Cathals Corner

Programmatically manipulate an Image imbedded inside a DocX document

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:54:00 +0000

This example uses DocX to write the text “Hello World” into an Image embedded inside a .docx document.

Note: Make sure the document Input.docx exists and that it contains an Image.

Below is an example Input.docx and Output.docx

Code Snippet
 using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using Novacode;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.IO;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
namespace testDocX
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Open the document Input.docx.
            using (DocX document = DocX.Load("Input.docx"))
            {
                // Make sure this document has at least one Image.
                if (document.Images.Count() > 0)
                {
                    Novacode.Image img = document.Images[0];
                    CoolExample(img, "Hello World");
                }
 
                else
                    Console.WriteLine("The provided document contains no Images.");
 
                // Save this document as Output.docx.
                document.SaveAs("Output.docx");
            }
        }
 
        // Write the given string into this Image.
        private static void CoolExample(Novacode.Image img, string str)
        {
            // Write "Hello World" into this Image.
            Bitmap b = new Bitmap(img.GetStream(FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite));
 
            /* 
             * Get the Graphics object for this Bitmap.
             * The Graphics object provides functions for drawing.
             */
            Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(b);
 
            // Draw the string "Hello World".
            g.DrawString
            (
                str,
                new Font("Tahoma", 20),
                Brushes.Blue,
                new PointF(0, 0)
            );
 
            // Save this Bitmap back into the document using a Create\Write stream.
            b.Save(img.GetStream(FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write), ImageFormat.Png);
        }
    }
}
 

Replace text across many documents in Parallel

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:29:00 +0000

.NET 4.0 makes Parallel programming easy. Below is an example of how to replace text across many .docx documents in parallel.

This example contains 4 functions.

1) Replace: This function opens a document and does the text replace.

2) NonParallel_ReplaceText: This is how you would replace text across multiple documents without using parallel execution. This is included for comparisons sake.

3) Parallel_ReplaceText: This is how you would replace text across multiple documents in parallel.

4) Main: This function does the work sequentially and then in parallel and prints the time taken for both.

Before running this code replace the line
DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(@"C:\Users\Cathal\Desktop\multiple");
with a directory on your machine that contains many .docx documents.

Note(s):

1) There is over head when executing code in Parallel. Make sure your doing enough work to justify Parallel execution. For example: if you run this code on 4 small documents, the function NonParallel_ReplaceText may run faster than its parallel equivalent.

2) Run this example without the debugger, the debugger adds overhead which makes this code run significantly slower.

3) You can download and build the latest version of DocX.dll from here http://docx.codeplex.com/SourceControl/list/changesets#.

Code Snippet
 using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using Novacode;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.IO;
using System.Diagnostics;
namespace testDocX
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Directory containing many .docx documents.
            DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(@"C:\Users\Cathal\Desktop\multiple");
 
            // Print out the time taken in miliseconds.
            Console.WriteLine("Non-Parallel took " + NonParallel_ReplaceText(di, "pear", "raep") + " miliseconds.");
 
            // Print out the time taken in miliseconds.
            Console.WriteLine("Parallel took " + Parallel_ReplaceText(di, "raep", "pear") + " miliseconds.");
 
            // Wait until the user presses a key before exiting.
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
 
        // Replace text accross multiple documents sequentially.
        private static long NonParallel_ReplaceText(DirectoryInfo di, string a, string b)
        {
            // Create a new Stopwatch, we will use this to time execution.
            Stopwatch sw = new Stopwatch();
 
            sw.Start(); // Start the stop watch.
 
            // Loop through each document in this specified direction.
            foreach (FileInfo fi in di.GetFiles())
            {
                // Replace text in this document.
                Replace(fi.FullName, a, b);
            }
 
            sw.Stop(); // Stop the stop watch.
 
            // Return the time taken in miliseconds.
            return sw.ElapsedMilliseconds;
        }
 
        // Replace text accross multiple documents in Parallel.
        private static long Parallel_ReplaceText(DirectoryInfo di, string a, string b)
        {
            // Create a new Stopwatch, we will use this to time execution.
            Stopwatch sw = new Stopwatch();
 
            sw.Start(); // Start the stop watch.
 
            // Loop through each document in this specified direction.
            System.Threading.Tasks.Parallel.ForEach
            (
                di.GetFiles(), 
                currentFile =>
                {
                    Replace(currentFile.FullName, a, b);
                }
            );
 
            sw.Stop(); // Stop the stop watch.
 
            // Return the time taken in miliseconds.
            return sw.ElapsedMilliseconds;
        }
 
        // Replace the string a with the string b in filename and save the changes.
        static void Replace(string filename, string a, string b)
        {
            // Load the document.
            using (DocX document = DocX.Load(filename))
            {
                // Replace text in this document.
                document.ReplaceText(a, b);
 
                // Save changes made to this document.
                document.Save();
            } // Release this document from memory.
        }
    }
}
 

DocX version 1.0.0.10

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:17:00 +0000

This version of DocX contains support for Headers and Footers.
There are a few different options to choose from.

1) You can have a default Header and Footer for the entire document.
2) You can have a different Header and Footer for the first page.
3) You can have a different Header and Footer for odd and even pages.

The first code example generates a document with a default Header and Footer that is applied to all pages.

Default Header and Footer
 // Create a new document.
using (DocX document = DocX.Create(@"Test.docx"))
{
    // Add Header and Footer support to this document.
    document.AddHeaders();
    document.AddFooters();
 
    // Get the default Header for this document.
    Header header_default = document.Headers.odd;
 
    // Get the default Footer for this document.
    Footer footer_default = document.Footers.odd;
 
    // Insert a Paragraph into the default Header.
    Paragraph p1 = header_default.InsertParagraph();
    p1.Append("Hello Header.").Bold();
 
    // Insert a Paragraph into the document.
    Paragraph p2 = document.InsertParagraph();
    p2.AppendLine("Hello Document.").Bold();
 
    // Insert a Paragraph into the default Footer.
    Paragraph p3 = footer_default.InsertParagraph();
    p3.Append("Hello Footer.").Bold();
    
    // Save all changes to this document.
    document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory.
 

The code directly above will generate a document that looks like the image below.

The second code example generates a document which has a different Header and Footer for the first page. All other pages use the default Header and Footer.

First Header and Footer
 // Create a new document.
using (DocX document = DocX.Create(@"Test.docx"))
{
    // Add Header and Footer support to this document.
    document.AddHeaders();
    document.AddFooters();
 
    // Get the first Header for this document.
    Header header_first = document.Headers.first;
 
    // Get the first Footer for this document.
    Footer footer_first = document.Footers.first;
 
    // Insert a Paragraph into the first Header.
    Paragraph p1 = header_first.InsertParagraph();
    p1.Append("Hello First Header.").Bold();
 
    // Insert a Paragraph into the document.
    Paragraph p2 = document.InsertParagraph();
    p2.AppendLine("Hello First page.");
    
    // Create a second page to show that only the first has a header and footer.
    p2.InsertPageBreakAfterSelf();
 
    // Insert a Paragraph after the page break.
    Paragraph p3 = document.InsertParagraph();
    p3.AppendLine("Hello Second page.");
 
    // Insert a Paragraph into the first Footer.
    Paragraph p4 = footer_first.InsertParagraph();
    p4.Append("Hello First Footer.").Bold();
 
    // Force the first page to have a different Header and Footer.
    document.DifferentFirstPage = true;
 
    // Save all changes to this document.
    document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory.
 

The code directly above will generate a document that looks like the image below. Notice that the second page has an empty Header and Footer, this will also be the same for all proceeding pages.

The third code example generates a document which has a different Header and Footer for odd and even pages.

Odd and Even Header and Footer
 // Create a new document.
using (DocX document = DocX.Create(@"Test.docx"))
{
    // Add Header and Footer support to this document.
    document.AddHeaders();
    document.AddFooters();
 
    // Get the odd and even Headers for this document.
    Header header_odd = document.Headers.odd;
    Header header_even = document.Headers.even;
 
    // Get the odd and even Footer for this document.
    Footer footer_odd = document.Footers.odd;
    Footer footer_even = document.Footers.even;
 
    // Insert a Paragraph into the odd Header.
    Paragraph p1 = header_odd.InsertParagraph();
    p1.Append("Hello Odd Header.").Bold();
 
    // Insert a Paragraph into the even Header.
    Paragraph p2 = header_even.InsertParagraph();
    p2.Append("Hello Even Header.").Bold();
 
    // Insert a Paragraph into the document.
    Paragraph p3 = document.InsertParagraph();
    p3.AppendLine("Hello First page.");
    
    // Create a second page to show that even and odd pages have different headers and footers.
    p3.InsertPageBreakAfterSelf();
 
    // Insert a Paragraph after the page break.
    Paragraph p4 = document.InsertParagraph();
    p4.AppendLine("Hello Second page.");
 
    // Insert a Paragraph into the odd Footer.
    Paragraph p5 = footer_odd.InsertParagraph();
    p5.Append("Hello Odd Footer.").Bold();
 
    // Insert a Paragraph into the even Footer.
    Paragraph p6 = footer_even.InsertParagraph();
    p6.Append("Hello Even Footer.").Bold();
 
    // Force odd & even pages to have different Headers and Footers.
    document.DifferentOddAndEvenPages = true;
 
    // Save all changes to this document.
    document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory.
 

The code directly above will generate a document that looks like the image below. Note that the first page has a different header and footer than the second.

It is of course possible to create a document with a different header and footer for odd, even and the first page. You just need to set the following two properties to true.

// Force the first, odd & even pages to have different Headers and Footers.
document.DifferentOddAndEvenPages = true;
document.DifferentFirstPage = true;

This version of DocX does not support page numbering inside Headers and Footers. This feature will require much more development time due to the shear number of options available for numbering. I hope to add this feature in the near future.

Happy coding,
Cathal

Cathal: Why did you create DocX?

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:09:00 +0000

Before I created the OpenSource library “DocX”, there were two methods by which a .docx document could be generated programmatically. This blog post demonstrates each method in turn by generating a simple HelloWorld document.

After experiencing both methods for document creation I hope you will agree that DocX is a interesting alternative. DocX was designed with simplicity in mind. It dose not require the user to have any knowledge of how .docx documents are stored or organised internally.

Method 1: HelloWorld using Office Interop

Make sure that you have added a reference to

1) Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word (version 12.0.0.0)

OfficeInterop HelloWorld
 using System;
using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;
using System.Reflection;
using System.IO;
 
namespace OfficeInterop
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Get the path of the executing assembly.
            string path = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
 
            // The location to save the file.
            Object oSaveAsFile = (Object)(path + @"\Test.docx");
 
            // Object of Missing "Null Value".
            Object oMissing = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;
 
            // Object of false.
            Object oFalse = false;
 
            // Create object of Word and Document.
            Application oWord = new Application();
            Document oWordDoc = new Document();
 
            // Don't display Word.
            oWord.Visible = false;
 
            // Add a new document.
            oWordDoc = oWord.Documents.Add(ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
            
            // Enter some text with the font Arial Black.
            oWord.Selection.Font.Name = "Arial Black";
            oWord.Selection.TypeText("Hello World");
 
            // Save the document.
            oWordDoc.SaveAs
            (
                ref oSaveAsFile, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
                ref oMissing, ref oMissing,ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
                ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
                ref oMissing, ref oMissing
            );
 
 
            // Close the file.
            oWordDoc.Close(ref oFalse, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
             
            // Quit Word.exe
            oWord.Quit(ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
        }
    }
}
 

Method 2: HelloWorld using the OOXML SDK

Make sure that you have added a reference to both

1) DocumentFormat.OpenXml (version 2.0.5022.0)
2) WindowsBase (version 3.0.0.0)

OOXML HelloWorld
 using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Wordprocessing;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml;
 
namespace OOXML
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Create a package.
            WordprocessingDocument doc = 
            WordprocessingDocument.Create
            (
                @"Test.docx",
                WordprocessingDocumentType.Document
            );
 
            // Create a main document part and add it to the package.
            MainDocumentPart mainPart = doc.AddMainDocumentPart();
            mainPart.Document = new Document();
            
            // Create some content.
            Text textFirstLine = new Text("Hello World");
            Run run = new Run(textFirstLine);
            Paragraph para = new Paragraph(run);
           
            // Apply a font.
            RunProperties runProp = new RunProperties();
            RunFonts runFont = new RunFonts();
            runFont.Ascii = "Arial Black";
            runProp.Append(runFont);
            run.PrependChild<RunProperties>(runProp);
 
            // Add the content into the document.
            Body body = new Body(para);
            mainPart.Document.Append(body);
            
            /* Save and close */
            mainPart.Document.Save();
            doc.Close();
        }
    }
}
 

HelloWorld using DocX

Make sure that you have added a reference to

1) DocX (version 1.0.0.9)
2) System.Drawing (version 2.0.0.0)

DocX HelloWorld
 using System;
using Novacode;
using System.Drawing;
 
namespace DocXHelloWorld
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            using (DocX document = DocX.Create("Test.docx"))
            {
                // Add a new Paragraph to the document.
                Paragraph p = document.InsertParagraph();
                
                // Append some text.
                p.Append("Hello World").Font(new FontFamily("Arial Black"));
 
                // Save the document.
                document.Save();
            }
        }
    }
}
 

Fluid Paragraph creation with Append

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:35:00 +0000

DocX v1.0.0.9 makes Paragraph creation even easier. The original idea of using Append in this manor came from a DocX user Morten Bjerre. Once again Morten I would like to say thank you for your contribution.

The below code creates a document with the following content.

A Picture
A Hyperlink
Different fonts
Different text styles

I hope you will agree that Append() and its variants [AppendLine(), AppendPicture() and AppendHyperlink()] make the creation of Paragraphs flow in a very fluid manor.

The below code creates the following output.

Code Snippet
 // Create a document.
            using (DocX document = DocX.Create("Test.docx"))
            {
                // Add a hyperlink into the document.
                Hyperlink link = document.AddHyperlink("link", new Uri("http://www.google.com"));
 
                // Add a Table into the document.
                Table table = document.AddTable(2, 2);
                table.Design = TableDesign.ColorfulGridAccent2;
                table.Alignment = Alignment.center;
                table.Rows[0].Cells[0].Paragraphs[0].Append("3");
                table.Rows[0].Cells[1].Paragraphs[0].Append("1");
                table.Rows[1].Cells[0].Paragraphs[0].Append("4");
                table.Rows[1].Cells[1].Paragraphs[0].Append("1");
 
                // Add an image into the document.    
                Novacode.Image image = document.AddImage("Image.jpg");
 
                // Create a picture (A custom view of an Image).
                Picture picture = image.CreatePicture();
                picture.Rotation = 10;
                picture.SetPictureShape(BasicShapes.cube);
 
                // Insert a new Paragraph into the document. 
                Paragraph title = document.InsertParagraph().Append("Test").FontSize(20).Font(new FontFamily("Comic Sans MS"));
                title.Alignment = Alignment.center;
 
                // Insert a new Paragraph into the document.
                Paragraph p1 = document.InsertParagraph();
 
                // Append content to the Paragraph
                p1.AppendLine("This line contains a ").Append("bold").Bold().Append(" word.");
                p1.AppendLine("Here is a cool ").AppendHyperlink(link).Append(".");
                p1.AppendLine();
                p1.AppendLine("Check out this picture ").AppendPicture(picture).Append(" its funky don't you think?");
                p1.AppendLine();
                p1.AppendLine("Can you check this Table of figures for me?");
                p1.AppendLine();
                
                // Insert the Table after Paragraph 1.
                p1.InsertTableAfterSelf(table);
 
                // Insert a new Paragraph into the document.
                Paragraph p2 = document.InsertParagraph();
 
                // Append content to the Paragraph.
                p2.AppendLine("Is it correct?");
 
                // Save this document.
                document.Save();
            }
 

If you would like to request a new feature, report a bug or just say hi, send me an email at coffey.cathal@gmail.com

Happy coding,
Cathal

Future

As always, I offer this code to you for free. I am however a student and if you would like to help me pay of some of my student debt , you can make a donation to DocX via paypal.

DocX version 1.0.0.9

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:21:00 +0000

The summer is finally here and so is DocX version 1.0.0.9. I would like to say sorry once again for the long wait but I simply couldn’t allow DocX to effect my final year college exams.

I received lots of feature requests over the past few months. I intend to implement as many of these features as possible over the next few releases. I have decided to make many small releases instead of one large release.

So what's new in this release?

1) Hyperlinks

DocX now supports hyperlinks.

The Document class now contains AddHyperlink(string, Uri)
The Paragraph class now contains AppendHyperlink(Hyperlink);

Example

Code Snippet
 // Create a document.
using (DocX document = DocX.Create(@"Test.docx"))
{
    // Add a hyperlink to this document.
    Hyperlink h = document.AddHyperlink
    ("Google", new Uri("http://www.google.com"));
 
    // Add a new Paragraph to this document.
    Paragraph p = document.InsertParagraph();
    p.Append("My favourite search engine is ");
    p.AppendHyperlink(h);
    p.Append(", I think it's great.");
 
    // Save all changes made to this document.
    document.Save();
}
 

Output

2) Content Direction

The Paragraph class now contains a property called Direction which can be either LeftToRight or RightToLeft. This property has both a getter and setter function.

To accommodate Paragraph Direction

The Document class now contains SetDirection(Direction)
The Table class now contains SetDirection(Direction)
The Row class now contains SetDirection(Direction)
The Cell class now contains SetDirection(Direction)

Where Direction is an enum with the choices LeftToRight and RightToLeft.

Example

Code Snippet
 // Create a new document.
using (DocX document = DocX.Create("Test.docx"))
{
    // Create a new Paragraph with the text "Hello World".
    Paragraph p = document.InsertParagraph("Hello World.");
 
    // Make this Paragraph flow right to left. Default is left to right.
    p.Direction = Direction.RightToLeft;
 
    // Save all changes made to this document.
    document.Save();
}
 

Output

3) Indentation

The Paragraph class now contains four properties for setting Indentation.

IndentationFirstLine(float) which indents only the first line of a paragraph.
IndentationHanging(float) which indents all but the first line of a paragraph.
IndentationBefore(float) which indents before content.
IndentationAfter(float) which indents after content.

Example

Code Snippet
 // Create a new document.
using (DocX document = DocX.Create("Test.docx"))
{
    // Create a new Paragraph.
    Paragraph p = document.InsertParagraph("Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3");
 
    // Indent only the first line of the Paragraph.
    p.IndentationFirstLine = 1.0f;
 
    // Save all changes made to this document.
    document.Save();
}
 

Output

4) Pictures

The Image class now contains a CreatePicture() function and the Paragraph class contains a AppendPicture(Picture) function. The below example should explain how these updates enable easier Paragraph building.

Example

Code Snippet
 using (DocX document = DocX.Create("Test.docx"))
{
    // Add an image to the document. 
    Image i = document.AddImage(@"Image.jpg");
 
    // Create a picture i.e. (A custom view of an image)
    Picture p = i.CreatePicture();
    p.FlipHorizontal = true;
    p.Rotation = 10;
 
    // Create a new Paragraph.
    Paragraph par = document.InsertParagraph();
 
    // Append content to the Paragraph.
    par.Append("Here is a cool picture")
       .AppendPicture(p)
       .Append(" don't you think so?");
 
    // Save all changes made to this document.
    document.Save();
}
 

Output

Future

As always, I offer this code to you for free. I am however a student and if you would like to help me pay of some of my student debt , you can make a donation to DocX via paypal.

DocX and Tables

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:37:00 +0000

Create and inserting Tables into documents is easy with DocX.

Simple Table
 // Create a document.
using (DocX document = DocX.Create(@"Test.docx"))
{
    // Add a Table to this document.
    Table t = document.AddTable(2, 3);
    
    // Specify some properties for this Table.
    t.Alignment = Alignment.center;
    t.Design = TableDesign.MediumGrid1Accent2;
 
    // Add content to this Table.
    t.Rows[0].Cells[0].Paragraphs.First().Append("A");
    t.Rows[0].Cells[1].Paragraphs.First().Append("B");
    t.Rows[0].Cells[2].Paragraphs.First().Append("C");
    t.Rows[1].Cells[0].Paragraphs.First().Append("D");
    t.Rows[1].Cells[1].Paragraphs.First().Append("E");
    t.Rows[1].Cells[2].Paragraphs.First().Append("F");
 
    // Insert the Table into the document.
    document.InsertTable(t);
 
    document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory.
 

The above code will creates a document that looks like the below image.

Paragraphs inside Table Cells can of course contain content such as Images, Hyperlinks and custom text styles as in the below example.

Advance Table
 // Create a document.
using (DocX document = DocX.Create(@"Test.docx"))
{
    // Add a Table to this document.
    Table table = document.AddTable(2, 3);
 
    // Add a Hyperlink into this document.
    Hyperlink h = document.AddHyperlink("Google", new Uri("http://www.google.com"));
 
    // Add an Image into this document.
    Novacode.Image i = document.AddImage(@"Logo.png");
 
    // Create a Picture (Custom View) of this Image.
    Picture p = i.CreatePicture();
    p.Rotation = 10;
 
    // Specify some properties for this Table.
    table.Alignment = Alignment.center;
    table.Design = TableDesign.LightShadingAccent2;
 
    // Insert the Table into the document.
    Table t1 = document.InsertTable(table);
 
    // Add content to this Table.
    t1.Rows[0].Cells[0].Paragraphs.First().AppendHyperlink(h).Append(" is my favourite search engine.");
    t1.Rows[0].Cells[1].Paragraphs.First().Append("This text is bold.").Bold();
    t1.Rows[0].Cells[2].Paragraphs.First().Append("Underlined").UnderlineStyle(UnderlineStyle.singleLine);
    t1.Rows[1].Cells[0].Paragraphs.First().Append("Green").Color(Color.Green);
    t1.Rows[1].Cells[1].Paragraphs.First().Append("Right to Left").Direction = Direction.RightToLeft;
    t1.Rows[1].Cells[2].Paragraphs.First().AppendPicture(p);
 
    document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory.
 

The above code will creates a document that looks like the below image.

Happy coding,
Cathal

Is DocX dead?

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:26:00 +0000

DocX is not dead. I have just returned to college to finish the fourth and final year of my (computer science and software engineering degree). At the moment because of lectures, assignments, and my final year project, I have very little time to contribute to DocX. I am still answering questions that people email me, but I cannot release a new version of DocX until my exams are finished in June. I have received a lot of emails lately requesting new features for DocX and I am maintaining a priority list of these, I will work off this list in June.

In case you are interested, below is some information about my final year project.

Project title: Real time, naked hand tracking with minimal calibration.
Overview: My project aims to answer the following question. Can a users hands be reliably tracked in real time from a video sequence without using markers, gloves or electronic devices?

It is now December and I have been working on this problem since September, I have had a lot of success in these 4 short months.

At this point in time I am building example applications to demonstrate my projects use. I am easily able to extract two very useful pieces of information, the distance between my hands and the angle.

Here is a video of what I have so far. The change in distance d and angle a between my hands controls the zoom and rotation of the teapot.

Let me know what you think,
Cathal

Converting .docx into (.doc, .pdf, .html)

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:21:00 +0000

Introduction

A DocX user asked me during the week when was I going to support converting Word 2007 documents (.docx) into other useful forms such as (.doc, .pdf, .html). I would love to add this functionality to DocX, however there is a problem.

The Problem

The only easy way to do this conversion, is to use Microsoft’s Office interop libraries. For anyone who doesn't know what Microsoft’s Office interop libraries are, I envy you.

The Microsoft Office interop libraries are available in the Add Reference dialog.

The Code

Once you have added a reference to Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word you can use the below project to convert a Word 2007 .docx into .doc, .pdf, and .html.

Code Snippet
 using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Word = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;
using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;
 
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Convert Input.docx into Output.doc
            Convert(@"C:\users\cathal\Desktop\Input.docx", @"c:\users\cathal\Desktop\Output.doc", WdSaveFormat.wdFormatDocument);
 
            /* 
             * Convert Input.docx into Output.pdf
             * Please note: You must have the Microsoft Office 2007 Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS installed
             * http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4D951911-3E7E-4AE6-B059-A2E79ED87041&displaylang=en
             */
            Convert(@"c:\users\cathal\Desktop\Input.docx", @"c:\users\cathal\Desktop\Output.pdf", WdSaveFormat.wdFormatPDF);
 
            // Convert Input.docx into Output.html
            Convert(@"c:\users\cathal\Desktop\Input.docx", @"c:\users\cathal\Desktop\Output.html", WdSaveFormat.wdFormatHTML);
        }
 
        // Convert a Word 2008 .docx to Word 2003 .doc
        public static void Convert(string input, string output, WdSaveFormat format)
        {
            // Create an instance of Word.exe
            Word._Application oWord = new Word.Application();
 
            // Make this instance of word invisible (Can still see it in the taskmgr).
            oWord.Visible = false;
 
            // Interop requires objects.
            object oMissing = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;
            object isVisible = true;
            object readOnly = false;
            object oInput = input;
            object oOutput = output;
            object oFormat = format;
 
            // Load a document into our instance of word.exe
            Word._Document oDoc = oWord.Documents.Open(ref oInput, ref oMissing, ref readOnly, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref isVisible, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
 
            // Make this document the active document.
            oDoc.Activate();
 
            // Save this document in Word 2003 format.
            oDoc.SaveAs(ref oOutput, ref oFormat, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
            
            // Always close Word.exe.
            oWord.Quit(ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
        }
    }
}
 

The result

	Input.docx

Output.doc	Output.pdf	Output.html

Please note

This code will only execute on a machine that has Microsoft’s Office installed on it. The Microsoft’s Office interop libraries actually execute a “hidden” instance of the Office. If you run the above code and then take a look at taskmgr you will see the following.

If you want to convert to .pdf, you must also have the Microsoft Office 2007 Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS installed.

It is for this reason that I have not included convert functionality into my DocX library. I do not want DocX to have a dependency on Word.exe.

The future

Is there no way to do conversions without having Word.exe installed on my machine. I didn’t say that, I said there is no easy way. This looks very promising, now if I could only find the time.

Donation?

As always, I offer this code to you for free. I am however a student and if you would like to say thank you, you can buy me lunch by sending a €5 euro donation via paypal.

DocX codeplex page redesign

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:14:00 +0000

I have spent some time over the past few days redesigning http://docx.codeplex.com. I have decided to go with a minimalistic design, my girlfriend Cristina who created all of the art work for me, told me that I should not be afraid of white space. I think she's on to something.

The biggest addition to the new page design is a section aptly named “How do I learn more?”. It is my intention to upload a large series of video tutorials to this section, I have already uploaded the first two.

1. Getting started with DocX.
2. Paragraphs and text formatting.

If you have any requests, topics that you would like to see covered, please send them to coffey.cathal@gmail.com. I am definitely going to create a video about CustomProperties, and another about Images and Pictures. I would also welcome feedback about the new page design, both positive and negative.

Kind regards and happy coding,
Cathal

DocX v1.0.0.8 released

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:35:00 +0000

DocX version 1.0.0.8 is now available for download from here. So what's new in this version? Why should you download it?

The biggest addition to this version of DocX is a better method of building highly formatted Paragraphs. This new method is a fluent interface and it was proposed by one of DocX's users Morten Bjerre. So what is a fluent interface? This Wikipedia article explains fluent interfaces quite well.

Here is an example of how this new addition to DocX makes building highly formatted Paragraphs easier and more intuitive. Lets say that we want to create a document that looks like this.

This can now be accomplished with the below code.

// Create a document.
using (DocX document = DocX.Create(@"Test.docx"))
{
 // Insert a new Paragraphs.
 Paragraph p = document.InsertParagraph();

 p.Append("I am ").Append("bold").Bold()
 .Append(" and I am ")
 .Append("italic").Italic().Append(".")
 .AppendLine("I am ")
 .Append("Arial Black")
 .Font(new FontFamily("Arial Black"))
 .Append(" and I am not.")
 .AppendLine("I am ")
 .Append("BLUE").Color(Color.Blue)
 .Append(" and I am")
 .Append("Red").Color(Color.Red).Append(".");

 // Save this document.
 document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory.
This version of DocX also contains three new features that were added by a user Joel Folkerts. Joel is the first user to post working and tested code for inclusion in DocX. These new features are listed below.

1. Row.Height property
2. Cell.Width property
3. Row.MergeCells

Row.Height and Cell.Width are self explanatory but here is an example of using Row.MergeCells. Lets say we have the following Table.

We can merge the cells {1-3} and the cells {6-8} on row 1 to get the following table.This can now be accomplished in DocX with the following code.

// Load a document.
using (DocX document = DocX.Load(@"Test.docx"))
{
 // Grab the first Table.
 Table t = document.Tables[0];

 // Grab the first Row of this Table.
 Row r = t.Rows[1];

 // Merge the cells 1-3 into one new cell.
 r.MergeCells(1, 3);

 // Merge the cells 4-6
 r.MergeCells(4, 6);

 // Save all changes made to this document.
 document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory.

I have also added a new feature that was requested by a user Mathetes. This new feature allows TextReplace() to take a Formatting object as an extra parameter and it then only returns text that matches both the input string and that format. Another new extra parameter for this function is  a new Formatting object to be applied to the inserted text.

// Load a document.
using (DocX document = DocX.Load(@"Test.docx"))
{
 // The formatting to match.
 Formatting matchFormatting = new Formatting();
 matchFormatting.Size = 10;
 matchFormatting.Italic = true;
 matchFormatting.FontFamily =
 new FontFamily("Times New Roman");

 // The new formatting to apply.
    Formatting newFormatting = new Formatting();
 newFormatting.Size = 22;
 newFormatting.UnderlineStyle =
 UnderlineStyle.dotted;
 newFormatting.Bold = true;

 // Iterate through the paragraphs
 foreach (Paragraph p in document.Paragraphs)
 {
      p.ReplaceText
      (
          "wrong", "right", false,
          RegexOptions.IgnoreCase,
          newFormatting, matchFormatting,
          MatchFormattingOptions.SubsetMatch
       );
 }

 // Save all changes made to this document.
 document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory.

I want to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to Morten Bjerre, Joel Folkerts and Mathetes. You have all enhanced DocX greatly with the features that you have added to this version.

If anyone out there reading this wants to suggest a new feature, please send it my way. I will try my best to include it in a future version for DocX.

happy coding,
Cathal

DocX v1.0.0.7 released

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 01:34:00 +0000

I have just uploaded DocX version 1.0.0.7 to docx.codeplex.com. This version comes with an extra optional download “Advance – Invoice Example.zip”.

“Advance – Invoice Example.zip” is a zipped Visual Studio 2008 solution that I created to demonstrate how far DocX has evolved since version 1.0.0.1. The first time that you run InvoiceExample.exe it will check for the existence of a document called “InvoiceTemplate.docx”, because this is the first execution this document will not exist, so it is created.

Figure 1.0 - InvoiceTemplate.docx created by first run of InvoiceExample.exe

It is important to note that everything you see in the above screenshot was created by DocX. If you now run InvoiceExample.exe again the document “InvoiceTemplate.docx” is found and it is now used to create an invoice for a factitious company called “The Happy Builder”.

Figure 1.1 - Invoice_The_Happy_Builder.docx created by second run of InvoiceExample.exe

As you can see DocX has loaded the document “InvoiceTemplate.docx” into memory and customized it. This was done by setting custom property values, inserting an image, creating a picture from this image, and replacing a Table with a new Table that contains data from a data source.

This example is intended for an experienced user of DocX. A first time user may find this solution overwhelming. Over the next few days, I am going to create a video tutorial called "Getting started with DocX". This video will be targeted at the first time user of DocX.

I hope that from this example you can see how quickly Docx is growing and also how useful it is becoming. As always if you would like to report a bug, request a feature or even just say hi, please email me at coffey.cathal@gmail.com.

happy coding,
Cathal

DocX is completely free, but if you have found it useful and you would like to make a donation you can do so via paypal.

DocX version 1.0.0.6 released

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:03:00 +0000

Hi again, sorry it has been so long since my last post. My progress in the physical world has slowed my progress in the digital.

This newest version of DocX brings many bug fixes and also two new features. Firstly, I would like to thank the following people for taking the time to email me with bugs and feature requests. Without your interest and feedback, DocX would not progress.

Many thanks to: John Marsh, Francesco, Johan Laagland, Gaspar, Brian (chicken), Jianbang, Christopher W. Steelman, Peter Thompson, Brian Minert.

New features

1) InsertDocProperty(CustomProperty cp)

CustomProperties are displayed in a document using fields of type DocProperty. Until this version, DocX was capable of adding a CustomProperty to a document, but it was not capable of displaying these CustomProperties. As of DocX version 1.0.0.6, this is now possible, below is an example.

// Load a document
using (DocX document = DocX.Create(@"Test.docx"))
{
   // Create a custom property.
   CustomProperty name = new CustomProperty("name", "Cathal Coffey");

   // Add this custom property to this document.
   document.AddCustomProperty(name);

   // Insert a new paragraph.
    Paragraph p = document.InsertParagraph("Author: ", false);

   // Insert a field of type document property to display the custom property name
   p.InsertDocProperty(name);

   // Save all changes made to this document.
   document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory.

The above code example will create the following document. Please note that the text 'Cathal Coffey'
is being displayed by a field, this field's value is controlled by the CustomProperty 'name'.

2) FindAll(string str)

This version of DocX allows you to search a document for a string. The function
FindAll(string str) returns a list containing all of the start indexes of the found string.
Below is an example of this new function.

// Load a document
using (DocX document = DocX.Load(@"Test.docx"))
{
  // Loop through the paragraphs in this document.
  foreach (Paragraph p in document.Paragraphs)
  {
      // Find all instances of 'go' in this paragraph.
      List<int> gos = document.FindAll("go");

      /*
       * Insert 'don't' in front of every instance of 'go' in this document to produce         * 'don't go'. An important trick here is to do the inserting in reverse document         * order. If you inserted in document order, every insert would shift the index         * of the remaining matches.
       */
      gos.Reverse();
      foreach (int index in gos)
      {
         p.InsertText(index, "don't ", true);
      }
  }

  // Save all changes made to this document.
  document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory.

If the above code is run on this document (Drawing in red is to illustrate the index's of each instance of 'go').

Then the following document is produced.

As you can see, 'don't' was inserted at the original index of each instance of 'go'.

DocX is completely free, but if you have found it useful and you would like to make a donation you can do so via paypal.

As always, please contact me if you find any bugs, have any feature requests or just want to provide feedback.

happy coding,
Cathal

DocX version 1.0.0.4 released

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:32:00 +0000

This blog post is to announce the release of DocX version 1.0.0.4. I spend a lot of time re-factoring the library for this release. I have renamed a lot of functions to give a more consistent implementation. I have also created a (.chm) documentation file which contains lots of useful examples.

The .chm documentation
If you open up the documentation file and you see the message Navigation to the webpage was cancelled like the below screenshot.

Then you need to right click on the .chm file and select properties.

In the properties window, click unblock, then press apply and ok.

You should then be able to view the documentation and it should look like this.

The documentation contains lots of examples of how to use all of DocX’s features. If you find a mistake in the documentation or if you would like to add a code example that you have written please email me. If I think your example adds value to the documentation then I will gladly add it and mention you in the credits section.

Changes in this release

Added two nwq overloads DocX.Load(System.IO.Stream) and Doc.Create(System.IO.Stream).
DocX.AddParagraph has been renamed to InsertParagraph and now allows a users to insert a new Paragraph at a specified character index in the document, 4 overloads are available.
DocX.Value has been renamed to DocX.Text.
DocX.Save has been renamed to DocX.Close(bool saveChanges).
Paragraph.Insert, Paragraph.Remove and Paragraph.Replace have been renamed to Paragraph.InsertText, Paragraph.RemoveText, Paragraph.ReplaceText, new overloads are also available.
Paragraph.Value has been renamed as Paragraph.Text.

If you would like to send me feedback on DocX, or if you would like to make a suggestion for the next feature I implement, please email me at coffey.cathal@gmail.com.

happy coding,
Cathal

DocX version 1.0.0.2 released

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 06:12:00 +0000

Note: Code samples have been updated to work with DocX version 1.0.0.6.

Lots of people emailed me asking me to add support for Images in DocX. So I did. Version 1.0.0.2 which can be downloaded from here adds basic support for Images and Pictures.

Images and Pictures? Are they not the same thing you might ask? No they are not! You can think of a Picture as a customized view of an Image. Once you have added Images to a docx file.

You can then add multiple customized Pictures of those Images into Paragraphs. You can do all sorts of interesting customizations with these Pictures before inserting them into Paragraphs. At the moment docx supports the following Picture customizations;

Rotations and transformations

Resizing

Shaping

Time for an example using DocX; below is a file entitled Example.docx.

Figure 1.0 – Example.docx before code execution

The following code adds the Image Donkey.jpg into this file, it then creates two Pictures using this Image and inserts them into the last Paragraph.

// Create a .docx file
using (DocX document = DocX.Create(@"Example.docx"))
{
   // Add an Image to the docx file
   Novacode.Image img = document.AddImage(@"Donkey.jpg");

   // Insert an emptyParagraph into this document.
   Paragraph p = document.InsertParagraph("", false);

   #region pic1
   Picture pic1 = p.InsertPicture(img.Id, "Donkey", "Taken on Omey island");

   // Set the Picture pic1’s shape
   pic1.SetPictureShape(BasicShapes.cube);

   // Rotate the Picture pic1 clockwise by 30 degrees
   pic1.Rotation = 30;
   #endregion

   #region pic2
   // Create a Picture. A Picture is a customized view of an Image
   Picture pic2 = p.InsertPicture(img.Id, "Donkey", "Taken on Omey island");

   // Set the Picture pic2’s shape
   pic2.SetPictureShape(CalloutShapes.cloudCallout);

   // Flip the Picture pic2 horizontally
   pic2.FlipHorizontal = true;
   #endregion

   // Save the docx file
   document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory.

Figure 1.1 – Example.docx after code execution

Another interesting thing that you could do would be to apply an operation to every Picture in a document. The below snippet would rotate every Picture in a document clockwise by 30 degrees.

// Load the document that you want to manipulate
using (DocX document = DocX.Load(@"Test.docx"))
{
   // Loop through each Paragraph
   foreach (Paragraph p in document.Paragraphs)
   {
       // Loop through each Picture in this Paragraph
       foreach (Picture pi in p.Pictures)
       {
           // Rotate this picture clockwise by 30 degrees
           pi.Rotation = 30;
       }
   }

   // Save the document
   document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory

If you would like to send me feedback on DocX, or if you would like to make a suggestion for the next feature I implement, please email me at coffey.cathal@gmail.com.

happy coding,
Cathal

DocX version 1.0.0.1 released

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:23:00 +0000

Note: Code samples have been updated to work with DocX version 1.0.0.6.

I promised that I would release DocX frequently, and with lots of new useful features.

Version 1.0.0.1 which can be downloaded from here, allows a developer to create a document on the fly, add new paragraphs and insert highly formatted text. Just about every font option that is available in Word 2007, is now exposed by DocX. These options include, but are not limited to; font, size, bold, italics, underline, strike through, superscript, subscript, color, highlight color, scale, shadow, outline, emboss, engrave, hidden, spacing, position, kerning.

Figure 1.0 – Word 2007 font options, tab 1

Figure 1.1 – Word 2007 font options, tab 2

Here’s an example of how to generate a docx file, which contains custom formatted text, out of thin air, using docx.

// Create a new document.
using (DocX document = DocX.Create(@"Test.docx"))
{
   // Create a formatting called f1
   Formatting f1 = new Formatting();
   f1.FontFamily = new FontFamily("Agency FB");
   f1.Size = 28;
   f1.Bold = true;
   f1.FontColor = Color.RoyalBlue;
   f1.UnderlineStyle = UnderlineStyle.doubleLine;
   f1.UnderlineColor = Color.Red;

   // Insert a new Paragraph into this document.
   Paragraph p = document.InsertParagraph("I've got style!", false, f1);

   // Create a formatting called f2
   Formatting f2 = new Formatting();
   f2.FontFamily = new FontFamily("Colonna MT");
   f2.Size = 36.5;
   f2.Italic = true;
   f2.FontColor = Color.SeaGreen;

   // Insert new text at the end of this Paragraph.
   p.InsertText("I have a different style.", false, f2);

   // Save all changes made to this document.
   document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory

The above code will generate the following document.

Figure 1.2 – Out of thin air

The coolest thing about this code, is that, you can generate .docx files in the cloud, without a dependency on Microsoft Word.

Please remember that DocX is not a full blown solution for .docx creation and manipulation, not yet anyway. It is a project, that I am working on, in my spare time. If you would like to request a feature for version 1.0.0.2, please email me or alternatively leave a comment here.

My current aim for version 1.0.0.3, is to add the ability to create and manipulate images, tables and lists.

happy coding,
Cathal

Compiling DocX from source code

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:35:00 +0000

I received a few emails outlining problems that people have encountered while trying to compile DocX from source. This post explains how to solve those problems.

Unable to read the project file “DocX.csproj”

Anyone who downloaded change set 17108, this was the build uploaded (Mon at 6:58 PM) would have experienced the following error on opening DocX.csproj in Visual Studio.

Figure 1.0 – Unable to read the project file “DocX.csproj”

There are two ways to overcome this problem,

You can simply download change set 15663, this is the build uploaded (Thursday at 11:08 AM).

or
Open DocX.csproj in a text editor (notepad.exe) and remove the following two lines,
1. <DeepSeaObfuscate>false</DeepSeaObfuscate>
2. <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\DeepSea Obfuscator\DeepSea.Obfuscator.targets" />

Missing reference DocumentFormat.OpenXml

If Visual Studio’s reference window cannot find DocumentFormat.OpenXml then you need to download and install the Open XML Format SDK 2.0.

Figure 1.1 – Missing reference DocumentFormat.OpenXml

Test projects missing reference DocX

If Visual Studio’s reference window for the projects CustomPropertyTextApp and StringReplaceTestApp cannot find DocX then you need to update the reference.

Figure 1.2 – Test projects missing reference DocX

First you need to build the DocX, you can do this by right clicking on the project and selecting build.

Figure 1.3 – Build DocX

Right click on the references for both projects and select “Add Reference…”

Figure 1.4 – Add reference…

Select the Projects tab and choose DocX.

Figure 1.5 – Select the projects tab

That’s it your done, now the entire solution will compile.

DocX - A .NET library for manipulating Word 2007 files

noreply@blogger.com (Cathal Coffey) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:50:00 +0000

Note: Code samples have been updated to work with DocX version 1.0.0.6.

Hello my name is Cathal Coffey. I am a intern working at Microsoft Ireland Research. This blog post is about a personal project which I have created outside of my work time.

My project which can be downloaded from here is called DocX. DocX is a .NET library which allows developers to manipulate Word 2007 files, in an easy and intuitive manor. It does not use COM libraries nor does it require Office to be installed in order to function. The rest of this post explains the current features offered by DocX. Please keep in my that this a young library, at the moment it offers two very useful and powerful features

1) String replacement,
2) Set custom properties.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) String replacement

The document below Test.docx contains the string “pear” lots of time. There are instances of the string “pear” inside structures such as a table, a list and a hyperlink. The document also contains lots of different style properties such as font, colour, bold, italic, strikethrough and underline.

Figure 1.1 - Test.docx before manipulation

Replacing the string “pear” with the string “banana” is a trivial task using the library DocX.

// Load a .docx file
using (DocX document = DocX.Load("Test.docx"))
{
   /*
    * Replace each instance of the string pear with the string banana.
    * Specifying true as the third argument informs DocX to track the
    * changes made by this replace. The fourth argument tells DocX to
    * ignore case when matching the string pear.
    */
   document.ReplaceText("pear", "banana", true, RegexOptions.IgnoreCase);

   // Save changes made to this document
   document.Save();
}// Release this document from memory.

After running the above code and reopening Test.docx we can see that every instance of the string “pear” has been replaced by the string “banana” and that both deletions and insertions have been tracked. By hovering over a deletion or insertion, we can see that the DocX library has used the credentials that it was executed with, as the author of the edits.

Figure 1.2 - Test.docx after manipulation

If we click on the “Review” section of the ribbon and select “Accept All Changes in Document” it is now clear that DocX has correctly replace all instances of the string “pear” with the string “banana”.

Figure 1.3 – Test.docx Accept All Changes in Document

An important point to note is that the DocX library inserted the string “banana” with the correctly style information in each case regardless of what structure it was inside a table, a list or a hyperlink.

Figure 1.4 – Test.docx After Accept All Changes in Document

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2) Set custom properties

Custom properties are place holders for real data; they can be of type Text (String), Yes or No (Boolean), Number (Integer or Double) or Date (Universal Date).

To add custom properties to a document you select “Prepare -> Properties” from the Office button menu.Figure 2.1 – Office button –> Prepare –> Properties

You then select “Document Properties -> Advanced Properties…”

Figure 2.2 – Document Properties –> Advanced Properties…

The following window will then popup and you can create your own custom properties.

Figure 2.3 – Custom properties

I have created seven custom properties for this demo. Four are of type Text: Forename, Username, HomeAddress and FreeGift. One is of type Number: PleaseWaitNDays. One is of type Date: GiftArrivalDate. One is of type Yes or no: RecieveFurtherMail.

Once you have defined custom properties you can use them through your document by selecting ”Insert -> Quick Parts -> Field…”

Figure 2.4 – Insert –> Quick Parts –> Field…

If you double click on one of your custom properties, it will appear in the document at the current carrot position.

Figure 2.5 – Select custom property

The following document is a welcome letter that will be sent to all new users who subscribe to the factious magazine called “Home Appliances. The letter which includes the seven custom properties listed above looks as follows.

Figure 2.6 - Factious magazine welcome letter

Setting values custom properties for this document is a trivial task using DocX.

// This class represents a user
class User
{
   public string forname, surname, username, freeGift, HomeAddress;
   public DateTime joined;
   public bool RecieveFurtherMail;

   public User()
   { }
}

static void Main(string[] args)
{
   // A list which contains three new users
   List<User> newUsers = new List<User>
   {
       new User
       {
           forname = "John", surname = "Smith", username = "John87",
           freeGift = "toaster", joined = DateTime.Now,
           HomeAddress = "21 Hillview, Naas, Co. Kildare",
           RecieveFurtherMail = true
       },
   
       new User
       {
           forname = "James", surname = "O'Brian", username = "KingJames",
           freeGift = "kitchen knife", joined = DateTime.Now,
           HomeAddress = "37 Mill Lane, Maynooth, Co. Meath",
           RecieveFurtherMail = false
       },
   
       new User
       {
           forname = "Mary", surname = "McNamara", username = "McNamara1",
           freeGift = "microwave", joined = DateTime.Now,
           HomeAddress = "110 Cherry Orchard Drive, Navan, Co. Roscommon", RecieveFurtherMail= true
       }
   };

   // Foreach of the three new user create a welcome document based on template.docx
   foreach (User newUser in newUsers)
   {
       /*
        * Load the template to be manipulated and set the custom properties to this
        * users specific data
        */
       using (DocX doc = DocX.Load("Template.docx"))
       {
           doc.AddCustomProperty(new CustomProperty("Forname", newUser.forname));
           doc.AddCustomProperty(new CustomProperty("Username", newUser.username));
           doc.AddCustomProperty(new CustomProperty("FreeGift", newUser.freeGift));
           doc.AddCustomProperty(new CustomProperty("HomeAddress", newUser.HomeAddress));
           doc.AddCustomProperty(new CustomProperty("PleaseWaitNDays", 4));
           doc.AddCustomProperty(new CustomProperty("GiftArrivalDate", newUser.joined.AddDays(4).ToUniversalTime()));
           doc.AddCustomProperty(new CustomProperty("RecieveFurtherMail", newUser.RecieveFurtherMail));

           // Save this document as the users name followed by .docx
           doc.SaveAs(string.Format(@"{0}.docx", newUser.username));
       }// Release this document from memory
   }
}

The above code will generate three docx files

Figure 2.7 – John87.docx

Figure 2.8 – KingJames.docx

Figure 2.9 – McNamara1.docx

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If you would like to give me feedback on my library DocX, please either post a comment here or email me @ coffey.cathal@gmail.com.

Happy coding,
Cathal