How to Scroll an Embedded Word 6 Document in VB OLE

• Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions of the Microsoft Visual Basic Programming System, version 4.0, for Windows
• Microsoft Word for Windows, version 6.0

SUMMARY

Word for Windows version 6.0 does not supply scroll bars that allow an activated document embedded in the Visual Basic OLE container control to be scrolled through. This article describes how to provide buttons that allow the user to scroll through an embedded Word for Windows version 6.0 document that has been activated for visual editing.

To scroll through the window, you must call a Word Basic method such as VLine. However, if you call the method from within a scroll-bar event, the code does not work. The problem is that when the scroll bar receives the focus, the Word document object in the OLE control is deactivated. If you try to activate the Word Document object in the scroll-bar event, the insertion point moves to the beginning of the document, causing you to lose the current position in the document. This problem happens with any control that can receive the focus.

MORE INFORMATION

To work around the problem, use a control that cannot receive the focus (for example, the image-control or the spin button). You can use the image control to simulate a button. When you click it, the focus remains on the OLE container control, and therefore the Word document object stays activated. This allows you to call a Word Basic method such as VLine to allow you to scroll through the window in the click event of the image control.

Example

1. Start Visual Basic; Form1 is created by default.

2. Add an OLE container control to Form1 (Ole1 is the default name for the control).

3. The insert object dialog box should appear after you draw the OLE container control on the form. Choose Create from the File option, and choose an existing Word .DOC file that is more than a page in length. The "Link" and "Display As Icon" check boxes should not be selected. Choose the OK button when you are done; the document should now be embedded in the OLE container control.

4. Add a spin button to Form1 (SpinButton1 is the default name of the control).

5. Place the following code in the spin-down event:

         Sub SpinButton1_SpinDown ()
            If Ole1.AppIsRunning Then
               Ole1.Object.Application.WordBasic.VLine 1
            Else
               Ole1.Action = 7 'Activate
            End If
         End Sub
   
   

6. Place the following code in the spin-up event.

         Sub SpinButton1_SpinUp ()
            If Ole1.AppIsRunning Then
               Ole1.Object.Application.WordBasic.VLine -1
            Else
               Ole1.Action = 7 'Activate
            End If
         End Sub
   
   

7. Save the project.

8. Run the application.

9. Double-click the OLE control to activate the Word .DOC object for visual editing.

Notes

• You can speed up the scrolling by changing the delay property on the spin button. You can also change the number of lines that the VLine method scrolls through.
• Some other controls that do not receive the focus are the shape, line, frame, 3D frame, 3D panel, and label controls.