"Pausing" an MFC application while Word doc is opened.

[ahammad]

I have an MFC application that opens up a Word document for editing using automation. Is there a way to pause or freeze the MFC application while the Word doc is being edited? After the editing is done and Word is closed, I want the MFC application to regain control and continue with doing something else. It's kind of like having it take a break until Microsoft Word is closed.

How can this be implemented?

[weaknessforcats]

Edit your Word document on a separate thread by calling CreateThread().

Use the HANDLE returned by CreaateThread() as an argument to WaitForSingleObject().

When WaitForSingleObject() returns, the thread is gone meaning your edit is complete.

[ahammad]

I've never heard of this before...could you please show me an example of how to implement that with my code which uses Automation?

_Application wordAppLib;
    CString id("Word.Application");
    BOOL status = wordAppLib.CreateDispatch(id);
 
    _Document myDoc;
    COleVariant covTrue((short)TRUE);
    COleVariant covFalse((short)FALSE);
    COleVariant covOptional((long)DISP_E_PARAMNOTFOUND, VT_ERROR);
    Documents docs = wordAppLib.GetDocuments();
    CString ReportFileName(_T("C:\\Documents and Settings\\Sleep\\Desktop\\CPFTool Project\\CPFTool\\CPFTool\\Library.doc"));
    myDoc = docs.Open(COleVariant(ReportFileName),
        covOptional,
        covFalse,  // ReadOnly
        covOptional,
        covOptional,
        covOptional,
        covOptional,
        covOptional,
        covOptional,
        covOptional,
        covOptional,
        covOptional);
 
 
    wordAppLib.Resize((GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXSCREEN) * 0.375), GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYSCREEN));
    wordAppLib.Move(dtRect.left, dtRect.top);
    wordAppLib.SetVisible(TRUE);
    wordAppLib.Activate();
 
 
    _Application wordAppBlank;
    CString idBlank("Word.Application");
    BOOL statusBlank = wordAppBlank.CreateDispatch(idBlank);
 
    _Document myDocBlank;
 
    Documents docsBlank = wordAppBlank.GetDocuments();
    myDocBlank = docsBlank.Add(covOptional,covOptional,covOptional,covOptional);
 
    wordAppBlank.Resize((GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXSCREEN) * 0.375), GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYSCREEN));
    wordAppBlank.Move(((GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXSCREEN) * 0.375) + 1), 0);
    wordAppBlank.SetVisible(TRUE);
    wordAppBlank.Activate();