Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word

General
1

I’m trying to find and replace words in .docx files using fsharp, all the code works without errors yet it is not modifying a word document that i’ve put in the same folder as the project.

Here is my code so far:

open System

#light
#I @“C:\Users\netha\Documents\FSharpTest\packages\Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word\lib\net20”
#r “Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.dll”

module FTEST1 =

open Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word
open System.IO

let comarg x = ref (box x)

let printDocument (doc : Document) =
    printfn "Printing %s..." doc.Name

let findAndReplace (doc : Document, findText : string, replaceWithText : string) =

    printfn "finding and replacing  %s..." doc.Name
    
    //options
    let matchCase = comarg false
    let matchWholeWord = comarg true
    let matchWildCards = comarg false
    let matchSoundsLike = comarg false
    let matchAllWordForms = comarg false
    let forward = comarg true
    let format = comarg false
    let matchKashida = comarg false
    let matchDiacritics = comarg false
    let matchAlefHamza = comarg false
    let matchControl = comarg false
    let read_only = comarg false
    let visible = comarg true
    let replace = comarg 2
    let wrap = comarg 1
    //execute find and replace

    doc.Content.Find.Execute(
                comarg findText, 
                matchCase, 
                matchWholeWord,
                matchWildCards, 
                matchSoundsLike, 
                matchAllWordForms, 
                forward, 
                wrap, 
                format, 
                comarg replaceWithText, 
                replace,
                matchKashida,
                matchDiacritics, 
                matchAlefHamza, 
                matchControl)

let wordApp = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.ApplicationClass(Visible = true)

let openDocument fileName = 
    wordApp.Documents.Open(comarg fileName)

// example useage
let closeDocument (doc : Document) =
    printfn "Closing %s…" doc.Name
    // wdDoNotSaveChanges = 0 | wdPromptToSaveChanges = -2 | wdSaveChanges = -1
    doc.Close(SaveChanges = comarg -1)

let findText = "test"
let replaceText = "McTesty"

let findandreplaceinfolders folder findText replaceText =
    Directory.GetFiles(folder, "*.docx")
    |> Array.iter (fun filePath ->
        let doc = openDocument filePath
        doc.Activate()
        // printDocument doc
        printfn "I work"
        findAndReplace(doc, findText, replaceText)
        closeDocument doc)

let currentFolder = __SOURCE_DIRECTORY__

printfn "Printing all files in [%s]..." currentFolder
findandreplaceinfolders currentFolder

wordApp.Quit()

printfn “Press any key…”
Console.ReadKey(true) |> ignore

Any help would be much appreciated as i’m new to f#. Thanks

2

Let’s start with checking what Execute method is returns. You have to assign a result to some variable like this:

let res = 
    doc.Content.Find.Execute(
            comarg findText, 
            matchCase, 
            matchWholeWord,
            matchWildCards, 
            matchSoundsLike, 
            matchAllWordForms, 
            forward, 
            wrap, 
            format, 
            comarg replaceWithText, 
            replace,
            matchKashida,
            matchDiacritics, 
            matchAlefHamza, 
            matchControl)

printfn "Result of Execute is: %b" res

Be careful with indentation :slight_smile:

Let me know what it prints.

3

ss3
ss31415×865 105 KB

I seem to get a lot of errors from this?
I tried to indent everything correctly though it still gave me some errors for that as well.

4

Wrong indentations.

res is belongs to findAndReplace function so it should be inside of it. You could imagine all these indentations in the next way:

ScriptName.fsx:

  • (1) FTEST1 ->
    • (2) comarg
    • (2) printDocument ->
      • (3) printfn “Printing %s…” doc.Name
    • (2) findAndReplace ->
      • (3) matchCase
      • (3) matchWholeWord
      • …
    • …

The number in brackets is a level.

IDE is clever these days, so it gives you a hint: there is a separator line between each level.

Take a look at the screenshot. Currently definition of your res is placed at the second level. And where should it be?
Counting: FTEST1 -> findAndReplace -> … we’re at the right place. It is a third level. So move it to the right side until the line will be straight before let wrap = comarg 1:

        let wrap = comarg 1
        //execute find and replace

        let res = 
             ...

The same is for printfn "Result of Execute is: %b" res.

I hope it makes a bit more sense to you now.

5

Thank you this makes a lot more sense now however it still doesn’t seem to like the let statement.

ss4
ss41433×948 85.4 KB

6

printfn "Result of ... should be on the same level as let res:

img

7

Thank you the code is now error free, yet it still doesn’t change the word document, any ideas why?

8

It wasn’t supposed to change anything. The code above was just for debug purpose - we have to understand where the problem is. So I repeat my Q again:

what does it print to console?

Result of Execute is: true or Result of Execute is: false?

9

It doesn’t print anything, neither true or false.

10

I see now, you aren’t passing findText & replaceText to the findandreplaceinfolders

Replace

findandreplaceinfolders currentFolder

with

findandreplaceinfolders currentFolder findText replaceText

If it won’t work: can you copy the whole console output here?

11

Here is the whole console output:

open System

  • #light
  • #I @“C:\Users\netha\Documents\FSharpTest\packages\Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word\lib\net20”
  • #r “Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.dll”
  • module FTEST1 =
  • open Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word

  • open System.IO

  • let comarg x = ref (box x)

  • let printDocument (doc : Document) =

  •     printfn "Printing %s..." doc.Name

  • let findAndReplace (doc : Document, findText : string, replaceWithText : string) =

  •     printfn "finding and replacing  %s..." doc.Name

  •     //options

  •     let matchCase = comarg false

  •     let matchWholeWord = comarg true

  •     let matchWildCards = comarg false

  •     let matchSoundsLike = comarg false

  •     let matchAllWordForms = comarg false

  •     let forward = comarg true

  •     let format = comarg false

  •     let matchKashida = comarg false

  •     let matchDiacritics = comarg false

  •     let matchAlefHamza = comarg false

  •     let matchControl = comarg false

  •     let read_only = comarg false

  •     let visible = comarg true

  •     let replace = comarg 2

  •     let wrap = comarg 1

  •     //execute find and replace

  •     let res =

  •         doc.Content.Find.Execute(

  •             comarg findText, 

  •             matchCase, 

  •             matchWholeWord,

  •             matchWildCards, 

  •             matchSoundsLike, 

  •             matchAllWordForms, 

  •             forward, 

  •             wrap,

  •             format, 

  •             comarg replaceWithText, 

  •             replace,

  •             matchKashida,

  •             matchDiacritics, 

  •             matchAlefHamza, 

  •             matchControl)

  •     printfn "Result of Execute is: %b" res

  • let wordApp = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.ApplicationClass(Visible = true)

  • let openDocument fileName =

  •     wordApp.Documents.Open(comarg fileName)

  • // example useage

  • let closeDocument (doc : Document) =

  •     printfn "Closing %s…" doc.Name

  •     // wdDoNotSaveChanges = 0 | wdPromptToSaveChanges = -2 | wdSaveChanges = -1

  •     doc.Close(SaveChanges = comarg -1)

  • let findText = "test"

  • let replaceText = "McTesty"

  • let findandreplaceinfolders folder findText replaceText =

  •     Directory.GetFiles(folder, "*.docx")

  •     |> Array.iter (fun filePath ->

  •         let doc = openDocument filePath

  •         doc.Activate()

  •         // printDocument doc

  •         printfn "I work"

  •         findAndReplace(doc, findText, replaceText)

  •         closeDocument doc)

  • let currentFolder = __SOURCE_DIRECTORY__

  • printfn "Printing all files in [%s]..." currentFolder

  • findandreplaceinfolders currentFolder findText replaceText

  • wordApp.Quit()
  • printfn “Press any key…”
  • Console.ReadKey(true) |> ignore
  • ;;

→ Added ‘C:\Users\netha\Documents\FSharpTest\packages\Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word\lib\net20’ to library include path

→ Referenced ‘C:\Users\netha\Documents\FSharpTest\packages\Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word\lib\net20\Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.dll’ (file may be locked by F# Interactive process)

Printing all files in [c:\Users\netha\Documents\FSharpTest\FTEST]…
I work
finding and replacing ftestdoc.docx…
Result of Execute is: true
Closing ftestdoc.docx…
Press any key…
module FTEST1 = begin
val comarg : x:'a → obj ref
val printDocument : doc:Office.Interop.Word.Document → unit
val findAndReplace :
doc:Office.Interop.Word.Document * findText:string *
replaceWithText:string → unit
val wordApp : Office.Interop.Word.ApplicationClass =
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.ApplicationClass
val openDocument : fileName:'a → Office.Interop.Word.Document
val closeDocument : doc:Office.Interop.Word.Document → unit
val findText : string = “test”
val replaceText : string = “McTesty”
val findandreplaceinfolders :
folder:string → findText:string → replaceText:string → unit
val currentFolder : string = “c:\Users\netha\Documents\FSharpTest\FTEST”
end
val it : unit = ()

12

Thanks for all your help it works now and successfully finds and replaces text. I really appreciate your time