Application Launcher

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As I develop my code, I find myself constantly looking for information about
a particular API in the MSDN CD-ROMs, the Microsoft web site and sometimes all
over the Internet. When I find links relevant to the work at hand, I copy and
paste them as comment into my code. Whenever I want to reference this
information again, I copy the link into my browser and away it goes. After doing
this a few times, I knew there had to be a better way, that is how the LaunchApp
macro was born. LauchApp allows you to fire up links from within a comment block
to Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, Visio and Html files. The macro can be
extended to handle any file type (PDF, Corel Draw, etc) you or your team include
in your code documentation. The following code fragment shows a typical use of
the macro.

/*CustomRecipient

Creates a custom recipient in MS Exchange Global address list. For more

information on the technique used in this function and other aspects of

DAPI see [mk:@ivt:kb/source/mapi/q165931.htm].

For information on the interface design for this class see [d:dataxfilesmyproject.doc].

For a quick solution to send email see the code guru site. [https://www.codeguru.com/internet/imapi.shtml]




CustomRecipient(LPSTR strRecipient)

{

	// Your code goes here

}

*/

To access any of the links embeded in your comment, all you need to do is place the cursor
anywhere within the [ ] pair and lauch the LaunchApp macro. The macro will bring the proper
application with the document or link loaded. Needless to say that you will save time by adding
this macro to a tool bar or keyboard pair of keys.

Sub LaunchApp()

‘DESCRIPTION: Launch link or document embeded in comment block

	‘Get the current cursor positon

	cpos = ActiveDocument.Selection.CurrentColumn
	‘Select, capture current line and convert tabs to spaces

	ActiveDocument.Selection.SelectLine

	ActiveDocument.Selection.Untabify

	Link = ActiveDocument.Selection.Text
	‘Restore tabs

	ActiveDocument.Undo
	‘Delete return&linefeed at the end of line

	Link = Left(Link,Len(Link)-2)
	‘ Split selected line at cpos – Check for Rpos at end of line

	Rpos = Len(link)-cpos

	if Rpos <= 0 then

		Rside = ""

	else

		Rside = Right(Link,Len(Link) – cpos)

	end if

	Lside = Left(Link, cpos)
	‘ Get text within [ ] pair

	bpos = InstrRev(Rside, "]", -1)

	if bpos > 0 then

		Rside = Left(Rside,  bpos – 1  )

	else

	    Rside = ""

		Lside = Left(Lside, Len(Lside) – 1) ‘ ] is included in left side

	end if
	Lside = Right(Lside,Len(Lside) – InstrRev(Lside, "[", -1))

	Link = Lside & Rside
	‘ Open link – If no application is found default is web browser

	if Link <> "" then
		‘ Trim tab and spaces from selected text.

		Do While InStr(Link, vbTab) <> 0

			Link = Right(Link, Len(Link) – InStr(Link, vbTab))

		Loop

		Link = Trim(Link)
		‘ Determine file type by looking at the extension

		ExtPos = InstrRev(Link, ".", -1, 1)
		‘ An extension must exist in order to process the selected text

		if ExtPos > 0 then

			Ext = LCase(Right(Link,Len(Link)-ExtPos))
			‘ This is the object to handle the selected application.  See

			‘ [mk:@ivt:project/project/pssvba/mod3les3.htm] for object information

			‘ TODO$: Use Shell or Explorer object to handle any registered file format.

			Dim AppObject
			Select Case Ext

				Case "doc", "rtf"		‘MS word

					Set AppObject = CreateObject("Word.Basic")

					AppObject.AppShow

					AppObject.FileOpen Link
				Case "xls"				‘MS Excel

					Set AppObject = CreateObject("Excel.Application")

					AppObject.Visible = True

					AppObject.Workbooks.Open Link
				Case "ppt"				‘MS Power Point

					Set AppObject = CreateObject("PowerPoint.Application")

					AppObject.Visible = True

					AppObject.Presentations.Open Link
				Case "mdb"				‘MS Access

					Set AppObject = CreateObject("Access.Application")

					AppObject.Visible = True

					AppObject.OpenCurrentDatabase Link
				Case "vsd"				‘Visio

				    Set AppObject = CreateObject("visio.application")

					AppObject.Documents.Open Link
				Case Else				‘ Internet Explorer

					Set AppObject = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application.1")

					AppObject.Visible = True

					AppObject.Navigate(Link)

			End Select
		else

			MsgBox("The text you have selected does not have a valid file extension.")

		end if

	end if

End Sub