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populate docvariables

My VSTO project consists of the following:
created a MSWORD TEMPLATE with docvariables
ex: this is my {docvariable fname \*mergeformat}
this is my {docvariable lname \*mergeformat}
in the THISDOCUMENT_startup event I am successfully connecting to the database that includes the fields to fill the docvariables fname & lname.
ex: fname = rs("first"),
lname = rs("last")
my problem is when I run this in debug, my document appears, but the variable information is not updated with the data from the file that I have connected to. I step through my code and see that I have the fname & lname, the docvariables are not updated.

I have done something similar to this with VBA code and all works fine, but getting started with VSTO, I'm not having much luck with the docvariables. I'm looking for any suggestions or possible articles that will help me with VSTO, connecting to a database and populating variable fields.

Thanks,
Diane06

diane06

Hi Diane

Could you please show us the exact code lines you're working with, and a corresponding bit of VBA code so that we can compare/test?

What you show us can't work, as it stands. fname may well be a variable in your code, but it's not a Word Document Variable. That's an object of the Word object model. You'd need to do something along these lines

Dim fname as Word.Variable = doc.Variables("fname")
fname.Value = rs("first")

-- Cindy Meister (Word MVP)

Cindy Meister

Cindy,
Thank you for the example. I am putting together a simple fname & lname code that I will forward later, but first, could you explain my confusion on this:
I have a MSWORD template that includes my document variables fname & lname. When I created my new project, I took the choice to "copy an existing document" to my project. Since "fname" & "lname" is defined as docvariables in the MSWORD template(secdoc.dot) and this template is within my project, I was not defining "fname" & "lname" in my code as you indicated: "Dim fname as Word.Variable = doc.Variables("fname")

diane06

Hi Diane

The name of this collection and object in the Word object model is confusing, no question :-) Perhaps the Word developer team would have chosen something else, some twenty years ago, if they'd realized how programming languages were going to evolve...

No, the VSTO tool doesn't automatically pick up document VARIABLE objects (although it's definitely a fascinating thought). Think of a docVar (I'll use that term to try to help distinguish these from variables you use in your code) as a container in a document file, similar to a bookmark or a document property (as in File/Properties). It's just one more thing in the document binary file; one more thing Word provides.

So, in order to use it in any code (whether VSTO, VBA or something else), you first have to address the object (the docVar) for it to be recognized. Then you can access its content (the Value property). To get the content of a bookmark (just to continue the example), you do something like this

Dim bkm as Word.Bookmark
Dim fName as String
fName = rs("fname").Value
Set bkm = doc.Bookmarks("bookmarkName")
bkm.Range.Text = fName

A document property you access along these lines

Dim prop as Office.DocumentProperty
Dim fName as String
fName = rs("fname").Value
Set prop = doc.BuiltinDocumentProperties("Title")
prop.Value = fName

Correspondingly, for a docVar

Dim docVar as Word.Variable
Dim fName as String
fName = rs("fname").Value
Set docVar = doc.Variables("docVarName")
docVar.Value = fName

Hope this helps dissipate some of the confusion :-)

-- Cindy Meister (Word MVP)

Cindy Meister

Cindy,
Here is my very simple program , I'm having an issue with "doc.Variable("flname") see below:
I'm not sure if I'm missing an "Import" statement to have the "doc" declared??
************
Imports IBM.Data.DB2.iSeries
Public Class ThisDocument
Dim cn As New iDB2Connection
Dim cmd As New iDB2Command
Dim rs As iDB2DataReader

Private Sub ThisDocument_Startup(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Startup
If cn.State = ConnectionState.Closed Then
cn.ConnectionString = "DataSource=QMMSRVR; defaultCollection=mylib;"
cn.Open()

cmd.CommandText() = "Select * from mylib.myfile"
cmd.Connection = cn
rs = cmd.ExecuteReader
Call mergedata()
End If
End Sub

Private Sub ThisDocument_Shutdown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Shutdown
End Sub

Public Sub mergedata()

Dim docvar As Word.Variable
Dim flname As String

Do While (rs.Read() = True)
flname = Trim(rs("nam"))
docvar = doc.variable("flname")
|--->I'm having a problem here,
program error on"doc

diane06

Cindy,
I have it!! THANK YOU......for your examples & suggestions!!
Once I changed the line ---> docvar = doc.variable("flname")

diane06

Hi Diane

I'm sorry. "doc" was just an arbitrary choice of term, designating any object variable of type Word.document. In a VSTO project you'd most often use ThisDocument.InnerObject.Variables(index).

-- Cindy Meister (Word MVP)

Cindy Meister

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