OpenOffice.org Macros Explained

Built-In Global UNO Variables

OOo Basic contains built-in global variables that provide quick access to frequently used components in OOo. The most commonly used variable is ThisComponent, which refers to the currently active document. To demonstrate using the variable ThisComponent, the macro in Listing 10 displays all of the styles in the current document. Figure 2 is only one of the many dialogs that are displayed while the macro runs.

Figure 2: Eight character styles used in the current document.

Listing 10: DisplayAllStyles is found in the UNO module in this chapter's source code files as SC09.sxw.

Sub DisplayAllStyles Dim vFamilies As Variant 'All the style types Dim vFamNames As Variant 'Array with names of the style types Dim vStyles As Variant 'One style type such as Number or Page Styles Dim vStlNames As Variant 'Array with names of specific styles Dim s As String 'Message to display Dim n As Integer 'Iterate through the style types Dim i As Integer 'Iterate through the styles vFamilies = ThisComponent.StyleFamilies 'Get the styles vFamNames = vFamilies.getElementNames() 'What type of styles? For n = LBound(vFamNames) To UBound(vFamNames) 'Look at all style types s = "" vStyles = vFamilies.getByName(vFamNames(n)) 'Get styles of a type vStlNames = vStyles.getElementNames() 'names of styles for type For i = LBound(vStlNames) To UBound (vStlNames) 'for all styles of a type s=s & i & " : " & vStlNames(i) & Chr$(13) 'Build a display string If ((i + 1) Mod 35 = 0) Then 'Display 35 at a time MsgBox s, ,vFamNames(n) 'Display them s = "" 'Clear string, start over End If Next i 'Next style If Len(s) > 0 Then MsgBox s, ,vFamNames(n) 'Leftover styles for type Next n 'Next style type End Sub

OpenOffice is based on the same code as StarOffice, which had a desktop. All of the individual windows were contained in this desktop. The desktop paradigm is now gone, but for legacy reasons a desktop object still acts as the global application that ties all of the documents together. Although I frequently see code that creates a desktop service by using the function CreateUnoService, this is not required in OOo Basic. OOo Basic provides the variable StarDesktop, which accesses the primary desktop service in OOo. The macro in Listing 11 demonstrates the use of the StarDesktop by traversing all of the currently open documents. See the results in Figure 3 .

Figure 3: All the currently open documents.

Listing 11: Iterate ThroughAllDocs is found in the UNO module in this chapter's source code files as SC09.sxw.

Sub IterateThroughAllDocs On Error Resume Next 'Ignore the non-document components Dim vComponents As Object 'All of the components Dim vDocs As Object 'Enumeration of the documents Dim vDoc As Object 'A single document Dim s As String GlobalScope.BasicLibraries.LoadLibrary("Tools")'Contains FileNameOutOfPath vComponents = StarDesktop.getComponents() 'Get all the components vDocs = vComponents.createEnumeration() 'Enumerate them Do While vDocs. hasMoreElements () 'While there are more vDoc = vDocs.nextElement() 'Get the next component s = s & getDocType(vDoc) & " " 'Add the document type s = s & FileNameOutOfPath (vDoc.getURL()) 'Add the file name s = s & CHR$(10) 'Add a new line Loop MsgBox s, 0, "Currently Open Components" End Sub

While iterating through the open documents (components), you may find some unexpected documents. These are component windows such as the Basic IDE and the Help window. The macro in Listing 11 uses the function FileNameOutOfPath. This is another macro and is not a function that is built into OOo Basic. This function is stored in the Strings module of the application-level Tools library. If a library is not currently loaded, you cannot call the methods that it contains.

The GlobalScope variable references the application-level libraries and is used to load the Tools library. Loading a library loads all of the modules in the specified library. OOo contains libraries and modules that are not built into OOo Basic. Use the LoadLibrary method before you use the routines in the libraries.

GlobalScope.BasicLibraries.LoadLibrary("Tools")

To access the Basic libraries in the current document, either use the BasicLibraries global variable or access the BasicLibraries property in the current document.

Print EqualUnoObjects(vObj.BasicLibraries, BasicLibraries) 'True

Use the DialogLibraries variable to access the dialog libraries in the current document. Unlike BasicLibraries, an individual document does not contain a property called DialogLibaries to directly obtain the dialog libraries for a specific document. You can easily obtain the dialog and Basic libraries for a specific document through a less direct route. Each document has a LibraryContainer property.

ThisComponent.LibraryContainer.getByName("OOMECH09").getModuleContainer() ThisComponent.LibraryContainer.getByName("OOMECH09").getDialogContainer()

The getByName() method on the LibraryContainer returns the named library. The getModuleContainer() method returns the Basic container for the specified library, and the getDialogContainer() method returns the Dialog container for the specified library. The code in Listing 12 , however, uses the variables DialogLibraries and BasicLibraries to list the number of dialogs and modules in each library in the current document. Figure 4 shows the results.

Figure 4: Dialog and Basic libraries in the current document.

Listing 12: ExamineDocumentLibraries is found in the UNO module in this chapter's source code files as SC09.sxw.

Sub ExamineDocumentLibraries Dim vLibs 'Hold the library names Dim vMod 'Hold the modules/dialogs object Dim nNumMods% 'Number of modules or dialogs in a library Dim i% 'Scrap index variable Dim s$ 'Scrap string variable s = "*** Dialog Libs In Document" & CHR$(10) 'Initialize s vLibs = DialogLibraries.getElementNames() 'Library names For i = LBound(vLibs) To UBound(vLibs) 'Look at each name vMod = DialogLibraries.getByName(vLibs(i)) 'Get the dialog library nNumMods = UBound(vMod.getElementNames()) + 1 'How many dialogs s = s & vLibs(i) & " has " & nNumMods & " dialogs" 'Build string s = s & CHR$(10) Next i s = s & CHR$(10) s = s & "*** Basic Libs In Document" & CHR$(10) 'Ready for code libs vLibs = BasicLibraries.getElementNames() 'Library names For i = LBound(vLibs) To UBound(vLibs) 'Look at each name vMod = BasicLibraries.getByName(vLibs(i)) 'Get the code library nNumMods = UBound(vMod.getElementNames()) + 1 'Number of modules s = s & vLibs(i) & " has " & nNumMods & " modules" 'Build the string s = s & CHR$(10) Next i MsgBox s, 0, "Libraries" End Sub

To view the libraries in the application-level library container, modify the code in Listing 12. Add GlobalScope before each occurrence of BasicLibraries and DialogLibraries. This change has already been made in the ExamineGlobalLibraries routine in the UNO module in this chapter's source code files.