Microsoft KB Archive/212708

Knowledge Base

WD2000: Creating a Password-Style Macro Dialog Text Box

Article ID: 212708

Article Last Modified on 10/11/2006

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APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Word 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q212708

SUMMARY

You can use Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications to create a dialog box that prompts a user for a password. Using the PasswordChar property, you can display "placeholder" characters, such as asterisks, that appear when a user types the password.

MORE INFORMATION

You can use the PasswordChar property of the TextBox control to protect sensitive information, such as passwords or security codes. The value of PasswordChar is the character that appears in a control instead of the actual characters that the user types. If you do not specify a character, the control displays the characters that the user types.

In the following example, the UserForm contains a TextBox control that uses the PasswordChar property to display asterisks instead of the password that the user types.

Creating the UserForm

Create the UserForm using the following steps:

1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Visual Basic Editor.
2. In the Visual Basic project window, click Normal.
   
   This makes the UserForm available to all documents and templates.
3. On the Insert menu, click UserForm.
4. Click the TextBox control on the Toolbox toolbar and then click the UserForm.
   
   The TextBox control appears in the default size. Click the Textbox control on the UserForm and drag a sizing handle to resize the control, or drag the control to move it to a new location.
5. Select the TextBox control and press F4.
   
   The Properties window appears.
6. In the Properties window, type an "*" (without the quotation marks) for the value of the PasswordChar property.
7. Click the CommandButton control on the Toolbox toolbar, and then click the UserForm.
   
   The CommandButton control appears in the default size. Click the CommandButton control on the UserForm and drag a sizing handle to resize the control, or drag the control to move it to a new location.
   
   Repeat this step to add a second CommandButton control.
8. Select the first CommandButton control, and then click Code on the View menu.

9. In the Code window, type "MsgBox TextBox1.Text" (without the quotation marks), so that your code looks like this:
   

   Private Sub CommandButton1_Click ()
      ' When you click this button on the UserForm,
      ' the contents of the text
      ' box appear in a message box.
      MsgBox TextBox1.Text
   End sub
                           

10. On the View menu, click Object to return to the UserForm.
11. Select the second CommandButton control, and then click Code on the View menu.

12. In the Code window, type "Unload UserForm1" (without the quotation marks), so that your code looks like this:
    

    Private Sub CommandButton2_Click ()
       ' When this button is clicked, the Userform is unloaded
       ' and the program ends.
        Unload UserForm1
    End sub
                            

13. On the File menu, click Save Normal.

Displaying the UserForm

To display the UserForm, switch to Word, and then do the following:

1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros.
2. In the Macro Name box, type FillInForm and then click Create.

3. In the Code window, type "UserForm1.Show" (without the quotation marks), so that your code looks like this:
   
   

   Sub FillInForm()
   'This macro displays the UserForm.
      UserForm1.Show
   End Sub
                           

4. Save and close the macro.
5. Close the Visual Basic Editor.
6. You can now run the macro from Word to display the UserForm.

For more information about how to use the sample code in this article, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

212536 OFF2000: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.

REFERENCES

For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

226118 OFF2000: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

Additional query words: vb vba vbe

Keywords: kbhowto kbmacro kbprogramming kbusage KB212708

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