How to: Create a Table of Contents
- 5 minutes to read
This topic describes how to create a table of contents of different types.
To create a TOC, perform the following steps.
-
To include the desired headings into the table of contents, mark the corresponding paragraphs as table entries.
-
The TOC field defines the table of contents in Word Document API.
Refer to the following GitHub repository for a complete sample project:
#Mark the Entries
Word Document API ships with the following approaches to mark a document text (heading) to include it into the table of contents.
#Outline Levels
Set the outline level to paragraphs that should be included into the table of contents. To do that, use the Paragraph.OutlineLevel property as shown in the following code snippet. Note that the maximum outline level is 9.
using (var wordProcessor = new RichEditDocumentServer()) {
wordProcessor.LoadDocument("Documents//Table of Contents.docx");
// Set the outline level to every chapter title in the document
for (int i = 0; i < wordProcessor.Document.Paragraphs.Count; i++) {
string var = wordProcessor.Document.GetText(wordProcessor.Document.Paragraphs[i].Range);
if (var.Contains("CHAPTER "))
{
wordProcessor.Document.Paragraphs[i].OutlineLevel = 2;
}
}
}
#Heading Styles
Create a new heading style or retrieve an existing one from the ParagraphStyleCollection collection (can be obtained by the Document.ParagraphStyles property) and apply it to the target paragraphs. For that, use the ParagraphProperties.Style property as shown in the following code snippet.
using (var wordProcessor = new RichEditDocumentServer()) {
wordProcessor.LoadDocument("Documents//Table of Contents.docx");
// Apply the "heading 1" style to every chapter title in the document
for (int i = 0; i < wordProcessor.Document.Paragraphs.Count; i++) {
string var = wordProcessor.Document.GetText(wordProcessor.Document.Paragraphs[i].Range);
if (var.Contains("CHAPTER "))
{
wordProcessor.Document.Paragraphs[i].Style = wordProcessor.Document.ParagraphStyles["heading 1"];
}
}
}
#TC Fields
Insert a TC field at the beginning of the target paragraph. Type the caption in the field switch, and the document displays the caption in the table of contents instead of the original title.
using (var wordProcessor = new RichEditDocumentServer()) {
wordProcessor.LoadDocument("Documents//Table of Contents.docx");
int j = 1;
// Mark every chapter title in the document by the TC field
for (int i = 0; i < wordProcessor.Document.Paragraphs.Count; i++) {
string var = wordProcessor.Document.GetText(wordProcessor.Document.Paragraphs[i].Range);
if (var.Contains("CHAPTER ")) {
Field field = wordProcessor.Document.Fields.Create(wordProcessor.Document.Paragraphs[i].Range.Start, String.Format("TC {0} \\f bvz ", j));
wordProcessor.Document.Fields.Update();
j++;
}
}
}
#SEQ Fields
Use these fields to mark the captions of document figures/tables/equations and include them into the corresponding table. Insert a caption into the target figure and mark it with the SEQ field as shown in the following code snippet.
using (var wordProcessor = new RichEditDocumentServer()) {
wordProcessor.LoadDocument("Documents//Table of Contents.docx");
Document document = wordProcessor.Document;
document.BeginUpdate();
for (int i = 0; i < document.Images.Count; i++) {
DocumentImage shape = document.Images[i];
Paragraph paragraph = document.Paragraphs.Insert(shape.Range.End);
// Insert caption to every image in the document
DocumentRange range = document.InsertText(paragraph.Range.Start, "Image ");
// Mark captions with the SEQ fields
Field field = document.Fields.Create(range.End, "SEQ Image \\*ARABIC");
}
document.Fields.Update();
document.EndUpdate();
}
#Build the Table of Contents
Insert the TOC field with the corresponding switch into the desired position within the document using the following API.
Member | Description |
---|---|
Sub |
Initialize the document modification. |
Sub |
Obtains the target paragraph. |
Field |
Inserts a field into the given position within the document. Depending on the selected approach, use one of the following field switches. * \u - for outline levels * none - for heading styles * \f identifier - for TC fields * \c identifier - for SEQ fields |
Field. |
Updates the given field. |
Sub |
Finalizes the document update. |
Tip
To insert all TOC entries as hyperlinks, use the \h switch. You can use other TOC field switches to modify any kind of TOC to fit your needs.
The following code snippet inserts a TOC field into the given document position.
using (var wordProcessor = new RichEditDocumentServer()) {
wordProcessor.LoadDocument("Documents//Table of Contents.docx");
Document document = wordProcessor.Document;
document.BeginUpdate();
Paragraph paragraph = document.Paragraphs.Insert(document.Paragraphs[1].Range.Start);
//Insert the table of contents to the beginning of the document
document.InsertText(paragraph.Range.Start, "Table of Contents (Heading Styles) " + "\r");
Field field = document.Fields.Create(paragraph.Range.Start, "TOC \\h ");
field.Update();
//Update all fields to apply changes
document.Fields.Update();
document.EndUpdate();
}