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Create a package

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This topic shows how to use the classes in the Open XML SDK for Office to programmatically create a word processing document package from content in the form of WordprocessingML XML markup.

Packages and Document Parts

An Open XML document is stored as a package, whose format is defined by ISO/IEC 29500. The package can have multiple parts with relationships between them. The relationship between parts controls the category of the document. A document can be defined as a word-processing document if its package-relationship item contains a relationship to a main document part. If its package-relationship item contains a relationship to a presentation part it can be defined as a presentation document. If its package-relationship item contains a relationship to a workbook part, it is defined as a spreadsheet document. In this how-to topic, you will use a word-processing document package.

Getting a WordprocessingDocument Object

In the Open XML SDK, the WordprocessingDocument class represents a Word document package. To create a Word document, you create an instance of the WordprocessingDocument class and populate it with parts. At a minimum, the document must have a main document part that serves as a container for the main text of the document. The text is represented in the package as XML using WordprocessingML markup.

To create the class instance you call Create(String, WordprocessingDocumentType). Several Create methods are provided, each with a different signature. The first parameter takes a full path string that represents the document that you want to create. The second parameter is a member of the WordprocessingDocumentType enumeration. This parameter represents the type of document. For example, there is a different member of the WordprocessingDocumentType enumeration for each of document, template, and the macro enabled variety of document and template.

Note

Carefully select the appropriate WordprocessingDocumentType and verify that the persisted file has the correct, matching file extension. If the WordprocessingDocumentType does not match the file extension, an error occurs when you open the file in Microsoft Word.

C# 
using (WordprocessingDocument wordDoc = WordprocessingDocument.Create(document, WordprocessingDocumentType.Document))

With v3.0.0+ the Close() method has been removed in favor of relying on the using statement. It ensures that the Dispose() method is automatically called when the closing brace is reached. The block that follows the using statement establishes a scope for the object that is created or named in the using statement. Because the WordprocessingDocument class in the Open XML SDK automatically saves and closes the object as part of its IDisposable implementation, and because Dispose() is automatically called when you exit the block, you do not have to explicitly call Save() or Dispose() as long as you use a using statement.

Once you have created the Word document package, you can add parts to it. To add the main document part you call AddMainDocumentPart. Having done that, you can set about adding the document structure and text.

Structure of a WordProcessingML Document

The basic document structure of a WordProcessingML document consists of the document and body elements, followed by one or more block level elements such as p, which represents a paragraph. A paragraph contains one or more r elements. The r stands for run, which is a region of text with a common set of properties, such as formatting. A run contains one or more t elements. The t element contains a range of text. The following code example shows the WordprocessingML markup for a document that contains the text "Example text."

XML 
    <w:document xmlns:w="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main">
      <w:body>
        <w:p>
          <w:r>
            <w:t>Example text.</w:t>
          </w:r>
        </w:p>
      </w:body>
    </w:document>

Using the Open XML SDK, you can create document structure and content using strongly-typed classes that correspond to WordprocessingML elements. You will find these classes in the namespace. The following table lists the class names of the classes that correspond to the document, body, p, r, and t elements.

WordprocessingML Element Open XML SDK Class Description
<document/> Document The root element for the main document part.
<body/> Body The container for the block level structures such as paragraphs, tables, annotations and others specified in the ISO/IEC 29500 specification.
<p/> Paragraph A paragraph.
<r/> Run A run.
<t/> Text A range of text.

For more information about the overall structure of the parts and elements of a WordprocessingML document, see Structure of a WordprocessingML document.

Sample Code

The following is the complete code sample that you can use to create an Open XML word processing document package from XML content in the form of WordprocessingML markup.

After you run the program, open the created file and examine its content; it should be one paragraph that contains the phrase "Hello world!"

Following is the complete sample code in both C# and Visual Basic.

C# 
// To create a new package as a Word document.
static void CreateNewWordDocument(string document)
{
    using (WordprocessingDocument wordDoc = WordprocessingDocument.Create(document, WordprocessingDocumentType.Document))
    {
        // Set the content of the document so that Word can open it.
        MainDocumentPart mainPart = wordDoc.AddMainDocumentPart();

        SetMainDocumentContent(mainPart);
    }
}

// Set the content of MainDocumentPart.
static void SetMainDocumentContent(MainDocumentPart part)
{
    const string docXml = @"<?xml version=""1.0"" encoding=""utf-8""?>
                            <w:document xmlns:w=""http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main"">
                              <w:body>
                                <w:p>
                                  <w:r>
                                    <w:t>Hello World</w:t>
                                  </w:r>
                                </w:p>
                              </w:body>
                            </w:document>";

    using (Stream stream = part.GetStream())
    {
        byte[] buf = (new UTF8Encoding()).GetBytes(docXml);
        stream.Write(buf, 0, buf.Length);
    }
}

See also