ObjectBridge

Hi Jack -

ObjectBridge provides a generic mechanism to access an Automation-enabled Windows application. Since it is generic in nature, there is no specific documentation for any of the target application properties or methods.

When trying to automate Word (or any Office app), the easiest way to figure out what properties or methods you need to use is to use Word itself and record a macro. Then open the recorded macro in the VBA editor and examine what was recorded. Its not too difficult to translate the VBA from the macro into ObjectBridge calls. Note that in Word, many constants have names, but you should be able to right-click the constant and choose Definition to see its value. Also, VBA lets you build compound object expressions, like:

Selection.Font.Italic = wdToggle

In this example, the Selection object has a Font property that returns a Font object, which has an Italic property that you can toggle. With ObjectBridge, you need to get the Font property (object) from the Selection object using ATGETPROPERTY, then set the Italic property of the Font object using ATSETPROPERTY. In this example, wdToggle is a constant with the value of 9999998.

Thanks,

Pete

Hi Jack -

Looks like you are going to need several steps to set bullet points!

Looking at the code from the Word macro recroder, you are going to need to get the ListFormat object from the Range object from the Selection object. Now, on the right side of the equal sign, you need a ListTemplate object which you get from the ListGalleries (array) object using the ListTemplates (array) property.

Your code to obtain the ListFormat object looks correct. Before you call the ApplyListTemplate method on the ListFormat object, you need the template object.

You can get a ListGallery object from the Word Application object (WD.OBJ in the CREATE.WORD.LETTER sample program) via the ListGalleries() array property, using array index of 1 (wdBulletGallery). Then get the ListTemplate object using the ListGallery object's ListTemplates() array property, again using index 1.

Finally, your call to ATINVOKEMETHOD is almost correct: you need to pass the method arguments in the 3rd subroutine argument, like:

ARGS=TP.OBJ:VM:0:VM:0:VM:2

There is no return value from the ApplyListTemplate method, so the 4th argument in the subroutine call should be null ('').

Thanks,

Pete

Hi Jack -

To pass an index to an array property, concatenate the property name, a SVM, and the index. For example:

CALL ATGETPROPERTY(WD.OBJ,'LISTGALLERIES':SVM:1,GALS.OBJ,ERRMSG,OPTS)

Thanks,

Pete

Hi Jack! I have used a slightly different approach to your probelm. What we do is have a 'template' word document in rtf format. This template basically is a predefined document with the name of the field like this:

Dear <<name>>

Then we use super q pointers to the folder where the template lives and we run a program that finds all the <<name>> and replaces it with the actual name. The file is then automatically saved with a new name we have given it - normally doen with a 'nextno' counter in the dictionary.

This is way simpler than what you are trying to do.

Jeanette
www.mindsview.com

Thanks Jeanette,

 

This is a great idea.  What I did is save the letter as a template on the network.  And set up sort of a "mail merge" type routine.  I use the ATGETPROPERTY to get each paragraph, then I loop through each word looking for '&&', al la 4-Word.  I then replace '&&' with the next word in my variables list and use ATSETPROPERTY to replace the paragraph.

 

Basically I'm doing as you suggested, without the super q pointers.

 

This method works great except for one thing, fjarr also had a problem with in a post back in November '05 (no reply to his post tho).  The ATSETPROPERTY changes single and double quotes to question marks.  These are the only characters I've seen a problem with so far.

 

Any ideas about that?

 

Thanks again.

 

Jack

Hi Jack & Jeanette -

First, the problem of quote marks being changed is due to character set conversions. When you get the paragraph text using ATGETPROPERTY, the actual paragraph text is retreived in Unicode by the ObjectBridge on the PC. Then the Unicode text is converted into the 8-bit host character set using either codepage 437 (Wyse/ADDS emulations) or codepage 1252 (VTxxx emulations). The 8-bit host character set does not have characters for the start & end quote characters, only the old ASCII single and double quotes.

As an alternative to using ObjectBridge for this project, have you seen the article on using Mail Merge with MV data and Word? Here's a link in case you are interested.

Thanks,

Pete

Hi Jack -

I think the mail merge is faster, because there is really no interactive communication between the host and Word. You use one of the file transfer routines to send the variable data to the PC, then use a script, which runs on the client side, to perform the mail merge. Its really quite efficient.

Thanks,

Pete

Hi Jack -

Looks like the Copy method is not compatible with ObjectBridge. First, ObjectBridge does not support "named arguments" (as in After:= in the VBA code). ObjectBridge also does not support missing arguments - you cannot specify an argument for After unless you include one for Before, but the Excel object model documentation says you cannot specify After if you specify Before. Finally, the Before and After arguments are objects. The problem here is that ObjectBridge does not have any way to distinguish between an integer and an object.

Thanks,

Pete

Hi Jack -

No problem using xlPasteFormats, as it is a constant:

Const xlPasteFormats = -4122

Also, since XLPasteType is the first argument in the PasteSpecial method, the others can be ignored. Even if you specify all 4 arguments, they are all constants or integers, so again, no problem.

Thanks,

Pete