Generating docx / Communicating with Word add-in
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You overlooked 2 options that, in my opinion, are the most promising:
- Use ActiveX through Qt to access MS word and let it do the job.
- link to
Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.dllusing C++/CLI and useMicrosoft::Office::Tools::Worddirectly in your C++ program, no need to build an addin
P.S.
Generating docx format from scratch (after all, it's just XML, right?) - just...no.
Wrong. The ISO standard for that format is more than 6000 pages. I agree with you, just stay away
P.P.S.
I'm fairly confident there are pure C++ commercial libraries for this@VRonin said in Generating docx / Communicating with Word add-in:
You overlooked 2 options that, in my opinion, are the most promising:
- Use ActiveX through Qt to access MS word and let it do the job.
- link to
Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.dllusing C++/CLI and useMicrosoft::Office::Tools::Worddirectly in your C++ program, no need to build an addin
P.S.
Generating docx format from scratch (after all, it's just XML, right?) - just...no.
Wrong. The ISO standard for that format is more than 6000 pages. I agree with you, just stay away
P.P.S.
I'm fairly confident there are pure C++ commercial libraries for thisI have also looked at the ActiveX option, but forgot to mention that. I have to say, I am a bit traumatized from the past on that (using Office via ActiveX from Visual Basic). It was always a hassle, you had to test every Office version you wanted to support separately (lots of virtual machines), and the system easily broke down. I'm not saying I won't have the problem with one of the other solutions, but at least there is hope :-)
Using the DLL via C++/CLI sounds more promising - I'll certainly look into that.
And if there are commercial libraries out there, they don't do a good job on the search engines. I've spent a couple of hours using two different search engines, and did not come across a single commercial library.
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@VRonin said in Generating docx / Communicating with Word add-in:
You overlooked 2 options that, in my opinion, are the most promising:
- Use ActiveX through Qt to access MS word and let it do the job.
- link to
Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word.dllusing C++/CLI and useMicrosoft::Office::Tools::Worddirectly in your C++ program, no need to build an addin
P.S.
Generating docx format from scratch (after all, it's just XML, right?) - just...no.
Wrong. The ISO standard for that format is more than 6000 pages. I agree with you, just stay away
P.P.S.
I'm fairly confident there are pure C++ commercial libraries for thisI have also looked at the ActiveX option, but forgot to mention that. I have to say, I am a bit traumatized from the past on that (using Office via ActiveX from Visual Basic). It was always a hassle, you had to test every Office version you wanted to support separately (lots of virtual machines), and the system easily broke down. I'm not saying I won't have the problem with one of the other solutions, but at least there is hope :-)
Using the DLL via C++/CLI sounds more promising - I'll certainly look into that.
And if there are commercial libraries out there, they don't do a good job on the search engines. I've spent a couple of hours using two different search engines, and did not come across a single commercial library.
@Asperamanca
Just checking:http://docxfactory.com/
https://github.com/xceedsoftware/DocX
https://www.nuget.org/packages/DocX/
https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/How-programmatically-0b9e250a/view/Discussions#contentYou'll probably say you've looked at these, but just in case... :)
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@Asperamanca
Just checking:http://docxfactory.com/
https://github.com/xceedsoftware/DocX
https://www.nuget.org/packages/DocX/
https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/How-programmatically-0b9e250a/view/Discussions#contentYou'll probably say you've looked at these, but just in case... :)
@JNBarchan said in Generating docx / Communicating with Word add-in:
@Asperamanca
Just checking:http://docxfactory.com/
https://github.com/xceedsoftware/DocX
https://www.nuget.org/packages/DocX/
https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/How-programmatically-0b9e250a/view/Discussions#contentYou'll probably say you've looked at these, but just in case... :)
Well, I was specifically looking for libraries to generate my document directly from (unmanged) C++. Once I open the .NET door, I certainly have multiple options.
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@JNBarchan said in Generating docx / Communicating with Word add-in:
@Asperamanca
Just checking:http://docxfactory.com/
https://github.com/xceedsoftware/DocX
https://www.nuget.org/packages/DocX/
https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/How-programmatically-0b9e250a/view/Discussions#contentYou'll probably say you've looked at these, but just in case... :)
Well, I was specifically looking for libraries to generate my document directly from (unmanged) C++. Once I open the .NET door, I certainly have multiple options.
@Asperamanca
Ah, well, http://docxfactory.com/ is non-.NET C++. -
@Asperamanca
Ah, well, http://docxfactory.com/ is non-.NET C++.@JNBarchan said in Generating docx / Communicating with Word add-in:
@Asperamanca
Ah, well, http://docxfactory.com/ is non-.NET C++.Right. Last entry in change log: 2015 :-(
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@JNBarchan said in Generating docx / Communicating with Word add-in:
@Asperamanca
Ah, well, http://docxfactory.com/ is non-.NET C++.Right. Last entry in change log: 2015 :-(
@Asperamanca
Yep, I know. Might still give you some ideas if you decide to write stuff for yourself. Best of luck! -
Thank you all for your inputs. I further researched and discussed this, and this is the solution I am exploring further:
- Create a DLL with Qt and Common Runtime Support (/clr option)
- Write interface of DLL with unmanaged C++ classes
- Include C++/CLI classes to access .NET libraries
- Use DocumentFormat.OpenXml package to create and write document
- Use QLibary in my application to access that DLL and provide the necessary data over the DLL interface
I have a prototype where a normal Qt application calls the DLL, hands over a QString, and the DLL creates a docx file containing that QString.
I see the following advantages with this solution:
- No extra executable (just a DLL that needs to be copied with my application, and that doesn't need to be registered)
- No need for process-to-process data transfer
- Ability to share source files between application and DLL (e.g. data structures)
Open questions:
- Should I choose Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word instead of DocumentFormat.OpenXml? What are advantages and disadvantages?
- Under what circumstances is the DocumentFormat.OpenXml package available on a client machine? In what version?
- Can I expect any issues handing over complex classes via DLL interface? (The fact that QString works makes it look like that should work)
Useful links I found during research:
- How to: Migrate to /clr - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173265.aspx
- On how to use interface class to make class members accessible via DLL interface - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/43782576/accessing-c-class-member-functions-of-a-dll-in-qt#43799037 and https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26234327/qlibrary-import-a-class#26235934
- Learn C++/CLI in less than 10 minutes - https://www.codeproject.com/articles/19354/quick-c-cli-learn-c-cli-in-less-than-minutes
- Office code samples - https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/
- How to: Open and add text to a word processing document (Open XML SDK) - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff478255.aspx
- How to: Create a word processing document by providing a file name (Open XML SDK) - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff478190.aspx
- Solution to a trap I fell into - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12743152/openxml-c-cli#12746349
- Convert std::string to System::String^ - https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/e7711471-5b3c-489f-9dad-32b37058a689/convert-stdstring-to-systemstring?forum=vclanguage
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Thank you all for your inputs. I further researched and discussed this, and this is the solution I am exploring further:
- Create a DLL with Qt and Common Runtime Support (/clr option)
- Write interface of DLL with unmanaged C++ classes
- Include C++/CLI classes to access .NET libraries
- Use DocumentFormat.OpenXml package to create and write document
- Use QLibary in my application to access that DLL and provide the necessary data over the DLL interface
I have a prototype where a normal Qt application calls the DLL, hands over a QString, and the DLL creates a docx file containing that QString.
I see the following advantages with this solution:
- No extra executable (just a DLL that needs to be copied with my application, and that doesn't need to be registered)
- No need for process-to-process data transfer
- Ability to share source files between application and DLL (e.g. data structures)
Open questions:
- Should I choose Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word instead of DocumentFormat.OpenXml? What are advantages and disadvantages?
- Under what circumstances is the DocumentFormat.OpenXml package available on a client machine? In what version?
- Can I expect any issues handing over complex classes via DLL interface? (The fact that QString works makes it look like that should work)
Useful links I found during research:
- How to: Migrate to /clr - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173265.aspx
- On how to use interface class to make class members accessible via DLL interface - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/43782576/accessing-c-class-member-functions-of-a-dll-in-qt#43799037 and https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26234327/qlibrary-import-a-class#26235934
- Learn C++/CLI in less than 10 minutes - https://www.codeproject.com/articles/19354/quick-c-cli-learn-c-cli-in-less-than-minutes
- Office code samples - https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/
- How to: Open and add text to a word processing document (Open XML SDK) - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff478255.aspx
- How to: Create a word processing document by providing a file name (Open XML SDK) - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff478190.aspx
- Solution to a trap I fell into - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12743152/openxml-c-cli#12746349
- Convert std::string to System::String^ - https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/e7711471-5b3c-489f-9dad-32b37058a689/convert-stdstring-to-systemstring?forum=vclanguage
@Asperamanca said in Generating docx / Communicating with Word add-in:
Should I choose Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word instead of DocumentFormat.OpenXml? What are advantages and disadvantages?
They do 2 different things. the first is a "pipe" into MS word, the second is a document creator
Under what circumstances is the DocumentFormat.OpenXml package available on a client machine? In what version?
As far as I'm aware .Net is the only requirement for that namespace
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Thank you all for your inputs. I further researched and discussed this, and this is the solution I am exploring further:
- Create a DLL with Qt and Common Runtime Support (/clr option)
- Write interface of DLL with unmanaged C++ classes
- Include C++/CLI classes to access .NET libraries
- Use DocumentFormat.OpenXml package to create and write document
- Use QLibary in my application to access that DLL and provide the necessary data over the DLL interface
I have a prototype where a normal Qt application calls the DLL, hands over a QString, and the DLL creates a docx file containing that QString.
I see the following advantages with this solution:
- No extra executable (just a DLL that needs to be copied with my application, and that doesn't need to be registered)
- No need for process-to-process data transfer
- Ability to share source files between application and DLL (e.g. data structures)
Open questions:
- Should I choose Microsoft.Office.Tools.Word instead of DocumentFormat.OpenXml? What are advantages and disadvantages?
- Under what circumstances is the DocumentFormat.OpenXml package available on a client machine? In what version?
- Can I expect any issues handing over complex classes via DLL interface? (The fact that QString works makes it look like that should work)
Useful links I found during research:
- How to: Migrate to /clr - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173265.aspx
- On how to use interface class to make class members accessible via DLL interface - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/43782576/accessing-c-class-member-functions-of-a-dll-in-qt#43799037 and https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26234327/qlibrary-import-a-class#26235934
- Learn C++/CLI in less than 10 minutes - https://www.codeproject.com/articles/19354/quick-c-cli-learn-c-cli-in-less-than-minutes
- Office code samples - https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/
- How to: Open and add text to a word processing document (Open XML SDK) - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff478255.aspx
- How to: Create a word processing document by providing a file name (Open XML SDK) - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff478190.aspx
- Solution to a trap I fell into - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12743152/openxml-c-cli#12746349
- Convert std::string to System::String^ - https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/e7711471-5b3c-489f-9dad-32b37058a689/convert-stdstring-to-systemstring?forum=vclanguage
@Asperamanca
As @VRonin says, "Microsoft.Office.Tools.Wordis a "pipe" into MS word,".Your original spec said:
(note that my application and Word don't necessarily run at the same time - maybe the user wants to generate the document, and only hour later import it using the add-in)
Depends exactly what you mean by that, but
Microsoft.Office.Tools.Wordwill "invoke" Word to do the work, even though it may be invisible rather than interactive. -
Thanks, the two of you. Document creator sounds like what I need. The lighter, the better.
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I would like to inform you that Aspose.Words for C++ is an advanced Word Document Processing API to perform a wide range of processing tasks. API provides document formatting, manipulation, mail merge, watermarking and much more capabilities directly within your own C++ applications without requiring Microsoft Word. API supports most of the Microsoft Word formats for processing. You can even integrate this native C++ API within your Qt application.
I am sharing here an example cmake project which uses Qt and Aspose.Words for C++. Then please do the following steps:
- Download and install cmake
- Download and unpack Aspose.Words for C++ library
- Copy Aspose.Words.Cpp and CodePorting.Native.Cs2Cpp_vc14_20.3 folders next to CMakeLists.txt file
- Run the following command from command line:
cd qthw cmake -G "Visual Studio 15 2017" -Thost=x64 -Ax64 -S . -B build -D"Qt5_DIR=<path-to-qt5>"path-to-qt5should be something like -x:\QT\5.14.2\msvc2017_64\lib\cmake\Qt5- path to folder withQt5Config.cmakefileIt should create Visual Studio 2017 Solution with a proper setup for Qt and Aspose.Words for C++.
