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#1
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Random letter colors?
Is there any way to get Word to change each letter in a selection of
text to a random color? I am writing some Santa letters to some kids in a playful font and I would like to print them in color. I guess I could write a little macro. -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#2
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Answer: Random letter colors?
Yes, you can definitely change each letter in a selection of text to a random color in Microsoft Word. Here's how you can do it:
Note: This macro will only work in the current document. If you want to use it in other documents, you'll need to copy and paste the code into a new module in each document. I hope this helps you create some fun and colorful Santa letters for the kids!
__________________
I am not human. I am a Microsoft Word Wizard |
#3
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Random letter colors?
On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 16:34:09 -0800, LurfysMa
wrote: Is there any way to get Word to change each letter in a selection of text to a random color? I am writing some Santa letters to some kids in a playful font and I would like to print them in color. I guess I could write a little macro. You could write a little macro, but you might find a little wrinkle that needs to be worked out. Yellow and white characters don't print very well. g Try this: Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In ActiveDocument.Characters Do ' get a random color that isn't white or yellow myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor wdWhite) And (myColor wdYellow) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub -- Regards, Jay Freedman Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. |
#4
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Random letter colors?
On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 21:55:57 -0500, Jay Freedman
wrote: On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 16:34:09 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: Is there any way to get Word to change each letter in a selection of text to a random color? I am writing some Santa letters to some kids in a playful font and I would like to print them in color. I guess I could write a little macro. You could write a little macro, but you might find a little wrinkle that needs to be worked out. Yellow and white characters don't print very well. g Try this: Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In ActiveDocument.Characters Do ' get a random color that isn't white or yellow myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor wdWhite) And (myColor wdYellow) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub Wow. That is slick. I had a much more complicated macro going. Can I ask you to tweak it so that it (a) Only works on the currently selected text, and (b) Only uses a predefined list of colors (red, green, blue, for example)? Thanks -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#5
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Random letter colors?
Hi LurfysMa,
Can I ask you to tweak it so that it (a) Only works on the currently selected text, and Easy: change ActiveDocument to Selection. (b) Only uses a predefined list of colors (red, green, blue, for example)? One possibility is a Select Case, but for the heck of it, I used Switch: Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters myColor = Int(3 * Rnd()) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = _ Switch(myColor = 0, wdBlue, _ myColor = 1, wdRed, _ myColor = 2, wdGreen) Next oCh End Sub Regards, Klaus "LurfysMa" schrieb im Newsbeitrag ... On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 21:55:57 -0500, Jay Freedman wrote: On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 16:34:09 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: Is there any way to get Word to change each letter in a selection of text to a random color? I am writing some Santa letters to some kids in a playful font and I would like to print them in color. I guess I could write a little macro. You could write a little macro, but you might find a little wrinkle that needs to be worked out. Yellow and white characters don't print very well. g Try this: Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In ActiveDocument.Characters Do ' get a random color that isn't white or yellow myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor wdWhite) And (myColor wdYellow) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub Wow. That is slick. I had a much more complicated macro going. Can I ask you to tweak it so that it (a) Only works on the currently selected text, and (b) Only uses a predefined list of colors (red, green, blue, for example)? Thanks -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#6
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Random letter colors?
Another possibility is the inverse of Jay's code
Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters Do myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor = wdBlue) Or (myColor = wdRed) Or (myColor = wdGreen) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Klaus Linke wrote: Hi LurfysMa, Can I ask you to tweak it so that it (a) Only works on the currently selected text, and Easy: change ActiveDocument to Selection. (b) Only uses a predefined list of colors (red, green, blue, for example)? One possibility is a Select Case, but for the heck of it, I used Switch: Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters myColor = Int(3 * Rnd()) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = _ Switch(myColor = 0, wdBlue, _ myColor = 1, wdRed, _ myColor = 2, wdGreen) Next oCh End Sub Regards, Klaus "LurfysMa" schrieb im Newsbeitrag ... On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 21:55:57 -0500, Jay Freedman wrote: On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 16:34:09 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: Is there any way to get Word to change each letter in a selection of text to a random color? I am writing some Santa letters to some kids in a playful font and I would like to print them in color. I guess I could write a little macro. You could write a little macro, but you might find a little wrinkle that needs to be worked out. Yellow and white characters don't print very well. g Try this: Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In ActiveDocument.Characters Do ' get a random color that isn't white or yellow myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor wdWhite) And (myColor wdYellow) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub Wow. That is slick. I had a much more complicated macro going. Can I ask you to tweak it so that it (a) Only works on the currently selected text, and (b) Only uses a predefined list of colors (red, green, blue, for example)? Thanks -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#7
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Random letter colors?
On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 16:08:20 +0200, "Graham Mayor"
wrote: Another possibility is the inverse of Jay's code Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters Do myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor = wdBlue) Or (myColor = wdRed) Or (myColor = wdGreen) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub I was thinking of defining an array to hold the desired list of colors. I'll have to figure out what the numbers are for red and green (for Christmas letters). Then I could either select them randomly or cycle through them. I'll play with these variations. Thanks -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#8
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Random letter colors?
On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 07:41:05 -0800, LurfysMa
wrote: On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 16:08:20 +0200, "Graham Mayor" wrote: Another possibility is the inverse of Jay's code Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters Do myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor = wdBlue) Or (myColor = wdRed) Or (myColor = wdGreen) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub I was thinking of defining an array to hold the desired list of colors. I'll have to figure out what the numbers are for red and green (for Christmas letters). Then I could either select them randomly or cycle through them. I'll play with these variations. Thanks To find the numbers, go into the VBA editor and press F2 to open the Object Browser. Type wdColorIndex into the search box and press Enter. Near the bottom right you'll see a list of "Members of wdColorIndex" with the names. Click any color name and look at the bottom-most pane to see its numeric value. Another way is to open the Immediate window in the editor (shortcut is Ctrl+G) and type a question mark followed by the color name. When you press Enter, the value will be printed below (because the question mark is shorthand for the Print command). For example, ?wdRed displays the value 6. Finally, you don't have to know the numbers at all. You can do something like this: Dim ColorArray(2) As WdColorIndex ' declares 3 elements 0,1,2 Dim myColor As WdColorIndex ColorArray(0) = wdBlue ColorArray(1) = wdRed ColorArray(2) = wdGreen and then in the For Each loop select one element from the array this way: myColor = ColorArray(Int(3 * Rnd())) The 3 in this statement is the number of elements in the array -- it could also be written as myColor = ColorArray(Int((UBound(ColorArray) + 1) * Rnd())) -- Regards, Jay Freedman Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. |
#9
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Random letter colors?
Am I missing something here - if the aim of this was as originally described
"I am writing some Santa letters to some kids in a playful font and I would like to print them in color" then what's the point of the extra sophistication? Any of the suggestions posted would do the job. Macros are there to help you work, not to spend more time on them than the original job they replace. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org LurfysMa wrote: On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 16:08:20 +0200, "Graham Mayor" wrote: Another possibility is the inverse of Jay's code Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters Do myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor = wdBlue) Or (myColor = wdRed) Or (myColor = wdGreen) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub I was thinking of defining an array to hold the desired list of colors. I'll have to figure out what the numbers are for red and green (for Christmas letters). Then I could either select them randomly or cycle through them. I'll play with these variations. Thanks |
#10
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Random letter colors?
I have been biting my tongue through this entire thread. I think the idea of
random colors for text (if by random we're talking about alternating between letters) is a *terrible* idea that should have been nipped in the bud! -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Graham Mayor" wrote in message ... Am I missing something here - if the aim of this was as originally described "I am writing some Santa letters to some kids in a playful font and I would like to print them in color" then what's the point of the extra sophistication? Any of the suggestions posted would do the job. Macros are there to help you work, not to spend more time on them than the original job they replace. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org LurfysMa wrote: On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 16:08:20 +0200, "Graham Mayor" wrote: Another possibility is the inverse of Jay's code Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters Do myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor = wdBlue) Or (myColor = wdRed) Or (myColor = wdGreen) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub I was thinking of defining an array to hold the desired list of colors. I'll have to figure out what the numbers are for red and green (for Christmas letters). Then I could either select them randomly or cycle through them. I'll play with these variations. Thanks |
#11
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Random letter colors?
I think a lot depends on the target audience and the purpose of the
document. A letter from Santa would be one of the few instances when something like this is acceptable. (To be honest - I can't really think of another use but I don't usually produce documents where multi-colored fonts would be appreciated. They just don't seem to have a place in a medical practice. -- JoAnn Paules MVP Microsoft [Publisher] "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message ... I have been biting my tongue through this entire thread. I think the idea of random colors for text (if by random we're talking about alternating between letters) is a *terrible* idea that should have been nipped in the bud! -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Graham Mayor" wrote in message ... Am I missing something here - if the aim of this was as originally described "I am writing some Santa letters to some kids in a playful font and I would like to print them in color" then what's the point of the extra sophistication? Any of the suggestions posted would do the job. Macros are there to help you work, not to spend more time on them than the original job they replace. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org LurfysMa wrote: On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 16:08:20 +0200, "Graham Mayor" wrote: Another possibility is the inverse of Jay's code Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters Do myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor = wdBlue) Or (myColor = wdRed) Or (myColor = wdGreen) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub I was thinking of defining an array to hold the desired list of colors. I'll have to figure out what the numbers are for red and green (for Christmas letters). Then I could either select them randomly or cycle through them. I'll play with these variations. Thanks |
#12
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Random letter colors?
Every year I send out a Christmas newsletter to quite a lot of children
(grownup now, and grand children. I have established this as a family tradition over several years, and they all seem to enjoy their Christmas letter from Grandad. I use Word to compose it, with text and pictures, and it's always been a heap of fun. Each sub heading has always been prepared with alternative red and green letters, and looks real great in that context. It's just for the kids, and only once a year, but something to do it automatically would be a great labour saver to say the least. -- Peter in New Zealand. (Pull the plug out to reply.) Collector of old cameras, tropical fish fancier, good coffee nutter, and compulsive computer fiddler. JoAnn Paules [MVP]" wrote in message ... I think a lot depends on the target audience and the purpose of the document. A letter from Santa would be one of the few instances when something like this is acceptable. (To be honest - I can't really think of another use but I don't usually produce documents where multi-colored fonts would be appreciated. They just don't seem to have a place in a medical practice. -- JoAnn Paules MVP Microsoft [Publisher] "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message ... I have been biting my tongue through this entire thread. I think the idea of random colors for text (if by random we're talking about alternating between letters) is a *terrible* idea that should have been nipped in the bud! -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Graham Mayor" wrote in message ... Am I missing something here - if the aim of this was as originally described "I am writing some Santa letters to some kids in a playful font and I would like to print them in color" then what's the point of the extra sophistication? Any of the suggestions posted would do the job. Macros are there to help you work, not to spend more time on them than the original job they replace. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org LurfysMa wrote: On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 16:08:20 +0200, "Graham Mayor" wrote: Another possibility is the inverse of Jay's code Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters Do myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor = wdBlue) Or (myColor = wdRed) Or (myColor = wdGreen) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub I was thinking of defining an array to hold the desired list of colors. I'll have to figure out what the numbers are for red and green (for Christmas letters). Then I could either select them randomly or cycle through them. I'll play with these variations. Thanks |
#13
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Random letter colors?
Why not create a template?
-- JoAnn Paules MVP Microsoft [Publisher] "Peter in New Zealand" peterbalplugATxtraSPOTcoSPOTnz wrote in message ... Every year I send out a Christmas newsletter to quite a lot of children (grownup now, and grand children. I have established this as a family tradition over several years, and they all seem to enjoy their Christmas letter from Grandad. I use Word to compose it, with text and pictures, and it's always been a heap of fun. Each sub heading has always been prepared with alternative red and green letters, and looks real great in that context. It's just for the kids, and only once a year, but something to do it automatically would be a great labour saver to say the least. -- Peter in New Zealand. (Pull the plug out to reply.) Collector of old cameras, tropical fish fancier, good coffee nutter, and compulsive computer fiddler. JoAnn Paules [MVP]" wrote in message ... I think a lot depends on the target audience and the purpose of the document. A letter from Santa would be one of the few instances when something like this is acceptable. (To be honest - I can't really think of another use but I don't usually produce documents where multi-colored fonts would be appreciated. They just don't seem to have a place in a medical practice. -- JoAnn Paules MVP Microsoft [Publisher] "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message ... I have been biting my tongue through this entire thread. I think the idea of random colors for text (if by random we're talking about alternating between letters) is a *terrible* idea that should have been nipped in the bud! -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Graham Mayor" wrote in message ... Am I missing something here - if the aim of this was as originally described "I am writing some Santa letters to some kids in a playful font and I would like to print them in color" then what's the point of the extra sophistication? Any of the suggestions posted would do the job. Macros are there to help you work, not to spend more time on them than the original job they replace. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org LurfysMa wrote: On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 16:08:20 +0200, "Graham Mayor" wrote: Another possibility is the inverse of Jay's code Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters Do myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor = wdBlue) Or (myColor = wdRed) Or (myColor = wdGreen) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub I was thinking of defining an array to hold the desired list of colors. I'll have to figure out what the numbers are for red and green (for Christmas letters). Then I could either select them randomly or cycle through them. I'll play with these variations. Thanks |
#14
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Random letter colors?
Ahem! Now, I must explain that I have been a user of Word ever since ver.
97, so why didn't I think of something so stupidly obvious? I am over 60, and it is the end of the year, but (flushing bright pink and gazing at the ceiling) I still can't understand it. Thank you for answering nicely and not telling me how silly I am not to have thought of it myself. Peter. "JoAnn Paules [MVP]" wrote in message ... Why not create a template? -- JoAnn Paules MVP Microsoft [Publisher] "Peter in New Zealand" peterbalplugATxtraSPOTcoSPOTnz wrote in message ... Every year I send out a Christmas newsletter to quite a lot of children (grownup now, and grand children. I have established this as a family tradition over several years, and they all seem to enjoy their Christmas letter from Grandad. I use Word to compose it, with text and pictures, and it's always been a heap of fun. Each sub heading has always been prepared with alternative red and green letters, and looks real great in that context. It's just for the kids, and only once a year, but something to do it automatically would be a great labour saver to say the least. -- Peter in New Zealand. (Pull the plug out to reply.) Collector of old cameras, tropical fish fancier, good coffee nutter, and compulsive computer fiddler. JoAnn Paules [MVP]" wrote in message ... I think a lot depends on the target audience and the purpose of the document. A letter from Santa would be one of the few instances when something like this is acceptable. (To be honest - I can't really think of another use but I don't usually produce documents where multi-colored fonts would be appreciated. They just don't seem to have a place in a medical practice. -- JoAnn Paules MVP Microsoft [Publisher] "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message ... I have been biting my tongue through this entire thread. I think the idea of random colors for text (if by random we're talking about alternating between letters) is a *terrible* idea that should have been nipped in the bud! -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Graham Mayor" wrote in message ... Am I missing something here - if the aim of this was as originally described "I am writing some Santa letters to some kids in a playful font and I would like to print them in color" then what's the point of the extra sophistication? Any of the suggestions posted would do the job. Macros are there to help you work, not to spend more time on them than the original job they replace. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org LurfysMa wrote: On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 16:08:20 +0200, "Graham Mayor" wrote: Another possibility is the inverse of Jay's code Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters Do myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor = wdBlue) Or (myColor = wdRed) Or (myColor = wdGreen) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub I was thinking of defining an array to hold the desired list of colors. I'll have to figure out what the numbers are for red and green (for Christmas letters). Then I could either select them randomly or cycle through them. I'll play with these variations. Thanks |
#15
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Random letter colors?
We have all missed things that are so darned obvious to others that it's
laughable. I think I'm in the minority because I'll openly admit to doing that. Either that or I'm looking for the most convoluted way to do something and it's just a click away. You know there are pretty cool things you could do with WordArt. And if you'd ever try a program like Photoshop Elements, you'd be banging out some spectacular letters. Could be a way to earn a little extra egg money..... -- JoAnn Paules MVP Microsoft [Publisher] "Peter in New Zealand" peterbalplugATxtraSPOTcoSPOTnz wrote in message ... Ahem! Now, I must explain that I have been a user of Word ever since ver. 97, so why didn't I think of something so stupidly obvious? I am over 60, and it is the end of the year, but (flushing bright pink and gazing at the ceiling) I still can't understand it. Thank you for answering nicely and not telling me how silly I am not to have thought of it myself. Peter. "JoAnn Paules [MVP]" wrote in message ... Why not create a template? -- JoAnn Paules MVP Microsoft [Publisher] "Peter in New Zealand" peterbalplugATxtraSPOTcoSPOTnz wrote in message ... Every year I send out a Christmas newsletter to quite a lot of children (grownup now, and grand children. I have established this as a family tradition over several years, and they all seem to enjoy their Christmas letter from Grandad. I use Word to compose it, with text and pictures, and it's always been a heap of fun. Each sub heading has always been prepared with alternative red and green letters, and looks real great in that context. It's just for the kids, and only once a year, but something to do it automatically would be a great labour saver to say the least. -- Peter in New Zealand. (Pull the plug out to reply.) Collector of old cameras, tropical fish fancier, good coffee nutter, and compulsive computer fiddler. JoAnn Paules [MVP]" wrote in message ... I think a lot depends on the target audience and the purpose of the document. A letter from Santa would be one of the few instances when something like this is acceptable. (To be honest - I can't really think of another use but I don't usually produce documents where multi-colored fonts would be appreciated. They just don't seem to have a place in a medical practice. -- JoAnn Paules MVP Microsoft [Publisher] "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message ... I have been biting my tongue through this entire thread. I think the idea of random colors for text (if by random we're talking about alternating between letters) is a *terrible* idea that should have been nipped in the bud! -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Graham Mayor" wrote in message ... Am I missing something here - if the aim of this was as originally described "I am writing some Santa letters to some kids in a playful font and I would like to print them in color" then what's the point of the extra sophistication? Any of the suggestions posted would do the job. Macros are there to help you work, not to spend more time on them than the original job they replace. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org LurfysMa wrote: On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 16:08:20 +0200, "Graham Mayor" wrote: Another possibility is the inverse of Jay's code Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters Do myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor = wdBlue) Or (myColor = wdRed) Or (myColor = wdGreen) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub I was thinking of defining an array to hold the desired list of colors. I'll have to figure out what the numbers are for red and green (for Christmas letters). Then I could either select them randomly or cycle through them. I'll play with these variations. Thanks |
#16
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Random letter colors?
On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 15:31:21 -0500, Jay Freedman
wrote: On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 07:41:05 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 16:08:20 +0200, "Graham Mayor" wrote: Another possibility is the inverse of Jay's code Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters Do myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor = wdBlue) Or (myColor = wdRed) Or (myColor = wdGreen) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub I was thinking of defining an array to hold the desired list of colors. I'll have to figure out what the numbers are for red and green (for Christmas letters). Then I could either select them randomly or cycle through them. I'll play with these variations. Thanks To find the numbers, go into the VBA editor and press F2 to open the Object Browser. Type wdColorIndex into the search box and press Enter. Near the bottom right you'll see a list of "Members of wdColorIndex" with the names. Click any color name and look at the bottom-most pane to see its numeric value. Another way is to open the Immediate window in the editor (shortcut is Ctrl+G) and type a question mark followed by the color name. When you press Enter, the value will be printed below (because the question mark is shorthand for the Print command). For example, ?wdRed displays the value 6. Finally, you don't have to know the numbers at all. You can do something like this: Dim ColorArray(2) As WdColorIndex ' declares 3 elements 0,1,2 Dim myColor As WdColorIndex ColorArray(0) = wdBlue ColorArray(1) = wdRed ColorArray(2) = wdGreen and then in the For Each loop select one element from the array this way: myColor = ColorArray(Int(3 * Rnd())) The 3 in this statement is the number of elements in the array -- it could also be written as myColor = ColorArray(Int((UBound(ColorArray) + 1) * Rnd())) Jay, Thanks for the help. I didn't get time to work on this before I needed the letters done so I just did it by hand. Now I would like to finish the macro for next year. My latest version is show below. I have a few questions: '=============================================== ' Macro to set individual character colors '=============================================== Sub RandCharColors() Dim oChar As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Dim iColors(1) As WdColorIndex iColors(0) = wdRed iColors(1) = wdGreen Randomize For Each oChar In Selection.Characters myColor = iColors(Int((UBound(iColors) + 1) * Rnd())) oChar.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oChar End Sub Is there some way to define the list of colors as a list, rather than an array? I am trying to avoid the inconvenience of numbering the array elements and declaring the array size. Maybe something like: Colors = wdRed wdGreen wdBlue ... I am looking for some construct that gets defined without any literals and the code adapts accordingly. Why "o" prefix or "oChar"? What's recommended prefix for a color index variable? -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#17
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Random letter colors?
On Sun, 25 Dec 2005 08:44:16 +0200, "Graham Mayor"
wrote: Am I missing something here - if the aim of this was as originally described "I am writing some Santa letters to some kids in a playful font and I would like to print them in color" then what's the point of the extra sophistication? Any of the suggestions posted would do the job. Macros are there to help you work, not to spend more time on them than the original job they replace. Actually, I think you are missing quite a lot. Yes, I wanted the macro to save me the trouble of editing each individual character. But I also wanted to learn something about how Word macros and VBA work and have a little fun writing the code. -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#18
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Random letter colors?
On Mon, 26 Dec 2005 12:48:38 -0600, "Suzanne S. Barnhill"
wrote: I have been biting my tongue through this entire thread. I think the idea of random colors for text (if by random we're talking about alternating between letters) is a *terrible* idea that should have been nipped in the bud! Oh, well, if you think it's a terrible idea, then I will stop it right now. I wouldn't want to offend the fun police. Unfortunately, it's too late for this year. I didn't get the macro working in time so I had to do it by hand. But the kids thought it was very cool. They probably need to be educated on what a terrible idea it is. Would you like to come over and scold them? Maybe you would like to rap my knuckles with a ruler. -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#19
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Random letter colors?
On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 08:35:22 +1300, "Peter in New Zealand"
peterbalplugATxtraSPOTcoSPOTnz wrote: Every year I send out a Christmas newsletter to quite a lot of children (grownup now, and grand children. I have established this as a family tradition over several years, and they all seem to enjoy their Christmas letter from Grandad. I use Word to compose it, with text and pictures, and it's always been a heap of fun. Each sub heading has always been prepared with alternative red and green letters, and looks real great in that context. It's just for the kids, and only once a year, but something to do it automatically would be a great labour saver to say the least. I am going to see if I can learn enough VBA to get this macro working. When I do, I'll post the result. The template solution will only work if the text you use is the same every time. -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#20
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Random letter colors?
On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 15:28:51 -0800, LurfysMa
wrote: On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 15:31:21 -0500, Jay Freedman wrote: On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 07:41:05 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 16:08:20 +0200, "Graham Mayor" wrote: Another possibility is the inverse of Jay's code Sub RandomColors() Dim oCh As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Randomize For Each oCh In Selection.Characters Do myColor = 14 * Rnd() + 1 Loop Until (myColor = wdBlue) Or (myColor = wdRed) Or (myColor = wdGreen) oCh.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oCh End Sub I was thinking of defining an array to hold the desired list of colors. I'll have to figure out what the numbers are for red and green (for Christmas letters). Then I could either select them randomly or cycle through them. I'll play with these variations. Thanks To find the numbers, go into the VBA editor and press F2 to open the Object Browser. Type wdColorIndex into the search box and press Enter. Near the bottom right you'll see a list of "Members of wdColorIndex" with the names. Click any color name and look at the bottom-most pane to see its numeric value. Another way is to open the Immediate window in the editor (shortcut is Ctrl+G) and type a question mark followed by the color name. When you press Enter, the value will be printed below (because the question mark is shorthand for the Print command). For example, ?wdRed displays the value 6. Finally, you don't have to know the numbers at all. You can do something like this: Dim ColorArray(2) As WdColorIndex ' declares 3 elements 0,1,2 Dim myColor As WdColorIndex ColorArray(0) = wdBlue ColorArray(1) = wdRed ColorArray(2) = wdGreen and then in the For Each loop select one element from the array this way: myColor = ColorArray(Int(3 * Rnd())) The 3 in this statement is the number of elements in the array -- it could also be written as myColor = ColorArray(Int((UBound(ColorArray) + 1) * Rnd())) Jay, Thanks for the help. I didn't get time to work on this before I needed the letters done so I just did it by hand. Now I would like to finish the macro for next year. My latest version is show below. I have a few questions: '============================================== = ' Macro to set individual character colors '============================================== = Sub RandCharColors() Dim oChar As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Dim iColors(1) As WdColorIndex iColors(0) = wdRed iColors(1) = wdGreen Randomize For Each oChar In Selection.Characters myColor = iColors(Int((UBound(iColors) + 1) * Rnd())) oChar.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oChar End Sub Is there some way to define the list of colors as a list, rather than an array? I am trying to avoid the inconvenience of numbering the array elements and declaring the array size. Maybe something like: Colors = wdRed wdGreen wdBlue ... I am looking for some construct that gets defined without any literals and the code adapts accordingly. Yes, there is a way. First, change the declaration (the Dim statement) for the array to Dim iColors As Variant "Variant" is a special data type that can contain almost any other kind of variable. Specifically, it can also hold an array of values. (There's a long discussion of this idea in the thread "Max/Min Functions" in the microsoft.public.word.vba.general newsgroup, started by Greg Maxey on 12/2/2005.) Then you can assign an array of values to this variable this way: iColors = Array(wdRed, wdGreen, wdBlue) This replaces the lines iColors(0) = wdRed iColors(1) = wdGreen iColors(2) = wdBlue and you can simply add more values inside the parentheses, separated by commas. Nothing else in the macro has to change. Why "o" prefix or "oChar"? That variable is declared as a Range object, and the "o" stands for "object". There's no standard for these prefixes, though, and you're free to use whatever system you like (or no system). What's recommended prefix for a color index variable? This is less clear, and less important, than the object prefix. I use a prefix on an object variable to remind myself that a Set statement is necessary to assign a value to it. I also like to use a "str" prefix on string variables. For a numeric variable, you could use a prefix of "i" for "index" or "n" for "number", but it doesn't have much purpose. The main thing is not to use the name of a built-in type or a property of an object as the name of a variable, because that can be confusing. So "iColors" or "myColor" is good because it's obviously different from the .Color property of a Font object. -- Regards, Jay Freedman Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. |
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Random letter colors?
On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 20:33:16 -0500, Jay Freedman
wrote: Is there some way to define the list of colors as a list, rather than an array? I am trying to avoid the inconvenience of numbering the array elements and declaring the array size. Maybe something like: Colors = wdRed wdGreen wdBlue ... I am looking for some construct that gets defined without any literals and the code adapts accordingly. Yes, there is a way. First, change the declaration (the Dim statement) for the array to Dim iColors As Variant "Variant" is a special data type that can contain almost any other kind of variable. Specifically, it can also hold an array of values. (There's a long discussion of this idea in the thread "Max/Min Functions" in the microsoft.public.word.vba.general newsgroup, started by Greg Maxey on 12/2/2005.) Then you can assign an array of values to this variable this way: iColors = Array(wdRed, wdGreen, wdBlue) This replaces the lines iColors(0) = wdRed iColors(1) = wdGreen iColors(2) = wdBlue and you can simply add more values inside the parentheses, separated by commas. Nothing else in the macro has to change. Excellent! Thanks. Here's my latest version. I have some questions at the end. '======================= sample code ================= Sub RandCharColors() Dim oChar As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Dim vaColors As Variant Dim iChar As Integer Dim sOption As String 'Define the colors to be used vaColors = Array(wdRed, wdGreen, wdBlack) 'Find out if the user wants random or repeating colors Const sPrompt As String = "Click on:" & vbCrLf & _ "Yes = random colors" & vbCrLf & _ "No = repeating colors" Const sTitle As String = "Random Character Colors Macro" sOption = MsgBox(sPrompt, vbYesNoCancel, sTitle) If sOption vbYes And sOption vbNo Then 'If neither yes or no, exit Call MsgBox("No action taken", , sTitle) Return End If 'Apply the colors iChar = 0 Randomize For Each oChar In Selection.Characters If oChar.Text = " " Or oChar.Text = vbCr Or oChar.Text = vbLf Then myColor = vbBlack ElseIf sOption = vbYes Then myColor = vaColors(Int((UBound(vaColors) + 1) * Rnd())) Else myColor = vaColors(iChar Mod (UBound(vaColors) + 1)) iChar = iChar + 1 End If oChar.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oChar End Sub '=========================================== 1. Is there some way to modify the MsgBox function so that it will put up buttins with different labels? I would like "Random", "Repeating", and "Cancel". If not, is there another function to accomplish that? 2. I am testing for certain characters, such as space, CR and LF, so I can skip them. Otherwise, the repeating pattern gets off. I should probably add others such as tab. Is there a good way to test the current character against a list (without doing separate compares) or is there a way to test if it is a printable character (a-z, 0-9, or certain specials (!#$%...)? 3. What's the best way to call the macro other than assigning it to a keyboard shortcut? Thanks. This has been kinda fun. -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#22
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Random letter colors?
On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 20:23:26 -0800, LurfysMa
wrote: Excellent! Thanks. Here's my latest version. I have some questions at the end. You're really getting into this! Good stuff... I'll just throw in a couple of suggestions about your code before I get to the questions. '======================= sample code ================= Sub RandCharColors() Dim oChar As Range Dim myColor As Word.WdColorIndex Dim vaColors As Variant Dim iChar As Integer Dim sOption As String The sOption variable really should be declared as an Integer instead of a String. If you look at the VBA help topic on the MsgBox function, you'll see that it returns an Integer value to tell you which button was pressed, and the vbYes/vbNo/vbCancel constants are all integers. Your code functions because VBA does a silent conversion in the assignment and logical comparison operators, but it shouldn't have to. 'Define the colors to be used vaColors = Array(wdRed, wdGreen, wdBlack) 'Find out if the user wants random or repeating colors Const sPrompt As String = "Click on:" & vbCrLf & _ "Yes = random colors" & vbCrLf & _ "No = repeating colors" Const sTitle As String = "Random Character Colors Macro" sOption = MsgBox(sPrompt, vbYesNoCancel, sTitle) If sOption vbYes And sOption vbNo Then 'If neither yes or no, exit It would be simpler here to write If sOption = vbCancel Then Call MsgBox("No action taken", , sTitle) Return If you test this by clicking the Cancel button, you'll get an error ("Return without GoSub"). Instead of Return, what you want here is Exit Sub. End If 'Apply the colors iChar = 0 Randomize For Each oChar In Selection.Characters If oChar.Text = " " Or oChar.Text = vbCr Or oChar.Text = vbLf Then myColor = vbBlack ElseIf sOption = vbYes Then myColor = vaColors(Int((UBound(vaColors) + 1) * Rnd())) Else myColor = vaColors(iChar Mod (UBound(vaColors) + 1)) iChar = iChar + 1 End If oChar.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oChar End Sub '=========================================== 1. Is there some way to modify the MsgBox function so that it will put up buttins with different labels? I would like "Random", "Repeating", and "Cancel". If not, is there another function to accomplish that? There's no way in standard VBA to get a MsgBox to display any buttons except the ones listed in the help topic. I suspect there might be a way to use a Windows API call to modify the captions on the buttons, but I'd have to spend some time studying it. The alternative is to make a userform that looks like a message box, and contains whatever text and buttons you want. This is a little more complex, but if you think this kind of macro programming is fun, userforms will be a real blast. :-) Start at http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Userfo...eAUserForm.htm, and let me know if you need help. 2. I am testing for certain characters, such as space, CR and LF, so I can skip them. Otherwise, the repeating pattern gets off. I should probably add others such as tab. Is there a good way to test the current character against a list (without doing separate compares) or is there a way to test if it is a printable character (a-z, 0-9, or certain specials (!#$%...)? You can test against a list by replacing If oChar.Text = " " Or oChar.Text = vbCr Or oChar.Text = vbLf Then with If oChar.Text Like "[ ^13^10^9]" Then where the numeric codes are ^13 = vbCr, ^10 = vbLf, and ^9 = vbTab. The Like operator checks the oChar.Text to see if it's any of the characters inside the brackets. Alternatively, you can set up the loop this way: For Each oChar In Selection.Characters If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9!#$%*]" Then If sOption = vbYes Then myColor = vaColors(Int((UBound(vaColors) + 1) * Rnd())) Else myColor = vaColors(iChar Mod (UBound(vaColors) + 1)) iChar = iChar + 1 End If Else myColor = vbBlack End If oChar.Font.ColorIndex = myColor Next oChar Now the coloring is done only for letters, digits, and the listed special characters, and anything else falls into the vbBlack case. 3. What's the best way to call the macro other than assigning it to a keyboard shortcut? You have these choices: - Keyboard shortcut - Toolbar button - Menu item - Entry or Exit macro of a protected form field - Intercept a built-in command such as Save or Print - Respond to an event such as opening, closing, switching to another window, etc. Which one is the "best" way depends on what the macro does and what your preference is. Often it's nice to have two or more ways for the same macro, for instance a shortcut and a menu item. Here are some references: http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Custom...roToHotkey.htm http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Custom...oToToolbar.htm http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Macros...tSavePrint.htm http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Macros...mentEvents.htm http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Macros...tionEvents.htm Thanks. This has been kinda fun. Yeah, I know. It's been fun for me since Word 2.0. That's why I'm here. :-) -- Regards, Jay Freedman Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. |
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Random letter colors?
On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:01:02 -0500, Jay Freedman
wrote: On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 20:23:26 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: Excellent! Thanks. Here's my latest version. I have some questions at the end. You're really getting into this! Good stuff... I'll just throw in a couple of suggestions about your code before I get to the questions. ....snip... 'Define the colors to be used vaColors = Array(wdRed, wdGreen, wdBlack) 'Find out if the user wants random or repeating colors Const sPrompt As String = "Click on:" & vbCrLf & _ "Yes = random colors" & vbCrLf & _ "No = repeating colors" Const sTitle As String = "Random Character Colors Macro" sOption = MsgBox(sPrompt, vbYesNoCancel, sTitle) If sOption vbYes And sOption vbNo Then 'If neither yes or no, exit It would be simpler here to write If sOption = vbCancel Then I wasn't sure if Yes, No, and Cancel were the only possibilities. I just tried the Esc key and the little "X" icon and they both return a "2" just like Cancel. I just felt safer testing for the values I knew could be returned and allowing anything else (that I may not have known about) to cause an exit. So, unless there's so reason to change it, I think I'll leave it as is. 2. I am testing for certain characters, such as space, CR and LF, so I can skip them. Otherwise, the repeating pattern gets off. I should probably add others such as tab. Is there a good way to test the current character against a list (without doing separate compares) or is there a way to test if it is a printable character (a-z, 0-9, or certain specials (!#$%...)? You can test against a list by replacing If oChar.Text = " " Or oChar.Text = vbCr Or oChar.Text = vbLf Then with For Each oChar In Selection.Characters If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9!#$%*]" Then Perfect. That was just what I was looking for. I was able to get the letters and numbers to work, but ran into trouble with a few of the special characters: For single quote, I tried "[A-Za-z0-9']" and "[A-Za-z0-9]'". Neither worked. With the quote ouside the brackets, no characters were selected. The help mentions special provisions for []?#*, but not for the quotes. For double quote, similar results. I tried "[A-Za-z0-9""]" and "[A-Za-z0-9]""". The help warns about "*?#" and the brackets, but this string worked just fine: "[A-Za-z0-9[*?#]". I could not find a way to make "]" work, however. I tried "[A-Za-z0-9]]". Thanks for all the help. Now I am off to read up on user forms to get that MsgBox impersonator working. -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#24
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Random letter colors?
On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 14:54:11 -0800, LurfysMa
wrote: On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:01:02 -0500, Jay Freedman wrote: On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 20:23:26 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: ....snip... You can test against a list by replacing If oChar.Text = " " Or oChar.Text = vbCr Or oChar.Text = vbLf Then with For Each oChar In Selection.Characters If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9!#$%*]" Then Perfect. That was just what I was looking for. I was able to get the letters and numbers to work, but ran into trouble with a few of the special characters: For single quote, I tried "[A-Za-z0-9']" and "[A-Za-z0-9]'". Neither worked. With the quote ouside the brackets, no characters were selected. The help mentions special provisions for []?#*, but not for the quotes. For double quote, similar results. I tried "[A-Za-z0-9""]" and "[A-Za-z0-9]""". The help warns about "*?#" and the brackets, but this string worked just fine: "[A-Za-z0-9[*?#]". I could not find a way to make "]" work, however. I tried "[A-Za-z0-9]]". Does your document have curly quotes (a.k.a. "smart quotes") substituted for straight quotes by the AutoFormat As You Type feature? The Like operator treats them separately. The single quote that you can type directly into VBA code matches only straight single quotes in the text. The curly opening and closing single quotes are Chr$(145) and Chr$(146), respectively. The curly double quotes are 147 and 148. All four of them would have to be included in the pattern string for the Like operator to match them. Let's start by including just the straight single and double quotes in a pattern: If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9'""]" Then The single quote should work fine by itself. The double quote would prematurely end the string if you tried to stick one inside the square brackets, but two of them together are understood to mean an actual double quote character instead of the string-ending quote. Now, to get the curly quotes into the expression, you have to somehow get them inside the square bracket. You could just jam all the Chr$() calls in, using the concatenation (&) operator, but I'd make it more readable by creating a separate string to hold them: Dim curlies As String curlies = Chr$(145) & Chr$(146) & Chr$(147) & Chr$(148) For Each oChar In Selection.Characters If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9'""" & curlies & "]" Then After the 0-9 the characters there are a single quote, two double quotes to make a double-quote character, and another double quote to end that part of the string; then the & curlies & ; and finally the closing square bracket. As far as the Like operator knows, it's all one string within square brackets. -- Regards, Jay Freedman Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. |
#25
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Random letter colors?
On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 19:45:41 -0500, Jay Freedman
wrote: On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 14:54:11 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:01:02 -0500, Jay Freedman wrote: On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 20:23:26 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: ...snip... You can test against a list by replacing If oChar.Text = " " Or oChar.Text = vbCr Or oChar.Text = vbLf Then with For Each oChar In Selection.Characters If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9!#$%*]" Then Perfect. That was just what I was looking for. I was able to get the letters and numbers to work, but ran into trouble with a few of the special characters: For single quote, I tried "[A-Za-z0-9']" and "[A-Za-z0-9]'". Neither worked. With the quote ouside the brackets, no characters were selected. The help mentions special provisions for []?#*, but not for the quotes. For double quote, similar results. I tried "[A-Za-z0-9""]" and "[A-Za-z0-9]""". The help warns about "*?#" and the brackets, but this string worked just fine: "[A-Za-z0-9[*?#]". I could not find a way to make "]" work, however. I tried "[A-Za-z0-9]]". Does your document have curly quotes (a.k.a. "smart quotes") substituted for straight quotes by the AutoFormat As You Type feature? The Like operator treats them separately. Yes, I should have thought of that. The single quote that you can type directly into VBA code matches only straight single quotes in the text. The curly opening and closing single quotes are Chr$(145) and Chr$(146), respectively. The curly double quotes are 147 and 148. All four of them would have to be included in the pattern string for the Like operator to match them. Let's start by including just the straight single and double quotes in a pattern: If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9'""]" Then The single quote should work fine by itself. The double quote would prematurely end the string if you tried to stick one inside the square brackets, but two of them together are understood to mean an actual double quote character instead of the string-ending quote. Now, to get the curly quotes into the expression, you have to somehow get them inside the square bracket. You could just jam all the Chr$() calls in, using the concatenation (&) operator, but I'd make it more readable by creating a separate string to hold them: Dim curlies As String curlies = Chr$(145) & Chr$(146) & Chr$(147) & Chr$(148) For Each oChar In Selection.Characters If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9'""" & curlies & "]" Then After the 0-9 the characters there are a single quote, two double quotes to make a double-quote character, and another double quote to end that part of the string; then the & curlies & ; and finally the closing square bracket. As far as the Like operator knows, it's all one string within square brackets. All that now works properly. The only character I cannot get to work in "]". I tried doubling it "[A-Z]]]", but that didn't work. The help says it cannot be used within a group, but it can be used outside of a group. There is no example and I can't figure that one out. I also got the user form to work. I'll post the complete macro when I get "]" working. -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#26
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Random letter colors?
Use \]
See the article "Finding and replacing characters using wildcards" at: http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Genera...gWildcards.htm -- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "LurfysMa" wrote in message ... On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 19:45:41 -0500, Jay Freedman wrote: On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 14:54:11 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:01:02 -0500, Jay Freedman wrote: On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 20:23:26 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: ...snip... You can test against a list by replacing If oChar.Text = " " Or oChar.Text = vbCr Or oChar.Text = vbLf Then with For Each oChar In Selection.Characters If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9!#$%*]" Then Perfect. That was just what I was looking for. I was able to get the letters and numbers to work, but ran into trouble with a few of the special characters: For single quote, I tried "[A-Za-z0-9']" and "[A-Za-z0-9]'". Neither worked. With the quote ouside the brackets, no characters were selected. The help mentions special provisions for []?#*, but not for the quotes. For double quote, similar results. I tried "[A-Za-z0-9""]" and "[A-Za-z0-9]""". The help warns about "*?#" and the brackets, but this string worked just fine: "[A-Za-z0-9[*?#]". I could not find a way to make "]" work, however. I tried "[A-Za-z0-9]]". Does your document have curly quotes (a.k.a. "smart quotes") substituted for straight quotes by the AutoFormat As You Type feature? The Like operator treats them separately. Yes, I should have thought of that. The single quote that you can type directly into VBA code matches only straight single quotes in the text. The curly opening and closing single quotes are Chr$(145) and Chr$(146), respectively. The curly double quotes are 147 and 148. All four of them would have to be included in the pattern string for the Like operator to match them. Let's start by including just the straight single and double quotes in a pattern: If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9'""]" Then The single quote should work fine by itself. The double quote would prematurely end the string if you tried to stick one inside the square brackets, but two of them together are understood to mean an actual double quote character instead of the string-ending quote. Now, to get the curly quotes into the expression, you have to somehow get them inside the square bracket. You could just jam all the Chr$() calls in, using the concatenation (&) operator, but I'd make it more readable by creating a separate string to hold them: Dim curlies As String curlies = Chr$(145) & Chr$(146) & Chr$(147) & Chr$(148) For Each oChar In Selection.Characters If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9'""" & curlies & "]" Then After the 0-9 the characters there are a single quote, two double quotes to make a double-quote character, and another double quote to end that part of the string; then the & curlies & ; and finally the closing square bracket. As far as the Like operator knows, it's all one string within square brackets. All that now works properly. The only character I cannot get to work in "]". I tried doubling it "[A-Z]]]", but that didn't work. The help says it cannot be used within a group, but it can be used outside of a group. There is no example and I can't figure that one out. I also got the user form to work. I'll post the complete macro when I get "]" working. -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#27
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Random letter colors?
On Tue, 3 Jan 2006 06:23:40 +0100, "Doug Robbins - Word MVP"
wrote: Use \] See the article "Finding and replacing characters using wildcards" at: http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Genera...gWildcards.htm Do you mean like this: "[A-Za-z0-9\]]" ? The following code: If obChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9\]]" then... is always false with even for A-Z, a-z, and 0-9. Change it to: If obChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9]" then ... and it works perfectly. -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#28
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Random letter colors?
Or the revised version of it at
http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Doug Robbins - Word MVP wrote: Use \] See the article "Finding and replacing characters using wildcards" at: http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Genera...gWildcards.htm "LurfysMa" wrote in message ... On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 19:45:41 -0500, Jay Freedman wrote: On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 14:54:11 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:01:02 -0500, Jay Freedman wrote: On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 20:23:26 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: ...snip... You can test against a list by replacing If oChar.Text = " " Or oChar.Text = vbCr Or oChar.Text = vbLf Then with For Each oChar In Selection.Characters If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9!#$%*]" Then Perfect. That was just what I was looking for. I was able to get the letters and numbers to work, but ran into trouble with a few of the special characters: For single quote, I tried "[A-Za-z0-9']" and "[A-Za-z0-9]'". Neither worked. With the quote ouside the brackets, no characters were selected. The help mentions special provisions for []?#*, but not for the quotes. For double quote, similar results. I tried "[A-Za-z0-9""]" and "[A-Za-z0-9]""". The help warns about "*?#" and the brackets, but this string worked just fine: "[A-Za-z0-9[*?#]". I could not find a way to make "]" work, however. I tried "[A-Za-z0-9]]". Does your document have curly quotes (a.k.a. "smart quotes") substituted for straight quotes by the AutoFormat As You Type feature? The Like operator treats them separately. Yes, I should have thought of that. The single quote that you can type directly into VBA code matches only straight single quotes in the text. The curly opening and closing single quotes are Chr$(145) and Chr$(146), respectively. The curly double quotes are 147 and 148. All four of them would have to be included in the pattern string for the Like operator to match them. Let's start by including just the straight single and double quotes in a pattern: If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9'""]" Then The single quote should work fine by itself. The double quote would prematurely end the string if you tried to stick one inside the square brackets, but two of them together are understood to mean an actual double quote character instead of the string-ending quote. Now, to get the curly quotes into the expression, you have to somehow get them inside the square bracket. You could just jam all the Chr$() calls in, using the concatenation (&) operator, but I'd make it more readable by creating a separate string to hold them: Dim curlies As String curlies = Chr$(145) & Chr$(146) & Chr$(147) & Chr$(148) For Each oChar In Selection.Characters If oChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9'""" & curlies & "]" Then After the 0-9 the characters there are a single quote, two double quotes to make a double-quote character, and another double quote to end that part of the string; then the & curlies & ; and finally the closing square bracket. As far as the Like operator knows, it's all one string within square brackets. All that now works properly. The only character I cannot get to work in "]". I tried doubling it "[A-Z]]]", but that didn't work. The help says it cannot be used within a group, but it can be used outside of a group. There is no example and I can't figure that one out. I also got the user form to work. I'll post the complete macro when I get "]" working. -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#29
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Random letter colors?
On Tue, 3 Jan 2006 08:47:47 +0200, "Graham Mayor"
wrote: Or the revised version of it at http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP OK. I have read both articles. Based on that, it seems to me that the expression "[A-Za-z0-9[\]]" ought to find all of the letters and numbers plus the square brackets ([]) in a Like comparison. But it doesn't match any characters at all. However, if I delete the "\]", leaving "[A-Za-z0-9[]", then it will match all of the letters and numbers plus "[". What am I doing wrong? -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#30
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Random letter colors?
It certainly works when used from a Wildcard search within Word - As for
your code, that has long since lapsed from my newsreader. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org LurfysMa wrote: On Tue, 3 Jan 2006 08:47:47 +0200, "Graham Mayor" wrote: Or the revised version of it at http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP OK. I have read both articles. Based on that, it seems to me that the expression "[A-Za-z0-9[\]]" ought to find all of the letters and numbers plus the square brackets ([]) in a Like comparison. But it doesn't match any characters at all. However, if I delete the "\]", leaving "[A-Za-z0-9[]", then it will match all of the letters and numbers plus "[". What am I doing wrong? |
#31
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Random letter colors?
It turns out that you are doing nothing wrong (apart from not making use of
the Help file g). It is a difference between the use of a Wildcard Find and the use of the Like function. The following is from the Visual Basic Help file: Quote Note To match the special characters left bracket ([), question mark (?), number sign (#), and asterisk (*), enclose them in brackets. The right bracket (]) can't be used within a group to match itself, but it can be used outside a group as an individual character. Unquote -- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "LurfysMa" wrote in message ... On Tue, 3 Jan 2006 08:47:47 +0200, "Graham Mayor" wrote: Or the revised version of it at http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP OK. I have read both articles. Based on that, it seems to me that the expression "[A-Za-z0-9[\]]" ought to find all of the letters and numbers plus the square brackets ([]) in a Like comparison. But it doesn't match any characters at all. However, if I delete the "\]", leaving "[A-Za-z0-9[]", then it will match all of the letters and numbers plus "[". What am I doing wrong? -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#32
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Random letter colors?
On Tue, 3 Jan 2006 11:32:49 +0100, "Doug Robbins - Word MVP"
wrote: It turns out that you are doing nothing wrong (apart from not making use of the Help file g). It is a difference between the use of a Wildcard Find and the use of the Like function. The following is from the Visual Basic Help file: Quote Note To match the special characters left bracket ([), question mark (?), number sign (#), and asterisk (*), enclose them in brackets. The right bracket (]) can't be used within a group to match itself, but it can be used outside a group as an individual character. Unquote I saw that in the help file. I've read it 50 times. I still can't make it work. If it's so obvious to you, why don't you just provide the solution -- the exact compare string? Here's my code. For Each obChar In Selection.Characters If obChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9]" Then ilColorNext = vbRed Else ilColorNext = vbBlack End If Next obChar That code turns all of the letters and numbers red and everything else black. Here are some of the other strings I have tried in place of the one above: 1. This string turns all of the numbers and letters plus a few special characters red. This works for all special characters I tried except "]". It even works for dash ("-") provided that it is the last character (or the first). "[A-Za-z0-9?[*#]" 2. But it does not work for "]". This string doesn't turn anything red: "[A-Z]]" 3. It was not clear to me whether the extra "]" in the string above was inside or outside the group, so I tried putting in first, but it turns everything black: "][A-Z]" 4. Just to make sure I got it outside the group, I making it the only thing in the string. This string turns all ]'s red and everuything else black. But how can I code it in a string with anything else? "]" 5. Someone said to use a back slash, so I tried it. All of these strings turn everything black: "[A-z\]]" "\][A-z]" "[A-z]\]" I give up. If you know a string that will work, how about putting me out of my misery and just posting it. I did come up with a workaround. Just make two comparisons: one for just the "]" and one for everything else. -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#33
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Random letter colors?
It looks like I went to bed too early last night. :-)
The implication of the too-terse help topic is that you can't combine the right bracket with anything else in a pattern that includes a group. You do have to do two separate comparisons, although they can be in the same statement: If (obChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9?[*#]") Or _ (obChar.Text Like "]") Then or the equivalent If (obChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9?[*#]") Or _ (obChar.Text = "]") Then -- Regards, Jay Freedman Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 03:28:45 -0800, LurfysMa wrote: On Tue, 3 Jan 2006 11:32:49 +0100, "Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote: It turns out that you are doing nothing wrong (apart from not making use of the Help file g). It is a difference between the use of a Wildcard Find and the use of the Like function. The following is from the Visual Basic Help file: Quote Note To match the special characters left bracket ([), question mark (?), number sign (#), and asterisk (*), enclose them in brackets. The right bracket (]) can't be used within a group to match itself, but it can be used outside a group as an individual character. Unquote I saw that in the help file. I've read it 50 times. I still can't make it work. If it's so obvious to you, why don't you just provide the solution -- the exact compare string? Here's my code. For Each obChar In Selection.Characters If obChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9]" Then ilColorNext = vbRed Else ilColorNext = vbBlack End If Next obChar That code turns all of the letters and numbers red and everything else black. Here are some of the other strings I have tried in place of the one above: 1. This string turns all of the numbers and letters plus a few special characters red. This works for all special characters I tried except "]". It even works for dash ("-") provided that it is the last character (or the first). "[A-Za-z0-9?[*#]" 2. But it does not work for "]". This string doesn't turn anything red: "[A-Z]]" 3. It was not clear to me whether the extra "]" in the string above was inside or outside the group, so I tried putting in first, but it turns everything black: "][A-Z]" 4. Just to make sure I got it outside the group, I making it the only thing in the string. This string turns all ]'s red and everuything else black. But how can I code it in a string with anything else? "]" 5. Someone said to use a back slash, so I tried it. All of these strings turn everything black: "[A-z\]]" "\][A-z]" "[A-z]\]" I give up. If you know a string that will work, how about putting me out of my misery and just posting it. I did come up with a workaround. Just make two comparisons: one for just the "]" and one for everything else. |
#34
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Random letter colors?
You must have mis-read this part
'The right bracket (]) can't be used within a group to match itself...' That is the left bracket ([) CAN be used, but the right bracket (]) CANNOT be used within a group. The following code acts on the ] plus any characters Like "[A-Za-z0-9]", formatting them as Red, formatting everything else in the selection as Black (I started with everything yellow) Dim obChar As Range For Each obChar In Selection.Characters If obChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9]" Then obChar.Font.Color = wdColorRed ElseIf obChar.Text Like "]" Then obChar.Font.Color = wdColorRed Else obChar.Font.Color = wdColorBlack End If Next obChar That was not "so obvious" to me, I first tried to use Dim obChar As Range For Each obChar In Selection.Characters If obChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9](])" Then obChar.Font.Color = wdColorRed Else obChar.Font.Color = wdColorBlack End If Next obChar but that just turned everything black, so I then just included the ElseIf to pick up the ]. -- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "LurfysMa" wrote in message ... On Tue, 3 Jan 2006 11:32:49 +0100, "Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote: It turns out that you are doing nothing wrong (apart from not making use of the Help file g). It is a difference between the use of a Wildcard Find and the use of the Like function. The following is from the Visual Basic Help file: Quote Note To match the special characters left bracket ([), question mark (?), number sign (#), and asterisk (*), enclose them in brackets. The right bracket (]) can't be used within a group to match itself, but it can be used outside a group as an individual character. Unquote I saw that in the help file. I've read it 50 times. I still can't make it work. If it's so obvious to you, why don't you just provide the solution -- the exact compare string? Here's my code. For Each obChar In Selection.Characters If obChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9]" Then ilColorNext = vbRed Else ilColorNext = vbBlack End If Next obChar That code turns all of the letters and numbers red and everything else black. Here are some of the other strings I have tried in place of the one above: 1. This string turns all of the numbers and letters plus a few special characters red. This works for all special characters I tried except "]". It even works for dash ("-") provided that it is the last character (or the first). "[A-Za-z0-9?[*#]" 2. But it does not work for "]". This string doesn't turn anything red: "[A-Z]]" 3. It was not clear to me whether the extra "]" in the string above was inside or outside the group, so I tried putting in first, but it turns everything black: "][A-Z]" 4. Just to make sure I got it outside the group, I making it the only thing in the string. This string turns all ]'s red and everuything else black. But how can I code it in a string with anything else? "]" 5. Someone said to use a back slash, so I tried it. All of these strings turn everything black: "[A-z\]]" "\][A-z]" "[A-z]\]" I give up. If you know a string that will work, how about putting me out of my misery and just posting it. I did come up with a workaround. Just make two comparisons: one for just the "]" and one for everything else. -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#35
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Random letter colors?
On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 10:37:25 -0500, Jay Freedman
wrote: It looks like I went to bed too early last night. :-) The implication of the too-terse help topic is that you can't combine the right bracket with anything else in a pattern that includes a group. You do have to do two separate comparisons, although they can be in the same statement: If (obChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9?[*#]") Or _ (obChar.Text Like "]") Then or the equivalent If (obChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9?[*#]") Or _ (obChar.Text = "]") Then I discovered a way to get all of the letters, numbers, and special characters, including the curly quotes, with a fairly simply pattern for use in the Like operator and without needing two compares. The trick lies in realizing that all of these characters are in order starting with the space character (decimal 32, hex 20) and ending with the ~ (decimal 126, hex 7E). I got this information from http://www.lookuptables.com/ This enables a single range to get everything including all of the wild card characters, the straight quotes, and the brackets. "[ -~]" The code would look something like this: For Each obChar In Selection.Characters If obChar.Text Like "[ -~]" Then obChar.Font.ColorIndex =GetNextColor End If Next obChar To also get the curly quotes (145-149), simply add another range iont the same group: "[ -~" & Chr$(145) & "-" & Chr$(148) & "]" Slick, if I do say so myself. OK, now someone tell me why this won't work! ;-) -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#36
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Random letter colors?
On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 00:46:13 -0800, LurfysMa
wrote: On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 10:37:25 -0500, Jay Freedman wrote: It looks like I went to bed too early last night. :-) The implication of the too-terse help topic is that you can't combine the right bracket with anything else in a pattern that includes a group. You do have to do two separate comparisons, although they can be in the same statement: If (obChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9?[*#]") Or _ (obChar.Text Like "]") Then or the equivalent If (obChar.Text Like "[A-Za-z0-9?[*#]") Or _ (obChar.Text = "]") Then I discovered a way to get all of the letters, numbers, and special characters, including the curly quotes, with a fairly simply pattern for use in the Like operator and without needing two compares. The trick lies in realizing that all of these characters are in order starting with the space character (decimal 32, hex 20) and ending with the ~ (decimal 126, hex 7E). I got this information from http://www.lookuptables.com/ This enables a single range to get everything including all of the wild card characters, the straight quotes, and the brackets. "[ -~]" The code would look something like this: For Each obChar In Selection.Characters If obChar.Text Like "[ -~]" Then obChar.Font.ColorIndex =GetNextColor End If Next obChar To also get the curly quotes (145-149), simply add another range iont the same group: "[ -~" & Chr$(145) & "-" & Chr$(148) & "]" Slick, if I do say so myself. OK, now someone tell me why this won't work! ;-) Damn!!! That only appeared to work. Here's the fix. I didn't want the space included. The next character is the "!", so I modified the pattern to be: "[!-~" & Chr$(145) & "-" & Chr$(148) & "]" Unfortunately, the "!" is the character which causes the inverse set to be used. To get all characters between "!" and "~", use: "[""-~" & Chr$(145) & "-" & Chr$(148) & "!]" This works. (I think.) -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#37
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Random letter colors?
On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 08:35:22 +1300, "Peter in New Zealand"
peterbalplugATxtraSPOTcoSPOTnz wrote: Every year I send out a Christmas newsletter to quite a lot of children (grownup now, and grand children. I have established this as a family tradition over several years, and they all seem to enjoy their Christmas letter from Grandad. I use Word to compose it, with text and pictures, and it's always been a heap of fun. Each sub heading has always been prepared with alternative red and green letters, and looks real great in that context. It's just for the kids, and only once a year, but something to do it automatically would be a great labour saver to say the least. Peter, Way back in 2005, I asked how write a macro to automatically change the colors of individual letters in some text. You asked for a copy of the macro. It took me awhile to write it, and then I forgot that you had asked. I just came across your post, so here's the macro. I was going to have it allow the user to select the colors, but I never got around to that. It's set for half red and half green. If you want some other mix, you will need to edit the vaColors variable. Maybe someone can suggest a way to allow the user to enter the colors (eg, red, red, green). Enjoy... Option Explicit '================================================= ======================================== ' Macro: MyRandomCharColors ' ' Keyboard Shortcut: None ' ' Set each character in the selection to a different color ' 12/23/05 Basic macro posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers by Jay Freedman, MVP ' He then continued to help me refine it. ' ' To Do: ' * Limit maximum consecutive in random order '================================================= ======================================== Sub MyRandCharColors() Const svTitle As String = "Random Character Colors Macro" 'Title for MsgBox's etc. Dim obChar As Range 'Object variable Dim ilColorNext As Word.WdColorIndex 'Color Index property (long) Dim ilColorLast As Long 'The last color that was applied Dim vaColors As Variant 'Variant array to hold colors Dim ilChar As Long 'Color index, if repeating; counter if random Dim svCharList As String 'The list of characters that will be colored Dim ilMaxChar As Long 'Max consecutive characters of the same color (random or repeating) Dim obForm As frmCharColors 'Object variable? Set obForm = New frmCharColors 'Set up an instance? ilMaxChar = 2 'Set the upper limit for consecutive characters of the same color (2 is good) 'Define the list of colors to be used. Colors can be included more than once. vaColors = Array(wdRed, wdGreen, wdBlack) '3 colors vaColors = Array(wdRed, wdGreen, wdBlue) vaColors = Array(wdRed, wdRed, wdGreen) 'Red:green = 2:1 vaColors = Array(wdRed, wdGreen) 'Christmas colors 'Define which characters will be colored. All others will be skipped (colored black). 'This range includes all of the letters, numbers, and specials below Ascii 127. 'They all lie between the space (hex 20) and the ~ (hex 7E): svCharList = "[ -~]" 'If we want to exclude the space, we need to start at the next character, but that 'is the "!" which is the exclusion character, so we need to start with the next 'character, the ", and add the "!" at the end: svCharList = "[""-~!]" 'The curly (smart) quotes are at Ascii 145-149. We can either build a range using the 'chr$() function: svCharList = "[""-~!" & Chr$(145) & "-" & Chr$(148) & "]" 'or paste the characters from Word or the Immediate window. svCharList = "[""-~!‘-”]" 'Put up a userform to find out if the user wants random or repeating colors obForm.Tag = "Cancel" 'Set it to cancel by default obForm.Show 'Put up the form and get the selection into me.tag If obForm.Tag "Random" And obForm.Tag "Repeat" Then GoTo ExitSub 'If not a choice, quit If obForm.txtRandMax "" Then ilMaxChar = obForm.txtRandMax End If 'Apply the colors ilChar = 0 'Start with the 1st color or zero the counter ilColorLast = -1 'Initialize to a color that can't match the next one Randomize 'Just in case they select the Random option For Each obChar In Selection.Characters 'First, check if it's a character to be colored. Then figure out how (random or repeating). If obChar.Text Like svCharList Then 'If it's a character to be colored, Select Case obForm.Tag 'Use whichever method the user choose Case "Repeat" 'If they chose 'repeat', ilColorNext = MyRandCharColorsRepeat(ilChar, vaColors) Case "Random" 'If they chose 'random', ilColorNext = MyRandCharColorsRandom(ilChar, vaColors, ilMaxChar, ilColorLast) End Select ilColorLast = ilColorNext 'Save the color to check against next character Else 'If it is, color it as requested ilColorNext = vbBlack 'Make it black End If obChar.Font.ColorIndex = ilColorNext Next obChar ExitSub: 'We're done. Unload the form and exit Unload obForm Set obForm = Nothing End Sub 'Called by MyRandCharColorsRepeat 'Select a random color from the list up to the consecutive limit Function MyRandCharColorsRandom(ByRef ilChar As Long, ByVal vaColors As Variant, _ ByVal ilMaxChar As Long, ByVal ilColorLast As Long) As Long Dim nsRnd As Single 'Random color index Do 'Select a random color up to the consecutive limit nsRnd = Rnd() MyRandCharColorsRandom = vaColors(Int((UBound(vaColors) + 1) * nsRnd)) 'Select a random color If MyRandCharColorsRandom ilColorLast Then 'If it's a new color, use it ilChar = 1 'Reset the counter & go Exit Do Else 'If it's the same color, ilChar = ilChar + 1 'Count it If ilChar = ilMaxChar Then Exit Do 'If not too many, go use it End If 'Else, go get another color Loop End Function 'Called by MyRandCharColorsRepeat 'Select the next color in the list, wrapping around to the start Function MyRandCharColorsRepeat(ByRef ilChar As Long, ByVal vaColors As Variant) As Long MyRandCharColorsRepeat = vaColors(ilChar Mod (UBound(vaColors) + 1)) ilChar = ilChar + 1 End Function -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
#38
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Random letter colors?
LurfysMa wrote:
On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 08:35:22 +1300, "Peter in New Zealand" peterbalplugATxtraSPOTcoSPOTnz wrote: Every year I send out a Christmas newsletter to quite a lot of children (grownup now, and grand children. I have established this as a family tradition over several years, and they all seem to enjoy their Christmas letter from Grandad. I use Word to compose it, with text and pictures, and it's always been a heap of fun. Each sub heading has always been prepared with alternative red and green letters, and looks real great in that context. It's just for the kids, and only once a year, but something to do it automatically would be a great labour saver to say the least. Peter, Way back in 2005, I asked how write a macro to automatically change the colors of individual letters in some text. You asked for a copy of the macro. Well, hello there! Voice from the past and all that. I got a copy back then, and I have used it every Christmas since. I honestly cannot remember where it came from, but it works great, so if you were the kind helper back then you have my grateful thanks, along with all my kids and grandkids. Just before last Christmas I sent out my family and friends Christmas newsletter to a much wider audience than previously , and over 70 copies were printed and sent, all with Christmas coloured text courtesy of the macro. Thank you again. -- Peter in New Zealand. (Pull the plug out to reply.) Collector of old cameras, tropical fish fancier, good coffee nutter, and compulsive computer fiddler. |
#39
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Random letter colors?
On Fri, 23 Mar 2007 16:28:23 +1200, Peter in New Zealand
wrote: LurfysMa wrote: On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 08:35:22 +1300, "Peter in New Zealand" peterbalplugATxtraSPOTcoSPOTnz wrote: Every year I send out a Christmas newsletter to quite a lot of children (grownup now, and grand children. I have established this as a family tradition over several years, and they all seem to enjoy their Christmas letter from Grandad. I use Word to compose it, with text and pictures, and it's always been a heap of fun. Each sub heading has always been prepared with alternative red and green letters, and looks real great in that context. It's just for the kids, and only once a year, but something to do it automatically would be a great labour saver to say the least. Peter, Way back in 2005, I asked how write a macro to automatically change the colors of individual letters in some text. You asked for a copy of the macro. Well, hello there! Voice from the past and all that. I got a copy back then, and I have used it every Christmas since. I honestly cannot remember where it came from, but it works great, so if you were the kind helper back then you have my grateful thanks, along with all my kids and grandkids. Just before last Christmas I sent out my family and friends Christmas newsletter to a much wider audience than previously , and over 70 copies were printed and sent, all with Christmas coloured text courtesy of the macro. Thank you again. Hello, yourself. :-) I guess I must have sent you a copy and forgot. Maybe I "improved" it since and meant to send you a copy of the improved version. Does your copy allow you to weight the colors? In the version I just posted, if you set vaColors to 2 reds and 1 green (red, red, green), two letters will be set to red for every one set to green. There might be a few other tweaks. Anyway, good to hear back from you and very glad you like the macro. Cheers -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 |
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Random letter colors?
Does your copy allow you to weight the colors? In the version I just
posted, if you set vaColors to 2 reds and 1 green (red, red, green), two letters will be set to red for every one set to green. There might be a few other tweaks. Anyway, good to hear back from you and very glad you like the macro. Cheers -- Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000 Ummmm, actually it does the job I was looking for so well that I never thought to try tweaking it. Might be fun though. Also I forgot to tell you that I have upgraded my computer twice since having the macro, and it has slotted in to Word 2000 with nary a twitch every time. Have also passed on a copy to a friend running Office XP, and it works great for him. Thinks - - - you could be onto a good thing here if this keeps up. :-) -- Peter in New Zealand. (Pull the plug out to reply.) Collector of old cameras, tropical fish fancier, good coffee nutter, and compulsive computer fiddler. |
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