WD97: Distribute Relative to Page Ignores Landscape Page Setting

ID: Q179112

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to distribute drawing objects horizontally or vertically, relative to page, and the page orientation is set to landscape, the drawing objects are distributed calculated on a portrait orientation page width and height instead of the landscape orientation page width and height.

WORKAROUND

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/

The following Visual Basic for Applications macro provides a workaround for this problem. Run this macro to evenly distribute selected drawing objects horizontally between margins.

After you create the macro, you can assign the macro to a toolbar button or menu item.


   Sub DistributeHoriz()
      Dim iTxtArea As Integer
      Dim iCenters As Integer
      Dim iObjLeft As Integer
      Dim iNumObj As Integer
      ' Get number of selected objects.
      iNumObj = Selection.ShapeRange.Count
      ' If there are no objects selected,
      ' exit this routine.
      If iNumObj = 0 Then Exit Sub
      ' Get area distance between margins.
      With ActiveDocument.PageSetup
         iTxtArea = (.PageWidth - (.LeftMargin + .RightMargin))
      End With
      ' Divide evenly the Text Area between margins
      ' by the number of selected objects. Then
      ' divide by two to get divisional centers.
      iDivisionCenters = (iTxtArea / iNumObj) / 2
      ' Loop number of selected objects to distribute horizontally.
      For i = 1 To iNumObj
         With Selection.ShapeRange(i)
            ' Set each selected object's relative horizontal position
            ' to be relative to margin.
            .RelativeHorizontalPosition =wdRelativeHorizontalPositionMargin
            ' Calculate object placement.
            iObjLeft = ((iTxtArea / iNumObj) * i) - iDivisionCenters
            .Left = iObjLeft - (.Width / 2)
         End With
      Next
   End Sub

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

You can align two or more drawing objects relative to each other by their left, right, top, or bottom edges or by their centers (vertically) or middles (horizontally).

To align one or more drawing objects relative to each other, follow these steps:

Select the drawing objects you want to align.

Click Draw on the Drawing toolbar.

Point to Align Or Distribute and then click the alignment you want.

By default, drawing objects align in relation to each other.

To align one or more drawing objects relative to the entire page, follow these steps:

Select the drawing objects, click Draw, point to Align Or Distribute, and click Relative To Page.

Click Draw again, point to Align Or Distribute, and then click the alignment you want.

You can also use the Align Or Distribute command to arrange or distribute drawing objects equal distances from each other vertically, horizontally, or in relation to the entire page.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q173707 OFF97: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

REFERENCES

For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

Additional query words: vb vba vbe

Keywords : kbdta kbdtacode kbmacroexample kbwordvba word97 kblayout
Version : WINDOWS:97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug