Document Saving

• Feb 02, 2021
• 2 minutes to read

DevExpress office controls provide general document saving capabilities. Users can access these features at runtime through UI commands, and developers can use a public API.

An application’s document save operation can be initiated in the following ways.

• An end user selects the Save or SaveAs command in the office control UI.
• A developer calls the Save or SaveCopy methods of the public API. See the following help topic to learn more: Standard and Custom Saving.
• The AutoSave feature (which is off by default) triggers document saving after a specific period of time. Refer to the following help topic for more information: Auto-Saving.

This topic describes the main UI commands and API members that relate to document saving.

Important

Specify the ASPxRichEdit.WorkDirectory/ASPxSpreadsheet.WorkDirectory property to make the open and save document operations available.

UI Commands

To save a document, end users can use the built-in ribbon’s Save and SaveAs commands. The ribbon is displayed in an office control by default.

API

The public API used to save documents is exposed at two levels - at the office control and the DocumentManager object level. The main API members are listed below.

Office Control Level

• Save method

  Saves the currently edited document in its original format and location.

• SaveCopy method overloads

  Each method overload saves a copy of the current document. It does not affect the original document’s state. The syntax of the main overloads is as follows.

  • void SaveCopy(string documentPath)
  • void SaveCopy(Stream stream, DocumentFormat format)
  • Byte[] SaveCopy(DocumentFormat format)

• Saving event

  Enables you to handle document save operations manually to resolve multi-user conflicts, if any.

• AutoSaveMode property

  Specifies whether to explicitly enable auto-saving of documents opened by the office control.

• AutoSaveTimeout property

  Specifies the delay before the next auto-save operation is executed.

DocumentManager Level

• SaveCopy method overloads (at the IDocumentInfo level)

  Each method overload saves a copy of the current document. It does not affect the original document’s state. The syntax of the available overloads is as follows.

  • void SaveCopy(string filePath)
  • void SaveCopy(Stream stream)
  • Byte[] SaveCopy()

• AutoSaving event

  Enables you to handle document auto-save operations manually and resolve multi-user conflicts, if any.

Refer to the following help topics to learn more on how to process document save operations.

• Standard and Custom Saving
• Auto-Saving