Mail merge in WordProcessingML using System.IO.Packaging API

This article explains the process of adding mail merge in WordProcessingML using System.IO.Packaging API in C# project.

1.    Create a C# project and a reference to WindowsBase.dll located at C:\Program Files\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\v3.0 (This is part of .Net 3.0)

2.    Import the namespace to refer to the dll

using System.IO.Packaging

3.    Create main document part of the WordProcessingML document using the packaging API

pkgOutputDoc = Package.Open(Filename, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.ReadWrite);

4.    Create relationship to the main document part

Uri uri = new Uri("/word/document.xml", UriKind.Relative);

PackagePart partDocumentXML = pkgOutputDoc.CreatePart(uri, "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document.main+xml");

5.    Either construct the xml file for the main document part or load the existing file. Here, I am loading the existing file

StreamWriter streamStartPart = new StreamWriter(partDocumentXML.GetStream(FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write));

              XmlDocument xdoc = new XmlDocument();

              xdoc.Load(@"..\..\maildocument.xml");

              xdoc.Save(streamStartPart);

              streamStartPart.Close();

              pkgOutputDoc.Flush();

6.      Create the relationship to the main document part

pkgOutputDoc.CreateRelationship(uri, TargetMode.Internal, "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/officeDocument", "rId1");

           pkgOutputDoc.Flush();

7.    Create document setting part

Uri uriSetting = new Uri("/word/settings.xml", UriKind.Relative);

string settingContentType = "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.settings+xml";

string relationshipType = "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/settings";

PackagePart settingPart = pkgOutputDoc.CreatePart(uriSetting,  settingContentType); 

8.      Either construct the xml file for the document setting  part or load the existing file. Here, I am loading the existing file

xdoc.Load(@"..\..\settings.xml");

          xdoc.Save(settingPart.GetStream());

9.    Create relationship to this part from the main document part

 Uri relativeSettingUri =

            PackUriHelper.GetRelativeUri(uri, uriSetting);

partDocumentXML.CreateRelationship(relativeSettingUri, TargetMode.Internal, "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/settings", "rId2");

10. Create recipientData part  (this part is optional)

  Uri receipt = new Uri("/word/recipientData.xml", UriKind.Relative);

  PackagePart receipData = pkgOutputDoc.CreatePart(receipt, "application/vnd.ms-word.mailMergeRecipientData+xml");

11. Either construct the xml file for the recipientData part or load the existing file. Here, I am loading the existing file

xdoc.Load(@"..\..\recipientData.xml");

          xdoc.Save(receipData.GetStream());

This part holds the information about which are all the records to be included/excluded for the mail merge. If this part is not present, all the selected records from the data source will be included for the mail merge.

12. Create a URI which links to the external data source

Uri uri1 = new Uri("file:///.../MailMerge/MailMerge.mdb");

13. Create a relationship for internal recipientData part and the external data source to document setting part

settingPart.CreateRelationship(uri1, TargetMode.External, "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/mailMergeSource", "rId1");

       Uri uri2 = new Uri("/word/recipientData.xml", UriKind.Relative);

                 Uri relativeDataUri =PackUriHelper.GetRelativeUri(uri, uri2);

settingPart.CreateRelationship(relativeDataUri, TargetMode.Internal, "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/recipientData", "rId3");

14. Flush the package content and close the handler

pkgOutputDoc.Flush();        

         pkgOutputDoc.Close();

This is a simple demo which demonstrates use of system.IO.Packaging API for adding mail merge to word document. The example demo is attached with the article as a zip file

PS: After extracting attached file, change the URI (step 12) pointing to the external database.