Change the print orientation of a word processing document
This topic shows how to use the classes in the Open XML SDK for
Office to programmatically set the print orientation of a Microsoft Word document. It contains an example
SetPrintOrientation method to illustrate this task.
SetPrintOrientation Method
You can use the SetPrintOrientation method
to change the print orientation of a word processing document. The
method accepts two parameters that indicate the name of the document to
modify (string) and the new print orientation (PageOrientationValues).
The following code shows the SetPrintOrientation method.
static void SetPrintOrientation(string fileName, string orientation)
For each section in the document, if the new orientation differs from the section's current print orientation, the code modifies the print orientation for the section. In addition, the code must manually update the width, height, and margins for each section.
Calling the Sample SetPrintOrientation Method
To call the sample SetPrintOrientation
method, pass a string that contains the name of the file to convert and the string "landscape" or "portrait"
depending on which orientation you want. The following code shows an example method call.
SetPrintOrientation(args[0], args[1]);
How the Code Works
The following code first determines which orientation to apply and
then opens the document by using the Open
method and sets the isEditable parameter to
true to indicate that the document should
be read/write. The code retrieves a reference to the main
document part, and then uses that reference to retrieve a collection of
all of the descendants of type SectionProperties within the content of the
document. Later code will use this collection to set the orientation for
each section in turn.
PageOrientationValues newOrientation = orientation.ToLower() switch
{
"landscape" => PageOrientationValues.Landscape,
"portrait" => PageOrientationValues.Portrait,
_ => throw new System.ArgumentException("Invalid argument: " + orientation)
};
using (var document = WordprocessingDocument.Open(fileName, true))
{
if (document?.MainDocumentPart?.Document.Body is null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("MainDocumentPart and/or Body is null.");
}
Body docBody = document.MainDocumentPart.Document.Body;
IEnumerable<SectionProperties> sections = docBody.ChildElements.OfType<SectionProperties>();
if (sections.Count() == 0)
{
docBody.AddChild(new SectionProperties());
sections = docBody.ChildElements.OfType<SectionProperties>();
}
Iterating Through All the Sections
The next block of code iterates through all the sections in the collection of SectionProperties elements. For each section, the code initializes a variable that tracks whether the page orientation for the section was changed so the code can update the page size and margins. (If the new orientation matches the original orientation, the code will not update the page.) The code continues by retrieving a reference to the first PageSize descendant of the SectionProperties element. If the reference is not null, the code updates the orientation as required.
foreach (SectionProperties sectPr in sections)
{
bool pageOrientationChanged = false;
PageSize pgSz = sectPr.ChildElements.OfType<PageSize>().FirstOrDefault() ?? sectPr.AppendChild(new PageSize() { Width = 12240, Height = 15840 });
Setting the Orientation for the Section
The next block of code first checks whether the Orient
property of the PageSize element exists. As with many properties
of Open XML elements, the property or attribute might not exist yet. In
that case, retrieving the property returns a null reference. By default,
if the property does not exist, and the new orientation is Portrait, the
code will not update the page. If the Orient property already exists, and its value
differs from the new orientation value supplied as a parameter to the
method, the code sets the Value property of
the Orient property, and sets the
pageOrientationChanged flag. (The code uses the pageOrientationChanged flag to determine whether it
must update the page size and margins.)
Note
If the code must create the Orient property, it must also create the value to store in the property, as a new EnumValue<T> instance, supplying the new orientation in the EnumValue constructor.
if (pgSz.Orient is null)
{
// Need to create the attribute. You do not need to
// create the Orient property if the property does not
// already exist, and you are setting it to Portrait.
// That is the default value.
if (newOrientation != PageOrientationValues.Portrait)
{
pageOrientationChanged = true;
pgSz.Orient = new EnumValue<PageOrientationValues>(newOrientation);
}
}
else
{
// The Orient property exists, but its value
// is different than the new value.
if (pgSz.Orient.Value != newOrientation)
{
pgSz.Orient.Value = newOrientation;
pageOrientationChanged = true;
}
Updating the Page Size
At this point in the code, the page orientation may have changed. If so,
the code must complete two more tasks. It must update the page size, and
update the page margins for the section. The first task is easy—the
following code just swaps the page height and width, storing the values
in the PageSize element.
if (pageOrientationChanged)
{
// Changing the orientation is not enough. You must also
// change the page size.
var width = pgSz.Width;
var height = pgSz.Height;
pgSz.Width = height;
pgSz.Height = width;
Updating the Margins
The next step in the sample procedure handles margins for the section.
If the page orientation has changed, the code must rotate the margins to
match. To do so, the code retrieves a reference to the PageMargin element for the section. If the element exists, the code rotates the margins. Note that the code rotates
the margins by 90 degrees—some printers rotate the margins by 270
degrees instead and you could modify the code to take that into account.
Also be aware that the Top and Bottom properties of the PageMargin object are signed values, and the
Left and Right properties are unsigned values. The code must convert between the two types of values as it rotates the
margin settings, as shown in the following code.
PageMargin? pgMar = sectPr.Descendants<PageMargin>().FirstOrDefault();
if (pgMar is not null)
{
// Rotate margins. Printer settings control how far you
// rotate when switching to landscape mode. Not having those
// settings, this code rotates 90 degrees. You could easily
// modify this behavior, or make it a parameter for the
// procedure.
if (pgMar.Top is null || pgMar.Bottom is null || pgMar.Left is null || pgMar.Right is null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("One or more of the PageMargin elements is null.");
}
var top = pgMar.Top.Value;
var bottom = pgMar.Bottom.Value;
var left = pgMar.Left.Value;
var right = pgMar.Right.Value;
pgMar.Top = new Int32Value((int)left);
pgMar.Bottom = new Int32Value((int)right);
pgMar.Left = new UInt32Value((uint)System.Math.Max(0, bottom));
pgMar.Right = new UInt32Value((uint)System.Math.Max(0, top));
}
Sample Code
The following is the complete SetPrintOrientation code sample in C# and Visual
Basic.
static void SetPrintOrientation(string fileName, string orientation)
{
PageOrientationValues newOrientation = orientation.ToLower() switch
{
"landscape" => PageOrientationValues.Landscape,
"portrait" => PageOrientationValues.Portrait,
_ => throw new System.ArgumentException("Invalid argument: " + orientation)
};
using (var document = WordprocessingDocument.Open(fileName, true))
{
if (document?.MainDocumentPart?.Document.Body is null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("MainDocumentPart and/or Body is null.");
}
Body docBody = document.MainDocumentPart.Document.Body;
IEnumerable<SectionProperties> sections = docBody.ChildElements.OfType<SectionProperties>();
if (sections.Count() == 0)
{
docBody.AddChild(new SectionProperties());
sections = docBody.ChildElements.OfType<SectionProperties>();
}
foreach (SectionProperties sectPr in sections)
{
bool pageOrientationChanged = false;
PageSize pgSz = sectPr.ChildElements.OfType<PageSize>().FirstOrDefault() ?? sectPr.AppendChild(new PageSize() { Width = 12240, Height = 15840 });
// No Orient property? Create it now. Otherwise, just
// set its value. Assume that the default orientation is Portrait.
if (pgSz.Orient is null)
{
// Need to create the attribute. You do not need to
// create the Orient property if the property does not
// already exist, and you are setting it to Portrait.
// That is the default value.
if (newOrientation != PageOrientationValues.Portrait)
{
pageOrientationChanged = true;
pgSz.Orient = new EnumValue<PageOrientationValues>(newOrientation);
}
}
else
{
// The Orient property exists, but its value
// is different than the new value.
if (pgSz.Orient.Value != newOrientation)
{
pgSz.Orient.Value = newOrientation;
pageOrientationChanged = true;
}
if (pageOrientationChanged)
{
// Changing the orientation is not enough. You must also
// change the page size.
var width = pgSz.Width;
var height = pgSz.Height;
pgSz.Width = height;
pgSz.Height = width;
PageMargin? pgMar = sectPr.Descendants<PageMargin>().FirstOrDefault();
if (pgMar is not null)
{
// Rotate margins. Printer settings control how far you
// rotate when switching to landscape mode. Not having those
// settings, this code rotates 90 degrees. You could easily
// modify this behavior, or make it a parameter for the
// procedure.
if (pgMar.Top is null || pgMar.Bottom is null || pgMar.Left is null || pgMar.Right is null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("One or more of the PageMargin elements is null.");
}
var top = pgMar.Top.Value;
var bottom = pgMar.Bottom.Value;
var left = pgMar.Left.Value;
var right = pgMar.Right.Value;
pgMar.Top = new Int32Value((int)left);
pgMar.Bottom = new Int32Value((int)right);
pgMar.Left = new UInt32Value((uint)System.Math.Max(0, bottom));
pgMar.Right = new UInt32Value((uint)System.Math.Max(0, top));
}
}
}
}
}
}