Word Hacks [Electronic resources]

Hack 62 Keep Custom Menus Under Control

This hack reveals how to make sure macros that create custom menu items clean up after themselves.

This hack shows you how to automatically add a menu item for the RevertToSaved macro [Hack #5] in a global template named MacrosTemplate.dot. It adds the menu item underneath the Save As command on the File menu. The hack also shows how to use VBA to remove the menu item.

7.7.1 The Code

The code uses two procedures: AddMenuItem and RemoveMenuItem. The AddMenuItem macro first calls the RemoveMenuItem procedure to delete the custom menu item if it already exists. It then creates a new menu item just below the Save As command on the File menu. If, for some reason, the macro can't find the Save As command on the File menu, it places the custom item at the bottom of the menu.

Sub AddMenuItem( )
Dim lPos As Long
Dim oFileMenu As CommandBar
Dim oSaveAsMenuItem As CommandBarControl
Dim oCustomMenuItem As CommandBarControl
Dim sMenuItemTag As String
' Define a tag for the custom menu item
' so you can find it later to delete
sMenuItemTag = "Custom_RevertToSaved"
CustomizationContext = NormalTemplate
' Delete the custom menu item if it already exists
Call RemoveMenuItem
Set oFileMenu = Application.CommandBars("File")
Set oSaveAsMenuItem = oFileMenu.Controls("Save As...")
If oSaveAsMenuItem Is Nothing Then
lPos = oFileMenu.Controls.Count
Else
lPos = oSaveAsMenuItem.Index
End If
Set oCustomMenuItem = oFileMenu.Controls.Add(msoControlButton, _
1, , lPos + 1, True)
oCustomMenuItem.Caption = "Revert To Saved"
oCustomMenuItem.Tag = sMenuItemTag
oCustomMenuItem.OnAction = "MacrosTemplate.RevertToSaved"
End Sub

As stated above, the RemoveMenuItem macro checks for the custom item on the File menu. If the macro finds the item, it deletes it. To make sure the custom menu item won't be left behind when the macro it runs isn't available, run this procedure when the global template exits:

Sub RemoveMenuItem( )
Dim lPos As Long
Dim oFileMenu As CommandBar
Dim oCustomMenuItem As CommandBarControl
Dim sMenuItemTag As String
' Define a tag for the custom menu item
' so you can find it later to delete
sMenuItemTag = "Custom_RevertToSaved"
CustomizationContext = NormalTemplate
Set oFileMenu = Application.CommandBars("File")
Set oCustomMenuItem = oFileMenu.FindControl(Tag:=sMenuItemTag)
If Not oCustomMenuItem Is Nothing Then
oCustomMenuItem.Delete
End If
End Sub

To ensure that these procedures run when the global template is loaded and unloaded, you should call them from AutoMacros [Hack #60] . Put the following code in the same MacrosTemplate.dot template:

Sub AutoExec( )
Call AddMenuItem
End Sub
Sub AutoExit( )
Call RemoveMenuItem
End Sub