[Word, Excel, PowerPoint] add mouseclick event handler

[Ernesto M.]

I would like to display a Word document in a WebBrowser control disabling almost all user interaction - no default function key behavior, accelerator key behavior - and also have no GUI components - menus, ribbons etc. Users should only be able to select text and copy to clipboard - kind of like a PDF "image" of a document. So far I have been able to get pretty close to this behavior. However, I need one more critical bit of functionality: I must be able to react to mouse clicks and key down events.

Is there a way to add/override/customize the default mouse and key events for a Word document?

Here is what I've done so far.

   Private Sub wbrPreview_DocumentCompleted(sender As System.Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventArgs) Handles wbrPreview.DocumentCompleted
        Dim objDocument As Object
        'MessageBox.Show("DocumentCompleted")

        If e.Url.ToString.EndsWith(".html") Or e.Url.ToString.EndsWith(".htm") Then
            Dim htmlDocument As HtmlDocument = wbrPreview.Document
            'Attach KeyDown event handler
            AddHandler htmlDocument.Body.KeyUp, New HtmlElementEventHandler(AddressOf wbrPreview_KeyUp)
            'Attach Click event handler
            AddHandler htmlDocument.Body.Click, New HtmlElementEventHandler(AddressOf wbrPreview_Click)
        ElseIf e.Url.ToString.EndsWith(".docx") Or e.Url.ToString.EndsWith(".doc") Then
            Dim objIE As InternetExplorer = wbrPreview.ActiveXInstance
            objIE.ExecWB(OLECMDID.OLECMDID_HIDETOOLBARS, OLECMDEXECOPT.OLECMDEXECOPT_DONTPROMPTUSER)
            objDocument = objIE.Document
            Dim wordDocument As Word.Document = objDocument

            wordDocument.Application.ActiveDocument.Protect(3)
            wordDocument.ActiveWindow.View.Zoom.PageFit = 2
        ElseIf e.Url.ToString.EndsWith(".xlsx") Or e.Url.ToString.EndsWith(".xls") Then
            Dim objIE As InternetExplorer = wbrPreview.ActiveXInstance
            objDocument = objIE.Document
            Dim excelDocument As Excel.Workbook = objDocument
            For Each excelWorksheet As Excel.Worksheet In excelDocument.Worksheets
                excelWorksheet.Protect()
            Next
        End If

        wbrPreview.Visible = True
        wbrPreview.Focus()
        blnOverHyperlink = False
    End Sub

As you can see the logic of using a container document has proven useful to me with respect to HTML documents. As the code below shows I am able to get access to the HTML document in the WebBrowser control once it has completed loading. At that point I am able to make use of the AddHandler VB statement to associate an event with a handler at runtime. In this manner I can solve my problem for HTML document by customizing the event handler code. And it works pretty reliably so far. What I need is a way to do the same thing for Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. However, unlike the HtmlDocument class, the Office Interop documents don't seem to expose a KeyUp or Click or MouseClick event.

It's hard to imagine a more straightforward question than the one I'm posing and yet there have been no responses elsewhere on the interweb. I don't know what to make of this. Either it is not possible or it is extremely difficult I guess.

[westconn1]

Either it is not possible or it is extremely difficult I guess.

i think you would have to sub class the window and process /edit the system window messages, not from within the office application, i am sure quite possible, but not easy, above my grade unless i researched from scratch, but i am still in the dark ages of vb6

there would be plenty of subclassing examples available if you do a search on subclassing excel (or whichever application) or maybe your webbrowser as the parent window

[Ernesto M.]

Although eventually this does have to work in VB6, as you can see from my code I'm using .NET. At the moment I'm building an Interop UserControl in VB .NET and integrating it into my legacy VB6 app. It seems to work well this way and I get the power of .NET.
I agree that sub-classing seems like a good possibility but I haven't figured out how or what yet.

Does this forum only pertain to VB6? I thought there was another forum here for that.

[3com]

Word 2010 adds a series of new Application-level events, allowing
you to react to events surrounding the use of protected-view windows.
Whether you open a document from the internet, or select to open a local
document in protected view, the following events can occur as you
interact with the protected-view document:

ProtectedViewWindowActivate
ProtectedViewWindowBeforeClose
ProtectedViewWindowBeforeEdit
ProtectedViewWIndowDeactivate
ProtectedViewWindowOpen
ProtectedViewWindowSize

[westconn1]

Does this forum only pertain to VB6? I thought there was another forum here for that.

no this is for a mix relating to office development including .net, most VBA code is a subset of vb6 and application related functions/ methods /properties
i just pointed out that i only use vb6 and vba and am not versed in .net, though can read most of what is happening

also i had no idea about the information posted by 3com, as i also use really old office version, perhaps it can help you

[3com]

Just adding related info.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/vs...ice.tools.word