Change text in a table in a word processing document
This topic shows how to use the Open XML SDK for Office to programmatically change text in a table in an existing word processing document.
Open the Existing Document
To open an existing document, instantiate the WordprocessingDocument class as shown in the following using statement. In the same statement, open the word processing file at the specified filepath by using the Open method, with the Boolean parameter set to true to enable editing the document.
using (WordprocessingDocument doc = WordprocessingDocument.Open(filePath, true))
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.
The Structure of a Table
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 document might contain a table as in this example. A table is a set of paragraphs (and other block-level
content) arranged in rows and columns. Tables in WordprocessingML are defined via the tbl element, which is analogous to the HTML table tag. Consider an empty one-cell table (that is, a table with one row and
one column) and 1 point borders on all sides. This table is represented
by the following WordprocessingML code
example.
<w:tbl>
<w:tblPr>
<w:tblW w:w="5000" w:type="pct"/>
<w:tblBorders>
<w:top w:val="single" w:sz="4" w:space="0" w:color="auto"/>
<w:left w:val="single" w:sz="4 w:space="0" w:color="auto"/>
<w:bottom w:val="single" w:sz="4" w:space="0" w:color="auto"/>
<w:right w:val="single" w:sz="4" w:space="0" w:color="auto"/>
</w:tblBorders>
</w:tblPr>
<w:tblGrid>
<w:gridCol w:w="10296"/>
</w:tblGrid>
<w:tr>
<w:tc>
<w:tcPr>
<w:tcW w:w="0" w:type="auto"/>
</w:tcPr>
<w:p/>
</w:tc>
</w:tr>
</w:tbl>
This table specifies table-wide properties of 100% of page width using
the tblW element, a set of table borders
using the tblBorders element, the table
grid, which defines a set of shared vertical edges within the table
using the tblGrid element, and a single
table row using the tr element.
How the Sample Code Works
In the sample code, after you open the document in the using statement, you locate the first table in
the document. Then you locate the second row in the table by finding the
row whose index is 1. Next, you locate the third cell in that row whose
index is 2, as shown in the following code example.
// Find the first table in the document.
Table table = doc.MainDocumentPart.Document.Body.Elements<Table>().First();
// Find the second row in the table.
TableRow row = table.Elements<TableRow>().ElementAt(1);
// Find the third cell in the row.
TableCell cell = row.Elements<TableCell>().ElementAt(2);
After you have located the target cell, you locate the first run in the first paragraph of the cell and replace the text with the passed in text. The following code example shows these actions.
// Find the first paragraph in the table cell.
Paragraph p = cell.Elements<Paragraph>().First();
// Find the first run in the paragraph.
Run r = p.Elements<Run>().First();
// Set the text for the run.
Text t = r.Elements<Text>().First();
t.Text = txt;
Change Text in a Cell in a Table
The following code example shows how to change the text in the specified
table cell in a word processing document. The code example expects that
the document, whose file name and path are passed as an argument to the
ChangeTextInCell method, contains a table.
The code example also expects that the table has at least two rows and
three columns, and that the table contains text in the cell that is
located at the second row and the third column position. When you call
the ChangeTextInCell method in your
program, the text in the cell at the specified location will be replaced
by the text that you pass in as the second argument to the ChangeTextInCell method.
| Some text | Some text | Some text |
|---|---|---|
| Some text | Some text | The text from the second argument |
Sample Code
The ChangeTextInCell method changes the
text in the second row and the third column of the first table found in
the file. You call it by passing a full path to the file as the first
parameter, and the text to use as the second parameter. For example, the
following call to the ChangeTextInCell
method changes the text in the specified cell to "The text from the API
example."
ChangeTextInCell(args[0], args[1]);
Following is the complete code example.
// Change the text in a table in a word processing document.
static void ChangeTextInCell(string filePath, string txt)
{
// Use the file name and path passed in as an argument to
// open an existing document.
using (WordprocessingDocument doc = WordprocessingDocument.Open(filePath, true))
{
if (doc.MainDocumentPart is null || doc.MainDocumentPart.Document.Body is null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("MainDocumentPart and/or Body is null.");
}
// Find the first table in the document.
Table table = doc.MainDocumentPart.Document.Body.Elements<Table>().First();
// Find the second row in the table.
TableRow row = table.Elements<TableRow>().ElementAt(1);
// Find the third cell in the row.
TableCell cell = row.Elements<TableCell>().ElementAt(2);
// Find the first paragraph in the table cell.
Paragraph p = cell.Elements<Paragraph>().First();
// Find the first run in the paragraph.
Run r = p.Elements<Run>().First();
// Set the text for the run.
Text t = r.Elements<Text>().First();
t.Text = txt;
}
}
See also
Open XML SDK class library reference
How to: Change Text in a Table in a Word Processing Document
Language-Integrated Query (LINQ)