Using A Counter In A VBA Macro

T'other day, I knocked together a macro, for a friend, to number the paragraphs in a Microsoft Word document ("manual" rather than hard-coded numbering, that is):

Sub NumberingParagraphs()

    Dim iParagraphs As Integer
    iParagraphs = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Count
    
    Selection.HomeKey unit:=wdStory
     
    Do While iCount < iParagraphs
        iCount = iCount + 1
        Selection.TypeText iCount & ": "
        Selection.MoveDown unit:=wdParagraph
    Loop

End Sub

My mate, being curious about, but not having experience of, the workings of such things, took a look and got the basic idea, but couldn't get his head around why the number of loops is seemingly instructed to be one less than the number of paragraphs. Surely, he said, it should be "less than or equal to," rather than "less than." Well, no. His kid got it straight away, and came up with a lovely semi-analogy; which I now share, in hopes that others who've been puzzled by this oft-seen seeming-paradox might see the light. Let's literally (yet figuratively) walk through the macro…

You're in a room, in front of a computer. On the screen is a document. You count the paragraphs. (That's the meaning of the first two lines of the above Sub.) There are three.

You click the cursor to the very start of the document. (That's the line about the home key.)

Noting that the front door of the room cannot be opened from the inside (and that there's a man stood just inside it, but he's not important yet), you exit through the back door and walk around the outside to the front. (This stroll is necessary for narrative, not analogical, reasons. We need to get you to the front door.)

There's a lady stood by the front door. She asks you how many paragraphs there are in the document. She then tells you that after she's seen you enter the door twice, she'll stop you entering again. (That's the "Do while less than the number of paragraphs" line.) At present she's seen you use the door zero times.

You enter. The chap inside the door tells you that "iCount" is the number of times he has seen you enter. Which is once. (That's the "iCount…" line.)

At the computer, you leave the cursor where it is and type your iCount number: "1:_." (The "TypeText" line.) Then you move the cursor to the start of the next paragraph. (The "MoveDown" line.)

Now you "loop" by going out the back and around to the front (this time for analogical reasons). The lady tells you that she's seen you enter one time. You go in. "Two," says the man, so you type "2:_," move the cursor down a paragraph, and go around again. "Two times," says the woman. "Three," says the bloke. You type "3:_," try to move to the next paragraph, but can't 'cause it don't exist, and go out of the back door and around to the front again… "Bugger off!" says the lady, going into full-on rough-nightclub bouncer mode. "You're done!"

And you are done. What's happened is that the first line of the loop ("Do while…") has counted the same number of times as the second, but the first started at nought while the second started at one (Count your fingers starting at "nought" on the thumb, and you'll still speak out five digits (Oh, I'm so punny!), but you'll only reach "four."), and it's the first line's count that limits your turns through the loop. Or, in terms of our analogy of a literal walk-through, the woman has counted your use of the door on three occasions (nought one two) and so has the man (one two three); and it's her count that determines the number of times you go through the loop, while his decides what you type.

And that's me lot, except that the finished product is a little different from the version I posted above. I simplified it so as to avoid side-tracks and complications. The actual macro, shown below, will number all paragraphs in the document if no text is selected, or if some is selected, will number only those paragraphs containing selected text. (It's written so you don't need to select complete paragraphs.)
—Daz

Sub NumberingParagraphs2()

    Dim iParagraphs As Integer
    If Selection.Type = wdSelectionIP Then
        iParagraphs = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Count
        Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
    Else
        iParagraphs = Selection.Paragraphs.Count
        Selection.StartOf Unit:=wdParagraph
    End If
    Do While iCount < iParagraphs
        iCount = iCount + 1
        Selection.TypeText iCount & ": "
        Selection.MoveDown Unit:=wdParagraph
    Loop
End Sub

---

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