Limit bullet and numbering choices

[Associates]

Hi,

I'm working on a template that is to be used to create a standard word
document report customised for the use of our company. When it comes to
bullet and numbering, my question is whether there are any ways of limiting
the choices here. This is to prevent different users from selecting different
bullet points in report making process. Hence, i was thinking if there is
only one choice there for them to use, then users would have little options
to go for a different one. Is there any coding involved here? or it this
possible?

BTW, i use office 03.

Thank you in advance

 

[Gordon Bentley-Mix]

I don't think there's any easy way to limit or restrict the bullets and
numbering galleries; Word pretty much lets the user do whatever they want in
this regard.

However, you can make it easier for the user to use the 'standard' bullets
and numbering by creating List Bullet and List Number styles. You can then go
one step further and make the application of these styles available through a
macro. If the macro is set up correctly, it can even be used as a replacement
for the standard Word functionality and invoked through the related menu
commands and toolbar buttons. It's just a matter of giving the procedures the
correct name.

I face this problem frequently with several of my clients, and usually the
requirement is not limited to documents based on just one template; they want
the corporate standard style used in _all_ documents. I approach it through
the use of a global add-in that displays a toolbar with buttons for bullets
and numbering (among others). These buttons use the standard faces so the
user comes to associate them with the standard Word functionality. However,
the macro behind these buttons differs from native Word in that it actually
applies a style to the selection instead of adding bullets or numbering to
the current style. Clicking the same button in a bulleted/numbered paragraph
sets the style back to Body Text (altho it could just as easily be Normal
instead).

I also have 'higher level' styles (List Bullet/Number 2, 3, etc.) configured
to match the corporate standard and provide ersatz 'Increase/Decrease Indent'
buttons to apply these styles as well.

The coding for this is pretty straight forward, so I won't provide a sample.
However, I'm happy to provide direction and feedback on any solution you
might develop.
--
Cheers!
Gordon
The Kiwi Koder

Uninvited email contact will be marked as SPAM and ignored. Please post all
follow-ups to the newsgroup.

 

[Associates]

Thank you Gordon for your reply.

I'm not sure of how to create List Bullet and List Number styles as a
standard "bullets and numbering". Sorry for asking that question. I went to
View - toolbars and select "customise" thinking that i could create a
separate toolbar for a list bullet and number but to no avail. would you be
kind to show me how?

Thank you in advance

 

[Gordon Bentley-Mix]

List Bullet and List Number styles are native to Word - that is, there are
existing styles called: 'List Bullet', 'List Bullet 2', etc.; and 'List
Number', 'List Number 2', etc. I'm suggesting that you use standard Word
functionality to define the List Bullet and List Number styles to match the
corporate standard, and then write a macro that will apply the appropriate
style whenever the user clicks on a toolbar button. I'm also suggesting that
this macro be written so that if the style applied to the current selection
is already List Bullet or List Number, the macro resets the style back to
Body Text or Normal or whatever is standard for general text in the report.

You can write this macro is such a way that when the user tries to invoke
the standard Word functionality that's available through the "Formatting"
toolbar for applying bullets or number, your macro runs instead and applies a
style. (Getting this to work with the "Format | Bullets and Numbering..."
menu command may be a bit more difficult.)

Alternatively, you can create a custom toolbar in your 'Report' template for
providing access to your macro. This is what I do, although as I said in my
previous post, I do this through a global template so that the corporate
standard styles are used in _all_ documents rather than just those based on a
particular template. In addition, I use the button faces from the "Bullets"
and "Numbering" buttons on the Word "Formatting" toolbar on my custom
toolbar. I do this so that users think they're using the native Word
functionality.

Step one is to set up the List Bullet and List Number styles. Step two is to
write code to apply (and remove) these styles. Step three is to figure out a
way to provide access to the code - either through a custom toolbar or by
structuring the code in such a way that the native "Bullets" and "Numbering"
buttons (and the menu command if desired) are repurposed.

I can help you with step two (to a limited degree) but I'll leave it up to
you do steps one and three, as all that is required for these steps is
general knowledge of Word.
--
Cheers!
Gordon

Uninvited email contact will be marked as SPAM and ignored. Please post all
follow-ups to the newsgroup.

 

[Gordon Bentley-Mix]

Here's some sample code to help get you started.

Sub Numbering()
If Documents.Count < 1 Then
MsgBox "There are no open documents.", vbCritical, "Numbering"
Else
Dim SelStyle As Style
With Selection
Set SelStyle = .Style
Select Case SelStyle
'*** If the current style is a built-in List Number style, then
make it Body Text ****
Case "List Number", "List Number 2", "List Number 3", "List
Number 4", "List Number 5"
.Style = "Body Text"
'****Any other style, apply the List Number style ***
Case Else
.Style = "List Number"
'*** This code looks to see if the previous list should be
continued ***
Dim styCurrentStyle As Style
Dim styPreviousStyle As Style
Set styCurrentStyle = .Style
On Error Resume Next
Set styPreviousStyle = .Range.Previous.Style
If styCurrentStyle <> styPreviousStyle Then
Dim ltListTemp As ListTemplate
Set ltListTemp = .Style.ListTemplate
.Range.ListFormat.ApplyListTemplate
ListTemplate:=ltListTemp, ContinuePreviousList:=False
End If
End Select
End With
End If
End Sub

Sub Bullets()
If Documents.Count < 1 Then
MsgBox "There are no open documents.", vbCritical, "Bullets"
Else
Dim SelStyle As Style
With Selection
Set SelStyle = .Style
Select Case SelStyle
'*** If the current style is a built-in List Bullet style, then
make it Body Text ***
Case "List Bullet", "List Bullet 2", "List Bullet 3", "List
Bullet 4", "List Bullet 5"
.Style = "Body Text"
'*** Any other style, apply the List Bullet style. ***
Case Else
.Style = "List Bullet"
End Select
End With
End If
End Sub

Note that in my "production" version I do a lot more. For example, I also
have special styles for lists in tables, so I check to see if the selection
is in a table first. If it is, then I also check to make sure that the "Table
List" style is available (because it's a user-defined style so it might not
be). However, this should give you some idea of what I'm talking about.
--
Cheers!
Gordon

Uninvited email contact will be marked as SPAM and ignored. Please post all
follow-ups to the newsgroup.