WD98: Unexpected Results When Selected Text Assigned to Variable (Twice as Many Words as Expected) (184040)

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.