Howto implement IMailMergeDataSourceRoot and IMailMergeDataSource in the same time

Aspose.Words Product Family
1

Hello,

I need to implement something as follow:

MERGEFIELD FIELD1

MERGEFIELD FIELD2

<SECTION_CONTINOUUS_OR_BREAK>

MERGEFIELD FIELD3

TABLE 1
MERGEFIELD TableStart:T1 with MERGEFIELD_T1_1, MERGEFIELD_T1_2,..MERGEFIELD TableEnd:T1

...
TABLE 2
MERGEFIELD TableStart:T2 with MERGEFIELD_T2_1, MERGEFIELD_T2_2,..MERGEFIELD TableEnd:T2

...
MERGEFIELD FIELD4

So I have a simple datasource with FIELD1, FIELD2, FIELD3 and FIELD4

and one or more tables

First I tried adding a TableStart at the begining of the document and a TableEnd at the end of the document. With this I have a main region and several children and for datasource I implemented a custom IMailMergeDataSource with getChildren and getValue and it works.

But, the client want to add some sections in the document and for some reason Aspose.Words does not accept a region to span multiple sections.

I tried to create a IMailMergeDataSource for the main part (FIELD1, FIELD2, FIELD3 and FIELD4) and several IMailMergeDataSource registered in a IMailMergeDataSourceRoot for the tables. In the end I call one time execute with the datasource for the main part and one time executeWithRegions with the IMailMergeDataSourceRoot. It works for the main part but not for the tables. IMailMergeDataSourceRoot.getDataSource is called, IMailMergeDataSourceRoot.getDataSource.MoveNext is called but IMailMergeDataSourceRoot.getDataSource.GetValue is not called like it does not recognise the fields between TableStart and TableEnd.

Is this the right aproach?
How can I implement my scenario?

It’s dificult to extract the code for exemple but I think the explanation is comprehensive.

Thank you

2

@cata_sun

To implement both IMailMergeDataSourceRoot and IMailMergeDataSource in your scenario, you can follow these guidelines:

  1. Define Your Data Sources:

    • Create a main data source that implements IMailMergeDataSource for fields like FIELD1, FIELD2, FIELD3, and FIELD4.
    • For the tables, create separate data sources that also implement IMailMergeDataSource.

  2. Implement IMailMergeDataSourceRoot:

    • Create a class that implements IMailMergeDataSourceRoot. This class should manage the main data source and the child data sources (for the tables).
    • In this class, implement the getDataSource() method to return the main data source, and getChildren() to return the child data sources.

  3. Handle Mail Merge Execution:

    • First, call the Execute() method on the main data source to fill in the fields.
    • Then, call ExecuteWithRegions() on the IMailMergeDataSourceRoot to handle the regions defined by TableStart and TableEnd.

  4. Addressing Section Issues:

    • Since Aspose.Words does not allow regions to span multiple sections, ensure that your tables are structured correctly within the same section or handle them in a way that respects this limitation.

Here’s a simplified code example to illustrate the implementation:

public class MainDataSource : IMailMergeDataSource
{
    public bool MoveNext() { /* implementation */ }
    public string GetValue(string fieldName) { /* implementation */ }
    public IMailMergeDataSource GetChild(string childName) { /* implementation */ }
    public string TableName { get; /* implementation */ }
}

public class MainDataSourceRoot : IMailMergeDataSourceRoot
{
    public IMailMergeDataSource GetDataSource() { /* return main data source */ }
    public IEnumerable<IMailMergeDataSource> GetChildren() { /* return child data sources */ }
}

// Usage
Document doc = new Document("template.docx");
MainDataSource mainDataSource = new MainDataSource();
MainDataSourceRoot rootDataSource = new MainDataSourceRoot();

doc.MailMerge.Execute(mainDataSource);
doc.MailMerge.ExecuteWithRegions(rootDataSource);

Make sure to test your implementation thoroughly to ensure that the data is merged correctly, especially with the sections and tables involved. If you encounter issues with the tables not recognizing the fields between TableStart and TableEnd, double-check the structure of your document and the data sources being used.

For further details on mail merge operations, you can refer to the official documentation on Mail Merge Template and Advanced Mail Merge Features.

If you have specific code snippets or errors, feel free to share for more targeted assistance!

3

IMailMergeDataSourceRoot interface has only GetDataSource in the signature, how the GetChildren is called?

4

@cata_sun I think the easiest way to achieve what you need is to generate a separate document for each master item and then concatenate the resulting documents. It is required to execute mail merge with regions for each master item and simple mail merge for each master item. For example see the following code:

DataTable master = new DataTable();
master.Columns.Add("Country");
master.Columns.Add("Town");

master.Rows.Add("New Zealand", "Auckland");
master.Rows.Add("Ukraine", "Kharkiv");

List<Document> docs = new List<Document>();

foreach (DataRow dr in master.Rows)
{
    // open template and fill it with data.
    Document doc = new Document(@"C:\Temp\in.docx");
    docs.Add(doc);

    // Execute simple mail merge for the given record.
    doc.MailMerge.Execute(dr);

    // Execute mail merge with regions. Use dummy data for demonstration purposes.
    DataTable schedule = new DataTable("RegionData");
    schedule.Columns.Add("field1");
    schedule.Columns.Add("field2");
    for (int i = 1; i < 5; i++)
        schedule.Rows.Add($"field1_{i}", $"field2_{i}");

    doc.MailMerge.ExecuteWithRegions(schedule);
}

// Concatenate all documents and save the result.
Document result = Merger.Merge(docs.ToArray(), MergeFormatMode.MergeFormatting);
result.Save(@"C:\Temp\out.docx");

in.docx (14.5 KB)
out.docx (11.7 KB)

5

Thank you for the response Alexey but my requirement is a little different. I have only one master (if you want, a single row in master.Rows) and several Lists of data for the tables. I need to merge the master and the tables. It works very well if I programatically add at the beginning of the document a TableStart wich becomes the master and the tables in the document becomes children. The problem I have with this if somewhere in the document I have a section break or continous section Aspose.Words throw an exception saying that it doees not like to have multiple sections inside a TableStart/TableEnd.

6

@cata_sun If the master has only one record (row) then there is no reason to wrap whole document into TableStart/tableEnd. You can fill the first of the master using simple mail merge and regions using mail merge with regions, the same way as demonstrated in the above code example.

7

I tried but it does not work. In the exemple I see

public class MainDataSourceRoot : IMailMergeDataSourceRoot
{
    public IMailMergeDataSource GetDataSource() { /* return main data source */ }
    public IEnumerable<IMailMergeDataSource> GetChildren() { /* return child data sources */ }
}

IMailMergeDataSourceRoot does not contain a method GetChildren, who is calling this method and how?

8

@cata_sun You can use two data sources one for simple mail merge to fill the fields outside the region and another for filling regions.

9

Yes, I did that. The problem is that when I call ExecuteWithRegions the GetValue of the dataSource is not called, if I call getRegionsHierarchy the fields are detected in the region

10

@cata_sun Could you please attach a simple template, your current and expected output along with code that will allow us to reproduce the problem? We will check the issue and provide you more information.

11

Hello,
I found the problem with the merge, the mergefields inside TableStart/TableEnd does not have a space before MERGEFIELD. What is curious is that Aspose.Words detect the fields as mergefields and even when calling getRegionsHierarchy but it does not call the dataSource.getValue for them

I added the space and it works.
Thank you for your assistance.

12

@cata_sun It is perfect that you managed to resolve the problem.