Question

I have a problem,

I have a .dotx file which has been supplied by customers. It contains a number of fields of different kinds added in developermode in Word.

I want to be able to use this dotx and fill it up with values.

How do I do this in C#-code?

Answer 1

The Microsoft OpemXML SDK allows you to manipulate docx/dotx files using c#. You can download the Microsoft OpenXML SDK from here.

You should first create a copy of your dotx file. Then find the fields/content palceholders in the template.

Here is a small example (using a simple word template with a rich text box content field):

// First, create a copy of your template.
File.Copy(@"c:\temp\mytemplate.dotx", @"c:\temp\test.docx", true);

using (WordprocessingDocument newdoc = WordprocessingDocument.Open(@"c:\temp\test.docx", true))
{
  // Change document type (dotx->docx)
  newdoc.ChangeDocumentType(WordprocessingDocumentType.Document);

  // Find all structured document tags
  IEnumerable<SdtContentRun> placeHolders = newdoc.MainDocumentPart.RootElement.Descendants<SdtContentRun>();

  foreach (var cp in placeHolders)
  {
    var r = cp.Descendants<Run>().FirstOrDefault();

    r.RemoveAllChildren(); // Remove children
    r.AppendChild<Text>(new Text("my text")); // add new content
  }        
}

The example above is a very simple example. You have to adapt it to your word template structure.

Hope, this helps.