Search in Word document?

[Pirre001]

I have several Word .doc files listed in a listbox and I need to search all of them to see if a certain string of text is found. I don't want any of the documents to be opened, I just want the name(s) of the documents that the text is found in, to be returned to the listbox. It should only show the founded documents in the listbox.
This far have I come with the code, as I think peet wrote. But this code are far away from complete and not okej for my purpose...

Option Explicit
Private objWord As Word.Application
Private wd As Word.Document
 
Private Sub Command1_Click()
   
    If objWord Is Nothing Then
        Set objWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
    Else
        Set objWord = GetObject(, "Word.Application")
    End If
    DoEvents
    Set wd = objWord.Documents.Open("c:\Test.doc")' Here i want it to get the file from the listbox.
 
    With wd.Content.Find
        .Text = "test"
Wrap:=wdFindContinue
    End With
    objWord.ActiveDocument.Close False
    
    'objWord.Visible = True
    If Not (wd Is Nothing) Then Set wd = Nothing
    If Not (objWord Is Nothing) Then objWord.Application.Quit
    If Not (objWord Is Nothing) Then Set objWord = Nothing
 
End Sub

[peet]

u saying my code is not working?? *sob* I don't beleve u !

[Pirre001]

Your code is working fine... but I just modified it a little...can u help me?

[peet]

are all the documents in the same folder?

[Pirre001]

No, but the path to the document is listed in the listbox. Ex: C:\Word\Test\Testfile.doc

[peet]

one way

Option Explicit
Private objWord As Word.Application
Private wd As Word.Document
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
    List1.Clear
    List2.Clear
    List1.AddItem "C:\Docs\test1.doc"
    List1.AddItem "C:\Docs\test2.doc"
    List1.AddItem "C:\Docs\test3.doc"
    List1.AddItem "C:\Docs\test4.doc"
End Sub
Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim i As Integer
    
    If objWord Is Nothing Then
        Set objWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
    Else
        Set objWord = GetObject(, "Word.Application")
    End If
    DoEvents
    
    For i = 0 To List1.ListCount - 1
        If DocContainSearchString(List1.List(i), "test") Then List2.AddItem List1.List(i)
    Next i
    If Not (wd Is Nothing) Then Set wd = Nothing
    If Not (objWord Is Nothing) Then objWord.Application.Quit
    If Not (objWord Is Nothing) Then Set objWord = Nothing
    
End Sub
 
Private Function DocContainSearchString(sDocName As String, sSearchString As String) As Boolean
    Dim myRange As Range
    Dim sSearchfor As String
 
    sSearchfor = sSearchString
    If sSearchfor = "" Then Exit Function
    
    Set wd = objWord.Documents.Open(sDocName)
    
    Set myRange = wd.Content
    myRange.Find.Execute FindText:=sSearchfor, Forward:=True
    If myRange.Find.Found Then
        DocContainSearchString = True
    Else
        DocContainSearchString = False
    End If
    
End Function

[Pirre001]

Thanks, this code works...

Do you know how to serach in pdf document at the same way?

[Pirre001]

If I want to search for a text it works, but when I use wildcards (*) in the text it doesen't work. Do you know how to complete the to use wildcards in my text?
Ex: Test* or *Test*

[peet]

uh.. u want pdf files aswell?

I have to do some digging then...

later

[Pirre001]

I have a code for *.doc files.
And want a code with same functions for pdf files also.
I would be very, very happy if you could help me with that code... I'm gonne give you many carlsberg beers then.

[Pirre001]

Peet, do u solved this? ...

[Pirre001]

Peet, heeeelp me...

[peet]

Sorry Pirre, I'll get working on it later today

[Pirre001]

Ok, Thanks Peet!

Another question, when I search in *.doc documents with the code you made for me...it stops if the word-document is not found. How do I do to make the code continue the search with the next document in the listbox even if a document not found?

[Si_the_geek]

to get around the documents not being found:

Private Function DocContainSearchString(sDocName As String, sSearchString As String) As Boolean
    Dim myRange As Range
    Dim sSearchfor As String
 
    DocContainSearchString = False
 
    sSearchfor = sSearchString
    If sSearchfor = "" Then Exit Function
    
    On Error Resume Next
    Set wd = objWord.Documents.Open(sDocName)
 
    If Err = 0 Then   
      Set myRange = wd.Content
      myRange.Find.Execute FindText:=sSearchfor, Forward:=True
      If myRange.Find.Found Then
          DocContainSearchString = True
      End If
   End If
 
End Function

[Pirre001]

Heelllo again Peet and all of you,

I have been looking around by myself. I have also downloaded the latest sdk for adobe pdf. But I haven't found out how to search in pdf documents with vb.
I would be very greateful if someone, or you Peet, could help me with this.

[peet]

Hi Pirre,
I'm sorry to say, but I have not come up with any solution to how to search for PDF's containing a search crit.

[Pirre001]

Ohhh, Peet....you were my last hope...

Anyone else who can help me?

[WorkHorse]

I don't have Acrobat (just the free reader), so I'm just going by hearsay. You have to have something that translates the gobble-dee-gook in a PDF file into language. I believe when you actually buy Acrobat, you get a component, and maybe some macros, that will allow you to read the text from a PDF. It looks like there are some DDLs on the market that will do limted work with PDF files that you can buy and use.

Unless you have something that can read the PDF file text, I think you would have to use some wacky work-around like shelling each file and sending keys to search for text and maybe send keys to copy the text then checking the clipboard? Maybe an API could get the text, but you would still need to open each file.

[Pirre001]

Is this the best code to search in 5000 documents in a row after a text?
When I use this code now, it stops working after about 2000 documents. Why?

I want it to search trough the header also, how do I complete the code for that?

Option Explicit
Private objWord As Word.Application
Private wd As Word.Document
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
    List1.Clear
    List2.Clear
    List1.AddItem "C:\Docs\test1.doc"
    List1.AddItem "C:\Docs\test2.doc"
    List1.AddItem "C:\Docs\test3.doc"
    List1.AddItem "C:\Docs\test4.doc"
End Sub
Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim i As Integer
    
    If objWord Is Nothing Then
        Set objWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
    Else
        Set objWord = GetObject(, "Word.Application")
    End If
    DoEvents
    
    For i = 0 To List1.ListCount - 1
        If DocContainSearchString(List1.List(i), "test") Then List2.AddItem List1.List(i)
    Next i
    If Not (wd Is Nothing) Then Set wd = Nothing
    If Not (objWord Is Nothing) Then objWord.Application.Quit
    If Not (objWord Is Nothing) Then Set objWord = Nothing
    
End Sub
 
Private Function DocContainSearchString(sDocName As String, sSearchString As String) As Boolean
    Dim myRange As Range
    Dim sSearchfor As String
 
    sSearchfor = sSearchString
    If sSearchfor = "" Then Exit Function
    
    Set wd = objWord.Documents.Open(sDocName)
    
    Set myRange = wd.Content
    myRange.Find.Execute FindText:=sSearchfor, Forward:=True
    If myRange.Find.Found Then
        DocContainSearchString = True
    Else
        DocContainSearchString = False
    End If
    
End Function

[BorDeWolf]

Have you thought about or is it possible to use Index Server/Indexing Services?

[Pirre001]

BorDeWolf ,

What do you mean? Can you help me?

[BorDeWolf]

The Index Server is available on NT4 Server and W2000. You can do a lot of things with it. You can enter directories and submit queries. In a VB program you can call the Index component and do all kind of things. Some sample code:

  
  'creating the index object
  Set objQuery = CreateObject("ixsso.Query")
  objQuery.Query = strQuery
  objQuery.Columns = "filename, size, rank, hitcount"

  'define scope and submiting query
  Set objUtil = CreateObject("ixsso.util")
  objUtil.AddScopeToQuery objQuery, myDirectory, "deep"

  Set rsXML = New MSXML2.DOMDocument30
  
  'get searchresults and store them in xml
  Set rs = objQuery.CreateRecordset("nonsequential")
  rs.Save rsXML, adPersistXML

  'use a stylesheet to get the format you want 
  Set XSL = New MSXML2.DOMDocument30
  XSL.async = False
  If Not XSL.Load(m_XSL_PATH & "myXSL.xsl") Then
    Err.Raise 1, , "the expression is invalid XML"
  Else
    strResult = rsXML.transformNode(XSL)
  End If
  
  MakeQuery = strResult

You can leave out the XML part. The query can also be stored as
an ADODB RecordSet. What you get from the index object is:

filename, size, rank, hitcount

of any .doc, .ppt, .txt, .xls file - and with adding a little component - this can also be enabled for .pdf - in which the word in the strQuery occurs. You can work with Boolean operators, wildcards and do phrase searches. Indexing Services is extremely strong when you have to scan a large of documents.

Search the MSDN - there is quite a lot of documentation about this service that ship with NT Server and W2000.

[Pirre001]

Thanks BorDeWolf,

I'm using NT4... Do you think you could help me to complete my code with Index Server?

[BorDeWolf]

Well, first I have to have more details about the constellation you want to work in. I have only experience with calling Index Server on a server on which a lot files are stored. If I remember well, Index Server is not available on NT4 Workstation.

[JordanChris]

If you are not too interested in out-right speed, then the simple Windows Explorer "Find" facility will find text within documents.

In order to call the Windows Explorer “Find Files” dialogue outside your program, use the following:

Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias _
    "ShellExecuteA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpOperation _
    As String, ByVal lpFile As String, ByVal lpParameters _
    As String, ByVal lpDirectory As String, ByVal nShowCmd _
    As Long) As Long
 
Public Sub ShowFindDialog(Optional InitialDirectory As String)
    ShellExecute 0, "find", _
        IIf(InitialDirectory = "", "", InitialDirectory), _
        vbNullString, vbNullString, SW_SHOW
End Sub

And it is then called with:

ShowFindDialog (“C:\FolderToSearch”)

[Pirre001]

Hi agan everybody,

I hope you understand me right. But what I want is a code to search in 5000 word-documents in a row after a certain text, and list the results in a listbox.