Changing variable in header using VBA

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  You're confusing the  value of the variable  (which is stored invisibly in the document) with the  display of one or more DocVariable fields  that may be in the body of the document or in a header or footer. The value of the variable is being changed by your macro, and that applies to the entire document. The problem you're seeing is in the updating of the fields that display the value.

  When you select the whole document and press F9 to update fields, or equivalently when your macro executes the statement

     ActiveDocument.Fields.Update

  that applies only to the body of the document. It doesn't update fields in headers, footers, text boxes, footnotes, or several other places that aren't part of the body.

  A simple way to update all fields everywhere in the document is to go into Print Preview and back (assuming the option to update fields when printing is turned on). In code, use these two statements in place of the Fields.Update statement:

      PrintPreview = True
      PrintPreview = False

  ---

  Jay Freedman
  MS Word MVP  FAQ: http://word.mvps.org

  Friday, October 8, 2010 1:46 PM
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  Thank you Jay for your reply.

  I tried using PrintPreview as you suggested but strangely, the fields "nl1-2" in the header does not change at all.

  Here is the code

   For i = 1 To numchapters
   
    ' Get the component name and put it into the document
    If fLine = True Then
     If Left(srange.Paragraphs(1).Range, 2) = "**" Then ' for example **Capacitor
      myComponentName = Mid(srange.Paragraphs(1).Range, 3, Len(srange.Paragraphs(1).Range)) ' this gives me Capacitor
      target.Variables("nl1").Value = myComponentName  ' docvariable nl1 is in the body of the report document
      target.Variables("nl1-2").Value = myComponentName ' docvariable nl1-2 is in the header of the report
         
          PrintPreview = True
          PrintPreview = False
      
      fLine = False
     End If
    End If
    
    srange.Start = srange.Start + Len(srange.Paragraphs(1).Range)
    srange.End = srange.Start + InStr(srange, "+") - 1
    target.Variables("Chapter" & i).Value = srange
    srange.Collapse Direction:=wdCollapseEnd
    srange.End = source.Range.End
   Next i
    'PrintPreview = True
    'PrintPreview = False
    target.Range.Fields.Update

  I have got no clue as to why it does not work with the printpreview.

  Thank you in advance

   

  Saturday, October 9, 2010 1:16 PM
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  When I duplicate this in a document, I have no trouble updating the
  fields in the header. However, there are a couple of places you should
  verify that you've done things correctly:

  - Go to the Options dialog and verify that "Update fields before
  printing" is checked. I did mention this before, but you may have
  missed it. If necessary, the macro could be enhanced to turn that
  option on.

  - Press Alt+F9 and verify that the field code in the header is
     {DocVariable "nl1-2"}
  The quote marks are optional but recommended.

  Finally, you should understand that you don't have to have two
  different document variables with the same value, just to put them in
  two different places. You can copy the field from the document body
  and paste it into the header, replacing the one that's now there; and
  remove the setting of "nl1-2". There can be many DocVariable fields
  that all show the value of the same variable. You'd still have to go
  through Print Preview to get the ones in the headers to update (or
  expand the macro to update fields in the headers explicitly).

  ---

  Jay Freedman
  MS Word MVP  FAQ: http://word.mvps.org

  Saturday, October 9, 2010 5:13 PM
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  Thank you Jay for your reply.

  Sorry, it still does not work. I tried all sort of different ways but none works.

  However, I found something bizarre happening. When I run the code, the fields in the header does not change but when i manually go to file, then click on print. It then works - I saw the fields in the header changed (which is what I wanted to see). I am not sure if I have applied your code (printpreview) to the right word document.

  Basically I have two word documents open - one is the source document that have got texts or paragraphs of word that I wanted to copy and dump into another word document that derived from the template I created in Word.

  I have the following codes as written by Doug

   

   Set target = ActiveDocument
   Set source = Documents.Open("C:/sourceDoc.doc")
   Set srange = source.Range

   

  I think the one that I need to do print preview is the ActiveDocument.

  I tried your code many times. I then tried target.PrintPreview as shown below

  ' Get the component name and put it into the document 
  
    If fLine = True Then 
  
       If Left(srange.Paragraphs(1).Range, 2) = "**" Then ' for example **Capacitor 
  
          myComponentName = Mid(srange.Paragraphs(1).Range, 3, Len(srange.Paragraphs(1).Range)) ' this gives me Capacitor 
  
          target.Variables("nl1").Value = myComponentName ' docvariable nl1 is in the body of the report document 
  
          target.Variables("nl1-2").Value = myComponentName ' docvariable nl1-2 is in the header of the report    
   
  
         'PrintPreview = True   
   
  
         'PrintPreview = False 
   
  
         target.PrintPreview
   
  
         target.ClosePrintPreview
  
  
         fLine = False 
  
  
  
     End If 
  
  End If 
  
  

  This gives me a runtime error 4605 - this method or property is not available because preview mode is not active. The error points to "target.ClosePrintPreview".

  I have checked the name of the fields in the header {DOCVARIABLE nl1-2} and it is correct. I have also checked the "Update fields before
  printing" is checked.

  I wonder if there is anything else I can try out.

  Thank you in advance

   

   

  Saturday, October 9, 2010 10:37 PM
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  The following will update the fields in the body of the document and then iterate through the all of the Headers and Footers in all of the Sections of the document and update the fields in the Range of each:

  Dim i As Long, j As Long
  With Target
      .Range.Fields.Updatge
      For i = 1 To .Sections.Count
          With .Sections(i)
              For j = 1 To .Headers.Count
                  .Headers(j).Range.Fields.Update
              Next j
              For j = 1 To .Footers.Count
                  .Footers(j).Range.Fields.Update
              Next j
          End With
      Next i
  End With

  
  -- Hope this helps.

  Doug Robbins - Word MVP,
  dkr[atsymbol]mvps[dot]org
  Posted via the Community Bridge

  "associates" wrote in message news:e08531f5-abf2-47bb-8955-be203639d54c@communitybridge.codeplex.com...

  Thank you Jay for your reply.

  Sorry, it still does not work. I tried all sort of different ways but none works.

  However, I found something bizarre happening. When I run the code, the fields in the header does not change but when i manually go to file, then click on print. It then works - I saw the fields in the header changed (which is what I wanted to see). I am not sure if I have applied your code (printpreview) to the right word document.

  Basically I have two word documents open - one is the source document that have got texts or paragraphs of word that I wanted to copy and dump into another word document that derived from the template I created in Word.

  I have the following codes as written by Doug

  Set target = ActiveDocument
  Set source = Documents.Open("C:/sourceDoc.doc")
  Set srange = source.Range

  I think the one that I need to do print preview is the ActiveDocument.

  I tried your code many times. I then tried target.PrintPreview as shown below

  ' Get the component name and put it into the document
  
    If fLine = True Then
  
       If Left(srange.Paragraphs(1).Range, 2) = "**" Then ' for example **Capacitor
  
          myComponentName = Mid(srange.Paragraphs(1).Range, 3, Len(srange.Paragraphs(1).Range)) ' this gives me Capacitor
  
          target.Variables("nl1").Value = myComponentName ' docvariable nl1 is in the body of the report document
  
          target.Variables("nl1-2").Value = myComponentName ' docvariable nl1-2 is in the header of the report
  
  
         'PrintPreview = True
  
  
         'PrintPreview = False
  
  
         target.PrintPreview
  
  
         target.ClosePrintPreview
  
  
         fLine = False
  
  
  
     End If
  
  End If
  
  

  This gives me a runtime error 4605 - this method or property is not available because preview mode is not active. The error points to "target.ClosePrintPreview".

  I have checked the name of the fields in the header {DOCVARIABLE nl1-2} and it is correct. I have also checked the "Update fields before
  printing" is checked.

  I wonder if there is anything else I can try out.

  Thank you in advance

  ---

  Doug Robbins - Word MVP dkr[atsymbol]mvps[dot]org

  • Marked as answer by Jennifer Zhan Monday, October 11, 2010 2:58 AM

  Saturday, October 9, 2010 10:51 PM
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  I'll recommend that you use Doug's code, as it's more certain to work under all circumstances. So as not to leave an unanswered question dangling, here's an explanation of why you weren't getting the desired result with PrintPreview.

  The code you showed in your latest post

   Set target = ActiveDocument
   Set source = Documents.Open("C:/sourceDoc.doc")
   Set srange = source.Range

  tells us that target is the document that was open when the macro started -- it was the ActiveDocument at that time. However, when you then open another document as source, that one becomes the ActiveDocument. In VBA, ActiveDocument refers to whichever document has the focus  at the time the particular statement executes , and that can change in the middle of a macro for any of several reasons.

  When you then come to set and unset PrintPreview, the source document is the one whose fields (if there are any) will be updated. Since the target document is inactive at that time, its fields won't be updated.

  Doug's code, because it specifically calls Update on the fields of the target document, doesn't care whether target is active or not.

  ---

  Jay Freedman
  MS Word MVP  FAQ: http://word.mvps.org

  Saturday, October 9, 2010 11:51 PM
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  Thank you Jay for your reply.

  I am deeply grateful that you have tried to explain to me about why it just won't get updated. That's very helpful as I now know what's going on. There is always something new to learn everyday. Thank you very much.

  I will keep trying to work with Doug's code. It's just that I have spent lots of time trying out everything that I could think of but none actually works so I am just kind of frustrated.

  Thank you once again.

   

  Sunday, October 10, 2010 1:21 AM
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  Thank you Doug for your reply.

  That is really really helpful. For it works now.

   

  Sunday, October 10, 2010 1:42 AM