I have a huge list of mail merge documents which were previously connected to a database that is no longer used. I now wish to change the datasource on each and every one of these documents. I tried to solve this by:
Dim oWordLateBound As Object
Dim oDoc As Object
oWordLateBound = CreateObject("Word.Applica
oDoc = CreateObject("Word.Documen
oWordLateBound.DisplayAler
oWordLateBound.documents.O
...ie open the document, set the datasource property, save and close the document. HOWEVER, as soon as I open the document, Word's "Data Link Properties" dialog appears (requiring user interaction - because obviously it is looking for the old datasource) and I then cannot seem to issue any further commands. What I was hoping to do was, after opening the document, set the datasource property by using:
oWordLateBound.ActiveDocum
If I can somehow change the datasource property of a mail merge document without first opening it then maybe I could achieve what I want to do...???
Please note I know exactly how to do this manually in Word, but I need to achieve this programmatically as there are hundreds of documents.
Thanks in advance.
This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.
Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.
If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.
Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.
Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.
Access the answers to your technology questions today.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.
Try it out and discover for yourself.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.
I tried your code, and it works as expected. When opening the file manually, the dialogue appears, but when opened through automation, the default answer to the first question, "do you wish to run the query ...", is used, namely [No]. So the document opens, but it's no longer a mail merge document.
The method MailMerge.OpenDataSource works to link to a new source (or to the same source, since it was never opened).
> I then cannot seem to issue any further commands.
I'm not sure I understand. What commands are you issuing? aren't we talking about the code? If you mean that the code fails or stops, while Word pops up a dialogue, then it probably has something to do with security. I use a "Medium" setting, but I'm not sure it's related.
What is the error message from your code (rather than the name of the dialogue in word)?
(°v°)
OK, I am working in VB.Net. I issue the following 2 commands:
oWordLateBound.documents.O
oWordLateBound.activedocum
The second line should provide the document with the Datasource details, but the point I am trying to make is that my app does not get to the second line because opening the document means Word is now displaying the Data Link Properties dialog and is waiting for user input. If you go to Visual Studio, you would see the little green arrow saying that "This is the next statement to execute when this thread returns from the current function". The appearance of the dialog hijacks the entire process - in fact the thread never returns from the 'oWordLateBound.documents.
One potential way around this, I am guessing, would be to set the Datasource properties BEFORE the document is opened - IF that is at all possible.
Note: I am referring to Data Link Properties window - NOT the SQL Security Check window (just in case these are being mixed up!)
OK, I'm clear now, sorry for the confusion.
I tried your code from VBA (Access or Excel, I don't recall), and it did work, but perhaps only because I got the SQL Security Check question. In automated mode, this box is closed with the default option: [No], so I never encountered your problem (Word never attempted to access the data source), except when opening the file manually and choosing [Yes].
This leads perhaps to a solution: it is possible to make sure you get the SQL Security Check?
> set the Datasource properties BEFORE the document is opened.
Like you, I don't see how that would be possible. Before it's open, or rather if you were to open it directly as a binary file, you would need perfect knowledge of the document file structure in order to hack into it. Once open, Word will stubbornly insist on dealing with the problem immediately...
> I am referring to Data Link Properties window.
I understand that now, and it's indeed a very nagging little beast. But I got it only when opening a file from the interface, as said before. Incidentally, I don't know how to remove the SQL Check, in order to test the problem fully.
Perhaps another idea: I haven't tried all possible options when opening a document. I'm looking at the "open and repair" option, for example. I don't know if that changes the behaviour.
Sorry I can't be of more help
(°v°)
A quick registry entry:
http://support.microsoft.c
...will get rid of the SQLSecurityCheck for you
Thanks for that. I did try your code again, and indeed could not find any option or open argument to avoid the nasty Data Link Properties window. However, setting the SQL Security Check back, it worked like before: the data link was never examined...
So this seems to be a solution (or a workaround). The other would be to recreate the original source temporarily, but that was obvious.
(°v°)
As I said, I tried all options known to me, without success. The only way to "suppress the Data Link Properties dialogue" is to enable SQL Security Check, and use Documents.Open in automated mode.
If you feel adventurous, you can also Shell "winword.exe c:\document.doc" in another process, wait for a while, and then use various WinAPI calls to find the main window handle (function FindWindow), and determine whether a popup dialogue is active (function GetLastActivePopup), which can be recognised by its title (function GetWindowText). If you have examined the structure, you navigate to the button you want to press and activate it (function SendMessage).
Is it worth it? especially as you already have a workaround?
Cheers!
(°v°)
Indeed, there is no good answer. Automation works well as long as dialogues and other modes (e.g. print preview) rendering the application unresponsive can be avoided. If the application tries to interface with the user, it's hard -- sometimes very hard -- to fake responses.
Thanks and success with your project!
(°v°)
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: HainKurtPosted on 2009-10-28 at 20:29:30ID: 25690461
maybe there is a property in the documnet to open the database automatically...
can you please attach the template, if it does not have any confidential data...