WD97: Form Fields Lose Text When Protected for Forms

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For more information about how to use the sample code in this article, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Method 1: Alter the Protect/Unprotect Command Functionality

The following Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macros (Sub procedures) protect your form without causing you to lose the text that you entered into a form field. The macros can be stored in the actual form template to allow you to manually unprotect and reprotect the form while preserving the form field contents.

The following three macros can be used to ensure that your form field values are not reset to their defaults when you reprotect the form.

• The first macro runs when you click the Protect Form button on the Forms toolbar.
• The second macro runs when you click either Protect Document or Unprotect Document on the Tools menu.
• The third macro allows you to specify which sections to protect while maintaining previous form field values.

NOTE: The name of this macro must be ProtectForm.

Sub ProtectForm()

   ' ******************************************
   ' ProtectForm Macro.
   ' Toggles protection for the active document
   ' when the Protect Form button on the forms
   ' toolbar is clicked.
   ' ******************************************

   If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType = wdNoProtection Then
      ActiveDocument.Protect Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, NoReset:=True
   Else
      ActiveDocument.Unprotect Password:=""
   End If

End Sub
				

The following sample Visual Basic macro protects the active document without displaying the Protect dialog box. When you run this macro, it will reprotect the active document while maintaining previous form field values.

NOTE: The name of this macro must be ToolsProtectUnprotectDocument.

Sub ToolsProtectUnprotectDocument()

   ' ******************************************
   ' ToolsProtectUnprotectDocument Macro
   ' Sets protection for the active document
   ' when Protect Document or Unprotect Document
   ' is clicked on Tools menu.
   ' ******************************************

   If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType = wdNoProtection Then
      ActiveDocument.Protect Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, NoReset:=True
   Else
      ActiveDocument.Unprotect Password:=""
   End If

End Sub
				

The following sample Visual Basic macro allows you to specify which sections to protect while maintaining previous form field values. You can assign this macro to a toolbar button or menu.

Sub ProtectNoReset()

   Dim pDoc As Dialog
   Dim x As Integer
   On Error GoTo ProtectNoResetErr

   ' If the document is protected,
   If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType <> wdNoProtection Then

      ' Unprotect the document.
      ActiveDocument.Unprotect

   End If

   ' Display the Protect Dialog box.
   Set pDoc = Dialogs(wdDialogToolsProtectDocument)
   x = pDoc.Display

   ' If Cancel was chosen, exit this procedure.
   If x = 0 Then Exit Sub

   ' Protect the document.
   ActiveDocument.Protect Password:=pDoc.DocumentPassword, _
      NoReset:=True, Type:=2

ProtectNoResetErr: 'NOTE: This line MUST be left aligned.
   If Err <> 0 Then MsgBox Err.Description

End Sub
				

Method 2: Create a Macro to Protect/Unprotect Your Document

The following examples protect the active document for forms without resetting the contents of the form fields. Create the macro and assign the macro to a key, menu, or toolbar button for easy access.

Sub ProtectIt()

   If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType = wdNoProtection Then
      ActiveDocument.Protect Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, NoReset:=True
   End If

End Sub
				

Method 3: Unprotect, Check Spelling or Update a Field, Reprotect a Document

Because form field text is formatted for No Proofing, you can use the following macro to do the following:

• Temporarily Unprotect the form.
• Change the language of the form fields.
• Perform a spelling check or update a field.
• Reprotect the form while preserving the text you typed into the form fields.

You can use this macro as an On Exit macro for the last form field, so you can check the spelling or update a field before you save the form.

Sub FormsSpellCheck()

   ' If document is protected, Unprotect it.
   If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType <> wdNoProtection Then
      ActiveDocument.Unprotect Password:=""
   End If

   ' Set the language for the document.
   Selection.WholeStory
   Selection.LanguageID = wdEnglishUS

   ' Perform Spelling/Grammar check.
   If Options.CheckGrammarWithSpelling = True Then
      ActiveDocument.CheckGrammar
   Else
      ActiveDocument.CheckSpelling
   End If

   ' ReProtect the document.
   If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType = wdNoProtection Then
      ActiveDocument.Protect Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, NoReset:=True
   End If

End Sub
				

IMPORTANT NOTE: There are some differences in Visual Basic for Applications between Microsoft Word 97 for Windows and Microsoft Word 2000 due to the Enabled Language Settings feature in Microsoft Office 2000. One of the differences is noted in the above macro. To correctly check the spelling of a document after setting the LanguageID, you must set the NoProofing property in Word 2000. For additional information about how to do this in Microsoft Word 2000, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: