ACC: Sending the Current Record to Word 97 with Automation (131583)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Access for Windows 95 7.0
  • Microsoft Access 97
  • Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
This article was previously published under Q131583
Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

SUMMARY

This article shows you how to merge the current record in a Microsoft Access 7.0 and 97 object into a Microsoft Word 97 document, print it, and then close Microsoft Word 97.

This article assumes that you are familiar with Visual Basic for Applications and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Visual Basic for Applications, please refer to your version of the "Building Applications with Microsoft Access" manual.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Word 97 uses the Visual Basic for Applications programming model instead of the WordBasic flat command model used in earlier versions.

For information about how to send the current record to Microsoft Word version 7.0 or earlier using WordBasic, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

124862 ACC: Sending the Current Record to Word with OLE Automation

The following example uses bookmarks in a Microsoft Word 97 document to mark the locations where you want to place data from a record on a Microsoft Access form.

Creating a Microsoft Word 97 Document

  1. Start Microsoft Word 97 and create the following new document:

    First Last
    Address
    City, Region, PostalCode

    Dear Greeting,

    Northwind Traders would like to thank you for
    your employment during the past year. Below
    you will find your photo. If this is not your
    most current picture, please let us know.

    Photo

    Sincerely,

    Northwind Traders

  2. Create a bookmark in Microsoft Word 97 for the words "First," "Last," "Address," "City," "Region," "PostalCode," "Greeting," and "Photo":
    1. Select the word "First."
    2. On the Insert menu, click Bookmark.
    3. In the Bookmark Name box, type "First," (without the quotation marks) and then click Add.
    4. Repeat steps 2a through 2c for each of the remaining words, substituting that word for the word "First" in steps 2a and 2c.
  3. Save the document as C:\My Documents\MyMerge.doc, and then quit Microsoft Word 97.

Sending Data to Microsoft Word from a Microsoft Access Form

  1. Start Microsoft Access and open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
  2. Set a reference to the Microsoft Word 8.0 Object Library. To do so, follow these steps:
    1. Open any module in Design view.
    2. On the Tools menu, click References.
    3. Click Microsoft Word 8.0 Object Library in the Available References box. If that selection does not appear, browse for Msword8.olb, which installs by default in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office folder.
    4. Click OK.
    5. Close the module.
  3. Open the Employees form in Design view.
  4. Add a command button to the form and set the following properties:
       Command Button:
      Name: MergeButton
      Caption: Send to Word
      OnClick: [Event Procedure]
  5. Set the OnClick property of the command button to the following event procedure.

    NOTE: In the following sample code, you must remove the comment from one line of code as indicated, depending on your version of Microsoft Access.
          Private Sub MergeButton_Click()
      On Error GoTo MergeButton_Err
         Dim objWord As Word.Application
         ' Copy the Photo control on the Employees form.
         DoCmd.GoToControl "Photo"
         ' Remove the following comment in Microsoft Access 97.
         ' DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdCopy
         ' Remove the following comment in Microsoft Access 7.0.
         ' DoCmd.DoMenuItem acFormBar, acEditMenu, acCopy, , acMenuVer70
         ' Start Microsoft Word 97.
         Set objWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
         With objWord
            ' Make the application visible.
            .Visible = True
            ' Open the document.
            .Documents.Open ("c:\my documents\mymerge.doc")
            ' Move to each bookmark and insert text from the form.
            .ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("First").Select
            .Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!FirstName))
            .ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Last").Select
            .Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!LastName))
            .ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Address").Select
            .Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!Address))
            .ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("City").Select
            .Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!City))
            .ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Region").Select
            .Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!Region))
            .ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("PostalCode").Select
            .Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!PostalCode))
            .ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Greeting").Select
            .Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!FirstName))
            ' Paste the photo.
            .ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Photo").Select
            .Selection.Paste
         End With
         ' Print the document in the foreground so Microsoft Word 97
         ' will not close until the document finishes printing.
         objWord.ActiveDocument.PrintOut Background:=False
         ' Close the document without saving changes.
         objWord.ActiveDocument.Close SaveChanges:=wdDoNotSaveChanges
         ' Quit Microsoft Word 97 and release the object variable.
         objWord.Quit
         Set objWord = Nothing
         Exit Sub
      MergeButton_Err:
         ' If a field on the form is empty
         ' remove the bookmark text and continue.
         If Err.Number = 94 Then
            objWord.Selection.Text = ""
            Resume Next
         ' If the Photo field is empty.
         ElseIf Err.Number = 2046 Then
            MsgBox "Please add a photo to this record and try again."
         Else
            MsgBox Err.Number & vbCr & Err.Description
         End If
         Exit Sub
      End Sub
  6. Save the Employees form and open it in Form view.
  7. Click the Send To Word button to start Microsoft Word 97, merge data from the current record on the form into MyMerge.doc, print the document, and then close Microsoft Word 97.
NOTE: When you use this method of inserting text into a Word Document, you are deleting the bookmark when you insert the record field content. If you need to reference the text that you entered into the document, you must bookmark it. You can use the following sample to add the bookmark "Last" to the text inserted from record field "LastName." 
  .ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Last").Select
  .Selection.Text = (CStr(Forms!Employees!LastName))
  'add this line to reapply the bookmark name to the selection
  .ActiveDocument.Bookmarks.Add Name:="Last",Range:=Selection.Range
This macro could be used to simulate a mailmerge with Word that includes the picture field from an Access record, by placing the above code in a "For...Next", While...Wend, or "For...Each" Loop.

REFERENCES

For additional information about Automation theory and multiple examples on automating all the Office 97 products, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

167223 OFF97: Microsoft Office 97 Automation Help File Available

For additional information about Automation between Microsoft Access 97 and Microsoft Word, search the Help Index for "sharing data between applications, Microsoft Word mail merge data."

For additional information about Automation between Microsoft Access 7.0 and Microsoft Word, search the Help Index for "Word (Microsoft), sharing data."

For additional information about bookmarks, search the Microsoft Word 97 Help Index for "bookmarks," or ask the Microsoft Word 97 Office Assistant.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:9/13/2006
Keywords:kbhowto kbmacro kbProgramming KB131583
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