Using TX Text Control, merging data into MS Word compatible templates can be effortlessly done in 3 simple steps.

• Loading a template
• Merging with data
• Exporting the document

Loading a Template

The MailMerge class merges the data from various data sources into documents. It can be connected to any Text Control (TXTextControl.ServerTextControl, TXTextControl.TextControl and TXTextControl.WPF.TextControl. The document that is loaded into the connected Text Control is automatically used as the mail merge template.

The following code shows how to create a Mailmerge instance and how to connect it to a ServerTextControl:

using (MailMerge mailMerge = new MailMerge()) {
  mailMerge.TextComponent = textControl1;
}

In the next code snippet an Office Open XML (DOCX) template is loaded into a new ServerTextControl instance that is then connected to MailMerge:

TXTextControl.LoadSettings ls = new TXTextControl.LoadSettings() {
  ApplicationFieldFormat = TXTextControl.ApplicationFieldFormat.MSWord };

using (TXTextControl.ServerTextControl serverTextControl =
       new TXTextControl.ServerTextControl()) {
  serverTextControl.Create();
  serverTextControl.Load("template.docx", TXTextControl.StreamType.WordprocessingML, ls);

  using (MailMerge mailMerge = new MailMerge()) {
    mailMerge.TextComponent = serverTextControl;
  }
}

The template can be any MS Word document with merge fields that can be added using the pre-designed Reporting ribbon tab of the TX Text Control visual editor or using MS Word. The sample template is shown in the next screenshot:

Merging with Data

MailMerge provides support for the following data sources:

• DataTable
• DataSet
• IEnumerable objects
• JSON
• XML

For all of these data source, different Merge methods and implementations are available. For simplicity, the following JSON string is used as the data source:

[
  {
    "company_name": "Text Control, LLC",
    "address":
    {
      "street": "1111 Text Control Way",
      "zip": "28226",
      "city": "Charlotte",
      "country": "United States"
    }
  }
]

In the next code snippet, the MergeJsonData is used to merge the template with the given JSON data.

// enable MS Word merge fields
TXTextControl.LoadSettings ls = new TXTextControl.LoadSettings() {
  ApplicationFieldFormat = TXTextControl.ApplicationFieldFormat.MSWord };

// load JSON data
string jsonData = System.IO.File.ReadAllText("data.json");

// create a temporary ServerTextControl
using (TXTextControl.ServerTextControl serverTextControl = 
       new TXTextControl.ServerTextControl()) {
  serverTextControl.Create();
  
  // load the template
  serverTextControl.Load("template.docx", TXTextControl.StreamType.WordprocessingML, ls);

  // create the mail merge engine
  using (MailMerge mailMerge = new MailMerge()) {
    // connect to ServerTextControl
    mailMerge.TextComponent = serverTextControl;
    // merge data into template
    mailMerge.MergeJsonData(jsonData);
  }
}

The resulting document is shown in the screenshot:

Exporting the Document

After a successful merge process, the resulting document is loaded into the connected Text Control instance and can be exported to any supported document format. The following code shows how the resulting document is getting exported as an Adobe PDF document.

TXTextControl.LoadSettings ls = new TXTextControl.LoadSettings() {
  ApplicationFieldFormat = TXTextControl.ApplicationFieldFormat.MSWord };

string jsonData = System.IO.File.ReadAllText("data.json");

using (TXTextControl.ServerTextControl serverTextControl =
       new TXTextControl.ServerTextControl()) {
  serverTextControl.Create();
  serverTextControl.Load("template.docx", TXTextControl.StreamType.WordprocessingML, ls);

  using (MailMerge mailMerge = new MailMerge()) {
    mailMerge.TextComponent = serverTextControl;
    mailMerge.MergeJsonData(jsonData);
  }

  // export document as PDF
  serverTextControl.Save("results.pdf", TXTextControl.StreamType.AdobePDF);
}

Mail Merge Events

MailMerge provides many events to control the merge process and to interact with fields by injecting custom data or logic. The following events can be used during the mail merge process:

The number and the names of the events show that MailMerge provides way more than a simple mail merge process. MailMerge is a powerful rendering engine that supports repeating merge blocks, 1:n relationships, image merging, barcode support and populating form fields. Generally speaking, all document automation processes can be realized using the MailMerge class.

Reading Tip: Event Handling

MailMerge: Field Mapping and Handling of Unmerged Fields

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