Open file in Word

Same old problem… this runs in OS9 but not in OSX (which I don’t have easy access to!). You drop a bunch of Word docs onto it, and it strips out the text from each and collects it in a text file…

on open docList
	
	copy (choose file name) as string to dataFile
	open for access file (dataFile) with write permission
	
	repeat with theFile in docList
		set theFile to (theFile as text)
		
		tell application "Microsoft Word"
			open theFile
			set theText to every text
			close document 1
		end tell
		
		write theText & return & return to file (dataFile) starting at eof
	end repeat
	close access file (dataFile)
end open
  • the problem comes at the ‘open’ command in Word. I haven’t been able to find any sample scripts for Word. But it works in OS9.

Thanks for any help…
Emma

Try commentting out the line “set theFile to (theFile as text)”

Doesn’t seem to help.

My problem is partly the huge number of environments in this workplace.- classic Macs, OSX running Word under Classic, OSC running native Word…

My problem is now narrowed down to the fact that the following runs under OS9 but not under OSX - if anyone can duplicate and solve this, I would be very grateful!

on open docList
	repeat with theFile in docList
		tell application "Finder"
			set theFolderName to (container of theFile) as string
			if theFolderName does not end with ":" then
				set theFolderName to (theFolderName & ":")
			end if
			set theFileName to (name of theFile)
			set theFileSpec to (theFolderName & theFileName)
			
		end tell
		tell application "Microsoft Word"
			try
				open file theFileSpec
			on error ErrorText
				display dialog ErrorText
			end try
		end tell
	end repeat
end open

The error comes when Word (OSX native) tries to open the file. Word running under Classic on an OSX machine seems to hang altogether. The script behaves perfectly under OS9 (I hate OSX!)

Emma

Does this work as far as opening the files? I tested it (quickly) only in OS X 10.3.9 and it works fine.

on open docList
	tell application "Finder"
		set word_path to application file id "MSWD" as text
		repeat with theFile in docList
			try
				open theFile using word_path
			on error ErrorText
				display dialog ErrorText
			end try
		end repeat
	end tell
end open

– Rob

Yes! Yes! Too busy to do more than quick test, but it looks as if I can get the whole script working now.

Thanks so much! I’ll have a good look at it soon…
Emma