Parsing a MS Word generated XML file in C#

Question

So I have a client (this could only come from the government) who has a bunch of MS Word docs they want entered into a database, and short of manual entry, I feel like converting them to XML and parsing them using a utility program would be the best course of action.

I have a utility to do this using code found here on stackoverflow:

Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application word = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application();
object oMissing = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;

DirectoryInfo dirInfo = new DirectoryInfo(Server.MapPath("\\testfiles"));
FileInfo[] wordFiles = dirInfo.GetFiles("*.doc");

word.Visible = false;
word.ScreenUpdating = false;

XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();

foreach(FileInfo wordFile in wordFiles)
{
    Object filename = (Object)wordFile.FullName;
    Document doc = word.Documents.Open(ref filename, ref oMissing,
         ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
         ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
         ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);

    doc.Activate();

    object outputFileName = wordFile.FullName.Replace(".doc", ".xml");
    object fileFormat = WdSaveFormat.wdFormatXML;

    doc.SaveAs(ref outputFileName, ref fileFormat, ref oMissing,
         ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
         ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
         ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);

    object saveChanges = WdSaveOptions.wdDoNotSaveChanges;
    ((_Document)doc).Close(ref saveChanges, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
    doc = null;

    xmlDoc.Load(outputFileName.ToString());
    XmlNamespaceManager nsmgr = new XmlNamespaceManager(xmlDoc.NameTable);
    nsmgr.AddNamespace("w", "http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2003/wordml");

    XmlNodeList node = xmlDoc.SelectNodes("//w:document/descendant::w:t|//w:document/descendant::w:p|//w:document/descendant::w:tab", nsmgr);
}

((_Application)word).Quit(ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
word = null;

Now, my XML file(s) look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<?mso-application progid="Word.Document"?>
<w:wordDocument xmlns:aml="http://schemas.microsoft.com/aml/2001/core" 
            xmlns:dt="uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882" 
            xmlns:ve="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" 
            xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" 
            xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" 
            xmlns:w10="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" 
            xmlns:w="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2003/wordml" 
            xmlns:wx="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2003/auxHint" 
            xmlns:wsp="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2003/wordml/sp2" 
            xmlns:sl="http://schemas.microsoft.com/schemaLibrary/2003/core" 
            w:macrosPresent="no" 
            w:embeddedObjPresent="no" 
            w:ocxPresent="no" 
            xml:space="preserve">
<w:ignoreSubtree w:val="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2003/wordml/sp2"/>
<o:DocumentProperties>
  ...
</o:DocumentProperties>
<w:fonts>
  ...
</w:fonts>
<w:lists>
  ...
</w:lists>
<w:styles>
  ...
</w:styles>
<w:shapeDefaults>...</w:shapeDefaults>
<w:docPr>...</w:docPr>
<w:body>
  <w:p wsp:rsidR="00B01775" wsp:rsidRDefault="00B01775">
    <w:pPr>
      <w:tabs>
        <w:tab w:val="left" w:pos="3312"/>
        <w:tab w:val="left" w:pos="4032"/>
        <w:tab w:val="left" w:pos="5616"/>
      </w:tabs><w:ind w:right="-576"/>
    </w:pPr>
  </w:p>
  <w:p wsp:rsidR="00B01775" wsp:rsidRDefault="00B01775">
    <w:pPr>
      <w:jc w:val="center"/>
      <w:rPr>
        <w:b/>
      </w:rPr>
    </w:pPr>
    <w:r>
      <w:rPr>
        <w:b/>
      </w:rPr>
      <w:t>blah blah blach this is sample text</w:t>
    </w:r>
  </w:p>
  <w:p wsp:rsidR="00B01775" wsp:rsidRDefault="00B01775">
    <w:pPr>
      <w:jc w:val="center"/>
    </w:pPr>
    <w:r>
      <w:rPr>
        <w:b/>
      </w:rPr>
      <w:t>More sample text</w:t>
    </w:r>
  </w:p>
  <w:p wsp:rsidR="00B01775" wsp:rsidRDefault="00B01775"/>
  <w:p wsp:rsidR="00B01775" wsp:rsidRDefault="00B01775"/>
  <w:p wsp:rsidR="00B01775" wsp:rsidRDefault="00B01775"/>
  <w:p wsp:rsidR="00B01775" wsp:rsidRDefault="00B01775"/>
  <w:p wsp:rsidR="00B01775" wsp:rsidRDefault="00B01775">
    <w:r>
      <w:t>Sample Header</w:t>
    </w:r>
  </w:p>
  <w:p wsp:rsidR="00B01775" wsp:rsidRDefault="00B01775"/>
  <w:p wsp:rsidR="00B01775" wsp:rsidRDefault="00B01775">
    <w:pPr>
      <w:pStyle w:val="BodyText"/>
    </w:pPr>
    <w:r>
      <w:rPr>
        <w:snapToGrid w:val="off"/>
      </w:rPr>
      <w:t>Sample Body text.......</w:t>
    </w:r>
  </w:p>
 </w:body>
</w:wordDocument>

I'm no pro, but I think I'm following the letters of the law pretty well here by declaring the namespace manager correctly, so why then, am I getting a null return on the node(s) I am trying to select?

XmlNodeList node = xmlDoc.SelectNodes("//w:document/descendant::w:t|//w:document/descendant::w:p|//w:document/descendant::w:tab", nsmgr);

Am I missing something?

Am I just missing the other namespace additions? Surely I don't need to add them all just to get the "w" prefix handled? — TomO, Oct 17 '11 at 20:39
just curious, but what about just adding them to the db as "binary" objects, like you would an image? — Muad'Dib, Oct 17 '11 at 20:43
I would LOVE to do that, but we are actually using a new system to help them move from the paper to the digital world. These are relics that have to be incorporated to the new system. — TomO, Oct 17 '11 at 21:02
makes sense. one other question... is Sharepoint an option? you can create document libraries to store the documents, and it even has version control with check in/out functionality. — Muad'Dib, Oct 17 '11 at 21:11
I would also love to do that, but they are changing the way the docs are created, so rather than have a token document that is passed around, the web app will store the information in a DB (since it's standard for each document) and then only generate a doc once all editing and modifications have been completed with the base set of information. I know, it's strange, but this is the world I live in right now. — TomO, Oct 17 '11 at 21:14
so much for making your life easier...just think if it as job security. :) — Muad'Dib, Oct 17 '11 at 21:35

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 18 '11 at 00:45

1

I looks like you have the wrong node name in your XPath expression. Replace all occurrences of w:document with w:wordDocument. So it should be:

XmlNodeList node = xmlDoc.SelectNodes("//w:wordDocument/descendant::w:t|//w:wordDocument/descendant::w:p|//w:wordDocument/descendant::w:tab", nsmgr);

answered Oct 18 '11 at 00:45

Todd Ditchendorf

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1

Wow, amazing what you can do when you cut and paste at the end of the day and don't follow through with checking the code. Thanks! – TomO Oct 18 '11 at 13:05

Parsing a MS Word generated XML file in C#

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