How to find the content control ID after selection

Journeyman · #1 07-26-2023, 04:23 PM

Hi All,

I have a word document with several ActiveX Textbox controls laid out in a form.

I need an event to run on the selection of those controls - specific to the selected control. For some very odd reason Microsoft chose to remove the events for ActiveX controls, so now I'm left trying to code events to trap a change.

This will return true if my selection is within an ActiveX Content Control

Code:

Selection.Infomation(wdInformation.wdInContentControl)

Surely you'd think more could be provided by the information than just a Boolean value.

This will return Text within a specific (or known) control

Code:

ActiveDocument.ContentControls(strControlName).range.text

Where strControlName is the known title or ID of the control.... except I don't know it until it's selected.

This apparently returns the ID of the selected control - if it is in design mode

Code:

Selection.range.ContentControl(1).ID

Although I've never been able to make that work in any way... doesn't exist error.

And I can loop through all control on the document to return all control information.

Code:

For i = 1 to ActiveDocument.ContentControls(i).count
     Debug.Print ActiveDocument.ContentControls(i).ID
Next i

All of this is fabulous and wonderful... except not a single method provides for the selection of the control itself.

What is the secret to returning the selected control - and it's corresponding text or information?

Alternatively - and this would be magic sauce - an AfterUpdate event of some kind for the control (doesn't exist in word, i know, but... magic.

All help appreciated.

Cheers

Guessed · #2 07-26-2023, 09:25 PM

You can change the selection to the full CC by using

Code:

Selection.Range.ParentContentControl.Range.Select

If you want the actual CC instead of the text in it you could use

Code:

  Dim aCC As ContentControl
  Set aCC = Selection.Range.ParentContentControl
  aCC.Title = "Found It"

Disclaimer: I didn't know the answer either so I had to search for this and found the relevant clue on this post by user11818836 on c# - How to set ContentControl.Range to the current ContentControl I am working from? - Stack Overflow

Italophile · #3 07-27-2023, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Journeyman

I have a word document with several ActiveX Textbox controls laid out in a form.

I need an event to run on the selection of those controls - specific to the selected control. For some very odd reason Microsoft chose to remove the events for ActiveX controls, so now I'm left trying to code events to trap a change.

This will return true if my selection is within an ActiveX Content Control

This is rather confusing.

You first say that you have ActiveX Textboxes, then the rest of your post is about content controls.

The two are entirely different. Content controls have nothing to do with ActiveX.

The events for content controls have not been removed. They are, and always have been, document level events and can be accessed via the ThisDocument module.

Journeyman · #4 07-27-2023, 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Italophile

They are, and always have been, document level events and can be accessed via the ThisDocument module.

Thanks for your response.

Okay, so I am working with ActiveX text boxes, which happen to be located in roughly the same place on the developer tab as legacy content controls - which have a code selection. I apologise this was not clear.

In any case, the question remains: How do I access any one of the number of ActiveX Textboxes and their change/update events.

The purpose is that I want to trigger the applicable code to the applicable ActiveX control set into a word document (User Form) - an example would be gratefully appreciated.

Many thank

Italophile · #5 07-27-2023, 03:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Journeyman

In any case, the question remains: How do I access any one of the number of ActiveX Textboxes and their change/update events.

As with Content Controls the event handlers for ActiveX controls are found in the ThisDocument module.

Journeyman · #6 07-27-2023, 02:06 PM

So I found the solution.

Thee is an event in the Standard Rich Text control that allows for the update:

Code:

Document_ContentControlOnExit(ByVal ContentControl, Cancel as Boolean).

It functions similarly an AfterUpdate event, and allow me to trap the content change. This is precisely what I was after.

Anyway, thanks for tips.

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