How to determine the correct moment when Word has finished to write to a docx file

Question

Hello,
we are currently passing a document to Microsoft Word for editing and want to take back the changed/saved document when editing is finished. But it seems we have issues to determine the correct moment when Word has for sure saved all changes and
it is save to take back the file.
To pass the document to Word we use ShellExecuteEx with the file name. Then we use the Running Objects Table and a File Moniker to wait for the file to be closed.
Sample code:
HRESULT hRes = S_OK; 
CComPtr<IMoniker> spIMoniker; 
CComPtr<IRunningObjectTable> pRT; 
hRes = GetRunningObjectTable(0, &pRT); 
if (FAILED(hRes))
   TWTHROW1(TWERR_ANY_ERROR, hRes, _T("GetRunningObjectTable failed."));
hRes = ::CreateFileMoniker(m_strTempFilename.AllocSysString(), &spIMoniker);
if (FAILED(hRes))
   TWTHROW1(TWERR_ANY_ERROR, hRes, _T("CreateFileMoniker failed."));
while (S_OK == pRT->IsRunning(spIMoniker) && !m_bShutdown)
   Sleep(500);
   continue;
So we wait for the file to be removed from the Running Objects Table and additionally wait until we can get exclusive access to the file before we take over the changed file. But still it seems to happen that we take the file too early. Hence it
seems the file is removed from the Running Objects Table by Microsoft Word before saving the file has completed.
Is this behaviour of Microsoft Word by design? What is the best practice to identify the moment in time when writing the file has completed. Some other applications like Winzip seem to do the same thing.
Thanks,
Wolfgang

Answer 1

Hi WolfGang,
Thanks for posting in MSDN forum.
Based on the description, you are developing application with Windows API. I would like to move it to
General Windows Desktop Development Issues forum.
The reason why we recommend posting appropriately is you will get the mostqualified pool of respondents, and other partners who read the forums regularly can either share their knowledge
or learn from your interaction with us.
Thanks for your understanding.
Regards & Fei
We are trying to better understand customer views on social support experience, so your participation in this interview project would be greatly appreciated if you have time. Thanks for helping make community forums a great place.
Click
HERE to participate the survey.