Error 4198 when inserting a cross reference in a Word document using VBA

Question

Hi there,

I am facing problems when inserting some cross references in a Word document using VBA. This is a weird thing as the code works fine for most of the headings but it fails randomly with some of them. 

It seems an issue with some "hidden characters" on the heading that provoke a conflict with the VBA instruction. I also tried to record a macro but it also fails with the same error (Err.code=4198) when running the generated code. The weird thing is that from the Word menu I can insert the cross reference without any problems but when executing the code it fails. 

How could I know what if wrong within the document?. 

The code I am using to insert the cross reference is the following:

Selection.InsertCrossReference ReferenceType:=wdRefTypeHeading, ReferenceKind:=wdNumberNoContext, ReferenceItem:=CStr(iHeadingIndex), InsertAsHyperlink:=True, SeparateNumbers:=False 

I'd appreciate some help with this. Thank you very much in advance.

Answer 1

I post here the solution as Doug has finally found it. The issue was related with "hidden" headings from previous changes on the document that were not accepted. So when inserting a cross reference to an index of the Headings array the macro failed.

I could fix it manually just selecting Track Changes : Original Showing Markup 

And then accepting all changes

By code I modified the macro so from now on it makes this automatically: 

' Track changes : Original Showing Markup

With ActiveWindow.View

        .RevisionsView = wdRevisionsViewOriginal

        .RevisionsView = wdRevisionsMarkupAll

End With

' Accept all changes in document

ActiveDocument.Revisions.AcceptAll

Thanks a lot Doug for your help!

Answer 2

Have you checked what is being returned by

CStr(iHeadingIndex)

Answer 3

Hi Doug,

yes, I've checked it. iHeadingIndex contains an integer which references to the right index of the Headings array:

MyHeadings = ActiveDocument.GetCrossReferenceItems(wdRefTypeHeading)

' Find the corresponding index in MyHeadings to insert a Cross Reference

i = 1

Do While i <= UBound(MyHeadings)

    If Left(Trim(LCase(MyHeadings(i))), Len(XE.Section)) = XE.Section Then

        iHeadingIndex = i

       Exit Do 

    Else

        i = i + 1

    End If

Loop

This code works fine for most of the document references but it fails with a few of them and I can't figure out what's going on. I've read that there could be "extra spaces" before the headings but nothing works. 

Thanks in advance.

Answer 4

If you send me a copy of the document and the code of the macro, referencing this thread in the covering email message, I will investigate the issue.