Question

I have a gridview, I need to export the gridview to MS word and this works fine, but I need to put custom header and footer on each page of Ms word. Is it possible to run a macro from asp.net on the exported gridview so that I can put the custom header and footer on the exported gridview and also adjust some margins on the printed out page.

any help will be appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer 1

This tutorial will show you how to call a macro using .NET. This is a summary of the steps relevant for your scenario (You may have some of this setup already if you have managed to export your GridView already):

Add a reference to the Microsoft Word Library:

1. On the Project menu, click Add Reference.
2. On the COM tab, locate Microsoft Word 10.0 Object Library or Microsoft Word 11.0 Object Library
3. Click Select

Then add these references to your code behind:

using System.Reflection;
using Word = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;
using Microsoft.Office.Core;

Add this helper method (which handles running the macro):

private void RunMacro(object oApp, object[] oRunArgs)
{
    oApp.GetType().InvokeMember("Run",
    System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Default |
    System.Reflection.BindingFlags.InvokeMethod,
    null, oApp, oRunArgs);
}

Then to call your macro use the following (You will need to modify this to suit your particular needs):

private void CallCustomHeaderFooterMacro(string filename, string pageTitle, string author)
{
    Word.ApplicationClass oWord = new Word.ApplicationClass();
    oWord.Visible = false;
    Word.Documents oDocs = oWord.Documents;
    object oFile = filename;

    // Used for optional arguments
    object oMissing = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;

    // CHOOSE THE APPROPRIATE CALL, DEPENDING ON THE LIBRARY YOU REFERENCE
    // Microsoft Word 10.0 Object Library
    Word._Document oDoc = oDocs.Open(ref oFile, 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);

    // Microsoft Word 11.0 Object Library
    // Word._Document oDoc = oDocs.Open(ref oFile, 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);

    // Run the 'CustomHeaderFooter' Macro.
    /* Change "CustomHeaderFooter" to your macro name.
     * You can send parameters to your macro such as: 
     * a Page title, author, date or other data you need to create the customised 
     * header and footer. You add and remove these as required. I have used pageTitle
     * and author as an example
    */
    RunMacro(oWord, new Object[]{"CustomHeaderFooter", pageTitle, author});

    // Save (as required)

    // Quit Word and clean up.
    oDoc.Close(ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
    System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject (oDoc);
    oDoc = null;
    System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject (oDocs);
    oDocs = null;
    oWord.Quit(ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
    System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject (oWord);
    oWord = null;
}

This will work if you have setup a macro, such as this, in your document.

Public Sub CustomHeaderFooter(sPageTitle As String, sAuthor As String)
    ' Your code to create the header and footer as required.
    ' The easiest way to get the macro code is to open the base document and
    ' and record the actions that you need such as adjusting the print margins
    ' and adding the custom headers and footers, then modify the resultant code
    ' to accept your parameters.
End Sub

In you ASP.NET you would call (Adjust to your file path and appropriate parameters):

CallCustomHeaderFooterMacro(Server.MapPath("~/mydocument.docx"), "Sample Title", "John Smith");

I hope this is clear. Obviously I can’t provide the macro code to produce the actual header and footer, but as above, the easiest path is to record the actions and manually adjust the generated code.

---

Edit: Just as a side note. Microsoft doesn’t recommend the use of Office automation from server-side applications, i.e. calling from ASP.NET. This article explains here and offers alternative mechanisms for manipulating Office documents, which may or may not be useful to you. But I thought it may help, depending on the scalability your project requires.