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Hack 12 Hack the Office Assistant

Keep ClippitMicrosoft's
annoying computer help characteron a short leash with the
techniques shown in this hack.

Ironically, the Office Assistant can be one of the more difficult features
to manage in Word. But the Assistant can also be a powerful way to
deliver a message to the user of a macro. The following examples take
sort of an aikido approach: turning the power of its irritation to a
positive end.

2.11.1 Banishing the Assistant

Among the more common reactions
to the Assistant are requests to get rid of the wretched thing,
immediately and permanently. So for many users, including the
following line of code in an AutoExec macro [Hack #60]
is the quickest way to a Clippit-free life:

Assistant.On = False

2.11.2 Finding a Sympathetic Character

You can switch from one Office Assistant character to
another even more easily via VBA than via the Office
Assistant's interface. To change characters, use the
Filename property of the
Assistant object:

Assistant.Filename = "OffCat.acs"

The quickest way to run this one-liner is from the Immediate window
of the Visual Basic Editor [Hack #2],
as shown in Figure 2-33.

Figure 2-33. Changing the Assistant character from the Immediate window

The available Office Assistant characters depend on your version of
Office and the characters installed. Check the C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office\<Version> folder for
.acs files (Microsoft Agent Character files).
The name of the last folder, <Version>,
depends on the version of Office involvedfor example, OFFICE11
is typical for Office 2003.

Your selection may vary, but a list of the usual suspects for a
typical installation follows:

F1.acs

CLIPPIT.acs

DOT.acs

ROCKY.acs

OFFCAT.acs

MNATURE.acs

LOGO.acs

2.11.3 Invoking Invisibility

The Office Assistant just lurks in the background until
you make a mistake that triggers its appearance. You can toggle the
Office Assistant's visibility by setting its
Visible property to True or
False:

Assistant.Visible = True

You'll need to make sure the Assistant is turned on
(Assistant.On = True) before you make it visible.
Making the Assistant visible doesn't automatically
turn it on. Again, you can quickly make this change from the
Immediate window, as described above.

2.11.4 Getting the User's Attention

The Office Assistant usually appears (if currently hidden)
or plays an animation (if displayed, but ignored) to get your
attention. To play an animation, use
Assistant.Animation. You can select
animationsmsoAnimationAppear,
msoAnimationEmptyTrash,
msoAnimationRestPose, and
msoAnimationSearchingfrom the auto-complete
list provided by the Visual Basic Editor.

The following code summons the Assistant for delivering an urgent
message:

Assistant.Animation = msoAnimationGetAttentionMajor

2.11.5 Displaying Information and Presenting Choices

To display information and present choices to the user, you use a
balloon from the Office Assistant.

The following code displays the Assistant as shown in Figure 2-34. By checking the state of the Assistant before
displaying the message, the macro can decide whether or not to turn
off the Assistant after it finishes.

Figure 2-34. Use the Office Assistant to present information and straightforward choices from within a macro

Sub OA_CheckForMktngTemplate( )
Dim sMarketingTemplate As String
Dim blnAssistantWasOn As Boolean
sMarketingTemplate = "Marketing.dot"
If ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate = sMarketingTemplate Then Exit Sub
With Assistant
blnAssistantWasOn = .On
.On = True
.Visible = True
.Animation = msoAnimationGetAttentionMajor
With .NewBalloon
.Heading = "Attach Correct Template"
.Text = "This document doesn't use the new Marketing template."
.BalloonType = msoBalloonTypeBullets
.Labels(1).Text = "You must use the Marketing template"
.Labels(2).Text = "Press OK to attach now"
.Icon = msoIconAlertQuery
.Button = msoButtonSetOkCancel
If .Show = msoBalloonButtonOK Then
ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate = sMarketingTemplate
End If
End With
.On = blnAssistantWasOn
End With
End Sub

You can display your message using a variety of balloons,
icons, and buttons, as detailed in the following tables.

Table 2-1 lists the types of balloons you can
display.

msoBalloonTypeButtons

0

msoBalloonTypeBullets

1

msoBalloonTypeNumbers

2

To control the text that appears
in the balloon, use the
following properties:

Heading

Displays a heading at the top of the balloon. You can use only one
heading.

Text

Displays a single paragraph of text.

Labels(n).Text

Displays a bulleted or numbered paragraph, depending on the balloon
type.

Table 2-2 lists the six icons you can display with
the balloon (you can also display no icon).

msoIconNone

0

msoIconAlert

2

msoIconTip

3

msoIconAlertInfo

4

msoIconAlertWarning

5

msoIconAlertQuery

6

msoIconAlertCritical

7

Table 2-3 lists the various button options for
dismissing the dialog.

msoButtonSetNone

0

msoButtonSetOK

1

msoButtonSetCancel

2

msoButtonSetOkCancel

3

msoButtonSetYesNoCancel

4

msoButtonSetYesNo

5

msoButtonSetBackClose

6

msoButtonSetNextClose

7

msoButtonSetBackNextClose

8

msoButtonSetRetryCancel

9

msoButtonSetAbortRetryIgnore

10

msoButtonSetSearchClose

11

msoButtonSetBackNextSnooze

12

Guy Hart-Davis