Can Word VBA talk to an archaic search engine program

[Culichi]

Evening--

My question could yield a potentially complicated answer, but I'd be
very happy for now for something simple if anyone has even that . . .
I've got a pile of newspaper articles in CD archives. These use some
kind of Windows-based search interface; it was probably developed in
1995 but I've got no name for it; it comes with the CDs. When I do a
search, it gives me an index of article titles. I click the first index
entry and it shows me the article. I then have to save the articles one
at a time. I need to do hundreds of these for a given month, and over a
period of years. Question: Can VB, or Word VBA in particular, make
contact with ANY program that's written for Windows, or at least can it
automate tasks in the other program? As it is, I save the articles with
a ".doc" ending so that I can use them in Word without any further
processing. I could save myself months of work if I could find a way to
automate the Open-Save sequence of gathering these articles. I once
tried to do an end-around by cracking open the archive files on the CD,
but we could never figure out what the compression was. Nothing but
jibberish.

Again, I don't expect a full explanation. Rather, if someone thinks this
might be possible, where would I start? Can I somehow record a macro of
the steps in the search program and go back and review it? I've got the
basics of the Office VBA programming down, but I've no clue how it works
outside the Office borders nor what I would need to know about the
search program to tell VBA (or VB) to talk to it.

Much obliged,

Kelley

 

[Tsu Dho Nimh]

Evening--

My question could yield a potentially complicated answer, but I'd be
very happy for now for something simple if anyone has even that . . .
I've got a pile of newspaper articles in CD archives. These use some
kind of Windows-based search interface; it was probably developed in
1995 but I've got no name for it; it comes with the CDs. When I do a
search, it gives me an index of article titles. I click the first index
entry and it shows me the article. I then have to save the articles one
at a time. I need to do hundreds of these for a given month, and over a
period of years. Question: Can VB, or Word VBA in particular, make
contact with ANY program that's written for Windows, or at least can it
automate tasks in the other program?

Can you get the API (Applicaiton programming Interface) for the
database?


Tsu Dho Nimh

 

[Kelley Strawn]

Tsu--

I don't know exactly what that would be in this case. Judging from the Form
that it uses, the buttons, the Help file, etc., it just seems like it was
created using the predecessors to VB. Is there some specific way to
identify this from the program itself? I don't have documentation or
anything like that to look through.

I'm still a novice at this. Thanks for responding. Please let me know if you
have other ideas.

Kelley