SYMPTOMS
When you use the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications MeaningList
property, you may receive the following error message:
Run-time error '451': Object not a collection.
CAUSE
You may be setting and using an object variable in conjunction with the
MeaningList property as in the following example Visual Basic for
Applications code
Set oSynonymInfo = ActiveDocument.Content.SynonymInfo
and then calling the property as follows:
Msgbox oSynonymInfo.MeaningList(1)
Because Visual Basic for Applications treats the "(1)" in "MeaningList(1)"
as a parameter being passed to MeaningList rather than as an index to the
MeaningList array, the error described in the "Symptoms" section of this
article may occur.
WORKAROUND
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To work around this problem, access the MeaningList array directly without
first setting it to a variable. The following two examples successfully use
the MeaningList property to return the meaning of a word from the
thesaurus.
Example 1
The following sample macro allows you to index the array:
Sub TellMeaning()
'Insert a word into the active document
' removing all other text.
ActiveDocument.Content.Text = "pretty"
'Display the first meaning of the word in the document.
MsgBox ActiveDocument.Content.SynonymInfo.MeaningList(1)
End Sub
Example 2
The following sample macro returns the first synonym for the selected
text and traps the error if the word has no definition in the thesaurus.
Sub TellMeaning()
On Error Resume Next
' Display the first meaning of the word in the document.
MsgBox Selection.Range.SynonymInfo.MeaningList(1)
' Check for likely automation errors.
If Err.Number = 9 Then 'SUBSCRIPT OUT OF RANGE
' Describe what happened. Then clear the Err object.
MsgBox "No Definition"
Err.Clear ' Clear Err object fields.
End If
End Sub
For more information about the MeaningList property, from the Visual Basic
Editor, click the Office Assistant, type
MeaningList click Search, and
then click to view "MeaningList Property."
NOTE: If the Assistant is hidden, click the Office Assistant button on the
Standard toolbar. If the Assistant is not able to answer your query, please
see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
176476 OFF: Office Assistant Not Answering Visual Basic Questions
REFERENCES
For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications,
please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications