I write to a word doc from my vb.net code. The code draws some of autoshapes, formats the shapes, writes text to them and format the text, auto resize the shape as text goes on increasing. When i run the code using F11 it works fine but if i do F5 shapes overlap each other.

I think the problem is because the shapes takes time to draw and autoresize and so their positions are not calculated properly.

Can anybody suggest something?

I do a lot of this kind of stuff, but haven't encountered (or tried) creating shapes in Word VBA via .NET

Some immediate workarounds spring to mind:
 

• if the shapes you're creating aren't dependant on calculations of some sort, then consider using the AutoText feature in Word
• if you're using Word 2003, you can create the objects far more securely via WordML (Xml)

hope this helps..

this is some of the code extract

************************************************** **********
Private objWord = new Word.Application
objWord.Documents.Add()

leftPos = 27.0#
topPos = 30.0#

objWord.ActiveDocument.Shapes.AddShape(msoShapeFol dedCorner, leftPos, topPos, bucketWidth, 10.0#).Select()
            objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.TextFram e.TextRange.Select()
objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.Collapse()
objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.Select()
            objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.Fill.For eColor.RGB = RGB(255, 253, 153)
objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.TextFram e.MarginLeft = 0.0#
objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.TextFram e.MarginRight = 0.0#
objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.TextFram e.MarginTop = 0.0#
objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.TextFram e.MarginBottom = 0.0#
objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.Relative HorizontalPosition = Word.WdRelativeHorizontalPosition.wdRelativeHorizo ntalPositionColumn
objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.Relative VerticalPosition = Word.WdRelativeVerticalPosition.wdRelativeVertical PositionParagraph
objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.WrapForm at.AllowOverlap = True
objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.WrapForm at.Side = Word.WdWrapSideType.wdWrapBoth
objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.WrapForm at.Type = Word.WdWrapType.wdWrapNone
objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.TextFram e.AutoSize = Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoTriState.msoTrue
objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.TextFram e.WordWrap = Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoTriState.msoTrue

For ..... some condition
          objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.TypeText(ideaCounte r & ". " & _dvIdeas.Item(counter).Item("IdeaText"))
                objWord.ActiveWindow.Selection.TypeParagraph()

Next
************************************************** **********

This writes to as many as 100 pages or even more.

Since this is a desktop application, it cannot be assured that the client will be using Word 2003 or not.

are you suggesting that the calls to create the ShapeRange object are being executed hundreds of times in an interation?

I would definitely consider setting up the shape as an AutoText in the first place. You can either do this manually, or at least create the shape only once, and then add that shape to the AutoText collection. You could then just insert the AutoText (via one line of code), and modify the resulting shape as necessary.

Either way, as a rule of thumb it's pretty inelegant, and ineffecient, to use the Selection object as you're doing. Did you originally record this via a VBA macro?

From you're code sample I would recommend spending much more time investigating the Word object model. There are many more low-level objects to use that might improve the performance and resilience of what you're trying to achieve

Yes i recorded this with VBA macro.

I'd try to find some alternative to this. If you come across any other solution do let me know.