WD97: How to Create a Combo Box Containing More Than 25 Items

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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: In your template, follow these steps.

NOTE: To close a window (for example, a code window or the Properties window), click the X in the upper-right corner of the window.

Create the User Form Combo Box

1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro and then click Visual Basic Editor.
2. In the Project Window, select your TemplateProject.
   
   NOTE: If the Project window does not appear, click Project Explorer on the View menu.
3. On the Insert menu, click UserForm. A new UserForm and the Controls toolbox appear. Right-click the UserForm, and then click View Code. Add the following code

   Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
   
     ComboBox1.ColumnCount = 1
   
     'Load data into ComboBox
   
     ComboBox1.List() = Array("Zero", "One", "Two", "Three")
   
   End Sub
   

   and then close the code window
4. Right-click the UserForm and then click Properties on the shortcut menu. On the Alphabetic tab, rename (Name) to frmcombo and then rename Caption to Microsoft Word. Close the UserForm Properties window.
5. On the Controls tab of the toolbox, select ComboBox and place it on your User Form. Right-click the ComboBox control and then click View Code on the shortcut menu. Change the ComboBox code to:

   Private Sub ComboBox1_Change()
   
      ActiveDocument.FormFields("Text1").Result = ComboBox1.Value
   
   End Sub
   						

   Close the code window.
   
   NOTE: Text1 is the bookmark name of the Text Form Field that you insert into your template in step 2 of the "Create the Text Form Field" procedure of this article.
6. On the Controls tab of the toolbox, select the CommandButton and place it on your User Form as a Close button. Right-click the CommandButton and then click View Code on the shortcut menu. Change the CommandButton code to:

   Private Sub Cmdclose_Click()
   
     Unload Me
   
   End Sub
   						

   Close the code window. Right-click the CommandButton and click Properties on the shortcut menu. On the Alphabetic tab, rename (Name) to Cmdclose and then rename Caption to Close. Close the CommandButton Properties window.

The UserForm Combo box is now complete. Proceed to the "Create the Entry Macro" procedure.

Create the Entry Macro

1. In the Project Window, select your TemplateProject.
2. On the Insert menu, click Module. A blank module code sheet appears.
3. Type in the following code:

   Sub gocombobox()
   
      frmcombo.Show
   
   End Sub
   					

The entry macro is now complete. On the File menu, click Close and Return to Microsoft Word.

Create the Text Form Field

1. In your template, on the View menu, point to Toolbars and then click Forms.
2. Position your insertion point where you want the result of the drop-down list inserted. On the Forms toolbar, click Text Form Field (the first button on the left). The Text Form Field will be inserted into your template as gray shading.
   
   NOTE: If you see the {FORMTEXT} field, press ALT+F9 to turn the field codes off.
3. Right-click the Text Form Field and then click Properties on the shortcut menu.
4. In the Text Form Field Options dialog box, under the Run macro on section, click the down arrow in the Entry box and select the gocombobox macro.
   
   NOTE: Make sure the Bookmark name of your Text Form Field is the same as you specified in step 4 of the "Create the User Form Combo Box" procedure earlier in this article.
5. On the Forms toolbar, click Protect Form.
6. Save and close your template.

To use your template, click New on the File menu. Select your template and then click OK. A new document based on your template appears. The UserForm containing the ComboBox with your items appears when you tab into the Text Form Field.