Macro: Repeat Find until end of document

[arowland1]

Update: Installed and tested in Writer 7.3.6.2 with same result.
Windows 10

I have a lot of documents (chapters of a book) where normal paragraphs are styled with Text Body. I need a macro to change all of them so that the first paragraph after the first heading is set to Text Body First Para, and the same with each paragraph following a section marker (which is 5 asterisks).
The first bit is easy: move to the start of the document, move down one line, set the style.
Then I need a loop:

1. Find “*****”
2. If the text was found…
   2 a) Move down a line
   2 b) Change style
3. Repeat

I recorded a macro to do that once, and then added the repeat loop by hand. I need to determine whether the Find was successful or not. Here is the relevant section of my code:

Dim res As Object
...
dim args4(21) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue
args4(0).Name = "SearchItem.StyleFamily"
args4(0).Value = 2
args4(1).Name = "SearchItem.CellType"
args4(1).Value = 0
args4(2).Name = "SearchItem.RowDirection"
args4(2).Value = true
args4(3).Name = "SearchItem.AllTables"
args4(3).Value = false
args4(4).Name = "SearchItem.SearchFiltered"
args4(4).Value = false
args4(5).Name = "SearchItem.Backward"
args4(5).Value = false
args4(6).Name = "SearchItem.Pattern"
args4(6).Value = false
args4(7).Name = "SearchItem.Content"
args4(7).Value = false
args4(8).Name = "SearchItem.AsianOptions"
args4(8).Value = false
args4(9).Name = "SearchItem.AlgorithmType"
args4(9).Value = 0
args4(10).Name = "SearchItem.SearchFlags"
args4(10).Value = 0
args4(11).Name = "SearchItem.SearchString"
args4(11).Value = "*****"
args4(12).Name = "SearchItem.ReplaceString"
args4(12).Value = ""
args4(13).Name = "SearchItem.Locale"
args4(13).Value = 255
args4(14).Name = "SearchItem.ChangedChars"
args4(14).Value = 2
args4(15).Name = "SearchItem.DeletedChars"
args4(15).Value = 2
args4(16).Name = "SearchItem.InsertedChars"
args4(16).Value = 2
args4(17).Name = "SearchItem.TransliterateFlags"
args4(17).Value = 256
args4(18).Name = "SearchItem.Command"
args4(18).Value = 0
args4(19).Name = "SearchItem.SearchFormatted"
args4(19).Value = false
args4(20).Name = "SearchItem.AlgorithmType2"
args4(20).Value = 1
args4(21).Name = "Quiet"
args4(21).Value = true

res = dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:ExecuteSearch", "", 0, args4())

While res.Result = true
   dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:GoDown", "", 0, args2())
   dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:StyleApply", "", 0, args3())
   res = dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:ExecuteSearch", "", 0, args4())
Wend

I used res.Result based on this: LibreOffice: DispatchResultEvent Struct Reference
The problem is that it gets stuck in an infinite loop and I have to Ctrl-Backspace to stop it.
I also tried While dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:ExecuteSearch", "", 0, args4()) (dropping the second call to executeDispatch). Same thing.
Tried using res.State=1. Seems to return false all the time. Click DispatchResultState in the above link.

I also created a macro in Microsoft Word which worked fine there, but when I opened it in LO it wouldn’t loop even once:

    Do While Selection.Find.Execute
        Selection.MoveDown Unit:=wdLine, Count:=1
        Selection.Style = ActiveDocument.Styles("Text Body First Para")
    Loop

It’s pretty irritating that LO doesn’t act like the documentation says it should. Perhaps I should try OO: This forum entry suggests it worked as recently as this March: Apache OpenOffice Community Forum - Searching command in macro need to return success - (View topic)

[Wanderer]

@arowland1

The problem is that it gets stuck in an infinite loop

On a quick read: You are searching ***** but not changing this. So you have an infinitive loop. If you would edit to --* before going down and change paragraph this should stop after you processed all ***** in your text.

[Wanderer]

@arowland1

I also created a macro in Microsoft Word which worked fine there

Usually VBA does not work with LibreOffice-Basic. The Language is the same, but the way to access the document completly different. However there is a mode for VBA-compatibility wich helps in some simple cases.

[Wanderer]

@arowland1

Perhaps I should try OO: This forum entry suggests it worked as recently as this March

You may try that script even in LibreOffice as that script is using the UNO-Library, not VBA.
AOO and LO a mostly identical when it comes to scripting (and you avoid the new stuff added in LO)
.
But as you already solved your problem there should be no need to elaborate further.

[arowland1]

Looks like I have found my own solution. You can enumerate paragraphs and assign a style by assigning the ParaStyleName property, which seems to assign the whole style. Not very intuitive! I expected to have to assign a Style object, but hey ho.
I kept my recorded macro that changed the style of the second paragraph, i.e. the one following the chapter heading, then…

Dim oEnum As Variant
Dim oNext As Variant

oEnum = ThisComponent.Text.createEnumeration
While oEnum.hasMoreElements()
	oNext = oEnum.nextElement()
	if oNext.supportsservice("com.sun.star.text.Paragraph") Then
		If Trim(oNext.getString())="*****" OR  Trim(oNext.getString())="" Then
			oNext = oEnum.nextElement()
		    oNext.ParaStyleName=("Text Body First Para")
		EndIf
	EndIf
Wend
End Sub