This step-by-step article describes how to create a new
document in Word by using Automation from Visual Basic .NET.
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Sample code
The sample code in this article demonstrates how to do the
following:
| • | Insert paragraphs with text and formatting. |
| • | Browse and modify various ranges within a
document. |
| • | Insert tables, format tables, and populate the tables with
data. |
| • | Add a chart. |
To create a new Word document by using Automation from Visual
Basic .NET, follow these steps:
| 1. | Start Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. On the File menu, click New and then click Project. Under Project types click Visual Basic Projects, then click Windows Application under Templates. Form1 is created by default. |
| 2. | Add a reference to the Microsoft Word Object Library. To do this, follow these steps:| a. | On the Project menu, click Add Reference. | | b. | On the COM tab, locate the Microsoft Word Object Library and click Select.
Note Microsoft Office 2003 and later versions of Office include Primary Interop Assemblies (PIAs). Microsoft Office XP does not include PIAs, but they may be downloaded.
For more information about Office XP PIAs, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
328912 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328912/)
Microsoft Office XP primary interop assemblies (PIAs) are available for download
| | c. | Click OK in the Add References dialog box to accept your selections. If you receive a prompt to
generate wrappers for the libraries that you selected, click Yes. |
|
| 3. | On the View menu, select Toolbox to display the Toolbox, and then add a button to
Form1. |
| 4. | Double-click Button1. The code window for the form appears. |
| 5. | In the code window, replace the following code
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
End Sub
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim oWord As Word.Application
Dim oDoc As Word.Document
Dim oTable As Word.Table
Dim oPara1 As Word.Paragraph, oPara2 As Word.Paragraph
Dim oPara3 As Word.Paragraph, oPara4 As Word.Paragraph
Dim oRng As Word.Range
Dim oShape As Word.InlineShape
Dim oChart As Object
Dim Pos As Double
'Start Word and open the document template.
oWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
oWord.Visible = True
oDoc = oWord.Documents.Add
'Insert a paragraph at the beginning of the document.
oPara1 = oDoc.Content.Paragraphs.Add
oPara1.Range.Text = "Heading 1"
oPara1.Range.Font.Bold = True
oPara1.Format.SpaceAfter = 24 '24 pt spacing after paragraph.
oPara1.Range.InsertParagraphAfter()
'Insert a paragraph at the end of the document.
'** \endofdoc is a predefined bookmark.
oPara2 = oDoc.Content.Paragraphs.Add(oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("\endofdoc").Range)
oPara2.Range.Text = "Heading 2"
oPara2.Format.SpaceAfter = 6
oPara2.Range.InsertParagraphAfter()
'Insert another paragraph.
oPara3 = oDoc.Content.Paragraphs.Add(oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("\endofdoc").Range)
oPara3.Range.Text = "This is a sentence of normal text. Now here is a table:"
oPara3.Range.Font.Bold = False
oPara3.Format.SpaceAfter = 24
oPara3.Range.InsertParagraphAfter()
'Insert a 3 x 5 table, fill it with data, and make the first row
'bold and italic.
Dim r As Integer, c As Integer
oTable = oDoc.Tables.Add(oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("\endofdoc").Range, 3, 5)
oTable.Range.ParagraphFormat.SpaceAfter = 6
For r = 1 To 3
For c = 1 To 5
oTable.Cell(r, c).Range.Text = "r" & r & "c" & c
Next
Next
oTable.Rows.Item(1).Range.Font.Bold = True
oTable.Rows.Item(1).Range.Font.Italic = True
'Add some text after the table.
'oTable.Range.InsertParagraphAfter()
oPara4 = oDoc.Content.Paragraphs.Add(oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("\endofdoc").Range)
oPara4.Range.InsertParagraphBefore()
oPara4.Range.Text = "And here's another table:"
oPara4.Format.SpaceAfter = 24
oPara4.Range.InsertParagraphAfter()
'Insert a 5 x 2 table, fill it with data, and change the column widths.
oTable = oDoc.Tables.Add(oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("\endofdoc").Range, 5, 2)
oTable.Range.ParagraphFormat.SpaceAfter = 6
For r = 1 To 5
For c = 1 To 2
oTable.Cell(r, c).Range.Text = "r" & r & "c" & c
Next
Next
oTable.Columns.Item(1).Width = oWord.InchesToPoints(2) 'Change width of columns 1 & 2
oTable.Columns.Item(2).Width = oWord.InchesToPoints(3)
'Keep inserting text. When you get to 7 inches from top of the
'document, insert a hard page break.
Pos = oWord.InchesToPoints(7)
oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("\endofdoc").Range.InsertParagraphAfter()
Do
oRng = oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("\endofdoc").Range
oRng.ParagraphFormat.SpaceAfter = 6
oRng.InsertAfter("A line of text")
oRng.InsertParagraphAfter()
Loop While Pos >= oRng.Information(Word.WdInformation.wdVerticalPositionRelativeToPage)
oRng.Collapse(Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseEnd)
oRng.InsertBreak(Word.WdBreakType.wdPageBreak)
oRng.Collapse(Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseEnd)
oRng.InsertAfter("We're now on page 2. Here's my chart:")
oRng.InsertParagraphAfter()
'Insert a chart and change the chart.
oShape = oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("\endofdoc").Range.InlineShapes.AddOLEObject( _
ClassType:="MSGraph.Chart.8", FileName _
:="", LinkToFile:=False, DisplayAsIcon:=False)
oChart = oShape.OLEFormat.Object
oChart.charttype = 4 'xlLine = 4
oChart.Application.Update()
oChart.Application.Quit()
'If desired, you can proceed from here using the Microsoft Graph
'Object model on the oChart object to make additional changes to the
'chart.
oShape.Width = oWord.InchesToPoints(6.25)
oShape.Height = oWord.InchesToPoints(3.57)
'Add text after the chart.
oRng = oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("\endofdoc").Range
oRng.InsertParagraphAfter()
oRng.InsertAfter("THE END.")
'All done. Close this form.
Me.Close()
End Sub |
| 6. | Add the following code to the top of Form1.vb:
Imports Word = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word |
| 7. | Press F5 to build and run the program. |
After the code completes, examine the document that is created
for you. The document contains two pages of formatted paragraphs, tables, and a
chart.
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Use a template
If you are using Automation to build documents that are all in a
common format, you can benefit from starting the process with a new document
that is based on a preformatted template. Using a template with your Word
Automation client has two significant advantages over building a document from
nothing:
| • | You can have greater control over the formatting and
placement of objects throughout your documents. |
| • | You can build your documents with less code. |
By using a template, you can fine-tune the placement of tables,
paragraphs, and other objects within the document, as well as include
formatting on those objects. By using Automation, you can create a new document
based on your template with code such as the following:
oWord.Documents.Add "<Path to your template>\MyTemplate.dot"
In your template, you can define bookmarks so that your Automation
client can fill in variable text at a specific location in the document, as
follows:
oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("MyBookmark").Range.Text = "Some Text Here" Another advantage to using a template is that you can create and store
formatting styles that you wish to apply at run time, as follows:
oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("MyBookmark").Range.Style = "MyStyle" -or-
oWord.Selection.Style = "MyStyle"
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For more information about using Visual Basic .NET to automate
Microsoft Word, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
301656 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301656/)
How to automate Word to perform a mail merge from Visual Basic .NET
For more information, see the following Microsoft
Developer Network (MSDN) Web sites:
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Help and Support
