FieldStart

FieldStart class

Represents a start of a Word field in a document.

To learn more, visit the Working with Fields documentation article.

public class FieldStart : FieldChar

Properties

Name	Description
CustomNodeId { get; set; }	Specifies custom node identifier.
virtual Document { get; }	Gets the document to which this node belongs.
FieldData { get; }	Gets custom field data which is associated with the field.
FieldType { get; }	Returns the type of the field.
Font { get; }	Provides access to the font formatting of this object.
virtual IsComposite { get; }	Returns `true` if this node can contain other nodes.
IsDeleteRevision { get; }	Returns true if this object was deleted in Microsoft Word while change tracking was enabled.
IsDirty { get; set; }	Gets or sets whether the current result of the field is no longer correct (stale) due to other modifications made to the document.
IsFormatRevision { get; }	Returns true if formatting of the object was changed in Microsoft Word while change tracking was enabled.
IsInsertRevision { get; }	Returns true if this object was inserted in Microsoft Word while change tracking was enabled.
IsLocked { get; set; }	Gets or sets whether the parent field is locked (should not recalculate its result).
IsMoveFromRevision { get; }	Returns `true` if this object was moved (deleted) in Microsoft Word while change tracking was enabled.
IsMoveToRevision { get; }	Returns `true` if this object was moved (inserted) in Microsoft Word while change tracking was enabled.
NextSibling { get; }	Gets the node immediately following this node.
override NodeType { get; }	Returns FieldStart.
ParentNode { get; }	Gets the immediate parent of this node.
ParentParagraph { get; }	Retrieves the parent `Paragraph` of this node.
PreviousSibling { get; }	Gets the node immediately preceding this node.
Range { get; }	Returns a `Range` object that represents the portion of a document that is contained in this node.

Methods

Name	Description
override Accept(DocumentVisitor)	Accepts a visitor.
Clone(bool)	Creates a duplicate of the node.
GetAncestor(NodeType)	Gets the first ancestor of the specified `NodeType`.
GetAncestor(Type)	Gets the first ancestor of the specified object type.
GetField()	Returns a field for the field char.
override GetText()	Gets the special character that this node represents.
NextPreOrder(Node)	Gets next node according to the pre-order tree traversal algorithm.
PreviousPreOrder(Node)	Gets the previous node according to the pre-order tree traversal algorithm.
Remove()	Removes itself from the parent.
ToString(SaveFormat)	Exports the content of the node into a string in the specified format.
ToString(SaveOptions)	Exports the content of the node into a string using the specified save options.

Remarks

FieldStart is an inline-level node and represented by the FieldStartChar control character in the document.

FieldStart can only be a child of Paragraph.

A complete field in a Microsoft Word document is a complex structure consisting of a field start character, field code, field separator character, field result and field end character. Some fields only have field start, field code and field end.

To easily insert a new field into a document, use the InsertField method.

Examples

Shows how to work with a collection of fields.

public void FieldCollection()
{
    Document doc = new Document();
    DocumentBuilder builder = new DocumentBuilder(doc);

    builder.InsertField(" DATE \\@ \"dddd, d MMMM yyyy\" ");
    builder.InsertField(" TIME ");
    builder.InsertField(" REVNUM ");
    builder.InsertField(" AUTHOR  \"John Doe\" ");
    builder.InsertField(" SUBJECT \"My Subject\" ");
    builder.InsertField(" QUOTE \"Hello world!\" ");
    doc.UpdateFields();

    FieldCollection fields = doc.Range.Fields;

    Assert.AreEqual(6, fields.Count);

    // Iterate over the field collection, and print contents and type
    // of every field using a custom visitor implementation.
    FieldVisitor fieldVisitor = new FieldVisitor();

    using (IEnumerator<Field> fieldEnumerator = fields.GetEnumerator())
    {
        while (fieldEnumerator.MoveNext())
        {
            if (fieldEnumerator.Current != null)
            {
                fieldEnumerator.Current.Start.Accept(fieldVisitor);
                fieldEnumerator.Current.Separator?.Accept(fieldVisitor);
                fieldEnumerator.Current.End.Accept(fieldVisitor);
            }
            else
            {
                Console.WriteLine("There are no fields in the document.");
            }
        }
    }

    Console.WriteLine(fieldVisitor.GetText());
}

/// <summary>
/// Document visitor implementation that prints field info.
/// </summary>
public class FieldVisitor : DocumentVisitor
{
    public FieldVisitor()
    {
        mBuilder = new StringBuilder();
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the plain text of the document that was accumulated by the visitor.
    /// </summary>
    public string GetText()
    {
        return mBuilder.ToString();
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Called when a FieldStart node is encountered in the document.
    /// </summary>
    public override VisitorAction VisitFieldStart(FieldStart fieldStart)
    {
        mBuilder.AppendLine("Found field: " + fieldStart.FieldType);
        mBuilder.AppendLine("\tField code: " + fieldStart.GetField().GetFieldCode());
        mBuilder.AppendLine("\tDisplayed as: " + fieldStart.GetField().Result);

        return VisitorAction.Continue;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Called when a FieldSeparator node is encountered in the document.
    /// </summary>
    public override VisitorAction VisitFieldSeparator(FieldSeparator fieldSeparator)
    {
        mBuilder.AppendLine("\tFound separator: " + fieldSeparator.GetText());

        return VisitorAction.Continue;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Called when a FieldEnd node is encountered in the document.
    /// </summary>
    public override VisitorAction VisitFieldEnd(FieldEnd fieldEnd)
    {
        mBuilder.AppendLine("End of field: " + fieldEnd.FieldType);

        return VisitorAction.Continue;
    }

    private readonly StringBuilder mBuilder;
}

Shows how to find all hyperlinks in a Word document, and then change their URLs and display names.

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using Aspose.Words;
using Aspose.Words.Fields;
using NUnit.Framework;

namespace ApiExamples
{
    public class ExReplaceHyperlinks : ApiExampleBase
    {
        public void Fields()
        {
            Document doc = new Document(MyDir + "Hyperlinks.docx");

            // Hyperlinks in a Word documents are fields. To begin looking for hyperlinks, we must first find all the fields.
            // Use the "SelectNodes" method to find all the fields in the document via an XPath.
            NodeList fieldStarts = doc.SelectNodes("//FieldStart");

            foreach (FieldStart fieldStart in fieldStarts.OfType<FieldStart>())
            {
                if (fieldStart.FieldType == FieldType.FieldHyperlink)
                {
                    Hyperlink hyperlink = new Hyperlink(fieldStart);

                    // Hyperlinks that link to bookmarks do not have URLs.
                    if (hyperlink.IsLocal)
                        continue;

                    // Give each URL hyperlink a new URL and name.
                    hyperlink.Target = NewUrl;
                    hyperlink.Name = NewName;
                }
            }

            doc.Save(ArtifactsDir + "ReplaceHyperlinks.Fields.docx");
        }

        private const string NewUrl = @"http://www.aspose.com";
        private const string NewName = "Aspose - The .NET & Java Component Publisher";
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// HYPERLINK fields contain and display hyperlinks in the document body. A field in Aspose.Words 
    /// consists of several nodes, and it might be difficult to work with all those nodes directly. 
    /// This implementation will work only if the hyperlink code and name each consist of only one Run node.
    ///
    /// The node structure for fields is as follows:
    /// 
    /// [FieldStart][Run - field code][FieldSeparator][Run - field result][FieldEnd]
    /// 
    /// Below are two example field codes of HYPERLINK fields:
    /// HYPERLINK "url"
    /// HYPERLINK \l "bookmark name"
    /// 
    /// A field's "Result" property contains text that the field displays in the document body to the user.
    /// </summary>
    internal class Hyperlink
    {
        internal Hyperlink(FieldStart fieldStart)
        {
            if (fieldStart == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("fieldStart");
            if (fieldStart.FieldType != FieldType.FieldHyperlink)
                throw new ArgumentException("Field start type must be FieldHyperlink.");

            mFieldStart = fieldStart;

            // Find the field separator node.
            mFieldSeparator = FindNextSibling(mFieldStart, NodeType.FieldSeparator);
            if (mFieldSeparator == null)
                throw new InvalidOperationException("Cannot find field separator.");

            // Normally, we can always find the field's end node, but the example document 
            // contains a paragraph break inside a hyperlink, which puts the field end 
            // in the next paragraph. It will be much more complicated to handle fields which span several 
            // paragraphs correctly. In this case allowing field end to be null is enough.
            mFieldEnd = FindNextSibling(mFieldSeparator, NodeType.FieldEnd);

            // Field code looks something like "HYPERLINK "http:\\www.myurl.com"", but it can consist of several runs.
            string fieldCode = GetTextSameParent(mFieldStart.NextSibling, mFieldSeparator);
            Match match = gRegex.Match(fieldCode.Trim());

            // The hyperlink is local if \l is present in the field code.
            mIsLocal = match.Groups[1].Length > 0; 
            mTarget = match.Groups[2].Value;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Gets or sets the display name of the hyperlink.
        /// </summary>
        internal string Name
        {
            get
            {
                return GetTextSameParent(mFieldSeparator, mFieldEnd);
            }
            set
            {
                // Hyperlink display name is stored in the field result, which is a Run 
                // node between field separator and field end.
                Run fieldResult = (Run) mFieldSeparator.NextSibling;
                fieldResult.Text = value;

                // If the field result consists of more than one run, delete these runs.
                RemoveSameParent(fieldResult.NextSibling, mFieldEnd);
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Gets or sets the target URL or bookmark name of the hyperlink.
        /// </summary>
        internal string Target
        {
            get
            {
                return mTarget;
            }
            set
            {
                mTarget = value;
                UpdateFieldCode();
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// True if the hyperlinks target is a bookmark inside the document. False if the hyperlink is a URL.
        /// </summary>
        internal bool IsLocal
        {
            get
            {
                return mIsLocal;
            }
            set
            {
                mIsLocal = value;
                UpdateFieldCode();
            }
        }

        private void UpdateFieldCode()
        {
            // A field's field code is in a Run node between the field's start node and field separator.
            Run fieldCode = (Run) mFieldStart.NextSibling;
            fieldCode.Text = string.Format("HYPERLINK {0}\"{1}\"", ((mIsLocal) ? "\\l " : ""), mTarget);

            // If the field code consists of more than one run, delete these runs.
            RemoveSameParent(fieldCode.NextSibling, mFieldSeparator);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Goes through siblings starting from the start node until it finds a node of the specified type or null.
        /// </summary>
        private static Node FindNextSibling(Node startNode, NodeType nodeType)
        {
            for (Node node = startNode; node != null; node = node.NextSibling)
            {
                if (node.NodeType == nodeType)
                    return node;
            }

            return null;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Retrieves text from start up to but not including the end node.
        /// </summary>
        private static string GetTextSameParent(Node startNode, Node endNode)
        {
            if ((endNode != null) && (startNode.ParentNode != endNode.ParentNode))
                throw new ArgumentException("Start and end nodes are expected to have the same parent.");

            StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
            for (Node child = startNode; !child.Equals(endNode); child = child.NextSibling)
                builder.Append(child.GetText());

            return builder.ToString();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Removes nodes from start up to but not including the end node.
        /// Assumes that the start and end nodes have the same parent.
        /// </summary>
        private static void RemoveSameParent(Node startNode, Node endNode)
        {
            if (endNode != null && startNode.ParentNode != endNode.ParentNode)
                throw new ArgumentException("Start and end nodes are expected to have the same parent.");

            Node curChild = startNode;
            while ((curChild != null) && (curChild != endNode))
            {
                Node nextChild = curChild.NextSibling;
                curChild.Remove();
                curChild = nextChild;
            }
        }

        private readonly Node mFieldStart;
        private readonly Node mFieldSeparator;
        private readonly Node mFieldEnd;
        private bool mIsLocal;
        private string mTarget;

        private static readonly Regex gRegex = new Regex(
            "\\S+" + // One or more non spaces HYPERLINK or other word in other languages.
            "\\s+" + // One or more spaces.
            "(?:\"\"\\s+)?" + // Non-capturing optional "" and one or more spaces.
            "(\\\\l\\s+)?" + // Optional \l flag followed by one or more spaces.
            "\"" + // One apostrophe.    
            "([^\"]+)" + // One or more characters, excluding the apostrophe (hyperlink target).
            "\"" // One closing apostrophe.
        );
    }
}