Marvellous macros

Helen Bradley explains how to create macros in Word 97.

In the word processing column in April '97 we published a series of handy macros for Word 6.0 and Word 95. Unfortunately, if you have upgraded to Word 97 these macros like any other you were using in previous versions of Word will no longer work. This is because Word 97 uses a different language for its macros -- it uses Visual Basic rather than the WordBasic language which the older versions used.

Step 1: Select Tools, Macro, Macros and in the Macro Name text box type the name for your macro. Use only characters and don't use any punctuation or spaces. In the Macros In list box select Normal.dot (global template) and click Create.

Sub YourMacroName()
'
' YourMacroName Macro
' Macro created <today's date> by <your name.
'

End Sub

The first line is the procedure (macro) name, the second to fifth lines are comments and serve no purpose in the macro except that they give you space to document the macro. The sixth line is blank and it is here that you should type your macro text. The last line marks the end of the procedure (macro) -- all your macro text should appear before this line.

All of the macros in this months column can be created using this method.

Sub InsertImage()
' Insert Image Macro
'move to the end of the current selection
Selection.EndKey Unit:=wdLine, Extend:=wdMove
'insert the graphic
Set myimg = ActiveDocument.Shapes.AddPicture(Anchor:=Selection.Range, FileName:="C:\clipart\myimage.tif", LinkToFile:=False, SaveWithDocument:=True)
'size it to the following height and width in points
myimg.Height = 34.6
myimg.Width = 138.05
End Sub

Before you can use this macro you'll need to replace 'c:\ clipart\myimage.tif' with the name and location of your graphic file.

If you want an image to appear at a fixed size you'll first need to calculate the size in points. To do this, load the image in a sample page and size it to the size you want to use. Select Tools, Options and select the General tab and set the Measurement Units to Points. Select the image and select Format, Picture, click the Size tab and take a note of the Height and Width settings. Reset your units of measure using Tools, Options. Finally, place the height and width measurements you took note of in the last two lines of this macro.

If you want the image to appear in its original size then simply remove the two lines of the macro which set its height and width.

You'll find that this macro is useful for inserting your company logo, a picture of your signature or any other image that you use often.

Sub InsertCheckbox()
'Insert a checkbox
Selection.InsertSymbol Font:="Wingdings", CharacterNumber:=113
End Sub

This is useful if you use a lot of check boxes in your documents. If you use other symbols regularly see 'Recording a macro' in the Insider tips box which shows you how to record your own macros and steps you through creating a macro to insert any symbol from any symbol font into your document.

Sub ToggleToolbarDisplay()
'toggles the display of the named toolbar
CommandBars("WordArt").Visible = Not (CommandBars("WordArt").Visible)
End Sub

You can customise this macro to work with any built-in Word 97 toolbar or any toolbar you have created yourself. Simply replace 'WordArt' with the toolbar's name which you can find by selecting View, Toolbars and reading the name from the list.

Sub FilesDirectory()
'macro to change directory
ChangeFileOpenDirectory "C:\MSOffice\Files"
End Sub

Replace the string "c:\MSOffice\Files" with the directory you want to change to. You won't see anything on the screen but when you select File, Open or File, Save As you'll see the directory you have specified on the screen.

If you find yourself frustrated by the My Documents folder try creating versions of this macro for all your favourite directories and you need never see My Documents again! Do this by giving each macro a different name (for example, change 'FilesDirectory' to another name) and change the drive and path to your choice of drive and path.

There are numerous other possible variations of this macro. This one allows you to change the current directory and open a file that is contained in it:

Sub OpenTipsDocument()
'macro to change the current directory and open a named file
ChangeFileOpenDirectory "C:\MSOffice\Files\"
Documents.Open FileName:="myfile.doc"
End Sub

To use this macro, replace the string "c:\MSOffice\Files" with the directory you want to change to and the string "myfile.doc" with the name of the file to open.

This next macro opens a file without changing the current document directory. To use it, replace the filename and location with the name and location of the file you want to open:

Sub OpenMyFile()
'macro to open a named file without changing the current directory
Documents.Open FileName:="C:\MSOffice\Files\myfile.DOC"
End Sub

This last macro creates a new document based on a particular template. Replace the template name and location with the name and location of the template to use. Note that this macro statement is one single line but using the underscore character (_) allows it to be broken into smaller lines.

Sub CreateNewMemo()
Documents.Add template:= _
"D:\Microsoft Office\Templates\Memos\Elegant Memo.dot", _
NewTemplate:=False
End Sub

Sub CustomFooter()
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Type = wdPageView
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekCurrentPageFooter
Selection.Font.Name = "Arial"
Selection.Font.Size = 9
Selection.Font.Italic = True
Selection.Fields.Add Range:=Selection.Range, Text:="FILENAME \p ", PreserveFormatting:=True
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekMainDocument
End Sub

To use this macro, find the names of your printer bins by selecting File, Print, Options and read the bin names from the 'Default tray' list box. Replace the two strings for trayOne and trayTwo with the names of your two printer trays.

Sub changePrinterTray()
'macro to tell user the current printer tray
'and switch it if required
trayOne = "Upper tray"
trayTwo = "Lower tray"
'new line variable
crlf = Chr$(13)
'create variables for current and alternate printer trays
currentTray = Options.DefaultTray
If currentTray = trayOne Then
alternateTray = trayTwo
Else
alternateTray = trayOne
End If
'compose message string
Msg = "Current printer tray is:" + crlf + currentTray + crlf
Msg = Msg + "Change tray to " + alternateTray + "?"
Style = vbYesNo + vbQuestion + vbDefaultButton2
Title = "Change Printer Tray"
'tell the user the current tray and offer to change it
userResponse = MsgBox(Msg, Style, Title)
'change it if they said yes
If userResponse = vbYes Then
Options.DefaultTray = alternateTray
End If
End Sub