How to automate Word from Visual Basic .NET to create a new document

Sample code

• 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.

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:
   1. On the Project menu, click Add Reference.
   2. 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 Microsoft Office XP primary interop assemblies (PIAs) are available for download
      
      
   3. 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

   with:

       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.

Use a template

• You can have greater control over the formatting and placement of objects throughout your documents.
• You can build your documents with less code.

oWord.Documents.Add "<Path to your template>\MyTemplate.dot"

oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("MyBookmark").Range.Text = "Some Text Here"

oDoc.Bookmarks.Item("MyBookmark").Range.Style = "MyStyle"

oWord.Selection.Style = "MyStyle"