Cathal: Why did you create DocX?

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

1. using System;
2. using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;
3. using System.Reflection;
4. using System.IO;
5.  
6. namespace OfficeInterop
7. {
8.     class Program
9.     {
10.         static void Main(string[] args)
11.         {
12.             // Get the path of the executing assembly.
13.             string path = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
14.  
15.             // The location to save the file.
16.             Object oSaveAsFile = (Object)(path + @"\Test.docx");
17.  
18.             // Object of Missing "Null Value".
19.             Object oMissing = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;
20.  
21.             // Object of false.
22.             Object oFalse = false;
23.  
24.             // Create object of Word and Document.
25.             Application oWord = new Application();
26.             Document oWordDoc = new Document();
27.  
28.             // Don't display Word.
29.             oWord.Visible = false;
30.  
31.             // Add a new document.
32.             oWordDoc = oWord.Documents.Add(ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
33.             
34.             // Enter some text with the font Arial Black.
35.             oWord.Selection.Font.Name = "Arial Black";
36.             oWord.Selection.TypeText("Hello World");
37.  
38.             // Save the document.
39.             oWordDoc.SaveAs
40.             (
41.                 ref oSaveAsFile, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
42.                 ref oMissing, ref oMissing,ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
43.                 ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
44.                 ref oMissing, ref oMissing
45.             );
46.  
47.  
48.             // Close the file.
49.             oWordDoc.Close(ref oFalse, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
50.              
51.             // Quit Word.exe
52.             oWord.Quit(ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
53.         }
54.     }
55. }

 

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

1. using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging;
2. using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Wordprocessing;
3. using DocumentFormat.OpenXml;
4.  
5. namespace OOXML
6. {
7.     class Program
8.     {
9.         static void Main(string[] args)
10.         {
11.             // Create a package.
12.             WordprocessingDocument doc =
13.             WordprocessingDocument.Create
14.             (
15.                 @"Test.docx",
16.                 WordprocessingDocumentType.Document
17.             );
18.  
19.             // Create a main document part and add it to the package.
20.             MainDocumentPart mainPart = doc.AddMainDocumentPart();
21.             mainPart.Document = new Document();
22.             
23.             // Create some content.
24.             Text textFirstLine = new Text("Hello World");
25.             Run run = new Run(textFirstLine);
26.             Paragraph para = new Paragraph(run);
27.            
28.             // Apply a font.
29.             RunProperties runProp = new RunProperties();
30.             RunFonts runFont = new RunFonts();
31.             runFont.Ascii = "Arial Black";
32.             runProp.Append(runFont);
33.             run.PrependChild<RunProperties>(runProp);
35.             // Add the content into the document.
36.             Body body = new Body(para);
37.             mainPart.Document.Append(body);
38.             
39.             /* Save and close */
40.             mainPart.Document.Save();
41.             doc.Close();
42.         }
43.     }
44. }

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

1. using System;
2. using Novacode;
3. using System.Drawing;
4.  
5. namespace DocXHelloWorld
6. {
7.     class Program
8.     {
9.         static void Main(string[] args)
10.         {
11.             using (DocX document = DocX.Create("Test.docx"))
12.             {
13.                 // Add a new Paragraph to the document.
14.                 Paragraph p = document.InsertParagraph();
15.                 
16.                 // Append some text.
17.                 p.Append("Hello World").Font(new FontFamily("Arial Black"));
18.  
19.                 // Save the document.
20.                 document.Save();
21.             }
22.         }
23.     }
24. }