How are multiple paragraphs being created by the OOXML

Question

Hi, I have a question about this document:
https://windwardstudios.box.com/s/7gomh2ugumj0per8z5e1cbzulwgbnt30

The result in the DOCX is 3 separate paragraphs with field codes, however when I look at the document.xml, all of the content is held within a single paragraph with multiple runs. How are the paragraphs/new-lines being created by the ooxml in this case? To my understanding I'm not seeing anything that would indicate that new paragraphs should be there.

Thanks in advance,

Connor

Answer 1

Dear Connor Shore

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A, with your question about the DOCX output from our Windward template.

To address your concern, you're correct that field codes (like SEQ for numbering) themselves don't create new paragraphs; they only substitute text within existing runs. However, in the rendered result DOCX showing 3 separate paragraphs, this is likely due to how our AutoTag engine processes loops in the template. Specifically:

• In the original template, a single <w:p> (paragraph) might contain a <<forEach>> loop tag that spans multiple runs.
• When the template is processed with data (e.g., a dataset with 3 items), the engine dynamically replicates the entire XML region, including inserting new <w:p> elements, for each iteration. This expands what appeared as one paragraph in the template into multiple distinct paragraphs in the output.

If you're inspecting the result DOCX's document.xml (not the template), you should see exactly 3 <w:p> tags within the <w:body>, each containing its own set of runs and field codes. If it still looks like a single paragraph to you, it could be a viewing issue in your XML editor, try searching for <w:p> tags or using a tool like the Open XML SDK Productivity Tool for better visualization.

For reference, here's a simplified example of what the output XML might look like after processing:

<w:body>
  <w:p>  <!-- Paragraph 1 -->
    <w:r><w:t>Item 1 text</w:t></w:r>
    <w:r><w:fldChar w:fldCharType="begin"/></w:r>
    <w:r><w:instrText>SEQ mylist</w:instrText></w:r>
    <w:r><w:fldChar w:fldCharType="end"/></w:r>
  </w:p>
  <w:p>  <!-- Paragraph 2 -->
    <!-- Similar structure for Item 2 -->
  </w:p>
  <w:p>  <!-- Paragraph 3 -->
    <!-- Similar structure for Item 3 -->
  </w:p>
</w:body> 

If this doesn't match what you're seeing, could you share a snippet of the document.xml from the result file? I'd be happy assist further

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Answer 2

If you have not prettified the XML to make it human-readable, the XML will appear as one paragraph in a text editor.

In the sample document at your link, there are multiple separate paragraphs, each starting with <w:p> and ending with </w:p>. In NotePad++, I used the XML Tools add-in with the Pretty Print command. I then see paragraph start tags at lines 4, 198, 208, 311, 323, 354, 365, 476, 489, and 597.