Advanced Usage of Editable Documents

Introduction

If you’re a .NET developer looking to enhance your document editing capabilities, GroupDocs.Editor for .NET offers a powerful suite of tools. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the advanced usage of editable documents using GroupDocs.Editor, breaking down each step in detail to ensure you can harness its full potential.

Prerequisites

Before diving into the advanced functionalities, make sure you have the following:

Visual Studio installed on your development machine.
.NET Framework compatible with GroupDocs.Editor.
GroupDocs.Editor for .NET library. You can download it here.
A valid GroupDocs.Editor license. You can get a free trial or purchase a temporary license.

Import Namespaces

To begin, ensure you import the necessary namespaces in your .NET project:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using GroupDocs.Editor.HtmlCss.Resources;
using GroupDocs.Editor.HtmlCss.Resources.Fonts;
using GroupDocs.Editor.HtmlCss.Resources.Images;
using GroupDocs.Editor.HtmlCss.Resources.Textual;
using GroupDocs.Editor.Options;

Step 1: Creating an EditableDocument Instance

First, you need to create an instance of EditableDocument by loading and editing an input document of a supported format.

string inputFilePath = "YourSampleDocument.docx";
Editor editor = new Editor(inputFilePath, delegate { return new WordProcessingLoadOptions(); });
EditableDocument beforeEdit = editor.Edit(new WordProcessingEditOptions());

In this step, we load the input document and prepare it for editing.

Step 2: Extracting Document Resources

The EditableDocument contains various resources that can be extracted and manipulated. Let’s break these down:

Step 2.1: Extract Entire Document as HTML

You can generate a single string that contains the entire document with all its resources embedded as HTML.

string allAsHtmlInsideOneString = beforeEdit.GetEmbeddedHtml();

This string will be quite large as it includes stylesheets, images, and fonts encoded in base64.

Step 2.2: Extract All Images

Extract all images from the document.

List<IImageResource> allImages = beforeEdit.Images;

Step 2.3: Extract All Fonts

Extract all fonts used in the document.

List<FontResourceBase> allFonts = beforeEdit.Fonts;

Step 2.4: Extract All Stylesheets

Extract all stylesheets in a textual format.

List<CssText> allStylesheets = beforeEdit.Css;

Step 2.5: Gather All Resources

Gather all resources in one call.

List<IHtmlResource> allResources = beforeEdit.AllResources;

This includes images, fonts, and stylesheets.

Step 2.6: Obtain HTML Markup

Get the HTML markup of the document without embedded resources.

string htmlMarkup = beforeEdit.GetContent();

Step 3: Adjusting External Links

Sometimes, you need to adjust external links to point to a custom resource handler. Here’s how to do it:

Step 3.1: Prepare Custom Prefixes

Prepare prefixes that will prepend original external links.

string customImagesRequesthandlerUri = "http://example.com/ImagesHandler/id=";
string customCssRequesthandlerUri = "http://example.com/CssHandler/id=";
string customFontsRequesthandlerUri = "http://example.com/FontsHandler/id=";

Step 3.2: Generate Prefixed HTML Markup

Generate HTML markup with adjusted links.

string prefixedHtmlMarkup = beforeEdit.GetContent(customImagesRequesthandlerUri, customCssRequesthandlerUri);

Step 3.3: Obtain Body-Only HTML Content

Some WYSIWYG editors only handle pure HTML markup without headers.

string onlyBodyContent = beforeEdit.GetBodyContent();

Step 3.4: Prefixed Body-Only Content

Generate body-only content with custom image prefixes.

string prefixedBodyContent = beforeEdit.GetBodyContent(customImagesRequesthandlerUri);

Step 3.5: Extract Stylesheets

Extract stylesheets used in the document.

List<string> stylesheets = beforeEdit.GetCssContent();

Step 3.6: Prefixed Stylesheets

Extract stylesheets with custom prefixes.

List<string> prefixedStylesheets = beforeEdit.GetCssContent(customImagesRequesthandlerUri, customFontsRequesthandlerUri);

Step 4: Save Document as HTML

Save the edited document as an HTML file, including its resources.

string htmlFilePath = Path.Combine("output", Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(inputFilePath) + ".html");
beforeEdit.Save(htmlFilePath);

This method creates a separate directory for resources like stylesheets, images, and fonts.

Step 5: Disposing of EditableDocument

EditableDocument implements IDisposable and provides the ability to check if the instance is disposed.

Console.WriteLine("EditableDocument is {0} disposed", !beforeEdit.IsDisposed ? "not" : "already");

Step 5.1 Handling Dispose Event

You can also subscribe to the disposing event.

EventHandler someMethod = delegate { Console.WriteLine("Disposing event was spotted!"); };
beforeEdit.Disposed += someMethod;

Step 6: Creating EditableDocument from HTML

Create an instance of EditableDocument from an HTML document.

Step 6.1: From HTML File

EditableDocument afterEditFromFile = EditableDocument.FromFile(htmlFilePath, null);

Step 6.2: From HTML Markup

EditableDocument afterEditFromMarkup = EditableDocument.FromMarkup(htmlMarkup, allResources);

These instances (afterEditFromFile and afterEditFromMarkup) are identical to the original (beforeEdit).

Step 7: Manual Disposal

Manually dispose of your EditableDocument instances.

beforeEdit.Dispose();
afterEditFromFile.Dispose();
afterEditFromMarkup.Dispose();
editor.Dispose();

This ensures proper cleanup of resources.

Conclusion

GroupDocs.Editor for .NET provides robust tools for editing documents programmatically. By following this step-by-step guide, you can efficiently manage document content, resources, and output formats. Whether you are embedding resources, adjusting external links, or converting documents to HTML, GroupDocs.Editor equips you with the functionality needed for advanced document manipulation.

FAQ’s

What formats does GroupDocs.Editor support?

GroupDocs.Editor supports various formats including DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, and more.

Can I use GroupDocs.Editor without a license?

Yes, you can use it with a free trial or a temporary license.

How do I extract specific resources from a document?

You can extract images, fonts, and stylesheets using the provided methods like Images, Fonts, and Css.

Is it possible to adjust links in the HTML output?

Yes, you can adjust external links by specifying custom prefixes for images, CSS, and fonts.

How do I save an edited document as an HTML file?

Use the Save method of the EditableDocument class to save the document as an HTML file, including its resources.

Create Editable Document from HTML Extract HTML Content from Editable Document