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One of my fellow programmers says when users ask “Can this or that be done?”, “Anything can be done given enough time.”

Yes, I think it can be done. The hardest part would be automating Word 95. Word 95 uses WordBasic as it’s programming language and Word 97 & Word 2000 use VBA. Word 97 & Word 2000 can translate Word 95’s WordBasic with various degrees of success.

Here’s a couple of articles from Microsoft

This link talks about WordBasic
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/techart/msdn_wbmigrat.htm

And this link talks about automating office…
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/ar…s/Q253/2/35.ASP

Here’s a couple of additional possibilities.

What version of Word are you using? I think internally Word 95 changes the type of graphics to bitmaps(bmp) even if you put in a jpg and gif. I think Word 97 & 2000 internally save as PNG.

Also, if you are saving the document as Word 97/6.0/95, it saves it as a dual file format. i.e. The file size about doubles since it’s really saving it as Word 95 and Word 97/2000 in the same document.

Thanks for the reply.

There are two that interest me. The Class Builder Utility and one I downloaded from PlanetSourceCode.com called Task List. Both show up in VB6 under Add-ins/Add-in Manager, but don’t show up in the Excel 2K VB IDE Add-ins/Add-in Manager. Do I need to copy some DLLs to a different folder? Both of these aren’t show stoppers. I can use the Class Builder Utility in VB6 and export the class and import it into the Excel VBA project. The Task List would be nice to have in the Excel VBE IDE as I’m currently working on a project in Excel.

As I put in a earlier post about coding standards…

When commenting your code, put less on what your code is doing and more on WHY you’re doing it.

Does Project have application specific add-ins like Word and Excel? With Word and Excel you can stick a template or Add-in into the startup folder. If that template or add-in has macros, you won’t get bothered with the startup message.

Mike

Of course you should ask yourself, “Is Excel the right tool for this job?” Visio or Project would be the tool of choice to generate a gant chart. On the other hand, if you don’t have those tools, then…

how does it go?…When you have a hammer, all your problems are nails.

Mike

I had a similar problem with Word. All documents in a specific folder had to be converted to PDF files so a group of Unix users could read them. The conversion had to happen on a regular basis. I had to resort to writing a VB app that automates Word.

You can set up distiller to watch a folder for postscript files and convert them to PDF files.

I then had my VB program fire up Word, print each document in the folder to a postscript file. Set a timer in VB to check on the printer spooling in Word. When Word was done, shut Word down.

The distiller would convert all the files in the folder to PDF files.

Granted, there may be a simplier solution, but I haven’t found one or bothered to find out now that this is working.

Mike

ER… that’s Excel For Windows 95… not Excel or Windows 95

Mike

I’m not completely sure, but I think the collection object won’t work in Excel 95. If I remember, I had to resort to using arrays.

Do a search on the web for John Walkenbach. He wrote Excel or Windows 95 Power Programming with VBA. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a web site and he still sells this book.

Mike

I think I read that the next version of Office after Office XP will be Office.Net which will have the .net language changes.

Mike

Poking around in Steve Roman’s Writing Word Macros there’s StartOf and EndOf methods of the selection and range objects. It mentions that the StartOf method returns zero if you are already at the start of the range of selection.

I don’t know if this helps.

Mike

I don’t know how many times I’ve had to beat Word into submission wrestling with this.

Thanks!

Mike “Having way too much fun with those smilies.”

With a subject like that, I felt I had to reply.

Recursion is just another tool in the programmer’s toolbox. The programmer needs to know and use the right tool for the right job. In the example you posted, recursion doesn’t appear to be the right tool for the job.

I don’t want any programmers to shy away from recursion. Just know when it’s not appropriate.

What’s next? Subject: LOOPING – DANGEROUS!

Mike

It’s better to set a reference to the Microsoft Excel Object Library. Then you’ll get VB’s intellisense/auto-command-completion thingy. Also, if I remember correctly, CreateObject is late binding, so your app will run slower.

‘For variable declaration
Option Explicit

Dim xl as Excel.Application
Set xl = New Excel.Application

[rest of code here]

‘shut down excel
xl.quit
‘destory the object
Set xl = Nothing

Good books…

Hmmm…

I’m not sure about some of the beginning VB/VBA books.

Intermediate books would be…
The Office 2000 Programmer’s Guide (MS PRESS)
Writing Excel Macros – Steve Roman(O’reilly)

Mike

I think you’d have more control over IE if you automate it just like Word or Excel.

See

http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/c-frame…application.asp

Mike