Change Image in .DOT file [RESOLVED II]

[dglienna]

What would be the best way to have a user be able to switch the image that is in the .dot fille that we use in a mm? The ways that I can think of to do it woud be to:

Link the file to the app.path with a static file name and load it every time. client would rename his filename to ours to change it.

link the file to registry entry, and change the .dot and registry from within the vb program

have client open .dot file and change the actual picture when they want to change it.

Which is the best/easiest way to do it? How hard is it to have the document load a filename programmatically?

Thanks. This just came up.

[RobDog888]

David, the easiest way is to have the image linked and not embedded. Then in your vb program you can let
the user browse for an image. Then you can copy it to the app.path dir or a hidden sub dir and rename the file so
it matches the linked path.

'In Words VBA or convert code to VB6
Private Sub Document_Open()
    LoadLogo
End Sub
 
Private Sub LoadLogo()
    'Linked picture
    Selection.InlineShapes.AddPicture FileName:="C:\Documents and Settings\VB-Guru\My Documents\My Pictures\DOS1.gif", _
    LinkToFile:=True, SaveWithDocument:=True
End Sub

[dglienna]

That sounds good. I'll try to implement it tomorrow, and get back to you. I think I want to do this in VB, not VBA, so could you show me the way to address the image from VB?

Thanks.

[RobDog888]

Something like this...

Option Explicit
 
Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim oApp As Word.Application
    Dim oDoc As Word.Document
    Set oap = New Word.Application
    oApp.Visible = True
    Set oDoc = oApp.Documents.Open("C:\MM.dot")
    oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("CompanyLogo").Select
    Selection.InlineShapes.AddPicture "C:\Documents and Settings\VB-Guru\My Documents\My Pictures\DOS1.gif", True, True
End Sub

[dglienna]

Allright, I made the picture in the .dot a bookmark, but when I run the program, it adds another picture to the page. I want to replace the image.
I called my bookmark "HomePicture". Also, how do you auto-size it so that the size doesn't change on the page? I'd like it to fit in the bookmark.
Do I need some kind of a range?

Thanks.

[RobDog888]

Try this.

Option Explicit
 
Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim oApp As Word.Application
    Dim oDoc As Word.Document
    Set oap = New Word.Application
    oApp.Visible = True
    Set oDoc = oApp.Documents.Open("C:\MM.dot")
    oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("CompanyLogo").Select
    Selection.InlineShapes.Item(1).Delete
    oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("CompanyLogo").Select
    Selection.InlineShapes.AddPicture "C:\Documents and Settings\VB-Guru\My Documents\My Pictures\DOS1.gif", True, True
End Sub

[dglienna]

Error on this line

Selection.InlineShapes.Item(1).Delete

Requestd member of collection does not exist.

[RobDog888]

Try placing the filename or filename and path in there instead.
Do you have a count > 0?

[dglienna]

Set oDoc = oApp.Documents.Open(RealPath & "Flyer.dot")
    oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("HomePicture").Select
    Selection.InlineShapes("HomePicture").Delete
    oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("HomePicture").Select
    Selection.InlineShapes.AddPicture .FileName, True, True

Type mismatch on the .Delete
there is only the one picture/bookmark

[RobDog888]

Try using the .Delete on the Selection object only.

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Set oDoc = oApp.Documents.Open(RealPath & "Flyer.dot")
    oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("HomePicture").Select
    Selection.Delete
    oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("HomePicture").Select
    Selection.InlineShapes.AddPicture .FileName, True, True
End Sub

[dglienna]

Now, it doesn't delete the old picture, and places the new picture to the right of the old one. Getting closer...

[RobDog888]

.Cut should do it. Replace the Selection.Delete line with Selection.Cut.

[dglienna]

It didn't delete it, but the replacement image got smaller.
That's strange!

[dglienna]

It won't delete the image. I just checked. The Bookmark is called HomePicture, and goto selects it. The other image gets pasted to the right of it, and pushes everytihing else down the page.

i have switched to a .doc to simplify saving it for now...

[dglienna]

It's not cutting or deleting the bookmark, but is moving the cursor there, and then adding an image. isn't there a replace of some sort? i can't imagine why it doesn't work?

[RobDog888]

I have no idea why these methods aren't working. They work on mine. There is a .Reset method. It basically reset the image from its filename. Why do you need to delete th eimage if your renaming the selected image? Just rename the selected image and do a .Reset to refresh to the new image.

'ActiveDocument.InlineShapes(1).Select
'ActiveDocument.InlineShapes(1).Delete
ActiveDocument.InlineShapes(1).Reset

[dglienna]

I don't know how he got the image in there initially. It is not linked to a file. I will try to use reset, but it may be something about the way it is set up. The image that is there is a sample. We want the client to choose the image that goes out on the mailmerge. Would it help if I linked the file to begin with?

[dglienna]

Nope. Still does the same thing. Should I upload the doc and the image? I don't know what else to do?

It has word art before the picture, and i just ended up replacing the word art using the ActiveDocument coding here.

oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("HomePicture").Select
    ActiveDocument.InlineShapes(1).Select
    Selection.Cut
    ActiveDocument.InlineShapes.AddPicture .FileName, True, True
    ActiveDocument.InlineShapes(1).Reset

[RobDog888]

Yes, other then deleting the embedded image the .Reset .Cut .Delete are not working for some reason.

Attach the document and I'll check it out.

[dglienna]

All I managed to do was to change the size of the first wordart with the reset.
something is not right. hope you can figure it out.

[RobDog888]

Oh, its a wordart object. Different issue then. I will check it out.

[RobDog888]

Ok, I got most of it. Its a Shape object and not a InlineImage or WordArt object. This is a pain to position
and format so I will leave that up to you This will delete the picture (finally) and add a new picture
shape. Then you need to format it and position it so its the same as the original. I did some of the formatting
and positioning to help get you started.

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim oDoc As Word.Document
    Set oDoc = ActiveDocument
    oDoc.Shapes(1).Delete
    oDoc.Shapes.AddPicture FileName:="D:\Development\About1.gif", LinkToFile:=True, SaveWithDocument:=True ', _
    'Left:=-999998, Top:=0, Width:=189, Height:=125.25, Anchor:=0
    'Positioning:
    oDoc.Shapes(1).Select 'True
    oDoc.Shapes(1).Left = 0 '-999998
    oDoc.Shapes(1).Top = 200
    oDoc.Shapes(1).Width = 189
    oDoc.Shapes(1).Height = 125.25
    'Formatting:
    Selection.ShapeRange.WrapFormat.Type = wdWrapSquare
    Selection.ShapeRange.RelativeHorizontalPosition = wdRelativeHorizontalPositionColumn
    Selection.ShapeRange.RelativeVerticalPosition = wdRelativeVerticalPositionParagraph
    Selection.ShapeRange.LockAspectRatio = msoTrue
End Sub

[dglienna]

Thanks. I'll look into it later, and get back to you.

[RobDog888]

Seems like it would have been easier to replace the file with the selected file with the same name and then
refresh the link? But anyways, the posted code will get you the results you wanted.

[dglienna]

unless there is an option to deal with different sized images, i think it was all for moot. it really is a shame, but if you are out of ideas, then I guess that's it.

[RobDog888]

Guess you missed my demo code???

oDoc.Shapes(1).Width = 189
oDoc.Shapes(1).Height = 125.25

This part resizes the image to what ever you need. I got it to work on mine but I wasnt going
to fiddle with it so it was perfect. Thats why I said I would get you started on the formatting. Its allot of work.

[dglienna]

Oh. I don't know what happened when I tried it with a big image. I assumed it wasn't doing anything to the original image that I pasted. My apologies.

Can I do the same thing to an Picturebox? I had autoresize on, and the box changed sizes off of the form, and when I turned it off, the picture didn't scale.
Do I just give it the same parameters? (is that in Twips?)

Also, I noticed a tool that might work. CentimetersToPoints(6)
Is it referring to twips?

[RobDog888]

Its only for converting centimeters to points. From the help file;

CentimetersToPoints:
Converts a measurement from centimeters to points (1 cm = 28.35 points). Returns the converted measurement as a Single.

It doesnt specify what points refer to.

[dglienna]

I got it. I was using a Picturbox, and switched to an Imagebox, and things are autosizing correctly. That wraps it up.

[dglienna]

On my system, the replace works fine, but on the tester's system, a save-as dialog popped up asking to save the page with the new image

Does odoc.close false save the document, or do I need to explicitly save it with the same filename? Is that odoc.save "filename" ? or do i need some way to automate the replace dialog box?

Why didn't I get the error on my system?

[RobDog888]

odoc.close false does not save the document. This is what the False specified - do not save changes.

Are your users running the same version of Word as you?

[dglienna]

I have xp and he has 2003, but I want to support all versions of word.
I didn't save it on my system, and it updated the image.
How do i call the save statement to update the file?

[RobDog888]

To save the current document.

oDoc.Save

Or to save it as something else ...

oDoc.SaveAs FileName:="Text.rtf", FileFormat:=wdFormatRTF

[dglienna]

tester has word 2002 on desktop and word 2003 on laptop.

odoc.save is prompting to save. how do we get rid of it, and save?

[RobDog888]

oDoc.SaveAs FileName:="MyDocument.doc",  FileFormat:=wdFormatDocument

[dglienna]

We still seem to have a problem.

Seems to happen on the second run, on the first run through, it works fine. I then select the second image, and get this.

We moved things arond on the page so that there is no more word wrap. The text is now below instead.

[RobDog888]

Is Word being closed by the user between runs? This is usually the cause of 429. Attach a sample doc.

[dglienna]

Dang. Didn't see your post. Yes, it is being closed. Something might be opening another intance, though. When it crashes, I find WinWord in my list of processes.

EDIT: Updated

[RobDog888]

Multiple instances of WinWord? If so this is part of the problem.

I will look into your doc tonight when I have enough time to get into it. Allot of work right now.

[dglienna]

Also, is there a way to create a space before the first entry in the table below the picture. it seems to overwrite the price no matter what I do. i've tried various breaks and nothing worked.

The multiple instance came from the error halting the program while word was still open. Ending the program left the instance. That is the only way that there were two instances.

If you want to see the code, let me know. Not much else has changed.

I'm posting the newer one now.