Catching the New Page event in VBA

[Lars]

I am developing an MS Word (xp) template for a corporate letterhead that will
automatically insert the reference number (already stored in a variable from
the first page) into the header of the second (and subsequent) pages.

I am aware that there is no "new page" event in Word that can be caught.

The solution I am working on involves checking the
'ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("number of pages")' property and
running the code as soon as the page number has incremented. Unfortunately, I
cannot find a way of checking this value each time the user types a new
character.

Here is the code I am using at this time :

Option Explicit
Private WithEvents wdApp As Word.Application
Dim page1 As Integer
Dim page2 As Integer

'This line is executed during the loading of the document
page1 = ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("number of pages")


Private Sub wdApp_WindowSelectionChange(ByVal Sel As Selection)
page2 = ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("number of pages")
If page2 > page1 Then
MsgBox "Now on page " & Format(page2)
'Do the necessary operation here...

 

[Tony Jollans]

The Window Selection_Change event is the closest you will get (without using
heaps of APIs) - and it has some side effects in the UI, but ...

What is it you want to do when a new page is started?

 

[macropod]

Hi Lars,

If the paragraph with your reference number is formatted in a Style that isn't used anywhere else in the document, then you could
use a STYLEREF field to replicate it in the header.

Suppressing the STYLEREF field display on the 1st page is especially easy to manage if the document template is set up with a
'different first page' under File|Page Setup|Layout and you put the STYLEREF field into the template's second page header. No vba
required.

 

[Lars]

Thanks, Tony, for your prompt reply. As you say, it is wise to avoid Windows
API calls, as it gets complicated. In answer to your question, when a user
creates a new document based on this template, a dialog box opens
automatically and the user types in the address and all other info using
textboxes and combo boxes. The reference number and the subject of the letter
are also entered here (and stored in global string variables). The OK button
then inserts the data (with all required paragraph formatting, font selection
etc.) such that the user can immediately start typing the body of the letter.
The address is positioned on the page so that it fits in the envelope window,
and all the other details (date, senders address, signature etc.) are
automatically positioned on the page.

If the letter is long, and the user types into a second (or even a third)
page then, at the moment the new page is created, the reference code and
subject of the letter must be inserted into the new page header, using the
previously stored data (I use ranges and frames for this part). Life would be
SO much easier if a New Page event existed ! Thanks again, Tony for your help

 

[Tony Jollans]

You have all the information you need to set up the second page header right
at the beginning - you don't need to wait and see whether or not it is
needed.

When you do all the other setup stuff, add some code like this:

With ActiveDocument.Sections(1)
.PageSetup.DifferentFirstPageHeaderFooter = True
.Headers(wdHeaderFooterFirstPage).Range.InsertBefore "whatever on
page 1"
.Headers(wdHeaderFooterPrimary).RangeInsertBefore "whatever on page
2 onwards"
End With

Excatly what you set up is up to you, of course

When, or if, the user starts a new page the different header will be used
automatically. If they don't start a new page, they'll never see it. No need
for any event processing.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

While Tony has given you code for using VBA to set up the page headers, that
can all be done in the template so that nothing has to be done when the user
is creating the document.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Lars]

Thanks, Macropod, for your idea. This is a different approach, and I find
this interesting as it avoids a lot of VBA. Most of my daily work is with MS
Access development, where almost every event can be caught. I developed a bad
habit of seeing MS Word from this point of view, and therefore miss the
other, and perhaps more obvious ways, within the philosophy of Word !

Many thanks again for your help, Macropod. You have shown me another way,
and I will try this and see. I will let you know how I get on. I am also
learning more about building Word templates

--
Lars

Hi Lars,

If the paragraph with your reference number is formatted in a Style that isn't used anywhere else in the document, then you could
use a STYLEREF field to replicate it in the header.

Suppressing the STYLEREF field display on the 1st page is especially easy to manage if the document template is set up with a
'different first page' under File|Page Setup|Layout and you put the STYLEREF field into the template's second page header. No vba
required.

--
Cheers
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]

I am developing an MS Word (xp) template for a corporate letterhead that will
automatically insert the reference number (already stored in a variable from
the first page) into the header of the second (and subsequent) pages.

I am aware that there is no "new page" event in Word that can be caught.

The solution I am working on involves checking the
'ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("number of pages")' property and
running the code as soon as the page number has incremented. Unfortunately, I
cannot find a way of checking this value each time the user types a new
character.

Here is the code I am using at this time :

Option Explicit
Private WithEvents wdApp As Word.Application
Dim page1 As Integer
Dim page2 As Integer

'This line is executed during the loading of the document
page1 = ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("number of pages")


Private Sub wdApp_WindowSelectionChange(ByVal Sel As Selection)
page2 = ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("number of pages")
If page2 > page1 Then
MsgBox "Now on page " & Format(page2)
'Do the necessary operation here...
.
.
.
End If
End Sub

Unfortunately, the above sub is only works when I click with the mouse
anywhere in the document.

I tried other subs from the same set and I thought that
'wdApp_DocumentChange()' would be the one to use, but this dosen't work
either.

Can anyone give me a pointer as to how I can trap the 'new character event'
(if there is one) and to check if the page number has changed ?

Any help will be greatly appreciated !

Many thanks,

 

[Lars]

Thanks, Tony for your reply. This is also a good approach and I will try
this. As I mentioned in my reply to Macropod, I work mostly in MS Access
development and have a tendency of viewing Word in the same way, assuming
there are lots of events that can be caught. I have a lot of re-learning to
do when it comes to designing Word templates ! I will let you know soon how I
get on.

 

[Lars]

Thanks for your reply, Doug. This is a similar approach to the one that
Macropod mentioned previously. My worry was that the content of the second
page header must be changed on the fly to display the reference info that was
typed into the first page. I see that Word is a very different world compared
to MS Access programing, and I must now acquire a lot of new experience in
Word template design. I will study all these solutions and will let you know
the outcome soon. Many thanks again for your help
--
Lars

While Tony has given you code for using VBA to set up the page headers, that
can all be done in the template so that nothing has to be done when the user
is creating the document.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

I think that you said that you had a dialog box opening when the user
created a new document and by that I assume that you mean a userform. Given
that the required information will be entered into the controls on that form
by the user, you can then set the values of document variables so that they
store that information and then you can have it displayed anywhere in your
document, including the primary header (the one that will appear on the
second and subsequent pages if you have the Different first page option
selected under the Layout tab of the Page Setup dialog) by the use of {
DOCVARIABLE } fields.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Lars]

IT WORKS ! Thanks, Doug, for your help. You assumed correctly, I did mean a
userform rather than dialogue box (oops !). Your solution to insert a field
directly into the second page header is a good approach (the header also
contains a logo at the top, and a date and page number field on the right
side) This is a much simpler solution than to insert ranges and frames. So
into the 2nd page header of the template, I inserted the field : {DOCVARIABLE
"LetterRef1"\*MERGEFORMAT}

I then added the following code to the OK button:
with ActiveDocument
.Sections(1).PageSetup.DifferentFirstPageHeaderFooter = True
.Variables.Add Name:="LetterRef1", Value:=Me.txtOurRef.Value
'To display the result, update all fields in header
.Sections(1).Headers(wdHeaderFooterPrimary).Range.Fields.Update
End With

It is not necessary to use a 'For Each section' loop, as there is only one
section and one (new page) header. When I created a new document using this
template, then typed my way onto a new page, the letter reference appeared in
the new page header as planned

Wow ! All this is new to me and I now have a lot of learning to do when
creating Word templates and to understand more about the Word object model
and its collections. I will now close this thread with big thanks to all of
you for getting me on the right track and helping me to get off to a good
start in this domain.

It now seems that a New Page event in Word is not necessary after all...