Display MS Word Doc in a panel not working?

[Twitch]

Hi,

I'm trying to simply display a word doc in a panel.  I'll later customize font/colors, etc. but for now would be happy just to see it display!  Note I don't want to launch the Word App in another window, I want it in my own panel.

I used the activeX controller Wizard to create a Microsoft Word 15.0 Object Library.  My project now has the .fp file and .h file with the MS Word activeX functions available.

I made a .uir file with a simple panel TSTPANEL and created simple test case code, which compiles and links without any warnings:

    int pnl_hdl, word_doc, local_error, uilerror;

    pnl_hdl = LoadPanel (0, "main_panel.uir", TSTPANEL);
    DisplayPanel(pnl_hdl);
    local_error = Word_OpenDocument ("TestDoc.docx",
                                  pnl_hdl, "", 0, 0, &word_doc, &uilerror);

it returns error code -143 "Active X control error" and the document is not displayed.

What am I missing?

Thanks for any insights!

Tim

[adena.l]

Hi Tim,

Here is a link to a similar example using the Microsoft Excel Object Library to embed an excel spreadsheet into a CVI panel. The functions will be slightly different, but the general project structure will be very similar to embedding a Microsoft Word document. Do you see anything different between your simple project and how they have set things up in this example?

Embed Excel ActiveX Documents on a CVI Panel
http://www.ni.com/example/27580/en/ 

[Twitch]

Hi Adena,

Thank you so much for helping.  I looked at the example you mentioned.  Although it does embed a EXCEL file in a panel, it doesn't show how to open a pre-existing file, only how to create and edit a new one.  The functions it used are very different than the ones I was attempting to use.

It makes me wonder if I am using the activeX control incorrectly?  On my UIR panel I used create-> activex -> Microsoft Word document to create the new control. Then with the new control selected I used tools->Generate ActiveX Control Driver.  I accept all defaults and it creates MSWORD.h, MSWORD.c, MSWORD.fp, MSWORD.obj.  I then run the code I show in my first post.  Does that sound right?

I feel like I am somehow missing a reference to the ActiveX Control ID but can't find any example of how to use it to actually open a pre-existing doc.  Any insights you could provide would be greatly appreciated!

[adena.l]

Hi Tim,

Sorry for the misunderstanding! I didn't realize you were trying to load a pre-exisiting Microsoft Word file into an Active X control in CVI so that it is displayed on your UI. At what step are you specifying the path to the document that you would like to load? 

[Twitch]

Adena,

The direct answer to your question is in the code above, see the call to Word_OpenDocument "TestDoc.docx"

But your hint has helped. I had originally put my word doc in where I thought the working directory was so didn't think I needed full path to it.  When I added the fully qualified path it opened !   Here is the code snippet I have so far for anyone else needing an example:

    CA_InitActiveXThreadStyleForCurrentThread (0, COINIT_APARTMENTTHREADED);

    SetSleepPolicy (VAL_SLEEP_MORE);

    pnl_hdl = LoadPanel (0, "main_panel.uir", TSTPANEL);
    DisplayPanel(pnl_hdl);
    local_error = Word_OpenDocument ("C:\\WdDocTst\\Test.docx", pnl_hdl, "", 50, 50,

                                                               &word_doc, &uilerror);
    RunUserInterface ();

It is a poor display however, in that it covers the entire panel with an over-zoomed upper-left display of the doc only.  Obviously I need to massage the fit/sizing.  I tried:  

    
    GetObjHandleFromActiveXCtrl (pnl_hdl, TSTPANEL_DOCUMENT, &doc_hdl);
    local_error = Word_ZoomSetPercentage (doc_hdl, errinfo, 50.0); 

    CA_GetAutomationErrorString (local_error, msg, 1024);

It always returns "No such interface supported".  This same error is given for any other procedure that I try that is presented in the generated MSWORD.h.  I'm probably using it incorrect but the MSWORD.fp file that was generated is pretty much useless because if I click on any function name or parameter it says "Documentation for this function, if provided by the server, is located in the function help.", then for help: "Could not launch C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15\VBAWD10.CHM", so I have no idea what the functions are supposed to do or how to use the parameters.  Do you know where I can get the missing help file, or any documentation on how to use these functions?

Honestly one basic example of how to use a few of these interfaces would save me many hours.  I'm pretty close to giving up 😞

[adena.l]

Hi Tim,

I'm glad you were able to get it to show up! I've been trying to look and I don't think we have any examples that open up a pre-existing Microsoft Word file. 

It sounds like you're missing the Microsoft Word Visual Basic help documentation. I think I was able to find it online but I was having a problem with my viewer and wasn't able to get it to open up on my computer. Does this help documentation look like what you're missing?

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=40326

I'll keep asking around to make sure we don't have any examples that I may have missed!

[Twitch]

Hi Adena,

I downloaded and installed the VBA help documentation.  I couldn't get it to display either but searched my PC and found the 'VBAWD10.chm' file in 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15'.  I moved a copy into 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15' where it was expected to exist, and now it opens. 

But this is a help file for Visual Basic programming and has nothing to do with the ActiveX Microsoft Word Document library that the NI ActiveX Wizard uses. 

A shame such an extensive looking library exists but no way to understand how to use it!

Thanks for trying to help anyway.