Templates verses Forms/Document

[TonyJollans]

Hi Aaron,

For a dropdown you should be able to use
[VBA]ActiveDocument.FormFields("DropdownBookmarkName").Result[/VBA]
to get the string, or
[VBA]ActiveDocument.FormFields("DropdownBookmarkName").Dropdown.Value[/VBA]
to get the number in the list, which you can use as an index into
[VBA]ActiveDocument.FormFields("DropdownBookmarkName").Dropdown.ListEntries[/VBA]

For a text field, for some odd reason, you are better off using
[VBA]ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("TextFieldBookmarkName").Fields(1).Result[/VBA]

[fumei]

1. Validation is a good thing. You will have to build up solid logic for it, since you have so many fields.

2. To help with that, I would strongly recommend explicitly naming your formfields.

DropDown8 - really tells you nothing
ApprovedBy - does.

What I am saying is:[vba]ActiveDocument.FormFields("ApprovedBy").Result[/vba] is much easier to follow through your code, than:[vba]ActiveDocument.FormFields("DropDown8").Result[/vba]

Again, since you are talking about validation, having explicit names will likely make it easier.

As another suggestion, make a FormField object of the document formfield collection. You will have to type a lot less. Right now you have to type:[vba]ActiveDocument.FormFields("DropDown8").Result[/vba]If you make a FormField object, it will contain all the formfields in the document. Then you can reference them using the object, like this:[vba]Dim oFF As Word.FormFields
Dim strApprovedBy As String
Set oFF = ActiveDocument.FormFields
strApprovedBy = oFF("DropDown8").Result[/vba]which would give you a string of the selected item in DropDown8 - which again would be better off explicitly named.

[TonyJollans]

To be fair, it was me who left the default names in the sample I knocked up. You are, of course, right that meaningful names should be used in any proper solution.

[fumei]

Tony, could you elaborate your comment re: text formfields, it is better using Fields(1)?

I get an error.

[vba]ActiveDocument.FormFields("Text1").Result[/vba]returns the result.

[vba]ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Text1").Fields(1).Result[/vba]returns an compiling error - "Member not found".

[TonyJollans]

Oops! Sorry, that should be:
[VBA]ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Text1").Range.Fields(1).Result[/VBA]
I have to confess that I don't know all the details but there are some situations where referencing text formfields doesn't work properly. One that immediately springs to mind is setting the value to a string longer than 255 characters. Also formatting can sometimes be applied to the field rather than the formfield. As referencing the field always works it is generally a safer recommendation.

[Merkava]

Hi,

First of all, I would like to say thank you for all your assistance. It really helped me.

I would like to ask one more question with regards to the tool bar that was added.

To add or remove buttons, where can I see how this is done?

T.I.A.

Cheers,
Aaron

[TonyJollans]

I can't remember exactly what I did but here is some sample code which should get you on the right road. Drop this in a module in your template
[vba]
Sub ToolbarSetUp()
Dim myCB As CommandBar
Dim myCBCombo As CommandBarComboBox
Dim myCBButton As CommandBarButton

CustomizationContext = MacroContainer

On Error Resume Next
CommandBars("Toolbar Name").Delete
On Error GoTo 0

Set myCB = CommandBars.Add("Toolbar Name", msoBarTop)
With myCB
Set myCBButton = .Controls.Add(msoControlButton)
With myCBButton
.Style = msoButtonCaption
.Caption = "Button 1 Caption"
.OnAction = "Button1Code"
End With
Set myCBButton = .Controls.Add(msoControlButton)
With myCBButton
.Style = msoButtonCaption
.BeginGroup = True
.Caption = "Button 2 Caption"
.OnAction = "Button2Code"
End With
Set myCBButton = .Controls.Add(msoControlButton)
With myCBButton
.Style = msoButtonCaption
.Caption = "Button 3 Caption"
.OnAction = "Button3Code"
End With
.Enabled = True
.Visible = True
End With
end sub
[/vba]

[Merkava]

Hi,

Actually, it was not done in code.

Cheers,
Aaron

[TonyJollans]

Hi Aaron,

We're obviously talking about different things. The toolbar in my sample was created in code with something similar to what I last posted. What are you referring to?

[Merkava]

I did not see any code that created a toolbar in the example you sent me.

Cheers
Aaron

[TonyJollans]

The code was a one-time thing. Once it had been run, the toolbar was there and the code was not needed in the template any more. As I said, I can't remember exctly what I did but it would have been similar to the code I just posted.

You can create toolbars manually via Tools > Customize. Create the toolbar from the Toolbars tab and add the buttons from the Commands tab.