Advice on Word automation with .NET

Controlling Word with a C# program

Kommunales Systemhaus Niedersachsen (now GovConnect GmbH following the merger) planned to develop an application for creating Microsoft Word documents using predefined modules in the form of Word-supported files.

For technical advice, eWorks was commissioned for a workshop in which the advantages and disadvantages of existing components and the general procedure for automating Microsoft Word were demonstrated.

The software used by Kommunales Systemhaus Niedersachsen to create official documents had previously only been capable of pure text modules without formatting options. This meant that there were only rudimentary options for formatting the content, such as indenting text by inserting a corresponding number of spaces, along with the associated undesirable shifting of the subsequent content when the text was expanded.

To optimize this, new software was planned that would offer all the formatting options and objects (tables, graphics, etc.) of Microsoft Word. The following two components were planned:

• Central management of the modules, including the option to create and edit module documents
• Application for compiling one or more modules and subsequent connection to a Word document

The connection should also include the replacement of placeholders, similar to a Word mail merge, as well as the completion and expansion of tables.

The targeted advice and support from eWorks took place in three steps:

• Preparation of a written report of the implementation options, to show and assess possible components and illustrate them with programming examples
• On-site workshop to jointly review the report, answer questions and present a similar text module software solution implemented by eWorks
• Telephone and written support for questions that arose afterwards

The TextEngine text module software developed by eWorks was presented as a solution template.