Setting a background color for the table of contents

[David Homer]

Hello,

We are using DocIO to create a Word document (and then converting it to a PDF).

We have created a table of contents and want to set the background color, and found we can't do this directly but have to create a rectangular auto shape and set this with TextWrappingStyle to the back of the page.

This works in both Word and PDF, however...

If the table of contents is longer than one page the background is only on the first page, how do we

1. Stretch the image over multiple pages?

2. Enumerate each physical page in the table of contents section and put a shape on it?

        /// <summary>
        /// Adds the table of contents to the document.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="document">The document to which the table of contents should be added.</param>
        private void AddTableOfContents(WordDocument document)
        {
            tocSection = (WSection)document.AddSection();
            tocSection.PageSetup.Margins.All = 20;
            tocSection.PageSetup.PageSize = new SizeF(612, 792);
            IWParagraph headingParagraph = tocSection.AddParagraph();
            IWTextRange heading = headingParagraph.AppendText("Table of Contents");
            headingParagraph.ApplyStyle("TableOfContentsHeader");
            IWParagraph paragraph = tocSection.AddParagraph();
            TableOfContent toc = paragraph.AppendTOC(1, 3);
        }


        /// <summary>
        /// Add a background to the table of contents.
        /// </summary>
        private void AddTableOfContentsBackground()
        {
            WParagraph paragraph = tocSection.Paragraphs[0];
            Shape shape = paragraph.AppendShape(AutoShapeType.Rectangle, tocSection.PageSetup.PageSize.Width, tocSection.PageSetup.PageSize.Height);
            shape.FillFormat.Color = Color.LightBlue;
            shape.LineFormat.Line = false;
            shape.HorizontalPosition = 0;
            shape.VerticalPosition = 0;
            shape.HorizontalAlignment = ShapeHorizontalAlignment.Left;
            shape.HorizontalOrigin = HorizontalOrigin.Page;
            shape.VerticalAlignment = ShapeVerticalAlignment.Top;
            shape.VerticalOrigin = VerticalOrigin.Page;
            shape.IsBelowText = false;
            shape.WrapFormat.TextWrappingStyle = TextWrappingStyle.Behind;
        }

Thanks,

Dave

[Mohanaselvam Jothi]

Hi David,

Thank you for contacing Syncfusion support.

The Word document is a flow document in which contents will not be preserved page by page; instead the contents will be preserved sequentially section by section. Each section may extend to various pages based on its contents like table, text, images etc.

Word viewer/editor renders the contents of the Word document page by page dynamically when opened for viewing or editing and this page wise rendered information will not be preserved in the document level as per the Word file format specification.

Whereas Essential DocIO is a non-UI component that provides a full-fledged document object model to manipulate the Word document contents. Hence it is not feasible to get contents page by page from Word document using DocIO.

To achieve your end requirement, we suggest you to set table of contents inside table and set background color for the table. Thus, if the table of contents exceeds a page, table also continues to next page which preserves background color for the table of contents. We have prepared the sample application for the same and it can be download from the below link:
https://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/support/forum/145416/ze/GenerateWord1791554735

In this sample, we have done the following things:
1. Creates a new Word document.
2. Add table and TOC inside table cell.
3. Applies background color for the table.
4. Add contents in Word document to generate TOC.
5. Update table of contents.
6. Convert the Word document into PDF.
7. Saves the PDF document


Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Regards,
Mohanaselvam J

[David Homer]

Hello, thank you for the reply.

Unfortunately there are white borders around this and the background stops part way through the last page.

Please see the screenshot comparing Syncfusion DOCIO with our existing implementation of TallPDF.

Thanks,

Dave

[David Homer]

https://www.centrel-solutions.com/temp/compare.png

[Mohanaselvam Jothi]

Hi David,

Thank you for your update.

To achieve your requirement, we suggest you to set table of contents in separate section and add shape (rectangle shape with wrapping of behind text) in header of the section. So, if the table of contents exceeds the current page, the shape also preserved for the next page in the Word document. Please find the sample from the below link and let us know if it helps:
https://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/support/forum/145416/ze/Sample_Application-388616955

In this sample, we have done the following things:
  1. Create a new Word document.
  2. Create a new section.
  3. Add rectangle shape in header of current section.
  4. Add the table of contents
  5. Create a new section for other contents in Word document.
  6. Set empty header content for this section.
  7. Converts the Word document into PDF.
  8. Saves the PDF.

If the above solution doesn’t meet your requirement, could you please share us the input Word document and the expected Word document from your side. Thereby, we will check on your complete requirement and will provide you the solution at the earliest.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Regards,
Mohanaselvam J 

[David Homer]

Ah interesting work around - thanks for your help :)

Thanks,

Dave