Cannot open word file for editing from access using vba - ms-access

Question

The following code runs as far as the marked line. Word then shows a file locked for editing/ open read only prompt. I need to be able to edit the document (that is the whole point of the code).
Sorry for incredibly long code block - I felt it was important to show everything so that it was easier to find the problem.
The code is also kind of clunky with the multiple recordsets, if anyone has any better ideas would love to here them.
Option Explicit
Option Compare Database
Sub InputSafetyData()
Dim dbCur As Database
Dim appCur As Word.Application
Dim docCur As Word.Document
Dim dlgCur As FileDialog
Dim rngCcCur As Range
Dim varDlgCur As Variant
Dim strDocName As String
Dim strDocPath As String
Dim strSQL As String
Dim rsIt As DAO.Recordset
Dim rsHc As DAO.Recordset
Dim rsHz As DAO.Recordset
Dim rsPr As DAO.Recordset
Dim strHc As String
Dim strHz As String
Dim strPr As String
Set dbCur = CurrentDb()
Set dlgCur = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFolderPicker)
With dlgCur
.AllowMultiSelect = False
If .Show <> -1 Then End
varDlgCur = .SelectedItems(1)
End With
strDocPath = CStr(varDlgCur) & "\"
strDocName = Dir(strDocPath & "*.docx")
Set appCur = New Word.Application
appCur.Visible = True
Set dlgCur = Nothing
Do While strDocName <> ""
'Runs as far here
Set docCur = appCur.Documents.Open(FileName:=strDocPath & strDocName, ReadOnly:=False, Visible:=False)
If docCur.ReadOnly = False Then
Set rngCcCur = docCur.ContentControls(6).Range
rngCcCur = ""
appCur.ActiveDocument.Tables.Add Range:=rngCcCur, NumRows:=1, NumColumns:=4
With rngCcCur.Tables(0)
If .Style <> "Table Grid" Then
.Style = "Table Grid"
End If
.ApplyStyleHeadingRows = True
.ApplyStyleLastRow = False
.ApplyStyleFirstColumn = True
.ApplyStyleLastColumn = False
.ApplyStyleRowBands = True
.ApplyStyleColumnBands = False
.Style = "Light Shading"
.AutoFitBehavior wdAutoFitWindow
.Cell(1, 1).Range.InsertAfter "Item"
.Cell(1, 2).Range.InsertAfter "Hazcard"
.Cell(1, 3).Range.InsertAfter "Hazard"
.Cell(1, 4).Range.InsertAfter "Precaution"
'select distinct item based on filename
strSQL = "Select Distinct Item From IHR where filename is"
strSQL = strSQL & strDocName
Set rsIt = dbCur.OpenRecordset(strSQL, dbOpenDynaset)
If Not (rsIt.BOF And rsIt.EOF) = True Then
While Not rsIt.EOF
.Rows.Add
.Cell(rsIt.AbsolutePosition + 2, 1).Range.InsertAfter rsIt.Fields(1).Value
'select distinct hazcard based on item
strSQL = "Select Distinct Hazcard From IHR where item is"
strSQL = strSQL & rsIt.Fields(1).Value
Set rsHc = dbCur.OpenRecordset(strSQL, dbOpenDynaset)
If Not (rsHc.BOF And rsHc.EOF) = True Then
While Not rsHc.EOF
strHc = strHc & " " & rsHc.Fields(2).Value
.Cell(rsIt.AbsolutePosition + 2, 2).Range.InsertAfter strHc
rsHc.MoveNext
Wend
End If
rsHc.Close
Set rsHc = Nothing
'select distinct hazard based on item
strSQL = "Select Distinct Hazard From IHR where item is"
strSQL = strSQL & rsIt.Fields(1).Value
Set rsHz = dbCur.OpenRecordset(strSQL, dbOpenDynaset)
If Not (rsHz.BOF And rsHz.EOF) = True Then
While Not rsHz.EOF
strHc = strHz & " " & rsHz.Fields(2).Value
.Cell(rsIt.AbsolutePosition + 2, 3).Range.InsertAfter strHz
rsHz.MoveNext
Wend
End If
rsHz.Close
Set rsHz = Nothing
'select distinct precaution based on item
strSQL = "Select Distinct Precaution From IHR where item is"
strSQL = strSQL & rsIt.Fields(1).Value
Set rsPr = dbCur.OpenRecordset(strSQL, dbOpenDynaset)
If Not (rsPr.BOF And rsPr.EOF) = True Then
While Not rsPr.EOF
strPr = strPr & " " & rsPr.Fields(4).Value
.Cell(rsIt.AbsolutePosition + 2, 4).Range.InsertAfter strPr
rsPr.MoveNext
Wend
End If
rsPr.Close
Set rsPr = Nothing
rsIt.MoveNext
Wend
End If
End With
rsIt.Close
Set rsIt = Nothing
Debug.Print (docCur.Name)
docCur.Save
End If
docCur.Close
Set docCur = Nothing
strDocName = Dir
Loop
Set appCur = Nothing
End Sub

Answer 1

Focus on the immediate problem --- "Cannot open word file for editing".
I created a folder, C:\share\testdocs\, and added Word documents. The code sample below uses a constant for the folder name. I wanted a simple test, so got rid of FileDialog. I also discarded all the recordset code.
I used Visible:=True when opening the Word documents. I didn't understand why you have the Word application visible, but the individual documents not visible. Whatever the logic for that, I chose to make them visible so I could observe the content changes.
I tested this with Access 2007, and it works without errors. If it doesn't work for you, double-check the file system permissions for the current user for both the folder and the target documents.
Public Sub EditWordDocs()
Const cstrFolder As String = "C:\share\testdocs\"
Dim appCur As Word.Application
Dim docCur As Word.Document
Dim strDocName As String
Dim strDocPath As String
Dim strMsg As String
On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
strDocPath = cstrFolder
strDocName = Dir(strDocPath & "*.docx")
Set appCur = New Word.Application
appCur.Visible = True
Do While strDocName <> ""
Debug.Print "strDocName: " & strDocName
Set docCur = appCur.Documents.Open(FileName:=strDocPath & strDocName, _
ReadOnly:=False, Visible:=True)
Debug.Print "FullName: " & docCur.FullName
Debug.Print "ReadOnly: " & docCur.ReadOnly
' add text to the document ... '
docCur.content = docCur.content & vbCrLf & CStr(Now)
docCur.Close SaveChanges:=wdSaveChanges
Set docCur = Nothing
strDocName = Dir
Loop
ExitHere:
On Error Resume Next
appCur.Quit SaveChanges:=wdDoNotSaveChanges
Set appCur = Nothing
On Error GoTo 0
Exit Sub
ErrorHandler:
strMsg = "Error " & Err.Number & " (" & Err.Description _
& ") in procedure EditWordDocs"
MsgBox strMsg
Debug.Print strMsg
GoTo ExitHere
End Sub
Assuming you're able to get past the read-only problem, I think you have more challenges ahead. Your SELECT statements look highly suspicious to me ...
'select distinct item based on filename '
strSQL = "Select Distinct Item From IHR where filename is"
strSQL = strSQL & strDocName
For example, if strDocName contains "temp.docx", strSQL will contain this text ...
Select Distinct Item From IHR where filename istemp.docx
That is not a valid SELECT statement. I think you may need something more like this ...
SELECT DISTINCT [Item] FROM IHR WHERE filename = 'temp.docx'
Item is a reserved word, so I enclosed it in square brackets to avoid confusing the db engine. Use the equality operator (=) instead of "is" for your string comparisons.
It is extremely useful to Debug.Print your strSQL string, so that you may directly examine the completed statement you're asking the db engine to run ... view it instead of relying on your imagination to guess what it looks like. And when it fails, you can copy the Debug.Print output from the Immediate window and paste it into SQL View of a new query for testing.
However, those Access query issues don't matter until you can get past the read-only issue with your Word documents.
To follow up on the issue of visibility vs. read-only, my code opened the Word documents and modified them without throwing errors when I included either or both of these two changes:
appCur.Visible = False
and
Set docCur = appCur.Documents.Open(FileName:=strDocPath & strDocName, _
ReadOnly:=False, Visible:=False)

Answer 2

I had the same problem with a file opened read only. You can try putting in the following code:
appcur.ActiveWindow.View.ReadingLayout = False