How do you get the final Document.FullPath value AFTER closing a new WORD document?

Question

I have an Office WORD add-in. I would like to know how to determine the final full path name of a document after it has been closed.

Specifically, the problem scenario is this. A user creates a new WORD document, makes edits to the document, and then closes the document.

In the Add-in, I detect the creation of the document. The DocumentBeforeClose event then fires. Then WORD prompts "Do you want to save Document1?". Select yes, and the DocumentBeforeSave event fires. Then a SaveAs dialog box displays. The user provides a full path and accepts. WORD then closes.

I cannot find a object model method or event to capture the user's selection.

Les Les · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-05T22:26:56

...4 weeks and no answers, so I will propose an answer to my own question...

I have not found an Office Object Model method or property for solving this problem. So, what I've done is to register a handler for the DocumentChange event. It fires whenever the active document changes. It also appears to fire when the active document changes to invalid, as in when the document is closed.

In the handler, I detect if the last active document is invalid (by catching the exception). Then I look at the WORD MRU in the registry to find the most recently used word document.

Thus far, this approach has been effective and reliable. But I feel it is an awful approach. I welcome a better more elegant solution. Here is the code I use...

private void Application_DocumentChange()
{
    // This event is fired every time the application sets a new active document, including
    // when the last active document is closed, in which case, Application.ActiveDocument
    // will be invalid.

    // Detect when a document has closed.
    // The previously active document is no longer active.  Check to see if the Doc object
    // is still valid.  If so, we can clear the IsClosing flag.  If not, we can assume it
    // was closed and queue it for post processing.
    if (_activeWrapper != null)
    {
        try
        {
            var lastDoc = _activeWrapper.Document();
            var path = lastDoc.FullName;
            _activeWrapper.IsClosing = false;  // set true in the close handler
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            if (_activeWrapper.IsClosing)
            {
                // last document has closed
                var path = RegistryTools.GetWordMRU(_appWrap.Version.ToString());
                // do post-close processing on file
            }
            _activeWrapper.Dispose();
        }
    }

    Word.Document doc = null;
    DocWrapper wrapper = null;
    try
    {
        doc = Application.ActiveDocument; //will throw exception on last close
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        //if this exception is due to an invalid active document, then we can treat the
       //event as an indication that the last document has closed.
       return;  // WORD Closing
    }

    // remember the current active document
    if(doc != null)
        wrapper = DocWrapper.GetWrapper(doc);
    _activeWrapper = wrapper;
}

How do you get the final Document.FullPath value AFTER closing a new WORD document?

1 Answers