How to: Insert Data in Documents Without Writing to Disk

Applies to
The information in this topic applies only to the specified Visual Studio Tools for Office projects and versions of Microsoft Office. Project type Document-level projects Microsoft Office version 2007 Microsoft Office system Microsoft Office 2003 For more information, see Features Available by Application and Project Type.

You can insert data into a Visual Studio Tools for Office solution document in memory, so that data is not written to the hard disk. If you need to send a document to a user as a byte array using the HTTP protocol, you can use this feature to modify data directly in the byte array, instead of creating a temporary file in which to modify the data.

To insert data in a document

1. Load the document into memory as a byte array.

   Dim name As String = "C:\Documents\WordApplication3.doc" 
   Dim fileStream As System.IO.FileStream = Nothing 
   Dim bytes() As Byte = Nothing 
   
   Try
       fileStream = New System.IO.FileStream( _
           name, System.IO.FileMode.Open, System.IO.FileAccess.Read)
       ReDim bytes(fileStream.Length)
       fileStream.Read(bytes, 0, fileStream.Length)
   
   Finally 
       If Not fileStream Is Nothing Then
           fileStream.Close()
       End If 
   End Try
   

   string name = @"C:\Documents\WordApplication3.doc";
   System.IO.FileStream fileStream = null;
   byte[] bytes = null;
   
   try
   {
       fileStream = new System.IO.FileStream(
           name, System.IO.FileMode.Open, System.IO.FileAccess.Read);
       bytes = new byte[(int)fileStream.Length];
       fileStream.Read(bytes, 0, (int)fileStream.Length);
   }
   finally
   {
       if (fileStream != null)
       {
           fileStream.Close();
       }
   }
   

2. Pass the byte array to the server-side object model instead of a file name, and then perform your data manipulation.

   Dim sd1 As ServerDocument = Nothing 
   Try
       sd1 = New ServerDocument(bytes, name)
   
       ' Your data manipulation code goes here. 
   
       sd1.Save()
   

   ServerDocument sd1 = null;
   try
   {
       sd1 = new ServerDocument(bytes, name);
   
       // Your data manipulation code goes here. 
   
       sd1.Save();
   

3. Send the document to the end user and close the ServerDocument.

       ' If you have a Word document, use the MIME string:
       Response.ContentType = "application/msword" 
   
       ' If you have an Excel workbook, use the MIME string: 
       'Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel"
   
       Response.AddHeader("Content-disposition", "filename=" + name)
       Response.BinaryWrite(sd1.Document)
   
   Finally 
       If Not sd1 Is Nothing Then
           sd1.Close()
       End If 
   End Try
   

   // If you have a Word document, use the MIME string:
       Response.ContentType = "application/msword";
   
       // If you have an Excel workbook, use the MIME string: 
       //Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
   
       Response.AddHeader("Content-disposition", "filename=" + name);
       Response.BinaryWrite(sd1.Document);
   }
   finally
   {
       if (sd1 != null)
       {
           sd1.Close();
       }
   }
   

Compiling the Code

This example requires:

• An ASP.NET project that contains the example code.

• A Microsoft Office Word document named WordApplication3.doc that has a data cache, and is located in the folder C:\Documents.

Setting up the ASP.NET Project

The ASP.NET project must have a reference to one of the following assemblies:

• For Word 2007, add a reference to Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.ServerDocument.v9.0.dll.

• For Word 2003, add a reference to Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Runtime.dll.

The code file into which you copy the code example must have an Imports (in Visual Basic) or using (in C#) statement for one of the following namespaces:

• For Word 2007, add an Imports or using statement for the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications namespace.

• For Word 2003, add an Imports or using statement for the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Runtime namespace.

  Note

  Visual Studio Tools for Office provides different versions of the ServerDocument class and the cached data classes for the 2007 system and the 2003 system. For more information, see Managing Documents on a Server by Using the ServerDocument Class.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Insert Data into a Workbook on a Server

How to: Retrieve Cached Data from a Workbook on a Server

How to: Change Cached Data in a Workbook on a Server

Concepts

Accessing Data in Documents on the Server