Style problem with Word/OLE

[Anonymous Monk]

Hello,

I would like to make changes to Word paragraphs using perl by reading the paragraph text, modifying it and writing it back. But even without changing anything, after writing back, the paragraph inherits the style of the subsequent paragraph. Below I demonstrate it with a file that contains 3 paragraphs with styles "Heading 1", "Heading 2" and "Heading 3". After writing back, the styles became "Heading 2" and "Heading 3" and "Normal". Any idea what am I doing wrong?

Thanks, Ilan

my $paragraphs = $file->Paragraphs();
my $n = $paragraphs->Count();
for my $p (1..$n) {
  my $paragraph = $paragraphs->Item( $p );
  print "paragraph $p\n";
  print "before: $paragraph->{Style}->{NameLocal}\n";
  my $text = $paragraph->{Range}->{Text};
  $paragraph->{Range}->{Text} = $text;
  print "after: $paragraph->{Style}->{NameLocal}\n";
}

Output:

paragraph 1
before: Heading 1
after: Heading 2

paragraph 2
before: Heading 2
after: Heading 3

paragraph 3
before: Heading 3
after: Normal

[ww]

1. Not showing us the actual code that produces your output
2. Not showing us the error your (posted) code produces: Can't call method "Paragraphs" on an undefined value at 1042874.pl line 8. (Your line 1)
3. Not using strict and warnings
4. Not showing us how you're reading your M$ Word document

There may well be be some more, but this Monk isn't inclined to try to crystal ball the kind of incomplete and misinformation you've provided.

[IlanB]

Sorry, I thought that the concise form would be easier to follow. Here is the full code:

use strict; use warnings;
use Win32::OLE;
use Win32::OLE::Const 'Microsoft Word';
use Cwd 'abs_path';

my $book = shift;
if ( !$book ) { die "usage: $0 <word file>"; }
$book = abs_path( $book );
my $word = Win32::OLE->GetActiveObject('Word.Application') || Win32::O
+LE->new('Word.Application');
$word->{'Visible'} = 0;
$word->{DisplayAlerts} = 1;
my $file = $word->Documents->Open( $book );
if ( !$file ) { die "cannot open $book"; }

my $paragraphs = $file->Paragraphs();
my $n = $paragraphs->Count();
for my $p (1..$n) {
  my $paragraph = $paragraphs->Item( $p );
  print "paragraph $p\n";
  print "before: $paragraph->{Style}->{NameLocal}\n";
  my $text = $paragraph->{Range}->{Text};
  $paragraph->{Range}->{Text} = $text;
  print "after: $paragraph->{Style}->{NameLocal}\n\n";
}
$file->Close();

Output:

paragraph 1
before: Heading 1
after: Heading 2

paragraph 2
before: Heading 2
after: Heading 3

paragraph 3
before: Heading 3
after: Normal

paragraph 4
before: Normal
after: Normal

[ww]

Concise is nice; relevant info is better. The Guidance here is to boil your problematic code down to a minimum (preferably not more than 10 -15 lines) that demonstrates the problem.

Your latest code -- the non-concise form -- gives me an error message; if the same holds true for you, yyou should include that (and any warnings) verbatim, in your post to make it easier for us to help.

That said, here's the way my attempt to run your new code went:

 Directory of D:\_wo_sch # Establishing existance of the file with whi
+ch I tested:

06/28/2013  01:16 PM            56,320 ZBA7-8-13agenda
             

D:\_wo_sch>D:\_Perl_\PMonks\1042932.pl D:\_wo_sch\ZBA7-8-13agenda.doc
Undefined subroutine &main::abs_path called at D:\_Perl_\PMonks\104293
+2.pl line 14.

So, in a perhaps excessively cursory manner (I'm running out of daylight here for outdoor tasks to be done in the coolth of the evening), I hunted about for a clue about that. Didn't find it (per se), but did find a couple resources which may help you: Re: Using OLE to view given Paragraph in MS Word Document (in Using OLE to view given Paragraph in MS Word Document) and Win32::OLE.

And that leads to another tip. Super Search and Tia Google ( site: www.perlmonks.com <search term(s)> ) can be an source of solace, education and perhaps even solutions and should be resources to which the puzzled resort, early.

And, of course, buried deep (...DEEP!) in perldoc Win32::OLE you'll find another clue.

[IlanB]

Sorry again, I missed a line. Now the code above is complete and tested. The exact output follows.

Thanks for the pointers.

[poj]

I tried numerous ways but the only one I found that preserved the style was to store it on a first pass and re-apply it on a second pass like this.

my $paragraphs = $file->Paragraphs();
my $n = $paragraphs->Count();
my @style=(); # add
for my $p (1..$n) {
  my $paragraph = $paragraphs->Item( $p );
  print "paragraph $p\n";
  print "before: $paragraph->{Style}->{NameLocal}\n";
  $style[$p] = $paragraph->{Style}->{NameLocal}; # add
  my $text = $paragraph->{Range}->{Text};
  $paragraph->{Range}->{Text} = $text;
}


for my $p (1..$n) {
  my $paragraph = $paragraphs->Item( $p );
  $paragraph->{Style} = $style[$p]; # add
  print "after: $paragraph->{Style}->{NameLocal}\n";
}

poj

[IlanB]

Thank you so much, Poj.

Strangely, I tried a similar solution - saving and restoring the style in the same loop - and it didn't work.

Your solution with two loops works well.

Ilan