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IndexProgramming Questions & HelpIntegration › Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
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Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA (Read 3657 times)
Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Feb 22nd, 2010, 12:15pm
 
I am having trouble finding some support and/or documentation for integrating Processing into VBA to use in Office Word.  Any suggestions?
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #1 - Feb 22nd, 2010, 12:58pm
 
What are you trying to do?
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #2 - Feb 22nd, 2010, 11:28pm
 
You need to give more details.
"integrating Processing into VBA" doesn't make much sense. Java world and Office world are hardly compatible, Visual Basic syntax has nothing to do with Java syntax, etc.
As antiplastik said: "what are you trying to do" exactly? To put a the result of a Processing sketch in Word?
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #3 - Feb 23rd, 2010, 9:43am
 
I am trying to achieve the ability to create a graphic whether it be letters or words, that can be overlayed on another document regardless of its format (PDF, Word, WordPerfect, Excel, etc.)/
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #4 - Feb 24th, 2010, 1:57am
 
I still don't get it. Vector graphic? Raster (bitmap) graphic?
Have you looked at the various possibilities of Processing output? It can save (static) sketch results in bitmap (Jpeg, PNG, etc.), PDF and with some libraries, SVG, DXF and some others.
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #5 - Feb 24th, 2010, 3:03am
 
(obvious spam - nonsense question (VBA!) as first post and a url in user's profile)
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #6 - Feb 24th, 2010, 4:18am
 
That was my first thought, that it is spam. But somebody deleted my spam warning Smiley
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #7 - Feb 24th, 2010, 6:36am
 
Spammers rarely follow up thread with same user.
OK, I give the benefit of doubt.
ESC, I suggest:
1) to remove the WWW link to a commercial service. Even if you are a genuine (future?) Processing user and you own this site, we no longer tolerate commercial links in signature or WWW buttons, due to recent amount of spam attacks.
2) to explain better your need.
Otherwise I will just remove this thread in a few hours and any other you might create as long as you have this fishy link.
Thanks.
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #8 - Feb 24th, 2010, 7:09am
 
Sorry you guys are having such a problem with whether I am a spammer.   I am a developer; not a coder, so some of the questions or comments might not be as technically correct as you would like them to be.

I want to recreate a program that was originallly created in VBA to run in an environment that does not require Word to be the host of the program.  I thought that Processing, because of its graphical creation ability, would provide some solution to this concept.  If Processing could run in an environment as I have described and apply the indicia that I want or the user would want, then I might be in the right place.

Thanks,
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #9 - Feb 24th, 2010, 7:34am
 
apologies, ESC, i appear to have jumped the gun there. we're all rather edgy around here at the moment and the commercial link in your profile was the decider. turns out that it's your company...

still unsure as to what you want to do with processing and whether it's a fit. is there anything in the examples or exhibition section that is close to what you want? you haven't told us what the vba program does...

processing is java based and whilst you can create pdfs with the output i'm not sure you can merge processing-generated pdf output with existing pdf output (not within processing anyway).
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #10 - Feb 24th, 2010, 8:46am
 
No offense taken.

If you have Word (xp or later), download a copy of StampIt.  It is a Word addin.  I would like to make it a standalone application with the capability it now has and the ability to mark other types of docs as well.  So no one will get upset, if go to my site, you can download the free trial anonymously.  Or, if you look thru the first page and the 10 reasons page, you'll get an idea of what I am attempting to duplicate with Processing.

Thanks,

Michael
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #11 - Feb 24th, 2010, 9:43am
 
OK, it is clearer now. Both your WWW button and your goal... Smiley
But I am not sure if Processing (or Java) is the right tool for that.
One main difficulty is to open a document, particularly an Office document: formats are proprietary, hardly documented, and multiple with the various versions of the software. There are Java libraries to open such documents, but I don't know if they allow to alter them in the way you want. Even if you use Com automation, that would need to have Office installed to work.
Idem for PDF, although perhaps iText Java library can open and alter it.
The remarks above was about Java & Processing, but actually apply to any language... It would take a big chunk of software to do this correctly, see for example Open Office.
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #12 - Feb 24th, 2010, 10:27am
 
There are a number of software programs that mark already-created PDF files as well as converting Word to PDF.  It would appear that the file architecture is not that proprietary if there the number of programs out there that have this capability. Do a search for PDF stamp or "Convert PDF to Word."  

Processing seemed to have the ability to create the graphic element, if you will, that would have been independant of the Word engine in WordArt that is current used.  Am I misinterpreting the Processing capability?
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #13 - Feb 24th, 2010, 10:41am
 
processing can certainly generate all those text-based examples on your page. whether they can do it in a format that you can use is another matter 8) (pdf output is fine, usual bitmap-based images (png, jpg, tif) are fine)

examples:
http://processing.org/learning/basics/letters.html
http://processing.org/learning/basics/words.html
Re: Integrating With Word's WordArt via VBA
Reply #14 - Feb 24th, 2010, 2:22pm
 
I don't say it is impossible, I say it would be hard to do in Java... Smiley

I wasn't clear, PDF format is... proprietary, but documented in details. Although learning these details is a daunting task... Fortunately, people have done that already and you should be able to find libraries, some free, others to pay for, allowing you to process it.
I think you can create a PDF layer with Processing and integrate it to an existing document, using iText (shipped with Processing), somebody shown in this forum how to manipulate PDF layers.

That's the "easy" part. If that's all you need, you can get started.

Word (or other Office tools) are another story. To be exact, the early formats of Word were proprietary and, IIRC, not documented. People did reverse engineering to be able to use these documents without having Word. Eg. on Linux systems. These works were used in Open Office, among others.
A more recent format (starting with Word 2000?) is documented and even proposed as a standard: Open XML, not to be confused with Open Document, a concurrent standard (used by OOo).
But, again, it doesn't mean it is simple to manipulate it, so you have to rely on libraries able to do that.
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