Aspose words API - mail merge functionality - can the "merged" text be richtext (with styles/images/bullets/tables)? - aspose

Question

Looking for word api which can perform mail merge type of functionality with richtext. Basically, text will be richtext/formatted text with fonts styles and WILL have
a) images
b) bullets
c) tables
Overall purpose: Create a word template with bookmarks. Get get data from DB(for those fields) and insert. Data will be html text/richtext. Autogenerate word document. python or .net api will be preferred.
Can Aspose.words work with richtext as described above? Any other recommendations for excellent word APIs?

Answer 1

Yes, you can achieve this using Aspose.Words. You can use IFieldMergingCallback to insert formatted text upon mail merge. For example, see the following link
https://apireference.aspose.com/words/net/aspose.words.mailmerging/ifieldmergingcallback
In case of reach text (if you mean RTF or MarkDown formats) you first need to read this content into a separate instance of Document and then use DocumentBuilder.InsertDocument method
https://apireference.aspose.com/words/net/aspose.words/documentbuilder/methods/insertdocument
The following code example shows how to use InsertHtml method in IFieldMergingCallback
[Test]
public void Test001()
{
Document doc = new Document(#"C:\Temp\in.docx");
doc.MailMerge.FieldMergingCallback = new HandleMergeFieldInsertHtml();
const string html = #"<h1>Hello world!</h1>";
doc.MailMerge.Execute(new string[] { "myField" }, new object[] { html });
doc.Save(#"C:\Temp\out.docx");
}
private class HandleMergeFieldInsertHtml : IFieldMergingCallback
{
void IFieldMergingCallback.FieldMerging(FieldMergingArgs args)
{
FieldMergeField field = args.Field;
// Insert the text for this merge field as HTML data, using DocumentBuilder
DocumentBuilder builder = new DocumentBuilder(args.Document);
builder.MoveToMergeField(args.DocumentFieldName);
builder.Write(field.TextBefore ?? "");
builder.InsertHtml((string)args.FieldValue);
// The HTML text itself should not be inserted
// We have already inserted it as an HTML
args.Text = "";
}
void IFieldMergingCallback.ImageFieldMerging(ImageFieldMergingArgs args)
{
// Do nothing
}
}
If you would like manually format the text, then you can use DocumentBuilder appropriate properties.
[Test]
public void Test001()
{
Document doc = new Document(#"C:\Temp\in.docx");
doc.MailMerge.FieldMergingCallback = new HandleMergeFieldInsertText();
const string text = #"Hello world!";
doc.MailMerge.Execute(new string[] { "myField" }, new object[] { text });
doc.Save(#"C:\Temp\out.docx");
}
private class HandleMergeFieldInsertText : IFieldMergingCallback
{
void IFieldMergingCallback.FieldMerging(FieldMergingArgs args)
{
FieldMergeField field = args.Field;
DocumentBuilder builder = new DocumentBuilder(args.Document);
builder.MoveToMergeField(args.DocumentFieldName);
// Apply style or other formatting.
builder.ParagraphFormat.StyleIdentifier = StyleIdentifier.Heading1;
builder.Write(field.TextBefore ?? "");
builder.Write((string)args.FieldValue);
// The text itself should not be inserted
// We have already inserted it using DocumentBuilder.
args.Text = "";
}
void IFieldMergingCallback.ImageFieldMerging(ImageFieldMergingArgs args)
{
// Do nothing
}
}
Hope this helps.
Disclosure: I work at Aspose.Words team.