I have a sub that opens Word to complete a mail merge. It uses GetObject, and works fine when there are no instances of Word open. But it errors if Word is open.

Helen Fedema writes in her book that GetObject will work if Word is open, and CreateObject will work open Word if it isn't. I don't find other references to this, so....

Does anyone know how to open Word (from Access via VBA)when Word is already open?

Thanks-
Loralee

CreateObject should also work if Word is open. But you will want to check if Word is open first.Alternatively you could shut down Word through the WIN32 processes, but you probably don't want to do that.




mmcdonal

So you are saying CreateObject should work regardless of whether there is an instance of Word running?
Is there a more efficient way to test if WOrd is open other than catching the error thrown when GetObject fails?

I've been through multiple books and other sources and haven't found much on this.

Thanks, Loralee

This should get you started:

'----------------------------
Dim sComputer As String

sComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel = impersonate}!\\" & sComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colProcesses = objWMIService.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_Process WHERE Name = 'WINWORD.EXE'")

For Each objProcess In ColProcesses
    MsgBox objProcess.Name
        'or, for example
        'If objProcess.Name <> "" Then
           '...
        'End If
Next
'----------------------------

I am not sure if the IF Then will throw and error if you try to read objProcess.Name and it is Null.
Or if the Set colProcesses will... come to think of it, maybe you should do this:

'--------------------------
Dim sComputer As String
Dim bWord As Boolean

bWord = False
sComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel = impersonate}!\\" & sComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colProcesses = objWMIService.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_Process")

For Each objProcess In ColProcesses
    If objProcess.Name = "WINWORD.EXE" Then
             bWord = True
        End If
Next

If bWord = True Then
  ...
  Else
  ...
End If
'---------------------------

HTH

mmcdonal

Yikes!
I haven't seen Win32 processes /Windows in that way and that looks like it's beyond where I'm shooting for. I was hoping there would be something simpler.........for this beginner to try.

Thanks-
Loralee

Well, its pretty simple, conceptually.

Win32_Processes is just a table in memory (swap file usually) that shows what processes are running. To access this data normally, you just open the Task Manager <CTRL><SHIFT><ESC> and look at all the columns you can add. You can call each one of those columns by attaching to the database on your PC.

This really adds a lot of functionality, so something worth considering.

You would add your code here:


If bWord = True Then
  'CreateObject code
  Else
  'GetObject code
End If

HTH




mmcdonal

Is Win32_Processes supported by XP as well as NT and 2000? This little project is meant to be run by 5 users, and not everyone has the same OS.

I'm going to play with it this weekend. If it's useful and not too deep....and a gateway to learning a little more about Windows' dark side......

Why yes it is supported by all those versions of windows.

Check out the scripting guys at Microsoft.com and get their scriptomatic tool to develop vbscripts that will work within Access. It really is very simple execpt for the reserved words.

The best book on this subject is Microsoft Press Windows 2000 Scripting Guice, and Advanced VBScript for Windows Administrators.

I use these scripts to populate a SQL database with snapshots of our users' computers every month.

mmcdonal