How to: Create and Modify Header

• Apr 08, 2019
• 2 minutes to read

The following article explains how to create and modify a document header.

Create a Header

To create a document header, select the section where it is going to be located. To check whether this section already has a header, use the Section.HasHeader property.

The Section.BeginUpdateHeader method is used to start the process. It also creates a new header of the specified HeaderFooterType type. If the type is not specified, the HeaderFooterType.Primary header will be created.

To work with the document header, use the Document.ChangeActiveDocument method. Note that if this method is not used, the wrong header can be selected and the follow-up actions may fail.

Use the Section.EndUpdateHeader to finish working with the header.

Note

A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/word-processing-document-api-examples-t418535

HeaderAndFooterActions.cs

Document document = server.Document;
Section firstSection = document.Sections[0];
// Create an empty header.
SubDocument newHeader = firstSection.BeginUpdateHeader();
firstSection.EndUpdateHeader(newHeader);
// Check whether the document already has a header (the same header for all pages).
if (firstSection.HasHeader(HeaderFooterType.Primary))
{
    SubDocument headerDocument = firstSection.BeginUpdateHeader();
    document.ChangeActiveDocument(headerDocument);
    document.CaretPosition = headerDocument.CreatePosition(0);
    firstSection.EndUpdateHeader(headerDocument);
}

HeaderAndFooterActions.vb

Dim document As Document = server.Document
Dim firstSection As Section = document.Sections(0)
' Create an empty header.
Dim newHeader As SubDocument = firstSection.BeginUpdateHeader()
firstSection.EndUpdateHeader(newHeader)
' Check whether the document already has a header (the same header for all pages).
If firstSection.HasHeader(HeaderFooterType.Primary) Then
    Dim headerDocument As SubDocument = firstSection.BeginUpdateHeader()
    document.ChangeActiveDocument(headerDocument)
    document.CaretPosition = headerDocument.CreatePosition(0)
    firstSection.EndUpdateHeader(headerDocument)
End If

Modify Header

To modify the header, specify the section to which the header belongs and use the Section.BeginUpdateHeader method to open it for modifying. To insert additional content to the header, use the SubDocument.InsertText or ShapeCollection.InsertPicture method. Use the Section.EndUpdateHeader to complete the modification.

Note

A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/word-processing-document-api-examples-t418535

HeaderAndFooterActions.cs

Document document = server.Document;
document.AppendSection();
Section firstSection = document.Sections[0];
// Modify the header of the HeaderFooterType.First type.
SubDocument myHeader = firstSection.BeginUpdateHeader(HeaderFooterType.First);
DocumentRange range = myHeader.InsertText(myHeader.CreatePosition(0), " PAGE NUMBER ");
Field fld = myHeader.Fields.Create(range.End, "PAGE \\* ARABICDASH");
myHeader.Fields.Update();
firstSection.EndUpdateHeader(myHeader);
// Display the header of the HeaderFooterType.First type on the first page.
firstSection.DifferentFirstPage = true;

HeaderAndFooterActions.vb

Dim document As Document = server.Document
document.AppendSection()
Dim firstSection As Section = document.Sections(0)
' Modify the header of the HeaderFooterType.First type.
Dim myHeader As SubDocument = firstSection.BeginUpdateHeader(HeaderFooterType.First)
Dim range As DocumentRange = myHeader.InsertText(myHeader.CreatePosition(0), " PAGE NUMBER ")
Dim fld As Field = myHeader.Fields.Create(range.End, "PAGE \* ARABICDASH")
myHeader.Fields.Update()
firstSection.EndUpdateHeader(myHeader)
' Display the header of the HeaderFooterType.First type on the first page.
firstSection.DifferentFirstPage = True