suping up Word's divisions

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Tom_OM - 11 May 2006 06:31 GMT

They say a picture is worth a k'zillion words (or something to that
effect), so here's my picture:
http://www.renamestar.com/wordproshots/wordprodivisions.htm
It's a screen shot of Lotus Word Pro's division feature. Every time I
use Word, I miss this feature like crazy. It feels like having one
hand tied behind my back. I've already plugged in via VBA four Word
Pro features that I wouldn't want to be without, and this one (the
most challenging one) remains.

Word has divisions, but lacks the ability to put the folder-like tabs
(that you can see in my screen shot) at the top that you can simply
click on to go to a division of the document.

I've been experimenting with the VBA IDE, and it looks like my best
bet is to use the tab strip control in a way that allows the runtime
creation of tabs that correspond to each division in a document.
Sound strategy?

I'm wondering about a few things. In regular VB 6, to use the tab
strip control, you need to choose Components from the Project menu and
then choose Microsoft Tabbed Dialog Control 6.0 (SP5). In other
words, you need to use that ActiveX control. However, in the VBA IDE
I couldn't help but notice that this component is already available in
the toolbox. Does this mean I'm not going to need to package the
ActiveX control if I distribute this add-in to someone else? Is the
VBA tab strip fundamentally different from the VB 6 one? I looked the
control up in my O'Reilly VB in a Nutshell book and wonder if the
material applies completely. I just ordered off for another Nutshell
control book, this one that purports to be about both VB and VBA (the
one by Paul Lomax). I'm hoping it clues you in on distinctions
between the two languages.

I'm also wondering about how I'm going to attribute each tab to a
section in the document. I'm thinking of using named bookmarks. Good
idea?

And what about putting those tabs into a tool bar? I've used the VB
tool bar extensively, but never ventured to using the cool bar, the
one that I think is dockable if I remember right. Is the cool bar the
way to go? Can I even use it at all in VBA?

I'm grateful for any help offered.

Reply to this Message

Jezebel - 11 May 2006 12:31 GMT

Don't worry about how to distribute this. You've got a heap of serious
and -- to my mind, insoluble -- problems to deal with long before you get to
that. For starters, where do you intend to put your tabstrip? You can't put
it in UserForm (which is what VBA is expecting) because then you can't work
on the document while the tabstrip is showing; and you can't put it in the
document, because that won't provide the functionality you're aiming for.
And there ain't nowhere else to put it.

I think you're trying to make a silk purse out a of sow's ear. Word is what
it is. There are a lot of ways to work with it; but working *against* it
like this ... well, life's too short.

> They say a picture is worth a k'zillion words (or something to that
> effect), so here's my picture:
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
>
> I'm grateful for any help offered.

Reply to this Message

Helmut Weber - 11 May 2006 12:57 GMT

Hi Jezebel,

>to make a silk purse out a of sow's ear

what an incredibly rich language!

Signature

Greetings from Bavaria, Germany

Helmut Weber, MVP WordVBA

Win XP, Office 2003
"red.sys" & Chr$(64) & "t-online.de"

Reply to this Message

Stefan Blom - 11 May 2006 13:17 GMT

> Hi Jezebel,
>
> >to make a silk purse out a of sow's ear
>
> what an incredibly rich language!

Indeed.

Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Reply to this Message

KR - 11 May 2006 18:13 GMT

Lurker here- who mostly uses XL VBA but dabbles sometime (above my head and
pay grade) in Word VBA

Wouldn't it be possible to add a custom toolbar, maybe with a custom
drop-down combobox list in it, and get the same effect? It wouldn't be
tabbed (unless you created a button for each 'tab' instead of a combobox)
but it would still allow a quick movement to target locations in the
document.

Just a random thought.

> > Hi Jezebel,
> >
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> Stefan Blom
> Microsoft Word MVP

Reply to this Message

Helmut Weber - 11 May 2006 22:17 GMT

Hi KR,

sure.

That was what I suggested.

But because the OP crossposted to ...word.vba.general
it all ends up in a mess.

Signature

Greetings from Bavaria, Germany

Helmut Weber, MVP WordVBA

Win XP, Office 2003
"red.sys" & Chr$(64) & "t-online.de"

Reply to this Message

Tom_OM - 12 May 2006 06:11 GMT

[snip]>

>Wouldn't it be possible to add a custom toolbar, maybe with a custom
>drop-down combobox list in it, and get the same effect? It wouldn't be
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
>Just a random thought.

Thanks for the suggestion! I think I like that better than my right
click idea. I think I'll give that a shot.

And to Helmut:
Grüß Gott, Helmut. Früher habe ich in Tübingen (nicht weit von
Stüttgart) gewohnt. Ich denke oft an meine Zeit in Deutschland.

Reply to this Message

Tom_OM - 11 May 2006 17:44 GMT

I'm not giving up. I believe it's worth the effort to find a way to
make this work. I've already succeeded in making the other four Word
Pro features work in Word, and I miss this one too much to give up
without applying my creative power. Navigating divisions in Word Pro
is WAY easier than in Word. There's no comparison. Unfortunately,
Word Pro is orphaned and won't see any more development. That means I
won't be able to enjoy a bunch of great features added to Word XP/03
that I really like and miss if I keep working in Word Pro. So I'm
going with the old Burger King "Have it your say" approach and finding
a way to make this, or something similar, happen.

I was initially planning to make the tab strips either a floating
toolbar set to "always on top" or a docked one. However, I believe
I've found a work-around that doesn't require any tabs, ActiveX
controls, DLLs or "always on top" tool bars. It's not identical to
Word Pro's feature, but just as easy to use. I think this will work.
I'll keep you posted.

cheers,
Tom

>Don't worry about how to distribute this. You've got a heap of serious
>and -- to my mind, insoluble -- problems to deal with long before you get to
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>it is. There are a lot of ways to work with it; but working *against* it
>like this ... well, life's too short.

Reply to this Message

Shauna Kelly - 12 May 2006 23:23 GMT

Hi Tom

Have you tried the Document Map? Just do View > Document Map.

More information at
How the Document Map works in Microsoft Word
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/documentmap/index.html

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

> I'm not giving up. I believe it's worth the effort to find a way to
> make this work. I've already succeeded in making the other four Word
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
>>it is. There are a lot of ways to work with it; but working *against* it
>>like this ... well, life's too short.

Reply to this Message

Ian B - 15 May 2006 05:25 GMT

Hi Tom

With a bit of artistic work, using the field "MacroButton" in a single row
table could be made to emulate the tab strips, maybe going to a separate
section of the document.

HTH

Ian B

> I'm not giving up. I believe it's worth the effort to find a way to
> make this work. I've already succeeded in making the other four Word
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
> >it is. There are a lot of ways to work with it; but working *against* it
> >like this ... well, life's too short.

Reply to this Message