Using invoke code to attach to a word opened/created by uipath

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1

Hello,

Since the Word activity for inserting a datatable is somewhat slow for my use case, i am trying to use invoke code to find the already opened document, pass the datatable to insert in argument and insert it.

However i have the following issues:

  1. invoke code C#
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application wordApp = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction.GetObject(null, "Word.Application")  as Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application;

i get the error : Invoke Code: No compiled code to run
error CS0234: The type or namespace name ‘Interaction’ does not exist in the namespace ‘Microsoft.VisualBasic’ (are you missing an assembly reference?) At line 1

  1. invoke code VBNet :
Dim wordApp As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application
wordApp = CType(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction.GetObject(Nothing, "Word.Application"), Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application)

Dim wordDoc As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Document
wordDoc = wordApp.ActiveDocument

wordApp is nothing, even if i open a word document (not make UiPath do it) still same thing.

I thought about using invoke VBA but this accepts only string arguments.

Any suggestions?

2

@koutaiba_alabd try this in invoke code:


Dim wordDoc As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Document = wordApp.ActiveDocument

' Then add your table:

Dim dt As DataTable = InArgumentDt ' pass your DataTable here

Dim rows = dt.Rows.Count

Dim cols = dt.Columns.Count

Dim wordTable = wordDoc.Tables.Add(wordApp.Selection.Range, rows + 1, cols)

For c = 1 To cols

    wordTable.Cell(1, c).Range.Text = dt.Columns(c - 1).ColumnName

Next

For r = 1 To rows

    For c = 1 To cols

        wordTable.Cell(r + 1, c).Range.Text = dt.Rows(r - 1)(c - 1).ToString()

    Next

Next

wordTable.AutoFitBehavior(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdAutoFitBehavior.wdAutoFitContent)

Also make sure - You add both Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word and Microsoft.VisualBasic in Invoke Code references

Pass your DataTable as an InArgument name InArgumentDt

3

Hello @koutaiba_alabd You can instead use Marshal.GetActiveObject which doesn’t require VB

using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

Application wordApp = null;
try
{
    wordApp = (Application)Marshal.GetActiveObject("Word.Application");
}
catch
{
    wordApp = new Application();
}

Document wordDoc = wordApp.ActiveDocument;

And make sure your arguments are

wordApp direction Out and type Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Applicationand for value wordAppVar
wordDoc direction Out of type Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Document and value wordDocVar

Also

create variable as per this
wordAppVar of type Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application
wordDocVar of type Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Document

and in your namespace or import panel import this
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word
System.Runtime.InteropServices
System.Data

Cheers

4

Hello, thanks for you suggestion. However, the same problem persists.

I modified the code you provided for debugging, here it is :

Try
	Dim wordApp As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application
	wordApp = CType(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction.GetObject(Nothing, "Word.Application"), Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application)
	
	Console.WriteLine("Got wordApp")
	
	Dim wordDoc As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Document = wordApp.ActiveDocument
	Console.WriteLine("Got wordDoc")
	' Then add your table:
	
	Dim dt As System.Data.DataTable = InArgumentDt ' pass your DataTable here
	
	Dim rows = dt.Rows.Count
	
	Dim cols = dt.Columns.Count
	
	Dim wordTable = wordDoc.Tables.Add(wordApp.Selection.Range, rows + 1, cols)

	For c = 1 To cols
	
	    wordTable.Cell(1, c).Range.Text = dt.Columns(c - 1).ColumnName
	
	Next
	
	For r = 1 To rows
	
	    For c = 1 To cols
	
	        wordTable.Cell(r + 1, c).Range.Text = dt.Rows(r - 1)(c - 1).ToString()
	
	    Next
	
	Next
	
	wordTable.AutoFitBehavior(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdAutoFitBehavior.wdAutoFitContent)
Catch ex As Exception
	Console.WriteLine("Error" & vbCrLf & ex.Message)
End Try

And here is what i get in the console:

Got wordApp
Error
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

As you can see, Dim wordDoc As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Document = wordApp.ActiveDocument fails because wordApp is Nothing (not set to an instance of an object)

Here is my test sequence

image
image562×631 16.2 KB

5

Hello, thanks for you reply.
Couple of things:

  • can’t use ‘using’ commands in invoke code

  • GetActiveObject is no longer part of marshal in .net 5 as per some tests i did

  • i tried the following :

try 
{
Application wordApp = null;
wordApp = new Application();
Console.WriteLine("wordApp created");
Document wordDoc = wordApp.ActiveDocument;
Console.WriteLine("ActiveDocument fetched");
}
catch (Exception e)
{
	Console.WriteLine("Error message");
	Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
	Console.WriteLine("Error Source");
	Console.WriteLine(e.Source);
	Console.WriteLine("Error Stack trace");
	Console.WriteLine(e.StackTrace);
    throw;
}

And still i have the same problem, here is the console 

wordApp created
Error message
This command is not available because no document is open.
Error Source
Microsoft Word
Error Stack trace
at Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.ApplicationClass.get_ActiveDocument()
6

@koutaiba_alabd
Try this

Dim dt As System.Data.DataTable = InArgumentDt
Dim wordDoc As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Document = doc

Dim rows = dt.Rows.Count
Dim cols = dt.Columns.Count

Dim wordTable = wordDoc.Tables.Add(wordDoc.Content.End-1, rows + 1, cols)

For c = 1 To cols
    wordTable.Cell(1, c).Range.Text = dt.Columns(c - 1).ColumnName
Next

For r = 1 To rows
    For c = 1 To cols
        wordTable.Cell(r + 1, c).Range.Text = dt.Rows(r - 1)(c - 1).ToString()
    Next
Next

wordTable.AutoFitBehavior(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdAutoFitBehavior.wdAutoFitContent)
7

I’m sorry but i think you didn’t provide any declarartion for ‘doc’ in your code. Which is the central element that i’m having trouble with, getting the word document.
Thanks for your consideration