Word VBA - Replace selection with next item in array

Question

I want to click my macro repeatedly to replace my selected word with the words in my array.

Here is what I want to do:

If Selection = a word in BeingSArray or BeingArray
Then replace Selection with the first/next word in BeingArray
When I run the macro again, it should replace the new word with the second/next word in BeingArray, and so on (in a loop)

Here is one of my many failed attempts:

With Selection

    BeingSArray("am ", "is ", "are ", "was ", "were ", "be ", "being ", "been ") 'I have a separate list here because, when I highlight a word, I may have the following space highlighted with it. 

    BeingArray("am", "is", "are", "was", "were", "be", "being", "been")

    If .Text = BeingArray(1) or .Text = BeingSArray(1) Then .TypeText = BeingArray(2)

    'Do I need to add a command to select the new word here?

    If .Text = BeingArray(2) Or .Text = BeingSArray(2) Then .TypeText = BeingArray(3) 'and so on

    If .Text = BeingArray(8) Or .Text = BeingSArray(8) Then .TypeText = BeingArray(1)

End With

user20416 · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-28 22:50:11Z

1

To begin with, VBA doesn't have a built-in function for finding the location of an item in an array, so you'll have to write your own. Try this:

Function IndexOf(arr As Variant, value, ByRef found As Boolean) As Integer
    Dim lb As Integer, ub As Integer, i As Integer
    found = False
    If Not IsArray(arr) Then Exit Function
    lb = LBound(arr)
    ub = UBound(arr)
    For i = lb To ub
        If arr(i) = value Then
            found = True
            IndexOf = i
            Exit Function
        End If
    Next
End Function

This function is used as follows:

Dim found As Boolean

'prints 0 and False -- first argument is not an array
Debug.Print IndexOf("test", "test", found) 
Debug.Print found

Dim testArray As Variant
testArray = Array("The", "rain", "in", "Spain", "falls", "mainly", "on", "the", "plain")

'prints 0 and False -- "Portugal" is not in the array
Debug.Print IndexOf(testArray, "Portugal", found)
Debug.Print found

'prints 6
Debug.Print IndexOf(testArray, "on", found)
Debug.Print found 'prints True

Once you have such a function:

Dim BeingArray, text As String, found as Boolean
Dim index As Integer, nextIndex as Integer

BeingArray = Array("am", "is", "are", "was", "were", "be", "being", "been")
text = Trim(Selection.Text) 'this is simpler than creating a separate array
index = IndexOf(BeingArray, text, found)
If found Then
    nextIndex = (index + 1) % UBound(BeingArray)
    Selection.Text = BeingArray(nextIndex)
End If

edited Dec 28, 2015 at 22:50

answered Dec 28, 2015 at 16:11

user20416

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3 Comments

Write Place Over a year ago

Thanks. I appreciate the help, I understand how you approached this, but it's a little over my head. I would not even know where to begin to create the function. The trim function would really help me out. How would I trim or Ltrim my selection before running all of my if then statements with selection?

user20416 Over a year ago

@WritePlace I'm storing the trimmed selection text within the text variable, so there's no need to trim/ltrim each time.

user20416 Over a year ago

@WritePlace RE: IndexOf function -- You can search SO or Google for such a function, but I will post such a function shortly.

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