Change text in a table in a word processing document

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This topic shows how to use the Open XML SDK for Office to programmatically change text in a table in an existing word processing document.

Open the Existing Document

To open an existing document, instantiate the WordprocessingDocument class as shown in the following using statement. In the same statement, open the word processing file at the specified filepath by using the Open method, with the Boolean parameter set to true to enable editing the document.

    using (WordprocessingDocument doc =
           WordprocessingDocument.Open(filepath, true)) 
    { 
       // Insert other code here. 
    }

The using statement provides a recommended alternative to the typical .Open, .Save, .Close sequence. It ensures that the Dispose method (internal method used by the Open XML SDK to clean up resources) is automatically called when the closing brace is reached. The block that follows the using statement establishes a scope for the object that is created or named in the using statement, in this case doc. Because the WordprocessingDocument class in the Open XML SDK automatically saves and closes the object as part of its System.IDisposable implementation, and because Dispose is automatically called when you exit the block, you do not have to explicitly call Save and Close─as long as you use using.

The Structure of a Table

The basic document structure of a WordProcessingML document consists of the document and body elements, followed by one or more block level elements such as p, which represents a paragraph. A paragraph contains one or more r elements. The r stands for run, which is a region of text with a common set of properties, such as formatting. A run contains one or more t elements. The t element contains a range of text.

The document might contain a table as in this example. A table is a set of paragraphs (and other block-level content) arranged in rows and columns. Tables in WordprocessingML are defined via the tbl element, which is analogous to the HTML table tag. Consider an empty one-cell table (that is, a table with one row and one column) and 1 point borders on all sides. This table is represented by the following WordprocessingML code example.

    <w:tbl>
      <w:tblPr>
        <w:tblW w:w="5000" w:type="pct"/>
        <w:tblBorders>
          <w:top w:val="single" w:sz="4" w:space="0" w:color="auto"/>
          <w:left w:val="single" w:sz="4 w:space="0" w:color="auto"/>
          <w:bottom w:val="single" w:sz="4" w:space="0" w:color="auto"/>
          <w:right w:val="single" w:sz="4" w:space="0" w:color="auto"/>
        </w:tblBorders>
      </w:tblPr>
      <w:tblGrid>
        <w:gridCol w:w="10296"/>
      </w:tblGrid>
      <w:tr>
        <w:tc>
          <w:tcPr>
            <w:tcW w:w="0" w:type="auto"/>
          </w:tcPr>
          <w:p/>
        </w:tc>
      </w:tr>
    </w:tbl>

This table specifies table-wide properties of 100% of page width using the tblW element, a set of table borders using the tblBorders element, the table grid, which defines a set of shared vertical edges within the table using the tblGrid element, and a single table row using the tr element.

How the Sample Code Works

In the sample code, after you open the document in the using statement, you locate the first table in the document. Then you locate the second row in the table by finding the row whose index is 1. Next, you locate the third cell in that row whose index is 2, as shown in the following code example.

    // Find the first table in the document.
    Table table =
        doc.MainDocumentPart.Document.Body.Elements<Table>().First();

    // Find the second row in the table.
    TableRow row = table.Elements<TableRow>().ElementAt(1);

    // Find the third cell in the row.
    TableCell cell = row.Elements<TableCell>().ElementAt(2);

After you have located the target cell, you locate the first run in the first paragraph of the cell and replace the text with the passed in text. The following code example shows these actions.

    Paragraph p = cell.Elements<Paragraph>().First();
    Run r = p.Elements<Run>().First();
    Text t = r.Elements<Text>().First();
    t.Text = txt;

Change Text in a Cell in a Table

The following code example shows how to change the text in the specified table cell in a word processing document. The code example expects that the document, whose file name and path are passed as an argument to the ChangeTextInCell method, contains a table. The code example also expects that the table has at least two rows and three columns, and that the table contains text in the cell that is located at the second row and the third column position. When you call the ChangeTextInCell method in your program, the text in the cell at the specified location will be replaced by the text that you pass in as the second argument to the ChangeTextInCell method. In the following table the text "The text from the API example" was used.

Some text Some text Some text
Some text Some text The text from the API example

Sample Code

The ChangeTextinCell method changes the text in the second row and the third column of the first table found in the file. You call it by passing a full path to the file as the first parameter, and the text to use as the second parameter. For example, the following call to the ChangeTextInCell method changes the text in the specified cell to "The text from the API example."

    ChangeTextInCell(@"c:\Users\Public\Documents\word4.docx",
    "The text from the API example");

Following is the complete code example.

using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Wordprocessing;
using System;
using System.Linq;

ChangeTextInCell(args[0], args[1]);

// Change the text in a table in a word processing document.
static void ChangeTextInCell(string filePath, string txt)
{
    // Use the file name and path passed in as an argument to 
    // open an existing document.            
    using (WordprocessingDocument doc = WordprocessingDocument.Open(filePath, true))
    {
        if (doc.MainDocumentPart is null || doc.MainDocumentPart.Document.Body is null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("MainDocumentPart and/or Body is null.");
        }

        // Find the first table in the document.
        Table table = doc.MainDocumentPart.Document.Body.Elements<Table>().First();

        // Find the second row in the table.
        TableRow row = table.Elements<TableRow>().ElementAt(1);

        // Find the third cell in the row.
        TableCell cell = row.Elements<TableCell>().ElementAt(2);

        // Find the first paragraph in the table cell.
        Paragraph p = cell.Elements<Paragraph>().First();

        // Find the first run in the paragraph.
        Run r = p.Elements<Run>().First();

        // Set the text for the run.
        Text t = r.Elements<Text>().First();
        t.Text = txt;
    }
}