VBA Express : Word - Insert and Use Mapped Content Controls

Word

Insert and Use Mapped Content Controls

Ease of Use

Intermediate

Version tested with

2007, 2010

Submitted by:

gmaxey

Description:

Inserts a mapped ContentContol at the selection. Mapped content controls are bound to data stored in a document CustomXMLPart.

Discussion:

Word users are frequently looking for a reliable and efficient method to enter data at one point in a document and have that data automatically repeated (or duplicated) at other locations in the document. In Word versions previous to to Word2007 this objective was met with bookmarks and reference fields or document variables and DocVariable fields. Both methods work well but their construction can be cumbersome and time consuming. Content Controls and more importantly their ability to be bound to data in a document CustomXMLPart introduced in Word2007 makes this process a walk in the sun. A CustomXMLPart is an information data store that users can create that becomes a part of the Word 2007/2010 OpenOfficeXMLFile format. When a content control is mapped (or bound) to data in this data store then whatever information is in the data store is displayed in the content control. It gets even better. Data entered in a content control updates the data in the data store. The beauty of this relationship is that you can copy and paste a mapped content control to one or many other locations in the document. If you change the data in one content control that change updated in the data store and reflected in all other copies of that content control. For whatever reason Microsoft has not made this powerful feature fully available to users through the user interface. The code provided here addresses that short sightedness and gives you a quick and simple method to create and use mapped plain text content controls in your documents.

Code:

instructions for use

			Option Explicit 
Dim oCustPart As Office.CustomXMLPart 
Sub AddContentControlAndMapToCustomXMLPart() 
    Dim oRng As Word.Range 
    Dim oCC As Word.ContentControl 
    Dim xPath As String 
    Dim pTitle As String 
    Dim pNodeBaseName As String 
    Set oRng = Selection.Range 
    On Error GoTo Err_Handler 
    Set oCC = ActiveDocument.ContentControls.Add(wdContentControlText, oRng) 
    pTitle = InputBox("Type the title this ContentControl", "Create Title") 
    pNodeBaseName = Replace(pTitle, " ", "_") 'Node BaseNames can not contain spaces
    CreateDataNode pNodeBaseName 
    xPath = "/Data/" & pNodeBaseName 
    With oCC 
        .Title = pTitle 
        .XMLMapping.SetMapping xPath 
    End With 
    Set oRng = Nothing 
    Set oCC = Nothing 
    Exit Sub 
Err_Handler: 
    If Err.Number = 4605 Then 
        MsgBox "A content control already exists at the selected range.  Please " _ 
        & " select another location.", vbInformation + vbOKOnly, "Select Another Location" 
    End If 
End Sub 
 
Sub CreateCustomPart() 
     'Establish the base CustomXMLPart.
    Set oCustPart = ActiveDocument.CustomXMLParts.Add _ 
    ("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?><Data></Data>") 
    ActiveDocument.Variables("custPartID").Value = oCustPart.ID 
    Set oCustPart = Nothing 
End Sub 
 
Sub CreateDataNode(ByRef pBaseName As String) 
    Dim oNode As CustomXMLNode 
    Set oCustPart = ActiveDocument.CustomXMLParts.SelectByID _ 
    (ActiveDocument.Variables("custPartID").Value) 
     'Create a child node for the content control bound data.
    If Not oCustPart Is Nothing Then 
        Set oNode = oCustPart.SelectSingleNode("/Data") 
        oCustPart.AddNode Parent:=oNode, Name:=pBaseName, NodeValue:="" 
        Set oCustPart = Nothing 
        Set oNode = Nothing 
    Else 'The base CustomXMLPart does not yet exist.  Create it.
        CreateCustomPart 
        CreateDataNode pBaseName 
    End If 
End Sub 
 
Sub CleanUp() 
     'Can be used to delete the CustomXMLPart used for mapping.
    On Error Resume Next 
    Set oCustPart = ActiveDocument.CustomXMLParts.SelectByID _ 
    (ActiveDocument.Variables("custPartID").Value) 
    oCustPart.Delete 
    On Error GoTo 0 
End Sub

How to use:

Copy above code.
In Word press Alt + F11 to enter the VBE.
Press Ctrl + R to show the Project Explorer.
Right-click desired file on left (in bold).
Choose Insert -> Module.
Paste code into the right pane.
Press Alt + Q to close the VBE.
Save the document before any other changes.

Test the code:

In Word click the Developer Tab>Code>Macros
In the Macros Dialog, Macros In dropdown select your document
Select the AddContentControlAndMapToCustomXMLPart procedure and click "Run"
Enter a Title in the dialog that appears and click "OK"
Select and copy the content control just created.
Paste the content control to a new location.
Enter text in either control and exit the control.
Note how both controls display the entered text.
If you use the attached sample file there is a button on the QAT you can use to demo the code.

Sample File:

KBArticle submission (mapped CCs).zip 21.19KB

Approved by Jacob Hilderbrand

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