WD98: Unexpected Results When Selected Text Assigned to Variable

ID: Q184040

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Word, when you create a macro to select adjacent text from left to right and then assign the selections to two different variables, if you then set the first variable to be equal to the value of the second variable, you may receive unexpected results. Specifically, the value of the second variable will be twice as many words as what you expect.

For example, take the phrase "We are testing some text." If you use the following code to assign the second word to the variable oSelection and the third word to oSelection2, and if you then look at the value of the oSelection2 variable after the assignment statement, the value is "testing testing."

Sample Macro

   Sub SelctionAssign()

      ActiveDocument.Content = "We are testing some text in a selection."

      Set oSelection = ActiveDocument.Content.Words(2)
      Set oSelection2 = ActiveDocument.Content.Words(3)

      MsgBox "Selection one = " & oSelection.Text & Chr(13) & _
      "Selection two = " & oSelection2.Text, Title:="Before Assigning"

      oSelection.Text = oSelection2.Text

      MsgBox "Selection one = " & oSelection.Text & Chr(13) & _
      "Selection two = " & oSelection2.Text, Title:="After Assigning"

   End Sub

If you run this macro, the message box shows that the second variable oSelection2 takes the value "testing testing." This is an order and position issue: if you select word three and then word two, or if you select word two and then word four, this problem will not occur.

CAUSE

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Word. If you have a selection, and if you insert text to the left of the first character, that text becomes part of the selection. To see how Word adjusts selections, follow these steps:

1. Open a new document.

2. Type "sample text," and then select it.

3. On the Window menu, click New Window.

4. At the beginning of "sample text," type "IP" (without the quotation

   marks) and then type any text.

5. Switch to the first window.

6. Whatever you typed plus sample text is selected.

The sample macro in this article simulates this type of behavior in code.

REFERENCES

For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q163435
   TITLE     : VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for
               Applications

Keywords          : kbdta kbdtacode WordCon
Version           : MACINTOSH:98
Platform          : MACINTOSH
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: February 13, 1999