docx generated using OpenXml does not show form elements in MS Word

Kalyan Alapati 0

We use OpenXml to covert html to word. This generated word file does not show radio buttons and check boxes when opened in MS word. It used to show but with recent windows updates, radio buttons and check boxes disappeared.

Html contains form elements(input element type radio).

The same word file when opened in any online word viewer, it shows these. Also when I unzip the word and viewed the afchunk.htm file, it has radio button elements but these are not showing up in MS Word.

Is it because of recent windows update? How can fix this? Can anyone help please?

Docx file:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/218uo77tp55jcvi3i09pc/Assessment-4.docx?rlkey=wk11ihyq7cfgl6u4nj6ymim7l&st=c89w6iri&dl=0

Online docx viwer

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qdimecpf9nbb73xd3siqg/Assessment_onlineViewer.jpg?rlkey=l3mnljrlz9zzy8gcp01etlyog&st=urgx9gos&dl=0

Tom Jebo 1,906 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-05-17T23:24:38.7333333+00:00

Hi Kalyan Alapati,

Are you saying that you did not manipulate the underlying file format (Office Open XML) for this document just before it started failing to render in Word as you expected? I.e. it's the same document but the rendering has changed in Word? If so, this is likely a change in Word. If you did make a change, what were they? Can you share the before and after documents?

Best regards,
Tom Jebo
Microsoft Open Specifications Support

Kalyan Alapati 0

Hello,

While converting html to word, no changes are made. We just convert it without any modifications.

Below is html of this.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ht82mbipk5n38f9ybq8kg/Assessment-2.html?rlkey=5jz9ye45wsue79wzfljketkep&st=qrwxlmz5&dl=0

Below is the code to convert using OpenXml

 public MemoryStream ConvertHtmlAsWordStream(string htmlContent)
        {
            var emptyTemplateFilePath = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/resources/EmptyTemplate.docx");

            MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
            byte[] fileBytesArray = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(emptyTemplateFilePath);
            stream.Write(fileBytesArray, 0, fileBytesArray.Length);
            stream.Position = 0;

            using (WordprocessingDocument doc =
                WordprocessingDocument.Open(stream, true))
            {
                string altChunkId = "searchItems";
                MainDocumentPart mainDocPart = doc.MainDocumentPart;

                MemoryStream ms =
                    new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(htmlContent));

                AlternativeFormatImportPart formatImportPart =
                    mainDocPart.AddAlternativeFormatImportPart(
                        AlternativeFormatImportPartType.Html, altChunkId);

                formatImportPart.FeedData(ms);
                AltChunk altChunk = new AltChunk { Id = altChunkId };
                mainDocPart.Document.Body.AppendChild(altChunk);
                doc.MainDocumentPart.Document.Save();
            }

            return stream;
        }

Tom Jebo 1,906 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-05-19T19:51:49.8366667+00:00

Hi Kalyan Alapati,

Thanks for the code. This is import of HTML content. Between the previously working scenario and the current failing scenario, what has changed: 1) C# code, 2) Open XML SDK version, 3) HTML content, 4) Microsoft Word version, 5) other?

I will test this code.

Tom
Tom Jebo 1,906 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-05-19T20:09:35.8666667+00:00

Hi Kalyan Alapati,

I've tested the code and I've tested the code and this is what I see in Word Online and in Word Desktop. Do you have an image of seeing the radio buttons in either of these versions of Word?

Tom Jebo 1,906 Microsoft Employee

Hi Kalyan Alapati,

I also tested a simple HTML document in the AlternativeImportFormatPart:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<h1>Display Radio Buttons</h1>

<form action=""/action_page.php"">
  <p>Please select your favorite Web language:</p>
  <input type=""radio"" id=""html"" name=""fav_language"" value=""HTML"">
  <label for=""html"">HTML</label><br>
  <input type=""radio"" id=""css"" name=""fav_language"" value=""CSS"">
  <label for=""css"">CSS</label><br>
  <input type=""radio"" id=""javascript"" name=""fav_language"" value=""JavaScript"">
  <label for=""javascript"">JavaScript</label>

  <br>  

  <p>Please select your age:</p>
  <input type=""radio"" id=""age1"" name=""age"" value=""30"">
  <label for=""age1"">0 - 30</label><br>
  <input type=""radio"" id=""age2"" name=""age"" value=""60"">
  <label for=""age2"">31 - 60</label><br>  
  <input type=""radio"" id=""age3"" name=""age"" value=""100"">
  <label for=""age3"">61 - 100</label><br><br>
  <input type=""submit"" value=""Submit"">
</form>

</body>
</html>

And this also doesn't render properly. I know this is well formed (it's just a typical example) so I'm suspecting this is a problem or limitation with the Word application.

Update: I also saved the above html to a separate .html file and then opened it using Microsoft Word desktop and it displayed identically to what we see with the AlternateFormatImportPart. So I don't think there's anything wrong with your C# Open XML SDK code or the part itself in XML. I think this is a limitation in Word. Perhaps some of the folks supporting Word directly can answer here to explain what HTML is processed by word.

Tom

Tom Jebo 1,906 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-05-24T22:45:21.0566667+00:00

Hi Kalyan Alapati,

Can you please send an email to dochelp@microsoft.com? I have some questions about this issue that I'd like to discuss with you.

Best regards,
Tom Jebo
Microsoft Open Specifications Support
Kalyan Alapati 0 Reputation points

2024-05-27T15:15:46.0833333+00:00

Hello Tom,

Sent email to above address. Thank you.

1 answer

Tom Jebo 1,906 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-06-05T23:32:53.0966667+00:00

Hi Kalyan Alapati,

Thanks for your patience on this thread. The Word product team investigated this behavior and confirmed that this is due to a change that was made intentionally within the last year and is by design. Unfortunately there is no way right now to enable the rendering of these HTML components so this is the behavior going forward.

Best regards,
Tom Jebo
Microsoft Open Specifications Support
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docx generated using OpenXml does not show form elements in MS Word

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