Advanced MS Word Template Design Question: Version 2

[lettermail]

Greetings!

This project orginally started here just over 2 years ago. I got it to
work, but it was never implemented.

Advanced MS Word Template Design Question: Image swap

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.word.docmanagement/
browse_thread/thread/c1d0485da7d1c735?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den&fwc=2

(linebreak added manually)

Now we need to move forward on it. There are changes to the way it will
work so iI just wnat to confirm a few things before starting and add
some additional info.

1) To simplify things, we want to create a tool bar of commands.Should
not be a big deal -- we'd be running the macros from the tool bar
instead of double-clicking on objects in the actual document,

2) They macros need to change the state of objects in the document and
also know which state the object is in so that it is the same buttom to
toggle the state change. I think a and b are virutally identical in
terms of functionality, they just do different things.

a) On or Off: i.e. fill in a check box or unfill a check box
b) Hide an object/series of objects or unhide and object/series of
objects (i.e. 3 images in header and footer)

3) I assume that it would be built in a similar way to the previous
thread (above) -- but that the button bar would toggle the state
change. However, this would require me, I assume to NAME the objects so
that I can toggle them from the button bar.

I tried to look at the previous code i created, but since it was so
long ago, I can see the VBA, but not the actual field info to edit it.
I remember that the VBA changed the state of the image, but it also
swaped the field code information so that when clicked again it would
perform the opposite function. Also, I am not a VBA programmer, but I
do have script experience with other languages.

Other Issues:

1) We use some Office 2000, some XP and some 2004 for Mac. It needs to
work on all of them. The locking function was an issue for older
versions -- so we could not lock the macros down.

2) The .DOT does not seem to work when we save it -- i.e. it will not
let us save as a document, it requires to save a s a.DOT.

3) We want to store the templates on a network drive and have people
use them each time to create a new document.

thank you in advance,
jg

 

[Jonathan West]

Greetings!

This project orginally started here just over 2 years ago. I got it to
work, but it was never implemented.

Advanced MS Word Template Design Question: Image swap

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.word.docmanagement/
browse_thread/thread/c1d0485da7d1c735?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den&fwc=2

(linebreak added manually)

Now we need to move forward on it. There are changes to the way it will
work so iI just wnat to confirm a few things before starting and add
some additional info.

1) To simplify things, we want to create a tool bar of commands.Should
not be a big deal -- we'd be running the macros from the tool bar
instead of double-clicking on objects in the actual document,

That sounds simpler to organize.

2) They macros need to change the state of objects in the document and
also know which state the object is in so that it is the same buttom to
toggle the state change. I think a and b are virutally identical in
terms of functionality, they just do different things.

a) On or Off: i.e. fill in a check box or unfill a check box
b) Hide an object/series of objects or unhide and object/series of
objects (i.e. 3 images in header and footer)

These things can all be done.

3) I assume that it would be built in a similar way to the previous
thread (above) -- but that the button bar would toggle the state
change. However, this would require me, I assume to NAME the objects so
that I can toggle them from the button bar.

Either name them or identify them in some other fashion. The macro has to
know what it is operating on. How many of these things are there in the
document that you need to control?

I tried to look at the previous code i created, but since it was so
long ago, I can see the VBA, but not the actual field info to edit it.
I remember that the VBA changed the state of the image, but it also
swaped the field code information so that when clicked again it would
perform the opposite function. Also, I am not a VBA programmer, but I
do have script experience with other languages.

Other Issues:

1) We use some Office 2000, some XP and some 2004 for Mac. It needs to
work on all of them. The locking function was an issue for older
versions -- so we could not lock the macros down.

The VBA code for all those versions can be password-protected.

2) The .DOT does not seem to work when we save it -- i.e. it will not
let us save as a document, it requires to save a s a.DOT.

That is the way templates work. Instead, create a new document based on the
template, and save that. In Windows, if you double-click on a template, the
default action ought to be to create a new document.

3) We want to store the templates on a network drive and have people
use them each time to create a new document.

Hmm. I would advise against that. Rather than repeat myself in giving
reasons, just do a Google Groups search on posts from me that have the words
"network templates" included.


--
Regards
Jonathan West - Word MVP
www.intelligentdocuments.co.uk
Please reply to the newsgroup
Keep your VBA code safe, sign the ClassicVB petition www.classicvb.org

 

[lettermail]

Jonathan West wrote:

Overall we need:

1 macro to show/hide page layout images (letterhead and footer)
3 macros to toggle a check box (or image) on and off

This would generate us ways to print text only, print with everything
on, make a PDF with everything on.

That is the way templates work. Instead, create a new document based on the
template, and save that. In Windows, if you double-click on a template, the
default action ought to be to create a new document.

Yes, this one puzzled me. My thought was that they would just load and
ask you to save as something else. This was the way it worked in the
first version (please see the first message in the thread).

Hmm. I would advise against that. Rather than repeat myself in giving
reasons, just do a Google Groups search on posts from me that have the words
"network templates" included.

I tracked down a post with your name and that information. The network
going-down macro issue is a big one, especially if we then email said
document to peopl eoutside of our network. I take it that they would
not be able to use the macros because they would not have access --
therefore, what we intended to show them would not work.

To me, I think they should be deployed to each machine. I am thinking
that if an administrator write-protects them, the average user can only
load them. But that might cause problems with the macros, would it not?


Another issue is that you keep having to approve the macros. I am
assuming that they can be signed by one of our administrator-genrated
security certificates. Is that a difficult process?

What would really want is to be able to use the macros to format two
sections of the document and then have them stay that way forever when
it is saved -- no macros needed to view it. Can it generate a document
without macros?

thanks again,
jg