Created
August 17, 2013 14:46
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Generic algorithm to allow the creation of nested fields with Word.Interop, by using a string. I have taken the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) source code from [Nested Fields in VBA](http://stoptyping.co.uk/word/nested-fields-in-vba) and adopted it for C#.
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//------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | |
// <copyright file="FieldCreator.cs" company="Florian Wolters"> | |
// Copyright (c) Florian Wolters. All rights reserved. | |
// </copyright> | |
// <author>Florian Wolters <[email protected]></author> | |
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | |
namespace FlorianWolters.Office.Word.Fields | |
{ | |
using System; | |
using System.Collections; | |
using System.Runtime.InteropServices; | |
using Word = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word; | |
/// <summary> | |
/// The class <see cref="FieldCreator"/> simplifies the creation of <see cref="Word.Field"/>s. | |
/// </summary> | |
public class FieldCreator | |
{ | |
/// <summary> | |
/// Adds one or more new <see cref="Word.Field"/> to the specified <see cref="Word.Range"/>. | |
/// <para> | |
/// This method allows to insert nested fields at the specified range. | |
/// </para> | |
/// <example> | |
/// <c>InsertField(Application.Selection.Range, {{= {{PAGE}} - 1}};</c> | |
/// will produce | |
/// { = { PAGE } - 1 } | |
/// </example> | |
/// </summary> | |
/// <param name="range">The <see cref="Word.Range"/> where to add the <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</param> | |
/// <param name="theString">The string to convert to one or more <see cref="Word.Field"/> objects.</param> | |
/// <param name="fieldOpen">The special code to mark the start of a <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</param> | |
/// <param name="fieldClose">The special code to mark the end of a <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</param> | |
/// <returns>The newly created <see cref="Word.Field"/></returns> | |
/// <remarks> | |
/// A solution for VBA has been taken from <a href="http://stoptyping.co.uk/word/nested-fields-in-vba">this</a> | |
/// article and adopted for C# by the author. | |
/// </remarks> | |
public Word.Field InsertField( | |
Word.Range range, | |
string theString = "{{}}", | |
string fieldOpen = "{{", | |
string fieldClose = "}}") | |
{ | |
if (null == range) | |
{ | |
throw new ArgumentNullException("range"); | |
} | |
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fieldOpen)) | |
{ | |
throw new ArgumentException("fieldOpen"); | |
} | |
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fieldClose)) | |
{ | |
throw new ArgumentException("fieldClose"); | |
} | |
if (!theString.Contains(fieldOpen) || !theString.Contains(fieldClose)) | |
{ | |
throw new ArgumentException("theString"); | |
} | |
// Special case. If we do not check this, the algorithm breaks. | |
if (theString == fieldOpen + fieldClose) | |
{ | |
return this.InsertEmpty(range); | |
} | |
// TODO Implement additional error handling. | |
// TODO Possible to remove the dependency to state capture? | |
using (new StateCapture(range.Application.ActiveDocument)) | |
{ | |
Word.Field result = null; | |
Stack fieldStack = new Stack(); | |
range.Text = theString; | |
fieldStack.Push(range); | |
Word.Range searchRange = range.Duplicate; | |
Word.Range nextOpen = null; | |
Word.Range nextClose = null; | |
Word.Range fieldRange = null; | |
while (searchRange.Start != searchRange.End) | |
{ | |
nextOpen = this.FindNextOpen(searchRange.Duplicate, fieldOpen); | |
nextClose = this.FindNextClose(searchRange.Duplicate, fieldClose); | |
if (null == nextClose) | |
{ | |
break; | |
} | |
// See which marker comes first. | |
if (nextOpen.Start < nextClose.Start) | |
{ | |
nextOpen.Text = string.Empty; | |
searchRange.Start = nextOpen.End; | |
// Field open, so push a new range to the stack. | |
fieldStack.Push(nextOpen.Duplicate); | |
} | |
else | |
{ | |
nextClose.Text = string.Empty; | |
// Move start of main search region onwards past the end marker. | |
searchRange.Start = nextClose.End; | |
// Field close, so pop the last range from the stack and insert the field. | |
fieldRange = (Word.Range)fieldStack.Pop(); | |
fieldRange.End = nextClose.End; | |
result = this.InsertEmpty(fieldRange); | |
} | |
} | |
// Move the current selection after all inserted fields. | |
// TODO Improvement possible, e.g. by using another range object? | |
int newPos = fieldRange.End + fieldRange.Fields.Count + 1; | |
fieldRange.SetRange(newPos, newPos); | |
fieldRange.Select(); | |
// Update the result of the outer field object. | |
result.Update(); | |
return result; | |
} | |
} | |
/// <summary> | |
/// Adds a new empty <see cref="Word.Field"/> to the specified <see cref="Word.Range"/>. | |
/// </summary> | |
/// <param name="range">The <see cref="Word.Range"/> where to add the <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</param> | |
/// <param name="preserveFormatting"> | |
/// Whether to apply the formatting of the previous <see cref="Word.Field"/> result to the new result. | |
/// </param> | |
/// <returns>The newly created <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</returns> | |
public Word.Field InsertEmpty(Word.Range range, bool preserveFormatting = false) | |
{ | |
Word.Field result = this.AddFieldToRange(range, Word.WdFieldType.wdFieldEmpty, preserveFormatting); | |
// Show the field codes of an empty field, because otherwise we can't be sure that it is visible. | |
result.ShowCodes = true; | |
return result; | |
} | |
/// <summary> | |
/// Creates a <see cref="Word.Field"/> and adds it to the specified <see cref="Word.Range"/> | |
/// </summary> | |
/// <remarks> | |
/// The <see cref="Word.Field"/> is added to the <see cref="Word.Fields"/> collection of the specified <see | |
/// cref="Word.Range"/>. | |
/// </remarks> | |
/// <param name="range">The <see cref="Word.Range"/> where to add the <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</param> | |
/// <param name="type">The type of <see cref="Word.Field"/> to create.</param> | |
/// <param name="preserveFormatting"> | |
/// Whether to apply the formatting of the previous field result to the new result. | |
/// </param> | |
/// <param name="text">Additional text needed for the <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</param> | |
/// <returns>The newly created <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</returns> | |
private Word.Field AddFieldToRange( | |
Word.Range range, | |
Word.WdFieldType type, | |
bool preserveFormatting = false, | |
string text = null) | |
{ | |
return range.Fields.Add( | |
range, | |
type, | |
(null == text) ? Type.Missing : text, | |
preserveFormatting); | |
} | |
private Word.Range FindNextOpen(Word.Range range, string text) | |
{ | |
Word.Find find = this.CreateFind(range, text); | |
Word.Range result = range.Duplicate; | |
if (!find.Found) | |
{ | |
// Make sure that the next closing field will be found first. | |
result.Collapse(Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseEnd); | |
} | |
return result; | |
} | |
private Word.Range FindNextClose(Word.Range range, string text) | |
{ | |
return this.CreateFind(range, text).Found ? range.Duplicate : null; | |
} | |
private Word.Find CreateFind(Word.Range range, string text) | |
{ | |
Word.Find result = range.Find; | |
result.Execute(FindText: text, Forward: true, Wrap: Word.WdFindWrap.wdFindStop); | |
return result; | |
} | |
} | |
} |
This was a huge time save for me, thanks for making the solution openly available.
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This is my solution to the question Create a nested field with Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) on StackOverflow.