Error when programmatically adding a checkbox

Question

What am I doing wrong here? I need to replace various characters with check boxes but get an error:

Sub ReplaceCheckboxes()

Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
Do
  With Selection.Find
    .Text = ChrW(13)
    .Forward = True
    .Wrap = wdFindStop
    .Format = False
    .MatchCase = False
    .MatchWholeWord = True
    .MatchWildcards = False
    .MatchSoundsLike = False
    .MatchAllWordForms = False
  End With
  Selection.Range.ContentControls.Add (wdContentControlCheckBox) ' error on this line
  If Selection.Find.Execute = False Then Exit Do
Loop

Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory

End Sub

I get "Object Doesn't Support This Action" on line Selection.Range.ContentControls.Add (wdContentControlCheckBox). I've also tried

Set objCC = ActiveDocument.ContentControls.Add(wdContentControlCheckBox)

and

ActiveDocument.ContentControls.Add wdContentControlCheckBox, Selection.Range

I guess I'm misunderstanding how the find method works.

J. Garth · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-03 00:32:40Z

3

I don't think that actual line is the problem. If you step through the code you will see that checkboxes are getting inserted. The more fundamental problem is that you have created an infinite loop. There is no exit condition for the Do loop so your code is probably just running until it crashes Word.

****EDIT to note correct solution:****

The solution was to remove the parentheses around wdContentControlCheckBox. In VBA, parentheses are only put around the arguments of a function when the result it returns is assigned to a variable.

Examples (function call assigning result to a variable and NOT assigning result to a variable, respectively):

result = SomeFunction(arg1, arg2)

or

SomeFunction arg1, arg2

edited Mar 3, 2017 at 0:32

answered Mar 2, 2017 at 17:42

J. Garth

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6 Comments

PeterT Over a year ago

You should either use Selection.Next or Replace:=wdReplaceAll or advance your selection to the end of the current selection with each loop. That will solve your infinite loop problem.

J. Garth Over a year ago

I just looked at the code again & there is indeed an exit condition: If Selection.Find.Execute = False Then Exit Do. But I still think it's an infinite loop issue because that condition is never causing the loop to exit because the Find was executed. When I run the code as is, it causes Word to crash but if I change the False to True, i.e.: If Selection.Find.Execute = True Then Exit Do then one checkbox is inserted and sub the finishes without error.

J. Garth Over a year ago

However, I think that Peter's suggestion is the better route because repeatedly running this code with the change to True causes the checkboxes to be inserted one right after the other in a row without the selection advancing.

Absinthe Over a year ago

Thanks for the comments, but the loop isn't the issue. This line causes the error Selection.Range.ContentControls.Add (wdContentControlCheckBox)

Absinthe Over a year ago

Yes, that was the problem, thank you. Perhaps you could add that to your answer in case others come across this question?

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