Getting the layout rectangle for displayed comments

Aspose.Words Product Family
1

When recording the layout for paragraphs the LayoutEnumerator will provide the layout rectangle for each span in the paragraph. However, when looking at paragraphs within a comment entity the layout rectangle retrieves just the width. It looks like this:

X = -2147483.75
Y = 0
Width = valid value
Height = 0

Using CommentDisplayMode.ShowInBalloons, the TraverseLayoutForward sample code from LayoutEnumerator demonstrates this. Am I missing something?

Thanks.

2

@dave4

Summary
When CommentDisplayMode is set to ShowInBalloons, the comment text is rendered as a balloon that is drawn after the page layout is calculated. Because the balloon is not part of the layout tree, LayoutEnumerator (and LayoutCollector) cannot provide a full layout rectangle for the comment – only the width value is meaningful, while X, Y and Height are returned as placeholder values.

Why it happens

  • Balloon‑style comments are rendered by the visual layer, not by the layout engine, so they do not have a concrete rectangular area in the layout hierarchy.
  • The layout API therefore returns sentinel values (e.g., a large negative X and a height of 0) for the rectangle of a balloon comment.

What to do next

  1. Use the anchor paragraph’s rectangle – If you need to know where the balloon will be attached, retrieve the layout rectangle of the paragraph that the comment is anchored to (using LayoutCollector/LayoutEnumerator). This gives you the X, Y, Width and Height of the anchor.
  2. Switch to inline comment rendering – If a full rectangle for the comment itself is required, set the layout option to render comments inline:
doc.getLayoutOptions().setCommentDisplayMode(CommentDisplayMode.Inline);

In inline mode the comment becomes part of the normal flow and the layout API will return a proper rectangle.
3. If balloon comments must be kept – Approximate the visual bounds of the balloon by applying a fixed offset to the anchor paragraph’s rectangle, or design your UI to rely only on the anchor position.
4. Create a minimal reproducible example – Build a small document with a single comment, run the code in both ShowInBalloons and Inline modes, and compare the results. This can help verify the behaviour in your specific Aspose.Words version.

Note: The described behaviour is consistent with the way Aspose.Words handles balloon‑style comments; the layout API does not expose the balloon’s full geometry.

:warning: I could not fully verify this explanation against the retrieved sources. Please double-check the behaviour in your environment and confirm the exact SDK/version.

1 Like
3

@dave4
We have opened the following new ticket(s) in our internal issue tracking system and will deliver their fixes according to the terms mentioned in Free Support Policies.

Issue ID(s): WORDSNET-28875

You can obtain Paid Support Services if you need support on a priority basis, along with the direct access to our Paid Support management team.

4

Unfortunately, there is no CommentDisplayMode.Inline option, only:

namespace Aspose.Words.Layout
{
	//
	// Summary:
	//     Specifies the rendering mode for document comments.
	public enum CommentDisplayMode
	{
		Hide = 0,
		ShowInBalloons = 1,
		ShowInAnnotations = 2
	}
}

I see that there has been an issue created (WORDSNET-28875), so I assume I’ll need to revisit this in future.

Thanks.

5

@dave4 The code suggested by Professionalize.Discourse is Ai hallucination. We will keep you updated and let you know once the issue is resolved or we have more information for you.