Checking for Matching Parentheses

The macro CheckParens flags all apparent unbalanced parenthesis in the document after which it is necessary to go through the document to correct each unbalance (or ignore) and remove the flag statement.

A better way would be to pause at each unbalance and provide options to ignore or correct at the time then continue on to the next unbalance. This can be achieved in a macro with a simple non modal user form that contains option buttons.

Step1. In the VBA editor click the Insert tab and select UserForm to display UserForm1.

Step 2. Using the toolbox place two command buttons on the form , these will have the default names CommandButton1 and CommandButton2. Click inside the buttons and change their labels to “Next” and “Cancel”. Drag the borders of the userform to give a compact form.
(see Figure 1 below)
Step 3. If Project Explorer is not visible click View > Project Explorer. Right click UserForm1 (expand Forms if it is not visible) and select View Code. In the UserForm1 code window insert:
Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
NextAction(1)
End Sub
Private Sub CommandButton2_Click()
Selection.Collapse
Userform1.hide
End Sub

Step 4. Insert > Module. In the Module1 code window insert:
Sub InitialiseForm()
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Userform1 .Show(False)
NextParenthesis
End Sub
Sub NextAction(Dum As Long)
Dim aRange As Range
Selection.Paragraphs(1).Range.Select
Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=1
NextParenthesis
End Sub
Private Sub NextParenthesis()
Dim WorkPara As String
Dim aPara As Paragraph
Dim aRange As Range
Dim j As Long
Dim k As Long
Set aRange = ActiveDocument.Range(Start:=Selection.Start, End:=ActiveDocument.Range.End)
For Each aPara In aRange.Paragraphs
WorkPara = aPara.Range.Text
k = 0
For j = 1 To Len(WorkPara)
If Mid(WorkPara, j, 1) = "(" Then k = k + 1
If Mid(WorkPara, j, 1) = ")" Then k = k - 1
If k < 0 Then
aPara.Range.Select
Exit Sub
End If
Next j
If k <> 0 Then
aPara.Range.Select
Exit Sub
End If
Next aPara
Userform1.hide
Selection.EndKey Unit:=wdStory
End Sub

Step 5. Run the macro InitialiseForm. The first paragraph with unmatched parentheses will be highlighted and the userform displayed. The paragraph can be corrected manually while the userform remains on the screen. Clicking the Next button will advance to the next paragraph that has unbalanced parentheses.

Andrew,
In my comment i mentioned that the list would be manually numbered. Many people still do not use automatic numbering, even though it is generally a better practice.

What I wanted to alert users to, was that there may be situations when parentheses may be unbalanced but it would be OK.
Worse, if in the paragraph manually numbered say 3) there was an open parenthesis without a matching closed parenthesis such paragraph would not be marked as unbalanced.

Tomek, No and Yes.

No, in that a range's text does not include the text of the automatic numbering. (Would that it did! Wouldn't it be nice to search for an automatic number?)

Yes, in that a range's text search does include the text of the field *reference* to an automatic number.

For example in the text "9) See paragraph 4) above."), the parenthesis in the "4)" reference would show as unbalanced, but the parenthesis added in the automatically numbered "9)" itself would not.

Andy.

Just a thought:
What if you have a manually numbered list, in which the numbers are like 1), 2) 3), etc? This will cause unbalanced parentheses, wouldn't it.

Thank You :)

this macro runs an endless loop. how do i get it to stop at the end of the document?

Brilliant. For amateurs like myself, seeing little programming examples like this helps give my confidence to "take the lid off" VBA and see how I can approach things. Thanks Allen.

I haven't see an array of binary values used in VBS before so that was a enlightening answer!

The count-down of number of paragraphs was pretty neat too.

Just a couple of things I wouldn't have thought of until I saw this.