How to merge a remote MS Word document with the active document in a VBA macro?

Question

Frontend

In the "frontend" I have a macro linked to a button in my command bar within Word. Purpose of this button is to allow users to compare the current document with its previous version.

Backend

In the backend I have a Java EE server and Alfresco running with a few servlets. One of these servlets currently returns .doc document when given the document's name. So I just need to call it with the good name containing the version I want and it returns me the document I asked for.

Ideal workflow

So the ideal workflow for a user would be the following :

• User opens a MS Word document
• User clicks on a button in the command bar
• User gets a new document containing a merged version of both its current doc and the one returned by the server

What I want to know

The challenging part for me is the one regarding VB6. I know that I can merge docs with ActiveDocument.Merge FileName:="path_to_file", MergeTarget:=wdMergeTargetSelected but

1. How to call a servlet that returns a Word Document that I can use in my VB script?
2. How to interpret the result of this call so I can pas it to the Merge function and create my merged document?

Thank you for you help.

Answer 1

You open a document using Documents.Open . See F1-help for help on the different options and paramteters.

Option Explicit

Sub OpenDoc()

    Dim oDoc As Document

    Set oDoc = Documents.Open(FileName:="FILENAME.docx")

    Call oDoc.Merge("PATH-TO-OTHER-DOCUMENT.docx")

    Set oDoc = Nothing

End Sub