Question

Word templates - multiple access via VB6?

Asked by: nickwoolley

I'm hoping to access Word templates from a shared drive on a server. However when a document on a PC is based on a template on the server it locks the template. Word 97 gives a dialog which allows you to make a copy, one installation of Word 2000 gives a dialog which only allows you to open a read only copy but then another installation doesn't show the same dialog.

I'm wanting to allow multiple access so that other PC's can use a VB app interfacing with Word to base documents on the same template at the same time?

I'm looking for some help with either trapping errors when creating the Word doc in vb and deciding the action, or some alternative ideas (maybe the onfiguration of Word?). I'm hoping to avoid making a local copy of the template.

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Asked On
2000-09-20 at 02:57:53ID11324757
Tags

word

,

template

,

vb6

,

access

Topic

Visual Basic Programming

Participating Experts
3
Points
0
Comments
14

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Answers

 

by: graverPosted on 2000-09-20 at 03:15:47ID: 4369473

Have you tried set the Workgroup templates directory option in Word:Tools:Options:File Locations?

 

by: cquinnPosted on 2000-09-20 at 03:38:29ID: 4369720

Are your users opening the template directly, or creating a new document based on the template?  If you have the shared directory set as your workgroup templates location, clicking on the New option of the file menu will give you tabs with all of the mapped templates on them.  Clicking on one of these will create a new document based on that template.  The original is not locked.  I have hundreds of users in a major Government department accessing a series of shared templates in this way with no problems at all.

 

by: cquinnPosted on 2000-09-20 at 03:41:14ID: 4369741

Also - if you are creating documents in VBA based on the templates, you need to do it in the following way:

Dim oWord as Word.Application

Set oWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")       'Open up Word
oWord.Application.Visible = True
oWord.Documents.Add "x:\Templates\TemplateName.dot"                     'New document based on the template

 

by: nickwoolleyPosted on 2000-09-20 at 09:49:29ID: 4375393

No I hadn't set the Workgroup templates path, I have now. If set to different paths, how does Word determine which path to look in, presumably to use the Workgroup templates you need to be signed into a Workgroup. I don't understand how work groups work with Word. (If set the same as User template path then the dialogs still appear.)

 

by: nickwoolleyPosted on 2000-09-20 at 09:51:45ID: 4375434

cquinn: Yes I have used similar code to create a Word object and I have based the document on a template (.dot).

 

by: graverPosted on 2000-09-20 at 11:22:29ID: 4376633

Can you post the code that is opening the documents?

 

by: nickwoolleyPosted on 2000-09-21 at 01:15:02ID: 4384354

The relevant bits of code are:

Public WithEvents wdApp As Word.Application

Set wdApp = New Word.Application

wdApp.Documents.Add ("c:\path\template.dot")

 

by: graverPosted on 2000-09-22 at 14:44:46ID: 4410725

Just for s&g, try:
set nDoc = wdApp.Documents.Add (Template:="c:\path\template.dot")

 

by: nickwoolleyPosted on 2000-09-25 at 07:49:20ID: 4430933

qraver: s&g ??? I tried it but it didn't seem to help me. Word 2000 is creating a locking file whereas Word 97 is not creating one.

My solution has been to create a temporary copy of the template with a unique prefix and delete the temporary copy when the doc is closed.

cquinn: Your comment suggests that my Work Group settings maybe incorrect, but are you running Word 97 or Word 2000?

 

by: cquinnPosted on 2000-09-26 at 00:04:49ID: 4440604

Word 97

 

by: nickwoolleyPosted on 2000-11-03 at 08:18:00ID: 5078359

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, however I haven't found a solution using Word 2000 which is better than the one I posted on 25 Sep. So unless there are any other suggestions I am proposing to delete this question.

 

by: darinwPosted on 2000-11-16 at 15:01:59ID: 5402304

Moving question to PAQ.

darinw
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