Ranges

4D Write Pro allows you to programmatically select and manipulate document contents. Since the selected content can include text, images, tables, etc., and also (invisible) formatting tags, 4D Write Pro works with objects called ranges.

A range is an object that represents a portion of a 4D Write Pro document:

• a range of characters, paragraphs, pictures, or tables is defined through character positions within the parent document,
• a range of cells, columns and rows is defined through cell positions and are anchored to the parent table.

A range is used to designate elements to be selected or manipulate attributes on a part of the document (using WP GET ATTRIBUTES and WP SET ATTRIBUTES).

There are different types of ranges. You can determine the type of a range using the wk type attribute (read-only). Each range contains several private attributes that define it:

Constant	Value	Comment
wk end	end	(Read-only attribute) Range end offset, or section/subsection text end index in the document body (for subsection, text end index of the parent section). Value type: Longint
wk owner	owner	(Read-only attribute) Owner of the range/object/section/subsection (reference to the document for section/subsection). Value type: Object
wk start	start	(Read-only attribute) Range start offset, or section/subsection text start index in the document body (for subsection, text start index of the parent section). Value type: Longint
wk type	type	(Read-only attribute) Type of 4D Write Pro object. Possible values: - wk type default: Range or section with not defined type - wk type paragraph: Paragraph type range - wk type image: Image (anchored and inline) - wk type container: Header or footer, for instance - wk type table: Table reference For ranges of cells, columns and rows only: - wk type table row: Table row reference - wk type table cell: Table cell reference - wk type table column: Table column reference For subsections only: - wk first page: First page subsection - wk right page: Right page subsection - wk left page: Left page subsection

The ranges of rows, columns and cells of tables have specific, private attributes allowing to define them:

Constant	Value	Comment
wk cell count	cellCount	Total number of cells in the row. Value type: Longint (value for wk type table row)
wk column count	columnCount	(Available for tables, documents and sections) Number of columns. Value type: Longint For a table: read-only attribute For a document or a section: read-write attribute. Default value = 1 (single column). Maximum value = 20
wk first column	firstColumn	(Read-only attribute) Number of the first table column included in the range. Value type: Longint
wk first row	firstRow	(Read-only attribute) Number of the first table row included in the range. Value type: Longint
wk header row count	headerRowCount	(Read/Write) Number of rows of the table with the attribute wk header set to True. Maximum value is 5. If you pass a value above 5, wk header is set to True for the first five rows only (see Repeated headers).
wk row count	rowCount	(Read-only attribute) Total number of rows. Value type: Longint
wk table	table	(Read-only attribute) The parent table. Value type: Object
wk table ID	tableID	(Read-only attribute) ID of the parent table. Value type: String

Several commands allow you to define document ranges:

• WP Text range returns a new range corresponding to boundaries you passed as parameters.
• WP Selection range returns a new range corresponding to the current user selection.
• WP Picture range returns a new range containing only the pictures.
• WP Paragraph range returns a new range containing only the paragraphs.
• WP Table range returns a new range containing only the tables.

You can get information about the position of a range in a document (page number, column number...) using the WP Get position command.