'External_ID' is not the same as 'External-ID' or 'ExternalID'.

It's also possible the code isn't working on some document because they're already unprotected. In a protected document, all your code before:
.Unprotect
would fail in a protected document, while the same code would fail at that line in an unprotected document.

[Thyme2Cook]

I found out that some of the Form Fields do not have a bookmark and some have the same bookmark. I was able to pull a listing of the form fields with their index number to accurately identify which ones need addressing and put logic to account for the new checkbox.

Thanks for your help. You're a lifesaver.
Thyme2Cook