Create Word table using OpenXML and C# Without Automation/Interop

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Introduction

Welcome back again in OpenXML world, where you can create a word table with the help of C# and OpenXML.

Here the magic is,  No need to install word on your machine, no Interop object required. Lets see how to drive it

Background

I have given brief explanation about 'What is Open XML' in my previous article, if you are new to OpenXML then check out this link

http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/994905/Edit-Word-Documents-using-OpenXML-and-Csharp-Witho

OpenXML table structure

According to people, OpenXML is legthy and complex but if you understand it's structure then it is really a cup of tea. So lets start with table structure first.

Things we need before going to openXML

Getting started with OpenXML Table

A table consists of rows and cells and is structured much like an HTML table. It is defined with the <w:tbl> element. Basic table structure can be defined as

<w:tbl>
    <w:tblpr>.....</w:tblpr>
    <w:tblgrid>....</w:tblgrid>
    <w:tr>....</w:tr>
</w:tbl>

In above structure we can see, Table has three main tag.

1. w:tblpr : Specifies the table-wide properties for the table. These properties can be overridden by individual table level

2. w:tblgrid : Specifies the columns for the table

3. w:tr : Specifies a table row

Let see them one by one in detail

1. w:tblpr :

This Specifies the table-wide properties for the table, Each property is a child element of <tblPr> , and they affect all rows and cells in the table, but the style can be overridden by each individual row, column or cell.

The most commonly used properties are shown below

see below tag snippet

<w:tblPr>
	<w:tblStyle w:val="TestTableStyle"/>
	<w:jc w:val="center"/>
</w:tblPr>

2. w:tblgrid

The columns of a table are defined by the <w:tblGrid> element it contains attribute as <w:gridCol> which is the size of each columns, if the table has 4 columns then w:tblgrid has 4 w:gridCol tags

see below tag snippet

<w:tblGrid>
	<w:gridCol w:w="2800"/>
	<w:gridCol w:w="2600"/>
	<w:gridCol w:w="2800"/>
<w:tblGrid>

3.w:tr

This is the row defination tag, this is the core element of table. it has following subset

see below tag snippet

<w:tr>
    <w:trPr>.....</w:trPr>
    <w:tblPrEx>....</w:tblPrEx>
    <w:tc>....</w:tc>
</w:tr>

Now we will see w:tr properties in depth.

3.1 w:trPr

This element represent row level properties, Each property is a child element of <trPr> , and they affect all cells in the row. Mostly used properties are as below

3.2 w:trPrEx

As described exceptional properties of the table, with the help of this property we can show any row with specific exception. w:trPrEx has almost same properties like <w:trPr>, some new properties are as below

see below tag snippet

<w:tr>
   <w:tblPrEx>
	<w:tblBorders>
		<w:top w:val="single" w:sz="12" w:space="0" w:color="FF0000" />
		<w:start w:val="single" w:sz="24" w:space="0" w:color="00FF00" />
		<w:bottom w:val="single" w:sz="12" w:space="0" w:color="0000FF" />
		<w:end w:val="single" w:sz="24" w:space="0" w:color="000000" />
		<w:insideH w:val="single" w:sz="24" w:space="0" w:color="FFFF00" />
		<w:insideV w:val="single" w:sz="24" w:space="0" w:color="FF00FF" />
	</w:tblBorders>
   </w:tblPrEx>
</w:tr>

3.3 w:tc

This tag specifies data for individual table cell, these tags are nested under table row tags. The core elements of w:tc are as follows

see below snippet

<w:tc>
   <w:tcPr>
	<w:tcW w:w="2600" w:type="dxa"/>
   </w:tcPr>
   <w:p>
	<w:r>
      	    <w:t>cell content</w:t>
	</w:r>
   </w:p>
</w:tc>

above markup snippet contains table cell, in which paragraph (<w:p>), Run (<w:p>), Text (<w:r>) are the child element of the cell.

3.3.1 w:p

Paragraph is the main part of the cell, The paragraph can contain rich formatting properties for the paragraph, Paragraphs may also contain bookmarks, hyperlinks, fields, comments, etc. The core element of paragraph is properties (<w:pPr>) and run (<w:r>) 

Both paragraph properties and run has their own properties like paragraph frames, indentation, alignment, numbering, border, paragraph style, shading and tabs.

see below markup

<w:p>
   <w:pPr>
	<w:pStyle> w:val="TestWeb"/>
	<w:spacing w:before="20" w:after="20"/>
   </w:pPr>
   <w:r>
	<w:t>This is cell content</w:t>
   </w:r>
</w:p>

3.3.2 w:tcPr

tcPr represent cellwise properties, this properties are used to decorate cell. Row and column wise properties can be overridden in this section 

3.3.1.1 w:r

Run defines a text properties. Most commonly run contains only text but it may have content as symbols, tabs, hyphens, carriage returns, drawings, breaks, and footnote references

see below properties of Run element

see below markup snippet

<w:r>
   <w:rPr>
	<w:b/>
	<w:i/>
    </w:rPr>
    <w:t>This is sample text</w:t>
</w:r>

3.3.1.1.1 w:rPr

 This element contains different properties of the Run, which is then applies to actual text exist in  <w:t> section

here are the most commonly used properties of the run

So here is the raw hierarchy structure of OpenXML table format

Go with Markup and code

Now with the above all markup's we can create a table in word (DOCX) file, here i have develope a small application that will put a nice table in word file

first create table properties, see below xml markup's (We have apply inbuilt table style and look as Accept4)

<w:tblPr>
	<w:tblStyle w:val="LightGrid-Accent4" />
	<w:tblW w:w="0" w:type="auto" />
	<w:tblLook w:val="04A0" />
</w:tblPr>

then we will add columns in table, see below xml markup's (We have take 3 columns)

<w:tblGrid> 
	<w:gridCol w:w="2394" />
	<w:gridCol w:w="2394" /> 
	<w:gridCol w:w="2394" /> 
</w:tblGrid> 

Now we will add rows in it with text to be display. (We have added 1 row with 3 cell here)

<w:tr w:rsidR="004D1DA5" w:rsidTr="004D1DA5"> 
	<w:trPr> 
		<w:cnfStyle w:val="100000000000" /> 
	</w:trPr> 
	<w:tc> 
		<w:tcPr> 
			<w:cnfStyle w:val="001000000000" /> 
			<w:tcW w:w="2394" w:type="dxa" /> 
			<w:hideMark /> 
		</w:tcPr> 
		<w:p w:rsidR="004D1DA5" w:rsidRDefault="004D1DA5"> 
			<w:pPr> 
				<w:jc w:val="center" /> 
			</w:pPr> 
			<w:r> 
				<w:t>No</w:t> 
			</w:r> 
		</w:p> 
	</w:tc> 
	<w:tc> 
		<w:tcPr> 
			<w:tcW w:w="2394" w:type="dxa" /> 
			<w:hideMark /> 
		</w:tcPr> 
		<w:p w:rsidR="004D1DA5" w:rsidRDefault="004D1DA5"> 
			<w:pPr> 
				<w:jc w:val="center" /> 
				<w:cnfStyle w:val="100000000000" /> 
			</w:pPr> 
			<w:r> 
				<w:t>Name</w:t> 
			</w:r> 
		</w:p> 
	</w:tc> 
	<w:tc> 
		<w:tcPr> 
			<w:tcW w:w="2394" w:type="dxa" /> 
			<w:hideMark /> 
		</w:tcPr> 
		<w:p w:rsidR="004D1DA5" w:rsidRDefault="004D1DA5"> 
			<w:pPr> 
				<w:jc w:val="center" /> 
				<w:cnfStyle w:val="100000000000" /> 
			</w:pPr> 
			<w:r> 
				<w:t>Sex</w:t> 
			</w:r> 
		</w:p> 
	</w:tc> 
</w:tr> 

Here is code to create Markup

# Create table object and add table properties

//create table object
Table table1 = new Table();

//define table properties
TableProperties tableProperties1 = new TableProperties();
TableStyle tableStyle1 = new TableStyle() { Val = "LightGrid-Accent4" };
TableWidth tableWidth1 = new TableWidth() { Width = "0", Type = TableWidthUnitValues.Auto };
TableLook tableLook1 = new TableLook() { Val = "04A0" };

//add table styles to properties
tableProperties1.Append(tableStyle1);
tableProperties1.Append(tableWidth1);
tableProperties1.Append(tableLook1);

# define table columns and add them in table

//create and define new table columns 
TableGrid tableGrid1 = new TableGrid();
GridColumn gridColumn1 = new GridColumn() { Width = "2394" };
GridColumn gridColumn2 = new GridColumn() { Width = "2394" };
GridColumn gridColumn3 = new GridColumn() { Width = "2394" };

//add columns in table
tableGrid1.Append(gridColumn1);
tableGrid1.Append(gridColumn2);
tableGrid1.Append(gridColumn3);

# Define new cell object with its associated paragraph, Run, Text object and their properties respectively.

//create table row object
TableRow tableRow1 = new TableRow(){RsidTableRowAddition="004D1DA5",RsidTableRowProperties="004D1DA5"};

//create row properties
TableRowProperties tableRowProperties1 = new TableRowProperties();
ConditionalFormatStyle conditionalFormatStyle1 = new ConditionalFormatStyle(){Val="100000000000"};
tableRowProperties1.Append(conditionalFormatStyle1);

//create cell object and its properties
TableCell tableCell1 = new TableCell();
TableCellProperties tableCellProperties1 = new TableCellProperties();
ConditionalFormatStyle conditionalFormatStyle2 = new ConditionalFormatStyle(){Val="001000000000"};
TableCellWidth tableCellWidth1 = new TableCellWidth(){Width="2394",Type=TableWidthUnitValues.Dxa};
HideMark hideMark1 = new HideMark();
tableCellProperties1.Append(conditionalFormatStyle2);
tableCellProperties1.Append(tableCellWidth1);
tableCellProperties1.Append(hideMark1);

//create paragrpah object and its properties
Paragraph paragraph1 = new Paragraph(){RsidParagraphAddition="004D1DA5",RsidRunAdditionDefault="004D1DA5"};
ParagraphProperties paragraphProperties1 = new ParagraphProperties();
Justification justification1 = new Justification() { Val = JustificationValues.Center };
paragraphProperties1.Append(justification1);

//create Run and Text 
Run run1 = new Run();
Text text1 = new Text();

//add content in Text
text1.Text = "No";

//add Text to Run
run1.Append(text1);

//add Run to paragraph
paragraph1.Append(paragraphProperties1);
paragraph1.Append(run1);

//add Paragraph to cell
tableCell1.Append(tableCellProperties1);
tableCell1.Append(paragraph1);

Yes, we are done with our code now try to test it.

Summing Up

OpenXML is  is an open, international, ECMA-376, Second Edition and ISO/IEC 29500 standard, They are based on technologies like XML and ZIP. You can improve your application performance with the help of OpenXML, Developer can interact with DOCX file without opening it. With the help of openXML you can perform complex operations with just a few lines of code.

In this article we have seen how to draw a word table using OpenXML and C#

Till more to happen and learn, we will see more good samples in coming versions of this article.

Suggestions and Queries are always welcome.

Thanks

koolprasad2003