Modifying a Word document template with OpenXML

Question

I have the following program that opens a Word document template using the OpenXML library and replaces a couple of phrases with their counterparts from what will be a database (right now its just dummy data). Something about the if-else struture in the nested foreach loops bothers me. Is there a better way I can accomplish this task? Would regular expressions be a more viable option?

using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Wordprocessing;
using System;
namespace OpenXmlSearchExample
{
 class Program
 {
 static void Main(string[] args)
 {
 string templatePath = @"C:\users\example\desktop\template.dotx";
 string resultPath = @"C:\users\example\desktop\OpenXmlExample.docx";
 using (WordprocessingDocument document = WordprocessingDocument.CreateFromTemplate(templatePath))
 {
 var body = document.MainDocumentPart.Document.Body;
 var paragraphs = body.Elements<Paragraph>();
 // Iterate through paragraphs, runs, and text, finding the text we want and replacing it
 foreach (Paragraph paragraph in paragraphs)
 {
 foreach (Run run in paragraph.Elements<Run>())
 {
 foreach (Text text in run.Elements<Text>())
 {
 if (text.Text == "Plan")
 {
 text.Text = string.Format("{0} {1} Plan", DateTime.Now.Year, "Q2");
 }
 else if (text.Text == "Project Name")
 {
 text.Text = "SUPER SECRET CODE NAME";
 }
 else if (text.Text == "WO-nnnn Name")
 {
 text.Text = "Maintenance";
 }
 else
 {
 Console.WriteLine(text.Text);
 Console.ReadKey();
 }
 }
 }
 }
 // Save result document, not modifying the template
 document.SaveAs(resultPath);
 }
 }
 }
}

Answer 1

You can

• replace inner foreach loops with LINQ
• replace if-else with switch
• replace string.Format with string interpolation
• add const modifier for path variables if they will be constants
• remove string[] args from Main if you won't use them

Result

using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Wordprocessing;
using System;
namespace OpenXmlSearchExample
{
 class Program
 {
 static void Main()
 {
 const string templatePath = @"C:\users\example\desktop\template.dotx";
 const string resultPath = @"C:\users\example\desktop\OpenXmlExample.docx";
 using (WordprocessingDocument document = WordprocessingDocument.CreateFromTemplate(templatePath))
 {
 var body = document.MainDocumentPart.Document.Body;
 var paragraphs = body.Elements<Paragraph>();
 var texts = paragraphs.SelectMany(p => p.Elements<Run>()).SelectMany(r => r.Elements<Text>());
 foreach (Text text in texts)
 {
 switch (text.Text)
 {
 case "Plan":
 text.Text = $"{DateTime.Now.Year} Q2 Plan";
 break;
 case "Project Name":
 text.Text = "SUPER SECRET CODE NAME";
 break;
 case "WO-nnnn Name":
 text.Text = "Maintenance";
 break;
 default:
 Console.WriteLine(text.Text);
 Console.ReadKey();
 break;
 }
 }
 // Save result document, not modifying the template
 document.SaveAs(resultPath);
 }
 }
 }
}

• Ellis: Thanks for the response! I love LINQ, I'm just too new to use it effectively.
• eddy: How can I install this library. I used this nuget.org/packages/DocumentFormat.OpenXml/%20 , but the CreateFromTemplate and SaveAs methods are not recognized

Answer 2

Using case-sensitive string matching like that is in my opinion the first nail in the coffin. Instead a case-insensitive dictionary would be a much better option.

Example:

var replacements = new Dictionary<string, Func<string>>(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
{
 ["Plan"] = () => $"{DateTime.Now.Year} Q2 Plan",
 ["Project Name"] = () => $"SUPER SECRET CODE NAME",
};
text.Text = replacements[text.Text]();

This is also much easier to extend/maintain.

---

You shouldn't mix full type names with var. You can use var not only for normal variables but also inside using statements or foreach loops. Keep it consistent.

• eddy: How can I install this library? I used this nuget.org/packages/DocumentFormat.OpenXml/%20 , but the CreateFromTemplate and SaveAs methods are not recognized
• james.garriss: Instructions can be found in Nuget: nuget.org/packages/DocumentFormat.OpenXml