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Headers and Footers in Rich Text Documents

  • 5 minutes to read

The DXRichEdit provides the following approaches to manage document headers and footers:

Headers and Footers in the User Interface

End-users can use the Insert ribbon tab to edit a section’s header or footer. If the document already has headers or footers, double-click the corresponding page area to activate the header or footer.

DXRichEdit_HeaderButton

The Header and Footer Tools tab is available when you open a header or footer. This tab allows end-users to navigate through document’s headers and footers, set or break the link between two section’s headers or footers, specify different settings for the first page or distinguish between odd and even pages.

DXRichEdit_Ribbon_HeaderFooterTools_Design

Handle the RichEditControl.StartHeaderFooterEditing event to determine when an end-user enters the header/footer editing mode. The RichEditControl.FinishHeaderFooterEditing occurs when they close the editing mode.

Tip

Set the DXRichEditDocumentCapabilitiesOptions.HeadersFooters to DocumentCapability.Disabled or DocumentCapability.Hidden to restrict end-users from editing headers or footers.

Manage Headers and Footers in Code

Each section has a header and footer. If a section does not have headers or footers, the previous sections’ headers and footers (if any) are used.

Create Headers and Footers

You can use the Section.BeginUpdateHeader and Section.BeginUpdateFooter methods to access the section’s header or footer. Pass one of the HeaderFooterType enumeration values as a type parameter to define the header or footer’s type. Use the following API to access headers and footers in code:

API Description
Section.BeginUpdateHeader
Section.BeginUpdateFooter
Accesses the document’s header or footer.
Section.HasHeader
Section.HasFooter
Checks whether the given section contains a header or footer.
Section.EndUpdateHeader
Section.EndUpdateFooter
Finalizes the header or footer update.

The code sample below creates an empty document header:

View Example

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);
}

Modify Headers and Footers

Headers’ and footers’ content are in a separate SubDocument. Call the Section.BeginUpdateHeader or Section.BeginUpdateFooter method to access the header’s or footer’s content. Headers and footers can contain inline images, floating objects (text boxes or images) and tables. You cannot add comments to headers’ or footers’ text.

Note

The header or footer fields belong to a separate FieldCollection. Retrieve the header’s or footer’s SubDocument and call the FieldCollection.Update method to update these fields.

The following code snippet opens the first section’s header for editing. The header type is HeaderFooterType.First, so it is displayed for the first page only if the corresponding mode is enabled (use the Section.DifferentFirstPage property). Then, the text string and a PAGE field are inserted and the Section.EndUpdateHeader method is called to finalize the modification.

View Example

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;

Tip

Call the Document.ChangeActiveDocument method to switch to the header’s or footer’s SubDocument. This step allows you to select text ranges or place the caret in the header or footer. Call the Document.ChangeActiveDocument again to switch to the main document body.

Use the following API to change header/footer options in code:

API Description
Section.DifferentFirstPage Defines whether to display a different header/footer (if any) for the section’s first page.
Document.DifferentOddAndEvenPages Specifies whether the even-numbered pages should have a different header or footer than odd-numbered pages.
SectionMargins.HeaderOffset
SectionMargins.FooterOffset
Specifies the distance between the header or footer and the page top or bottom.
Section.LinkHeaderToNext
Section.LinkFooterToNext
Links the current section’s header or footer to the next section’s header or footer.
Section.LinkHeaderToPrevious
Section.LinkFooterToPrevious
Links the current section’s header or footer to the previous section’s header or footer.
Section.IsHeaderLinkedToNext
Section.IsFooterLinkedToNext
Checks whether the current section’s header or footer is linked to the next section’s header or footer.
Section.IsHeaderLinkedToPrevious
Section.IsFooterLinkedToPrevious
Checks whether the current section’s header or footer is linked to the previous section’s header or footer.
Section.UnlinkHeaderFromNext
Section.UnlinkFooterFromNext
Unlinks the current section’s header or footer from the next section’s header or footer.
Section.UnlinkHeaderFromPrevious
Section.UnlinkFooterFromPrevious
Unlinks the current section’s header or footer from the next section’s header or footer.
See Also