Change background to red in Word Table cell when letter R is typed in

[Glio]

Can anyone help me with some VB code to allow a column in a Word table to
automatically change the background colour depending on which of three
letters are entered in each cell. i.e when R is entered the background
changes to red, when A is entered changes to gold, and when G is entered
changes to green.The column is the 7th and last in a table so I believe it
will be from G4 down.

Any help would be much appreciated

Geoff

 

[Graham Mayor]

'Automatically' is a tall order. The only way I can think of to do this
'automatically' is to run a macro on exit from a form field in a protected
form. This means that you are going to have to insert a form field in the
cell to accept the entry A G or R. You can then run a macro on exit from
that form field to format the cell e.g. in the following example, the cell
at row 1 column 3 is formatted in red, green or gold depending on what is
entered in the form field Text1.

As you cannot format a table cell with the form locked, the code must also
unlock and relock the form as below.

Sub ColourCells()
Dim oFld As FormFields
Dim bProtected As Boolean

'Unprotect the file
If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType <> wdNoProtection Then
bProtected = True
ActiveDocument.Unprotect Password:=""
End If

Set oFld = ActiveDocument.FormFields
With ActiveDocument.Tables(1).Cell(1, 3)
Select Case oFld("Text1").Result
Case Is = "R"
.Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorRed
Case Is = "G"
.Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorGreen
Case Is = "A"
.Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorGold
Case Is = "r"
.Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorRed
Case Is = "g"
.Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorGreen
Case Is = "a"
.Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorGold
Case Else
'Do nothing
End Select
End With

'Reprotect the document.
If bProtected = True Then
ActiveDocument.Protect _
Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, NoReset:=True, Password:=""
End If
End Sub

 

[Jay Freedman]

You could write an event handler for the WindowSelectionChange event
(http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/AppClassEvents.htm). If the Selection
is in one of the cells you want to examine, then run the logic to control
the color; otherwise just exit from the sub.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[fumei via OfficeKB.com]

I am not quite getting the precise logic as to where you are typing "R" etc.
but it may be handy to use a bookmark as well.


Private Sub oApp_WindowSelectionChange(ByVal Sel As Selection)
Dim j As Long, k As Long
Dim aCol As Column
Dim aCell As Cell

' don't bother and exit if it is not my test document
If ActiveDocument.Name <> "TestEvents.doc" Then Exit Sub

' set variables for the bookmark
j = ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("TestCol").Range.Start
k = ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("TestCol").Range.End

' check if the Selection is in the table in question
If Selection.Start > j And _
Selection.Start < k Then
' set a Column object for the column to color
Set aCol = ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("TestCol").Range _
.Columns(7)
' set a Cell object for the cell Selection is in
Set aCell = Selection.Range.Cells(1)
' test that cell content using NewCellText function
Select Case UCase(NewCellText(aCell))
Case "R"
aCol.Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorDarkRed
Case "A"
aCol.Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorGold
Case "G"
aCol.Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorBrightGreen
Case Else
Exit Sub
End Select
End If
End Sub

Function NewCellText(aCell As Cell) As String
Dim sText As String
sText = aCell.Range.Text
NewCellText = Left(sText, Len(sText) - 2)
End Function

This would have to be adjusted to fully match your logic requirements, as
again, I am not fully following. Also note that if the cursor is a point (no
text selected) and you type "a", the SelectionChange event does NOT fire.
Why? Because the Selection has not changed. Typing text does not fire
SelectionChange. Changing the Selection fires SelectionChange.