Re: Alternatives to Word (was: Re: Script problems with BBEdit 6.5)
Re: Alternatives to Word (was: Re: Script problems with BBEdit 6.5)
- Subject: Re: Alternatives to Word (was: Re: Script problems with BBEdit 6.5)
- From: Paul Berkowitz <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2001 18:48:55 -0800
Give up hope of the regular Word AppleScripting being able to do anything
useful. It's far too buggy. But if you're prepared to learn VBA (and it
sounds as if you may already know some) you can usually anything you want in
Word by using the all-purpose 'do visual basic' applescript command, and
follow it with an entire VBA script in quotation marks (or a variable set to
it). It is entire possible to include variables previously set in your
applescript in the VBA section, So if VBA Word knows how to refer to the
various objects to which you refer, you can use them as is.
--
Paul Berkowitz
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From: billp <email@hidden>
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Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 19:16:05 -0600
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To: "AppleScript Users list" <email@hidden>
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Cc: "Craig Nansen" <email@hidden>, "Shane Stanley"
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<email@hidden>
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Subject: Alternatives to Word (was: Re: Script problems with BBEdit 6.5)
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I have a question - I would love to abandon MS Word as totally as
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possible
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in my workflow scripts. However, I don't think that's possible. If,
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however,
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I could have my script use Word for nothing more than a few preparatory
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steps before having another word processor take over, that would be fine
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with me.
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So, the question becomes - is there conversion tool out there that can
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convert
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Word files (with Tables intact, and I mean intact as columns and rows of
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cellular
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text information) to Apple Works or BBEdit files? And if so, can I
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expect the
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same level of power in the search/replace functionality that Word has (or
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more)?
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I don't care about whether style sheets are properly preserved, just the
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text
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characters.
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And while on the subject of Word and problems with it...
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I run an automated typesetting service setting financial reports.
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Most clients send Word for Windows files, and the tables are done
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editably within Word (as a Table, with cellular rows and columns).
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My AppleScript performs a lengthy series of cleanup steps before
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collapsing the tables into tab-delimited text with a carriage return
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at the end of each line.
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What really screws me up is when a client sends over a Word file
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wherein the tables have somehow been created in and linked to Excel;
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you cannot, for example, select any text in the table within Word.
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When you click somewhere on the table, handles appear (as on any graphic)
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at the corners and in-between. Double-clicking takes you into Excel
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where, finally, you can access the data at the character level.
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It is an utter pain in the ass to have to double-click each table, go
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to Excel, select the appropriate rows and columns, go back to Word,
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delete the chart, and paste the contents of the clipboard (which come
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in as a Word Table - cells and editable text). I was able to figure
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out from text that Word was displaying during the process that the
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graphic was an "EMF file".
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What I cannot figure out how to do is to have AppleScript perceive
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these things as the kinds of objects they are and to have them
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automatically
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converted to the Word Table format. Has anyone out there dealt with
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this?
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I did record my actions using Script Editor, and the Visual Basic
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commands that were captured basically called it "Object 25" or "Object 16"
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or whatever. The problem is that the objects are not necessarily
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sequential, nor all there. There may or may not be an Object 17 if there's
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an Object 18. There might be a way to address the object if only
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AppleScript could figure out what it was called before going after it.
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Thanks in advance for any help.
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Bill Planey
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