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@FlorianWolters
Created August 17, 2013 14:46
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Generic algorithm to allow the creation of nested fields with Word.Interop, by using a string. I have taken the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) source code from [Nested Fields in VBA](http://stoptyping.co.uk/word/nested-fields-in-vba) and adopted it for C#.
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// <copyright file="FieldCreator.cs" company="Florian Wolters">
// Copyright (c) Florian Wolters. All rights reserved.
// </copyright>
// <author>Florian Wolters &lt;wolters.fl@gmail.com&gt;</author>
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
namespace FlorianWolters.Office.Word.Fields
{
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using Word = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;
/// <summary>
/// The class <see cref="FieldCreator"/> simplifies the creation of <see cref="Word.Field"/>s.
/// </summary>
public class FieldCreator
{
/// <summary>
/// Adds one or more new <see cref="Word.Field"/> to the specified <see cref="Word.Range"/>.
/// <para>
/// This method allows to insert nested fields at the specified range.
/// </para>
/// <example>
/// <c>InsertField(Application.Selection.Range, {{= {{PAGE}} - 1}};</c>
/// will produce
/// { = { PAGE } - 1 }
/// </example>
/// </summary>
/// <param name="range">The <see cref="Word.Range"/> where to add the <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</param>
/// <param name="theString">The string to convert to one or more <see cref="Word.Field"/> objects.</param>
/// <param name="fieldOpen">The special code to mark the start of a <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</param>
/// <param name="fieldClose">The special code to mark the end of a <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</param>
/// <returns>The newly created <see cref="Word.Field"/></returns>
/// <remarks>
/// A solution for VBA has been taken from <a href="http://stoptyping.co.uk/word/nested-fields-in-vba">this</a>
/// article and adopted for C# by the author.
/// </remarks>
public Word.Field InsertField(
Word.Range range,
string theString = "{{}}",
string fieldOpen = "{{",
string fieldClose = "}}")
{
if (null == range)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("range");
}
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fieldOpen))
{
throw new ArgumentException("fieldOpen");
}
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fieldClose))
{
throw new ArgumentException("fieldClose");
}
if (!theString.Contains(fieldOpen) || !theString.Contains(fieldClose))
{
throw new ArgumentException("theString");
}
// Special case. If we do not check this, the algorithm breaks.
if (theString == fieldOpen + fieldClose)
{
return this.InsertEmpty(range);
}
// TODO Implement additional error handling.
// TODO Possible to remove the dependency to state capture?
using (new StateCapture(range.Application.ActiveDocument))
{
Word.Field result = null;
Stack fieldStack = new Stack();
range.Text = theString;
fieldStack.Push(range);
Word.Range searchRange = range.Duplicate;
Word.Range nextOpen = null;
Word.Range nextClose = null;
Word.Range fieldRange = null;
while (searchRange.Start != searchRange.End)
{
nextOpen = this.FindNextOpen(searchRange.Duplicate, fieldOpen);
nextClose = this.FindNextClose(searchRange.Duplicate, fieldClose);
if (null == nextClose)
{
break;
}
// See which marker comes first.
if (nextOpen.Start < nextClose.Start)
{
nextOpen.Text = string.Empty;
searchRange.Start = nextOpen.End;
// Field open, so push a new range to the stack.
fieldStack.Push(nextOpen.Duplicate);
}
else
{
nextClose.Text = string.Empty;
// Move start of main search region onwards past the end marker.
searchRange.Start = nextClose.End;
// Field close, so pop the last range from the stack and insert the field.
fieldRange = (Word.Range)fieldStack.Pop();
fieldRange.End = nextClose.End;
result = this.InsertEmpty(fieldRange);
}
}
// Move the current selection after all inserted fields.
// TODO Improvement possible, e.g. by using another range object?
int newPos = fieldRange.End + fieldRange.Fields.Count + 1;
fieldRange.SetRange(newPos, newPos);
fieldRange.Select();
// Update the result of the outer field object.
result.Update();
return result;
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Adds a new empty <see cref="Word.Field"/> to the specified <see cref="Word.Range"/>.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="range">The <see cref="Word.Range"/> where to add the <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</param>
/// <param name="preserveFormatting">
/// Whether to apply the formatting of the previous <see cref="Word.Field"/> result to the new result.
/// </param>
/// <returns>The newly created <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</returns>
public Word.Field InsertEmpty(Word.Range range, bool preserveFormatting = false)
{
Word.Field result = this.AddFieldToRange(range, Word.WdFieldType.wdFieldEmpty, preserveFormatting);
// Show the field codes of an empty field, because otherwise we can't be sure that it is visible.
result.ShowCodes = true;
return result;
}
/// <summary>
/// Creates a <see cref="Word.Field"/> and adds it to the specified <see cref="Word.Range"/>
/// </summary>
/// <remarks>
/// The <see cref="Word.Field"/> is added to the <see cref="Word.Fields"/> collection of the specified <see
/// cref="Word.Range"/>.
/// </remarks>
/// <param name="range">The <see cref="Word.Range"/> where to add the <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</param>
/// <param name="type">The type of <see cref="Word.Field"/> to create.</param>
/// <param name="preserveFormatting">
/// Whether to apply the formatting of the previous field result to the new result.
/// </param>
/// <param name="text">Additional text needed for the <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</param>
/// <returns>The newly created <see cref="Word.Field"/>.</returns>
private Word.Field AddFieldToRange(
Word.Range range,
Word.WdFieldType type,
bool preserveFormatting = false,
string text = null)
{
return range.Fields.Add(
range,
type,
(null == text) ? Type.Missing : text,
preserveFormatting);
}
private Word.Range FindNextOpen(Word.Range range, string text)
{
Word.Find find = this.CreateFind(range, text);
Word.Range result = range.Duplicate;
if (!find.Found)
{
// Make sure that the next closing field will be found first.
result.Collapse(Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseEnd);
}
return result;
}
private Word.Range FindNextClose(Word.Range range, string text)
{
return this.CreateFind(range, text).Found ? range.Duplicate : null;
}
private Word.Find CreateFind(Word.Range range, string text)
{
Word.Find result = range.Find;
result.Execute(FindText: text, Forward: true, Wrap: Word.WdFindWrap.wdFindStop);
return result;
}
}
}
@FlorianWolters
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This is my solution to the question Create a nested field with Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) on StackOverflow.

@lrasmus
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lrasmus commented Dec 11, 2015

This was a huge time save for me, thanks for making the solution openly available.

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