Word automation with C++ Builder 5 - c++

Question

I'm trying to control Word through a c++ builder 5 application. I would like to
open a ".dot" model file created with Word and modify it. In the ".dot" model file
there are some fields. For example, Title, LastName, FirstName, Address
and so on, and I would like to modify these fields putting text into them and then
saving file with a new name, for example "Warning.doc" leaving the ".dot" file
unaltered.
I can open the file, count the number of fields it contains, but then
when it comes to replacing each field with a string I don't know how to do because
I don't have a complete documentation on OleFunction and OlePropertyGet methods. I attach my source code to this message, can anybody help me to solve this problem please?
try
{
my_word = Variant::CreateObject("word.application");
}
catch (...)
{
Application->MessageBox("Unable to obtain Word automation object",
"Error:",MB_OK | MB_ICONERROR);
}
my_word.OlePropertySet("Visible", (Variant)true);
void __fastcall TForm1::Button2Click(TObject *Sender)
{
Variant this_doc;
Variant my_fields;
Variant test;
int k,field_count;
AnsiString test1;
AnsiString filename = "d:\\ProgrammaWord\\1-Avviso.dot";
my_docs = my_word.OlePropertyGet("Documents");
this_doc = my_docs.OleFunction("Open", filename);
my_fields = this_doc.OlePropertyGet("Fields");
field_count = my_fields.OlePropertyGet("Count");
for(k = 1; k <= field_count; k++)
{
test = my_fields.OleFunction("Item",(Variant)k);
test1 = test.OleFunction("Value"); //This instruction throws an exception
// "Value" is not a recognized parameter
// in this case
Memo1->Lines->Add(test1);
}
}

Answer 1

I never used word Ole but I used it for Outlook and Excel, I can't try it with word since I'm currently on OSX but you should try something similar as what I did.
The generic way of using Ole was to OleGetproperty() while you get the targeted field then OleSetProperty("action", ...).
for example when I wanted to change the color of the text in a particular cell of my excel document I used:
Variant _excel = Variant::CreateObject("Excel.Application");
Variant _workbook = _excel.OlePropertyGet("WorkBooks").OleFunction("Open", filename);
Variant _worksheet = _workbook.OlePropertyGet("WorkSheets", sheet);
_worksheet.OlePropertyGet("Cells", row, col).OlePropertyGet("Font").OlePropertySet("Color", color);
Here I instanciate an excel object, then I load a file into it (_workbook), then I select the _worksheet from the _workbook and I start my business.
Here comes the interesting part:
It concist of getting to a particular cell, getting the font object from it, and then setting the color of this font object.
Disclaimer: This is an example from my sources for excel, it's not directly related to your example, but maybe you can understand the principe with it. I can't try to figure out what you need because I have no windows right now.
Hope this can help you. Finding ressources for OLE can be fierce if you don't have the good patterns to look for.