Using MS Access, I need to open a PDF file, move the last page of the file to the first, and save it. But the error (see below) keeps getting in my way. (I'm good with VBA, but this is my first attempt at manipulating PDF with VBA).
Note: I'm using AcroRd32.DLL
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
Sub x()
Dim PDFdoc As New AcroPDDoc
PDFdoc.Open "C:\Reports\MRIR\mrir.pdf" 'activex comp. can't create object
PDFdoc.MovePage 0, PDFdoc.GetNumPages
PDFdoc.Save 1, "C:\reports\MRIR\Switched.pdf"
End Sub
If you just call the document with a shell method, then the following will work according to the following Adobe help file:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/pdfs/PDFOpenParameters.pdf
When opening a PDF document from a
command shell, you can pass the
parameters to the open command using
the /A switch using the following
syntax:
<path to Acrobat> /A "<open parameter>=OpenActions" "<path to PDF file>"
For example:
Acrobat.exe /A "page=4=OpenActions" "C:\example.pdf"
Thanks all, but since I don't have Adobe Acrobat on my local machine (just the reader), I found a 3rd party freeware program (PDFTK) that can do this kind of basic page manipulation from the command-line.
(Kudos to David Walker for giving a detailed answer, even though I couldn't use it in the end.)
Related
I have a system that automatically creates and saves documents as html. For further storage they ought to be pdfs though.
I want to avoid having to do it manually so my preferred solution would be a small executable that I can call via command line, feed it with a source and output path (and ideally further parameters) and then let it do its magic. Something in concept like this:
exampleConverter.exe "C:\source\document1.html" "C:\convertedPDFs\document1.pdf"
No UI whatsoever, no human input, no popping up and closing console.
I looked through several options, but common problems I encountered were
the software not being free for commercial use
It just being a library of code, not a ready-to-go executable / code-base you just need to compile into one
The tool needing to get installed instead of being 'portable'
I'd like to avoid having to implement any modern libraries myself, partially for simple time concearns, partially because internally our code runs in a less than modern IE & VBS context so I for see compatibility problems.
Simply triggering a precompiled executable through a generic command line inerface that I can trigger from vbs seems like the perfect solution here.
Your Windows OS program code is almost there, why not reverse input and output (makes the task easier later), with a switch or two. you can embellish that with your for /? loop to run through the current working folder, just like any other program.
Your pseudo code
exampleConverter.exe --print-to-pdf="C:\convertedPDFs\document1.pdf" --headless "C:\source\document1.html"
Working Windows native code
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" --print-to-pdf="%CD%\out\document1.pdf" --headless "%CD%\in\document1.html"
Other options are available
learn.microsoft.com suggest this working snippet to run edge with parameters
wscript vbsEdge.vbs
Dim shell
Set shell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
shell.Run "msedge https://www.google.com --hide-scrollbars --content-shell-hide-toolbar"
So just combine the program methods. However, you need to sort out your own arguments.
For greater control then you need to step-up to heavier custom isations https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2015/07/23/bringing-automated-testing-to-microsoft-edge-through-webdriver/ etc.
I am having trouble with getting the HTML Application (MeowcatSoftware Launcher Demo.HTA on GitHub) to open a target application, for example, MultiToolv0.2.exe. Is there a way to open the target applications such as the MultiTool using VBScript besides using Wscript.shell objects, which has been causing most of my problems?
I have tried the following, which didn't work:
Sub RunProgram
Set objShell = CreateObject(“Wscript.Shell”)
objShell.Run “notepad.exe c:\script\test.txt”
End Sub
(From 'Hey, Scripting Guy" Blog Post)
I played around a little with it but couldn't figure out how to achieve my goal. The blog post also mentioned using a Windows Shell object instead of Wscript.shell, but it looks like from the example that the Windows Shell object method was for opening a file using another program, and I just want it to simply open the target application. How do I open a program using VBScript within an HTA Application?
In vbscript this should work : You should using quote (") not like you posted in your question (“) and (”)
Call RunProgram()
Sub RunProgram
Set objShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
objShell.Run "notepad.exe c:\script\test.txt"
End Sub
I followed the suggestion by Cody Gray about halfway down the page in this thread but I'm having no luck.
Unless I'm missing something, this is supposed to allow me to navigate from Access, using the Windows API Dialog Box, to the relevant folder and open a file, no? I'm trying to open a Word doc which has a Mail Merge coming back to the same Access Db. I needed the dialog because there are multiple files that may be selected at different times.
I added all the suggested code and while the process runs without error, when I get to the final step, the selected file doesn't open. Nothing happens.
I realize this is not much help without an error message. Any thoughts nonetheless?
As I understand the situation, you have code which uses a string variable named strFileToOpen to hold the path to a Ms Word document. And now you want to open that file in Word.
You can use the FollowHyperlink method.
Application.FollowHyperlink strFileToOpen
Look at the Access help topic for that method. It offers other options you may wish to use.
Also I suggest you look at the help topic for FileDialog Object. It is simpler than the Windows APi method in the code you linked.
I'm rewriting a legacy access / VBA application in C#. While I am limited as a VBA programmer I am under the impression that the code is minimally compiled and runs almost as a script ? Obviously no security / VBA you can just hit alt + f11 to get at the source code is there a good way to decompile / get at this code?
So I tried this: http://forums.databasejournal.com/showthread.php?t=34222
which appears to be about how to decompile .mdb files.
However the program quickly recompiled itself - or at least says it is recompiling itself in the lower left status bar. Any ideas?
Here are some suggestions (some of which I'm repeating from comments I've made above):
Alt-F11 is not my usual method of opening the VBE, because I usually want to go to the Immediate Windows. Try Ctrl-G, instead.
If both Alt-F11 and Ctrl-G fail to open the VBE, then perhaps the AllowBypassKey property of the database has been changed to False. To get code to change this, search the Access help file for AllowBypassKey (in the VBE, from the help menu, search for "AllowBypassKey"). However, you won't be able to run the code within the database you're trying to investigate if AllowBypassKey is turned OFF, so you can run this code:
//
On Error GoTo Change_Err
Dim db As DAO.Database
Dim prp As Variant
Const conPropNotFoundError = 3270
Set db = DBEngine.OpenDatabase("C:\Databases\MyDatabase.mdb")
db.Properties("AllowBypassProperty") = True
exitRoutine:
If Not (db Is Nothing) Then
db.Close
Set db = Nothing
End If
Exit Sub
errHandler:
If Err = conPropNotFoundError Then ' Property not found.
' do nothing and exit
Resume exitRoutine
End If
Then you should be able to open the database when holding down the SHIFT key (which bypasses any defined startup routines, which might have been shutting off access to the VBE).
If the file is an MDE, there is no source code. You can find out if it's an MDE by checking this property:
?CurrentDB.Properties("MDE")
If it's an MDE (the file can have any extension), this will return "T". If it's not an MDE, it will throw an error (because the property doesn't exist).
Other things to check might be how many modules there are. If you have the database open and can get to the Immediate Windows (Ctrl-G), then this will tell you if there are any modules:
//
?CurrentProject.AllModules.Count
You also might be able to see what's in the database by opening up the Object Browser in the VBE (F2) and selecting the project name in the dropdown at the top (it will say "" by default
Last of all, you may think that it could be protected by Jet ULS, but starting with Access 2000, that's not a big possible, as there's nothing but a password on the VBA project available (i.e., it's no longer covered under Jet ULS). I would expect that if it were password-protected, you'd be prompted for the password somewhere along the line, so you'd already know that.
If it's an .mde you are out of luck. You need to get hold of the .mdb containing the source VBA code that was compiled to create the .mde
HOW TO VIEW SOURCE CODE (.mdb FILE)
Select the file
Hold the 'shift' key
Then double click the file without releasing the 'shift' key
Navigate to the Program Folders on your computer.
Open the MS Office Folder
Navigate to MSAccess.exe and make a shortcut of it.
Move the shortcut to where your database resides (makes life easier and you'll need to do this for each database to decompile).
(optional) Rename the shortcut to something like "decompiler for my database whose name is...." so you know that opening it blows away your compiled code
Right-click on the shortcut to view its properties. In the Target field of the properties dialog box for the shortcut you'll see something like "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\MSACCESS.EXE"
In the target field, right-arrow to the end of the pathname, type a space, and then, in quotes, type (or paste) the full pathname of the location of your MS Access file to decompile (easiest way is to copy from the address bar on your window where the file resides, if you have the address bar showing).
Still in the Target field, type a space, and then with no quotes, type /decompile
Click OK to accept the changes and to close the dialog box.
Hold the Shift key down and keep it down.
Wiggle your ears
Double-click on the shortcut.
Go to any module in your database.
I have the following vba-code in an MS-Access97-frontend which opens a word-document stored on a server:
Call Shell("winword ""\\Fileserver\Contabilita\Crucial deadlines\Bonifico97.doc""", 1)
The document is a merge-document (getting data from a query and populates the document from the data retrieved)
Now, I have put the database-frontend on another computer (still using MS-Access 97 but with MS-Word 2003 installed on the PC - MS-Access 97 is still working nicely since it was installed in a different directory) but now when above code, using call shell, is being executed, I always get "Document not found". If I launch above shell command in Start/execute, the document is being opened correctly.
What could be the problem? The file-path? Did any anything change in VBA 97 and VBA2003 what regards file-paths? I am aware of the fact that there is a folder in the file-path with a space but it works nicely on the PC with office97 installed.
I would appreciate any help I can get. Thank you.
You will need to use the full path for Word.
Alternatives to using SHELL with the full path specified for Word would be:
Application.FollowHyperlink
ShellExecute
In either case, you'd be opening the file with the application associated with the file association of the file you're opening. The only reason to stick with Shell() is if you're using the PID returned by the Shell() function to control the application after it's run. But your original code used Call Shell... so that wasn't an issue.