Using COM for Excel and Word applications.

[taurus905]

I am using COM to read an Excel spreadsheet and then write to a Word document.

I have two questions:

1) How can I ensure that all Excel and Word applications are closed before my script runs?

and

2) How can I hide Word from opening on my screen while it is being written to?

Thank you in advance for any ideas.

I just started using COM and love how AutoIt utilizes it.

Just another great example of why AutoIt is so useful.

taurus905

[Valuater]

maybe...

; you may need to get the location from the registry
Run("C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\WINWORD.EXE", @WorkingDir,  @SW_HIDE)

Sleep(5000)

If ProcessExists("WINWORD.EXE") Then
    MsgBox(64,"Test", "The process - Winword exists", 5)
    ProcessClose("WINWORD.EXE")
EndIf

can give ideas

8)

[taurus905]

maybe...

; you may need to get the location from the registry
Run("C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\WINWORD.EXE", @WorkingDir,  @SW_HIDE)

Sleep(5000)

If ProcessExists("WINWORD.EXE") Then
    MsgBox(64,"Test", "The process - Winword exists", 5)
    ProcessClose("WINWORD.EXE")
EndIf

can give ideas

8)

Valuater,

Your solution looks very promising and it does give me some ideas.

I will give it a try later today and let you know what I discover.

Thanks for your input.

taurus905

[Locodarwin]

2) How can I hide Word from opening on my screen while it is being written to?

Thank you in advance for any ideas.

I just started using COM and love how AutoIt utilizes it.

Just another great example of why AutoIt is so useful.

taurus905

To answer the second question, assuming you opened your Word object like this:

$oWord = ObjCreate("Word.Application")

...which starts a Word application object, you'd just make it invisible with a call like this:

$oWord.Visible = False

Now, provided you are using a Word COM method such as .TypeText with your object, and not an AutoIt Send(), you should be fine to write to it to your heart's content.

-S

[taurus905]

To answer the second question, assuming you opened your Word object like this:

$oWord = ObjCreate("Word.Application")

...which starts a Word application object, you'd just make it invisible with a call like this:

$oWord.Visible = False

Now, provided you are using a Word COM method such as .TypeText with your object, and not an AutoIt Send(), you should be fine to write to it to your heart's content.

-S

Locodarwin,

Thank you for pointing out the

$oWord.Visible = False

That is what I found after I made this post.

My current problem is how to write a link to a word document that will open a web page when it's clicked on.

.TypeURL("http://www.autoitscript.com")

.TypeHyperlink("http://www.autoitscript.com")

would be nice.

Do you know how to do this?

taurus905

[Locodarwin]

Do you know how to do this?

taurus905

Select your range (if desired) and then use the .Add() method of the Hyperlinks collection, like this:

$oWord.Activedocument.Hyperlinks.Add($oWord.Selection.Range, "http://www.autoitscript.com", _
        Default, "Screentip (The hover text)", "Text To Display Link As")

The code above will create a hyperlink to www.autoitscript.com, replacing whatever range is currently selected. If no range is currently selected, then the hyperlink will be inserted at the current "cursor" location.

The "Default" parameter that I've tossed in is for specifying the sub address. It's a variant, if you decide to specify it.

Do not alter the first parameter; an object is expected there, and although this method would normally accept a "Null" or "Nothing" argument, the dev team is still working on a fix that will allow you to skip over object parameters with "Default" or some other as-yet-to-be-determined keyword.

I welcome any other MS Office COM automation questions.

-S

[taurus905]

Locodarwin,

Thank you very much for the clear explanation and example.

It works beautifully.

I am sure I will have a few more questions for you in the future because I am finding COM to be very useful.

taurus905

[big_daddy]

What is wrong with _WordDocAddLink()?

[Locodarwin]

What is wrong with _WordDocAddLink()?

Nothing at all - if you're aware of its existence.

-S