Hi Les, I've used the OOXML SDK in my app to insert a custom XML part into a DOCX file and then bind content controls to relevant values. The main reason for choosing this over find / replace is that we can easily pull the information out of the document without needing to parse the content.
For the DOCX to PDF part I'm using Word's save as PDF feature which generally works well, although some user's don't have that add-in installed. I looked at Aspose.Words but it was too pricey for us. I've also wondered whether the Word Viewer could print the document to a PDF printer, and whether this could be driven programmatically, but haven't had the time or need to check it out. Cheers. On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 12:47 AM, Les Hughes <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi All, > > I currently have a legacy app which uses an Access database to do a > mail-merge with Word 2003. Due to upgrades, all of the Access 03 stuff is > getting its last rights. Since we are now SQL server with security, > mail-merges are a little harder than before, and not really practical. (but > maybe I'm missing something?) > > A few questions: > > - Any good advise/links on how to do a similar thing to mail-merges? > - I've been playing around with using System.Packaging to unzip the docx > and find/replace on the merge fields. > > I'd like to be able to export the docx file to PDF without having Word on > the machine, I've had a look at Aspose.Words and it seems pricey for what I > want to do (docx->pdf on multiple client sites = ~$3000). Does anyone have > any advice or experience with one product over another? > > I'm not 100% sure about what I am trying to do yet, so any > info/stories/links/whatever would be appreciated. > > Thanks :) > -- > Les Hughes > [email protected] >
