Moving to a specific tab stop

Cobra17 · Sep 29, 2021

I'm grabbing some information from an access table and putting it into word and I'm trying to do the following:

1. Move to tabstop 2
2. insert a string, "Components" in this case
3. move to tabstop 6
4. insert a string, "Material" in this case

the issue is that "Components" varies in length and I can't just vbtab over 4 spots.. I need to go to a specific tabstop on the line... or a horizontal location.

Code:

Do While Not tbl.EOF
                        If tbl!Group = Group Then
                            SecNum = (wd.ActiveDocument.Range(0, wd.Selection.Paragraphs(1).Range.End).Sections.Count)
                                wd.ActiveDocument.Sections(SecNum).Range.Style = "Normal"
                                Component = tbl!Component
                                Material = tbl!Material
                                With wd.Selection
                                    .InsertAfter Text:=vbTab & vbTab & Component & vbTab & vbTab & vbTab & Material
                                    .Collapse wdCollapseEnd
                                    .InsertBreak Type:=wdSectionBreakContinuous
                                End With
                        End If
                        tbl.MoveNext
                    Loop

I'm thinking that I might have to count each "Component" string and set a value of 20 (for example), and just add spaces so each "Component" is the same length... then tab over one or two spots...

any better ideas?

SkipVought · Sep 29, 2021

Hi,

Not sure exactly what you want to accomplish.

Rather than telling us HOW you think something might or might not happen in MS Word, how about just telling us the functional requirements of your list, like whether its a single level component list for a particular assembly or whether you have a multi-level bill-of-material or something else.

What's the difference between Components and Material?

Why, "I can't just vbtab over 4 spots"?

BTW, "4 (Tab) spots" implies 5 columns. Is that what you have?

Some lists are better presented using a fixed-pitch font like
[pre]
This
Part A
Part B
[/pre]
MS Word uses TAB Stops where YOU, the user/programmer, insert the appropriate number of TAB character(s), vbTab, in the output string.

Maybe a visual example would help along with answering the above questions.

Skip,
_{Just traded in my OLD subtlety...

for a NUance!}

Cobra17 · Sep 30, 2021

Components and Materials are just different variables

I hope this clears up your questions.
There will not always be all of the items in the 'components'

davidbeach · Sep 30, 2021

Track the length of what got put into Components and determine how many tabs are necessary.

I’ll see your silver lining and raise you two black clouds. - Protection Operations

Cobra17 · Sep 30, 2021

I did add this line

Code:

If CompLen < 54 Then
   AddSpace = 54 - CompLen
End If

then:

Code:

.InsertAfter Text:=vbTab & vbTab & Trim(Component) & Space(AddSpace) & Trim(Material)

but it doesn't work out, even if I add a vbtab after i add the spaces. The reason, I believe, is, for example:

Heads = 5 characters
Shell = 5 characters
... but they don't line up the same and there is actually an additional two space in Heads vs Shell.. because the two 'l's

davidbeach · Sep 30, 2021

Have you tried using a fixed pitch font?

I’ll see your silver lining and raise you two black clouds. - Protection Operations

Cobra17 · Sep 30, 2021

monospacing fonts are ugly...

SkipVought · Sep 30, 2021

Your problem is that you are using default TAB Stops!

For the example you posted, you should have 2 and only 2 TAB Stops:

Stop 1 at the position you want Components
Stop 2 at the position you want Material

That will work for proportional or mono spaced fonts.

Check out...

https://www.officetooltips.com/word_365/tips/tabs_and_tab_stops_in_the_word_document.html

Skip,
_{Just traded in my OLD subtlety...

for a NUance!}

SkipVought · Sep 30, 2021

...continuing.

For a line your VBA should have this sequence...

Code:

vbTab & Component & vbTab & Material & vbLf

Or if you have a line with no component, only material...

Code:

vbTab & vbTab & Material & vbLf

Skip,
_{Just traded in my OLD subtlety...

for a NUance!}

Cobra17 · Sep 30, 2021

I got it working with assigning tab stops as suggested. I'm not that familiar with word so I didn't even know you could do that.

Code:

wd.Selection.Paragraphs.TabStops.Add Position:=wd.InchesToPoints(1)
wd.Selection.Paragraphs.TabStops.Add Position:=wd.InchesToPoints(3.5)

SkipVought · Sep 30, 2021

Did you check out the link?

It explains all about clearing and setting TAB Stops.

So you got your document formatted to work As Expected.

(Aside)
There's
As Expected (As Envisioned)
As Designed
As Planned
As Built
As Modified
As Maintained
(**wink**)
Skip,
_{Just traded in my OLD subtlety...

for a NUance!}

Cobra17 · Sep 30, 2021

yeah... it gave me enough info to search for how to set them in VBA, thanks.

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Moving to a specific tab stop

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