Question

Accessing custom properties of a Word Document in Delphi

Asked by: GHG-RCH

I have added a custom property to word templates which specify how to calculate where the file is to be saved.
In a Delphi-7 program I need to find this CustomProperty (preferably by name).
There is a DocumentCustomProperties property of the Active Document which is an IDespatch interface, so it has no sub properties visible.
There is an Interface CustomProperties, which as far as I can see is not supported by either the ActiveDocument or the DocumentCustomProperties interface.
How can I get access to the CustomProperties of the Word document.

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Asked On
2009-11-04 at 11:24:34ID24872126
Tags

Delphi

,

Microsoft Word

,

Custom Properties

Topics

Delphi Components

,

Microsoft Word

,

Automation

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: GrahamSkanPosted on 2009-11-04 at 11:42:30ID: 25743071

DocumentCustomProperties is the collection of any custom properties for the document.
Individual properties can be accessed by numerical index or by name

 

by: JOrzechPosted on 2009-11-04 at 11:45:28ID: 25743107

ActiveDocument.CustomDocumentProperties


 

by: epasquierPosted on 2009-11-04 at 16:07:18ID: 25745554

Well, I have to admit that in Delphi that is not as obvious as in VB.
I managed, with a Word : WordApplication; component to access the custom properties but this has not been without loosing some hairs first.
(most) strange thing is that I could not access to the
Word.ActiveDocument.CustomDocumentProperties 's subproperties directly, I had to put it first in an OLEVariant. And I had to understand how Item worked (I tried first with () for a method call but it's [ ] like an array property )

Var
 VarName,VarVar:OleVariant; 
 i:integer; 
begin
 Word.Connect;
VarName:=IncludeTrailingBackSlash(ExtractFilePath(Application.ExeName))+edtApp.Text;
Word.Documents.OpenOld(VarNAme,EmptyParam,EmptyParam,EmptyParam,EmptyParam,EmptyParam,EmptyParam,EmptyParam,EmptyParam,EmptyParam);
 VarVar:=Word.ActiveDocument.CustomDocumentProperties;
 for i:=1 to VarVar.Count do
  begin
   lbForms.Items.Add(VarVar.Item[i]);  // Getting properties by index
  end;
ShowMessage(VarVar.Item['Office']); // Getting the property by name
 Word.ActiveDocument.Close(VarBool,EmptyParam,EmptyParam);
 Word.Quit;
 Word.Disconnect;
end;

                                              
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by: epasquierPosted on 2009-11-04 at 16:10:06ID: 25745569

oh, I forgot one line near the end.

 VarBool:=False;
 Word.ActiveDocument.Close(VarBool,EmptyParam,EmptyParam);

and of course the definition of VarBool:OleVariant;

The fact that in delphi you have to put all the parameters and that for some unknown reasons they are VAR parameters, so I have to put a variable, not a constant (like VarBool, not false directly) is pretty much annoying... again, some hairs gone for this...

 

by: GHG-RCHPosted on 2009-11-05 at 12:57:18ID: 25753926

Epasquier thanks I will be accepting multiple solutions, as I feel any contribution should get some points, but your reply was the only one that seemed to have picked up the important point that while I could do the stuff I was referring to in VB, I needed to do it in Delphi which being strongly typed causes some issues with some COM interfaces.

This works
var
   WrkOLEVar:      OLEVariant;
   WrkOLEVar := 'TPSmartSavePath';
   CPVal := CustomPropsVI.Item[WrkOLEVar].Value;
This does not
   CPVal := CustomPropsVI.Item['TPSmartSavePath'].Value;
As you say VAR parameters require variables to be set up.

I would like to get typed objects from CustomDocumentProperties, but cannot find a way to map from CustomDocumentproperties to either of the two interfaces below. Any ideas?

  CustomProperty = interface(IDispatch)
    ['{B923FDE0-F08C-11D3-91B0-00105A0A19FD}']
    function  Get_Name: WideString; safecall;
    function  Get_Value: WideString; safecall;
    procedure Set_Value(const prop: WideString); safecall;
    function  Get_Application: WordApplication; safecall;
    function  Get_Creator: Integer; safecall;
    function  Get_Parent: IDispatch; safecall;
    procedure Delete; safecall;
    property Name: WideString read Get_Name;
    property Value: WideString read Get_Value write Set_Value;
    property Application_: WordApplication read Get_Application;
    property Creator: Integer read Get_Creator;
    property Parent: IDispatch read Get_Parent;
  end;

  CustomProperties = interface(IDispatch)
    ['{B923FDE1-F08C-11D3-91B0-00105A0A19FD}']
    function  Get__NewEnum: IUnknown; safecall;
    function  Get_Count: Integer; safecall;
    function  Get_Application: WordApplication; safecall;
    function  Get_Creator: Integer; safecall;
    function  Get_Parent: IDispatch; safecall;
    function  Item(var Index: OleVariant): CustomProperty; safecall;
    function  Add(const Name: WideString; const Value: WideString): CustomProperty; safecall;
    property _NewEnum: IUnknown read Get__NewEnum;
    property Count: Integer read Get_Count;
    property Application_: WordApplication read Get_Application;
    property Creator: Integer read Get_Creator;
    property Parent: IDispatch read Get_Parent;
  end;

 

by: GHG-RCHPosted on 2009-11-05 at 13:01:48ID: 31650170

Solution got me working. I would still like to be able to get to typed objects so the compiler can check things rather than tripping over things at runtime with late binding, but working is good.
Thanks

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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