How to: Insert Data in Documents Without Writing to Disk

Article
02/04/2013

You can insert data into an Office solution document in memory, so that data is not written to the hard disk. If you need to send a document to a user as a byte array using the HTTP protocol, you can use this feature to modify data directly in the byte array, instead of creating a temporary file in which to modify the data.

Applies to: The information in this topic applies to document-level projects for Word 2007 and Word 2010. For more information, see Features Available by Office Application and Project Type.

To insert data in a document

Load the document into memory as a byte array.

Dim name As String = "C:\Documents\WordApplication3.doc"
Dim fileStream As System.IO.FileStream = Nothing
Dim bytes() As Byte = Nothing

Try
    fileStream = New System.IO.FileStream( _
        name, System.IO.FileMode.Open, System.IO.FileAccess.Read)
    ReDim bytes(fileStream.Length)
    fileStream.Read(bytes, 0, fileStream.Length)

Finally
    If Not fileStream Is Nothing Then
        fileStream.Close()
    End If
End Try

string name = @"C:\Documents\WordApplication3.doc";
System.IO.FileStream fileStream = null;
byte[] bytes = null;

try
{
    fileStream = new System.IO.FileStream(
        name, System.IO.FileMode.Open, System.IO.FileAccess.Read);
    bytes = new byte[(int)fileStream.Length];
    fileStream.Read(bytes, 0, (int)fileStream.Length);
}
finally
{
    if (fileStream != null)
    {
        fileStream.Close();
    }
}

Pass the byte array to the server-side object model instead of a file name, and then perform your data manipulation.

Dim sd1 As ServerDocument = Nothing
Try
    sd1 = New ServerDocument(bytes, name)

    ' Your data manipulation code goes here. 

    sd1.Save()

ServerDocument sd1 = null;
try
{
    sd1 = new ServerDocument(bytes, name);

    // Your data manipulation code goes here. 

    sd1.Save();

Send the document to the end user and close the ServerDocument.

    ' If you have a Word document, use the MIME string:
    Response.ContentType = "application/msword"

    ' If you have an Excel workbook, use the MIME string:
    'Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel"

    Response.AddHeader("Content-disposition", "filename=" + name)
    Response.BinaryWrite(sd1.Document)

Finally
    If Not sd1 Is Nothing Then
        sd1.Close()
    End If
End Try

    // If you have a Word document, use the MIME string:
    Response.ContentType = "application/msword";

    // If you have an Excel workbook, use the MIME string:
    //Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";

    Response.AddHeader("Content-disposition", "filename=" + name);
    Response.BinaryWrite(sd1.Document);
}
finally
{
    if (sd1 != null)
    {
        sd1.Close();
    }
}

Compiling the Code

This example requires:

An ASP.NET project that contains the example code. The project must have the following configuration:
- It must have a reference to the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.ServerDocument.dll assembly (if the project targets the .NET Framework 4) or the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.ServerDocument.v10.0.dll assembly (if the project targets the .NET Framework 3.5).
- The code file into which you copy the code example must have an Imports (in Visual Basic) or using (in C#) statement for the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications namespace.
A Microsoft Office Word document named WordApplication3.doc that has a data cache, and is located in the folder C:\Documents.

How to: Insert Data in Documents Without Writing to Disk

To insert data in a document

Compiling the Code

See Also

Tasks

Concepts

Additional resources