Re: Automating steps to copy URL from IE into Word

 
Steve,

This is great, it's wonderful to know that such capabities exist, but this program is geared for a different set up from mine.  Here are my thoughts and suggestions. 
 
What this does is append each entry to a _closed_ Word document.  This is perfect for accumulating a lot of material from the web in a kind of research project.  However, if the document is open, it opens a second instance of Word without my custom toolbar and prompts the user to save it.  So that would have to be changed.  The program needs to insert the material into open document.  And it must not open additional instances of Word if Word is already open.  That creates problems for me. 
 
Also, I don't need a single saved document into which to put the information from many different such operations.  Each such insert could go into its own, new Word document, which I could then save manually. 
 
When the application opens, it prompts the user for a comment, which then makes it necessary to scroll down to where the button is to execute the program.  It would be better to skip all that and have the whole operation take place in one step.  I could do without the comment, since I'm going to be working on the Word document into which I've inserted the material, I can add whatever I want directly in the Word document. 
 
Another thing.  This does not carry over character formatting of the selected text, such as italics.  I don't supposed that would be possible?  If it's not possible, what I might want to do is change the program so that it inserts the title and url into a new Word document, while copying the selected text in the webpage AND switching the focus to the Word document, so then all I have to do is paste the (formatted) text underneath the title and url. 
 
Thanks,
Larry
 
 
 
Thanks,
Larry
 
 
 

"Steve Yandl" <syandl@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:leqdnfyyKohbWx3fRVn-2Q@xxxxxxxxxxx...
> Larry,
>
> You may not have to worry about changing the "My Documents" folder.  Try it
> first to see.  The Windows Script Host has a set of special folders and the
> path should be returned even if it isn't in the usual location or has been
> renamed.
>
> The only questions I've received from people have involved notifications
> from Norton AV or some other anti-virus software.  If you're familiar with
> using vbs, this won't throw you off but non scripting types can get
> concerned and don't know what to check to feel safe.
>
>
> Steve
>
>
> "Larry" <larry328NOSPAM@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:%23xTuFJUVFHA.3532@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...
> > Steve,
> >
> > This is just amazing.  It will be fantastic to be able to do all this in
> > one step.  I can't wait to install and try this out.  I didn't know that
> > an html file could have text that was executible code that could be run
> > like a macro or a .vbs script.
> >
> > I'm going to use your install files rather than try to create this
> > manually.   The only change I will have to make is changing the path of
> > Web_Research" doc since I long ago change my "My Documents" folder's
> > name to "Documents."
> >
> > I'll let you know how it goes.
> >
> > I'm curious to see if character formatting in the selection, such as
> > italics, is carried over.
> >
> > Larry
> >
> >
> >
> > Steve Yandl wrote:
> >> Larry,
> >>
> >> This is more a vbs and html solution than Word and it isn't quite
> >> what you asked for but I think the end result is something you will
> >> like.  I've done a script that adds a new item to your Internet
> >> Explorer context menu.  If you select some text on a web page and
> >> then right click the selected text, instead of selecting 'Copy' you
> >> select the new item 'Research Entry'.  The script looks in your
> >> MyDocuments folder for a Word document named "Web_Research.doc" and
> >> creates it if it doesn't already exist.  It then appends that
> >> document with the date and time, the URL of the page, the document
> >> title for the page and the selected text.  You get a pop up html
> >> window to confirm that you want all this to happen and you can enter
> >> a typed comment if you want to add a note to the text capture.
> >>
> >> The easy way to get all this is to go to
> >> http://yandlfiles.home.comcast.net/ and click the link in the upper
> >> left for my text archive programs (you will want the second one which
> >> requires Word).  The zip files contain a ReadMe file, the core htm
> >> file and installation and uninstall scripts.  All can be opened in
> >> notepad allowing you to check for security concerns or modify the
> >> scripts if you're comfortable with that sort of thing.
> >>
> >> If you want do do this the manual way, it isn't that tough.
> >> Essentially, a new registry key called
> >> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet
> >> Explorer\MenuExt\Research_Entry is created.  It is given a default
> >> value that is the path and file name to the new htm file with the
> >> working components of the script.  There is also a value named
> >> "Flags" with DWord value of 1.
> >>
> >> The critical part of the new htm file (beside placing where the above
> >> registry key points) are the lines below:
> >> Set oWindow=window.external.menuArguments
> >> Set oDocument=oWindow.document
> >> docAddress=oDocument.URL
> >> docTitle=oDocument.Title
> >>
> >> When those lines are in a script launched from the IE context menu,
> >> the appropriate information from the document that was right click is
> >> returned. The entire contents of the html file I use is below:
> >>
> >> <html>
> >> <head>
> >> <TITLE>Retrieve and Save Web Document Information</TITLE>
> >> </head>
> >>
> >> <BODY STYLE="BACKGROUND-COLOR:#EEEEEE; MARGIN:10">
> >> <P ID=para1></P>
> >> <P ID=para2></P>
> >> <P ID=para3></P>
> >> <P ID=para4></P>
> >> <P ID=para5></P>
> >> <p><font size="4" color="red">Enter any comments to go with the
> >> document information</font></p>
> >>
> >> <TEXTAREA ID="comments" cols="52"></TEXTAREA>
> >> <P ID=para6></P>
> >> <P ID=para7></P>
> >> <p><input type="button" name="B1" value="  SAVE TO WEB_RESEARCH.DOC
> >> ">
> >>
> >> <script language="VBScript"><!--
> >>
> >> Dim oWindow, oDocument, docAddress, docTitle, oSelect, oSelectRange,
> >> strSelection, WSH, fso
> >> Set oWindow=window.external.menuArguments
> >> Set oDocument=oWindow.document
> >> docAddress=oDocument.URL
> >> docTitle=oDocument.Title
> >> If docTitle = "" Then
> >> docTitle = "(no document title)"
> >> End If
> >> Set oSelect=oDocument.selection
> >> Set oSelectRange=oSelect.createRange()
> >> strSelection=oSelectRange.text
> >> Set WSH = CreateObject ("WScript.shell")
> >> strMyDocs = WSH.SpecialFolders("MyDocuments")
> >> ' strMyDocs = "C:\Test\myfolder"
> >> Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
> >>
> >> Dim dy, mo, yr, hr, mi, se, dyStr, moStr, yrStr, hrStr, miStr, seStr,
> >> serStr mo=month(Now)
> >> dy=day(Now)
> >> yr=year(Now)
> >> hr=hour(Now)
> >> mi=minute(Now)
> >> se=second(Now)
> >> '
> >> If len(CStr(mo))=1 Then
> >> moStr="0"&CStr(mo)
> >> Else
> >> moStr=CStr(mo)
> >> End If
> >> '
> >> If len(CStr(dy))=1 Then
> >> dyStr="0"&CStr(dy)
> >> Else
> >> dyStr=CStr(dy)
> >> End If
> >> '
> >> yrStr=Right(CStr(yr),2)
> >> '
> >> If len(CStr(hr))=1 Then
> >> hrStr="0"&CStr(hr)
> >> Else
> >> hrStr=CStr(hr)
> >> End If
> >> '
> >> If len(CStr(mi))=1 Then
> >> miStr="0"&CStr(mi)
> >> Else
> >> miStr=CStr(mi)
> >> End If
> >> '
> >> If len(CStr(se))=1 Then
> >> seStr="0"&CStr(se)
> >> Else
> >> seStr=CStr(se)
> >> End If
> >> '
> >> serStr="T"&yrStr&moStr&dyStr&hrStr&miStr&seStr
> >>
> >> document.all("para1").innerText="Information collected at: " & Now
> >> document.all("para2").innerText="Document URL = ""para3").innerText="Document Title = " & docTitle
> >> document.all("para4").innerText="Document Last Modified on " &
> >> oDocument.LastModified
> >> If strSelection <> "" Then
> >> document.all("para5").innerText="Document Selection = " & strSelection
> >> End If
> >> document.all("para6").innerText="The info will be bookmarked as " &
> >> serStr & " in Word document below"
> >> document.all("para7").innerText=strMyDocs & "\Web_Research.doc"
> >>
> >> Sub B1_onClick
> >> On Error Resume Next
> >> Dim oWd, doc
> >> Set oWd = CreateObject("Word.Application")
> >> If Err.Number <> 0 Then
> >> Alert "Problem opening Word or initiating some other object"
> >> Window.Close
> >> End If
> >> If fso.FileExists(strMyDocs & "\Web_Research.doc") Then
> >> Set doc = oWd.documents.open(strMyDocs & "\Web_Research.doc")
> >> Else
> >> Set doc = oWd.documents.add
> >> doc.SaveAs strMyDocs & "\Web_Research.doc"
> >> End If
> >> Dim rngCurrent
> >> oWd.Selection.WholeStory
> >> oWd.Selection.MoveRight
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeParagraph
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("Information gathered at " & Now)
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeParagraph
> >>
> >> Set rngCurrent = oWd.Selection
> >> oWd.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks.Add serStr,rngCurrent
> >>
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("From ")
> >> oWd.Selection.Font.Color=255
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("URL ")
> >> oWd.Selection.Font.Color=0
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText(docAddress)
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeParagraph
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("Document Title = " & docTitle & " then last
> >> modified on " & oDocument.LastModified)
> >> If strSelection <> "" Then
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeParagraph
> >> oWd.Selection.Font.Color=255
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("Selected Text = ")
> >> oWd.Selection.Font.Color=0
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText(strSelection)
> >> End If
> >> If comments.Value <> "" Then
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeParagraph
> >> oWd.Selection.Font.Color=255
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("Comment = ")
> >> oWd.Selection.Font.Color=0
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText(comments.Value)
> >> End If
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeParagraph
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("********************************")
> >> oWd.ActiveDocument.Save
> >> oWd.ActiveDocument.Close
> >> oWd.Quit
> >> Set oWd = Nothing
> >> Window.Close
> >>
> >> End Sub
> >>
> >> Set WSH = Nothing
> >>
> >> --></script>
> >>
> >> </BODY>
> >> </html>
> >>
> >> "Larry" <larry328NOSPAM@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
> >> news:%23ExdcyGVFHA.580@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...
> >> > This seemed like a Windows question more than a Word question,  I
> >> > sent it to a Windows newsgroup, and was told it was a Word
> >> > question.  So here goes.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Here's the kind of thing I do a million times.  I've just copied
> >> > some text from a web page into Word.  Now I want to copy the URL of
> >> > that web page into Word.
> >> >
> >> > I do Alt+Tab to switch back to the Internet Exporer page.
> >> >
> >> > I press Alt+D to place cursor in address bar.
> >> >
> >> > I press Ctrl+C to copy the address.
> >> >
> >> > I use Alt+Tab switch back to Word.
> >> >
> >> > I press Ctrl+V to paste the url into Word.
> >> >
> >> > Would there be a way to automate these five steps into one action,
> >> > whether done by a .vbs file or some other means?
> >
> >
>
>
"Steve Yandl" <syandl@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:leqdnfyyKohbWx3fRVn-2Q@xxxxxxxxxxx...
> Larry,
>
> You may not have to worry about changing the "My Documents" folder.  Try it
> first to see.  The Windows Script Host has a set of special folders and the
> path should be returned even if it isn't in the usual location or has been
> renamed.
>
> The only questions I've received from people have involved notifications
> from Norton AV or some other anti-virus software.  If you're familiar with
> using vbs, this won't throw you off but non scripting types can get
> concerned and don't know what to check to feel safe.
>
>
> Steve
>
>
> "Larry" <larry328NOSPAM@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:%23xTuFJUVFHA.3532@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...
> > Steve,
> >
> > This is just amazing.  It will be fantastic to be able to do all this in
> > one step.  I can't wait to install and try this out.  I didn't know that
> > an html file could have text that was executible code that could be run
> > like a macro or a .vbs script.
> >
> > I'm going to use your install files rather than try to create this
> > manually.   The only change I will have to make is changing the path of
> > Web_Research" doc since I long ago change my "My Documents" folder's
> > name to "Documents."
> >
> > I'll let you know how it goes.
> >
> > I'm curious to see if character formatting in the selection, such as
> > italics, is carried over.
> >
> > Larry
> >
> >
> >
> > Steve Yandl wrote:
> >> Larry,
> >>
> >> This is more a vbs and html solution than Word and it isn't quite
> >> what you asked for but I think the end result is something you will
> >> like.  I've done a script that adds a new item to your Internet
> >> Explorer context menu.  If you select some text on a web page and
> >> then right click the selected text, instead of selecting 'Copy' you
> >> select the new item 'Research Entry'.  The script looks in your
> >> MyDocuments folder for a Word document named "Web_Research.doc" and
> >> creates it if it doesn't already exist.  It then appends that
> >> document with the date and time, the URL of the page, the document
> >> title for the page and the selected text.  You get a pop up html
> >> window to confirm that you want all this to happen and you can enter
> >> a typed comment if you want to add a note to the text capture.
> >>
> >> The easy way to get all this is to go to
> >> http://yandlfiles.home.comcast.net/ and click the link in the upper
> >> left for my text archive programs (you will want the second one which
> >> requires Word).  The zip files contain a ReadMe file, the core htm
> >> file and installation and uninstall scripts.  All can be opened in
> >> notepad allowing you to check for security concerns or modify the
> >> scripts if you're comfortable with that sort of thing.
> >>
> >> If you want do do this the manual way, it isn't that tough.
> >> Essentially, a new registry key called
> >> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet
> >> Explorer\MenuExt\Research_Entry is created.  It is given a default
> >> value that is the path and file name to the new htm file with the
> >> working components of the script.  There is also a value named
> >> "Flags" with DWord value of 1.
> >>
> >> The critical part of the new htm file (beside placing where the above
> >> registry key points) are the lines below:
> >> Set oWindow=window.external.menuArguments
> >> Set oDocument=oWindow.document
> >> docAddress=oDocument.URL
> >> docTitle=oDocument.Title
> >>
> >> When those lines are in a script launched from the IE context menu,
> >> the appropriate information from the document that was right click is
> >> returned. The entire contents of the html file I use is below:
> >>
> >> <html>
> >> <head>
> >> <TITLE>Retrieve and Save Web Document Information</TITLE>
> >> </head>
> >>
> >> <BODY STYLE="BACKGROUND-COLOR:#EEEEEE; MARGIN:10">
> >> <P ID=para1></P>
> >> <P ID=para2></P>
> >> <P ID=para3></P>
> >> <P ID=para4></P>
> >> <P ID=para5></P>
> >> <p><font size="4" color="red">Enter any comments to go with the
> >> document information</font></p>
> >>
> >> <TEXTAREA ID="comments" cols="52"></TEXTAREA>
> >> <P ID=para6></P>
> >> <P ID=para7></P>
> >> <p><input type="button" name="B1" value="  SAVE TO WEB_RESEARCH.DOC
> >> ">
> >>
> >> <script language="VBScript"><!--
> >>
> >> Dim oWindow, oDocument, docAddress, docTitle, oSelect, oSelectRange,
> >> strSelection, WSH, fso
> >> Set oWindow=window.external.menuArguments
> >> Set oDocument=oWindow.document
> >> docAddress=oDocument.URL
> >> docTitle=oDocument.Title
> >> If docTitle = "" Then
> >> docTitle = "(no document title)"
> >> End If
> >> Set oSelect=oDocument.selection
> >> Set oSelectRange=oSelect.createRange()
> >> strSelection=oSelectRange.text
> >> Set WSH = CreateObject ("WScript.shell")
> >> strMyDocs = WSH.SpecialFolders("MyDocuments")
> >> ' strMyDocs = "C:\Test\myfolder"
> >> Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
> >>
> >> Dim dy, mo, yr, hr, mi, se, dyStr, moStr, yrStr, hrStr, miStr, seStr,
> >> serStr mo=month(Now)
> >> dy=day(Now)
> >> yr=year(Now)
> >> hr=hour(Now)
> >> mi=minute(Now)
> >> se=second(Now)
> >> '
> >> If len(CStr(mo))=1 Then
> >> moStr="0"&CStr(mo)
> >> Else
> >> moStr=CStr(mo)
> >> End If
> >> '
> >> If len(CStr(dy))=1 Then
> >> dyStr="0"&CStr(dy)
> >> Else
> >> dyStr=CStr(dy)
> >> End If
> >> '
> >> yrStr=Right(CStr(yr),2)
> >> '
> >> If len(CStr(hr))=1 Then
> >> hrStr="0"&CStr(hr)
> >> Else
> >> hrStr=CStr(hr)
> >> End If
> >> '
> >> If len(CStr(mi))=1 Then
> >> miStr="0"&CStr(mi)
> >> Else
> >> miStr=CStr(mi)
> >> End If
> >> '
> >> If len(CStr(se))=1 Then
> >> seStr="0"&CStr(se)
> >> Else
> >> seStr=CStr(se)
> >> End If
> >> '
> >> serStr="T"&yrStr&moStr&dyStr&hrStr&miStr&seStr
> >>
> >> document.all("para1").innerText="Information collected at: " & Now
> >> document.all("para2").innerText="Document URL = ""para3").innerText="Document Title = " & docTitle
> >> document.all("para4").innerText="Document Last Modified on " &
> >> oDocument.LastModified
> >> If strSelection <> "" Then
> >> document.all("para5").innerText="Document Selection = " & strSelection
> >> End If
> >> document.all("para6").innerText="The info will be bookmarked as " &
> >> serStr & " in Word document below"
> >> document.all("para7").innerText=strMyDocs & "\Web_Research.doc"
> >>
> >> Sub B1_onClick
> >> On Error Resume Next
> >> Dim oWd, doc
> >> Set oWd = CreateObject("Word.Application")
> >> If Err.Number <> 0 Then
> >> Alert "Problem opening Word or initiating some other object"
> >> Window.Close
> >> End If
> >> If fso.FileExists(strMyDocs & "\Web_Research.doc") Then
> >> Set doc = oWd.documents.open(strMyDocs & "\Web_Research.doc")
> >> Else
> >> Set doc = oWd.documents.add
> >> doc.SaveAs strMyDocs & "\Web_Research.doc"
> >> End If
> >> Dim rngCurrent
> >> oWd.Selection.WholeStory
> >> oWd.Selection.MoveRight
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeParagraph
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("Information gathered at " & Now)
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeParagraph
> >>
> >> Set rngCurrent = oWd.Selection
> >> oWd.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks.Add serStr,rngCurrent
> >>
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("From ")
> >> oWd.Selection.Font.Color=255
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("URL ")
> >> oWd.Selection.Font.Color=0
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText(docAddress)
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeParagraph
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("Document Title = " & docTitle & " then last
> >> modified on " & oDocument.LastModified)
> >> If strSelection <> "" Then
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeParagraph
> >> oWd.Selection.Font.Color=255
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("Selected Text = ")
> >> oWd.Selection.Font.Color=0
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText(strSelection)
> >> End If
> >> If comments.Value <> "" Then
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeParagraph
> >> oWd.Selection.Font.Color=255
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("Comment = ")
> >> oWd.Selection.Font.Color=0
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText(comments.Value)
> >> End If
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeParagraph
> >> oWd.Selection.TypeText("********************************")
> >> oWd.ActiveDocument.Save
> >> oWd.ActiveDocument.Close
> >> oWd.Quit
> >> Set oWd = Nothing
> >> Window.Close
> >>
> >> End Sub
> >>
> >> Set WSH = Nothing
> >>
> >> --></script>
> >>
> >> </BODY>
> >> </html>
> >>
> >> "Larry" <larry328NOSPAM@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
> >> news:%23ExdcyGVFHA.580@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...
> >> > This seemed like a Windows question more than a Word question,  I
> >> > sent it to a Windows newsgroup, and was told it was a Word
> >> > question.  So here goes.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Here's the kind of thing I do a million times.  I've just copied
> >> > some text from a web page into Word.  Now I want to copy the URL of
> >> > that web page into Word.
> >> >
> >> > I do Alt+Tab to switch back to the Internet Exporer page.
> >> >
> >> > I press Alt+D to place cursor in address bar.
> >> >
> >> > I press Ctrl+C to copy the address.
> >> >
> >> > I use Alt+Tab switch back to Word.
> >> >
> >> > I press Ctrl+V to paste the url into Word.
> >> >
> >> > Would there be a way to automate these five steps into one action,
> >> > whether done by a .vbs file or some other means?
> >
> >
>
>