Share via

How to: Filter the Building Block List in a Content Control

  • Article
Word Developer Reference

When you use content controls together with building blocks, you can help users by indicating what content they can insert and by limiting their choices. You can do this is by filtering the list of building blocks that are shown for a content control. To filter a building block list for a content control, you use the BuildingBlockType property for the content control. You can further filter the list of building blocks by setting the BuildingBlockCategory property for the content control.

You can filter the list of building blocks for a content control when you create the content control. However, you can also programmatically filter the list of building blocks based on the position of the cursor or on the value of another content control. To start, you need a custom building block gallery. To learn how to create a custom building block gallery, see Create a Custom Building Block Gallery.

Sample 1

The following example shows how to filter a building block list to a specific gallery.

Bb243820.vs_note(en-us,office.12).gif  Note
Run the code in the "Create a Custom Building Block Gallery" topic before running the code in this topic. 
  Sub CreateFilteredContentControl_SampleOneA()
    Dim objCC As ContentControl

Set objCC = ActiveDocument.ContentControls.Add( _
    wdContentControlBuildingBlockGallery, Selection.Range)

objCC.BuildingBlockType = wdTypeCustom1



End Sub

You can filter a building block list even further by specifying a specific category within the gallery. The following example shows how to filter a building block list to include only the building blocks within a category of a specified gallery.

  Sub CreateFilteredContentControl_SampleOneB()
    Dim objCC As ContentControl

Set objCC = ActiveDocument.ContentControls.Add( _
    wdContentControlBuildingBlockGallery, Selection.Range)

objCC.BuildingBlockType = wdTypeCustom1
objCC.BuildingBlockCategory = "Tertiary Headings"



End Sub

Sample 2

To filter a building block list based on the position of the cursor, you need to use the ContentControlOnEnter event. For example, if you have a content control named Report Type that can be set to "financial" or "marketing", you can have a building block content control that shows a list of possible disclaimers. The content control for the disclaimers would show all disclaimers if the Report Type is not set, and only the appropriate subset if the property is set. The following example filters the list of building blocks for a content control based on the value of another content control in the document.

  Private Sub Document_ContentControlOnEnter(ByVal ContentControl As ContentControl)
    Dim objCC As ContentControl
    Dim objType As ContentControl
    
    Set objCC = ContentControl
    Set objType = ActiveDocument.ContentControls.Item("Report Type")
    
    If objCC.Title = "Disclaimer" Then
        Select Case objType.Range.Text
            Case "Financial"
                objCC.BuildingBlockType = wdTypeCustom1
                objCC.BuildingBlockCategory = "Financial Disclaimers"
            
            Case "Marketing"
                objCC.BuildingBlockType = wdTypeCustom1
                objCC.BuildingBlockCategory = "Marketing Disclaimers"
        
        End Select
    End If
End Sub

Additional Resources