How to: Create a Table of Contents in Code

• Nov 28, 2023
• 5 minutes to read

This topic demonstrates how to create a table of contents of different types using the RichEdit API.

Mark the Entries

RichEditControl provides 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 code sample below. Note that the maximum outline level is 9.

C#

richEditControl1.LoadDocument("Documents//Table of Contents.docx");

// Set the outline level to every chapter title in the document
for (int i = 0; i < richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs.Count; i++)
{
    string var = richEditControl1.Document.GetText(richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs[i].Range);
    if (var.Contains("CHAPTER "))
    {
        richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs[i].OutlineLevel = 2;
    }
}

VB.NET

richEditControl1.LoadDocument("Documents//Table of Contents.docx")

' Set the outline level to every chapter title in the document
For i As Integer = 0 To richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs.Count - 1
    Dim var As String = richEditControl1.Document.GetText(richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs(i).Range)
    If var.Contains("CHAPTER ") Then
        richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs(i).OutlineLevel = 2
    End If
Next i

Heading Styles

Create a new heading style or retrieve an existing one from the ParagraphStyleCollection collection (can be accessed through 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.

C#

richEditControl1.LoadDocument("Documents//Table of Contents.docx");

// Apply the "heading 1" style to every chapter title in the document
for (int i = 0; i < richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs.Count; i++)
{
    string var = richEditControl1.Document.GetText(richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs[i].Range);
    if (var.Contains("CHAPTER "))
    {
        richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs[i].Style = richEditControl1.Document.ParagraphStyles["heading 1"];
    }
}

VB.NET

richEditControl1.LoadDocument("Documents//Table of Contents.docx")

' Apply the "heading 1" style to every chapter title in the document
For i As Integer = 0 To richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs.Count - 1
    Dim var As String = richEditControl1.Document.GetText(richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs(i).Range)
    If var.Contains("CHAPTER ") Then
        richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs(i).Style = richEditControl1.Document.ParagraphStyles("heading 1")
    End If
Next i

TC Fields

Insert a TC field at the beginning of the target paragraph. Type the caption in the field switch, and it will be reflected in the table of contents instead of the original title.

C#

richEditControl1.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 < richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs.Count; i++)
{
    string var = richEditControl1.Document.GetText(richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs[i].Range);

    if (var.Contains("CHAPTER "))
    {
        Field field = richEditControl1.Document.Fields.Create(richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs[i].Range.Start, String.Format("TC {0} \\f bvz ", j));
        richEditControl1.Document.Fields.Update();
        j++;
    }
}

VB.NET

richEditControl1.LoadDocument("Documents//Table of Contents.docx")
Dim j As Integer = 1

' Mark every chapter title in the document by the TC field
For i As Integer = 0 To richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs.Count - 1
    Dim var As String = richEditControl1.Document.GetText(richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs(i).Range)

    If var.Contains("CHAPTER ") Then
        Dim field As Field = richEditControl1.Document.Fields.Create(richEditControl1.Document.Paragraphs(i).Range.Start, String.Format("TC {0} \f bvz ", j))
        richEditControl1.Document.Fields.Update()
        j += 1
    End If
Next i

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 n the code snippet below.

C#

richEditControl1.LoadDocument("Documents//Table of Contents.docx");            
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 the captions with the SEQ fields
    Field field = document.Fields.Create(range.End, "SEQ  Image \\*ARABIC");
}
document.Fields.Update();
document.EndUpdate();

VB.NET

richEditControl1.LoadDocument("Documents//Table of Contents.docx")
document.BeginUpdate()

For i As Integer = 0 To document.Images.Count - 1
    Dim shape As DocumentImage = document.Images(i)
    Dim paragraph As Paragraph = document.Paragraphs.Insert(shape.Range.End)

    ' Insert caption to every image in the document
    Dim range As DocumentRange = document.InsertText(paragraph.Range.Start, "Image ")

    ' Mark the captions with the SEQ fields
    Dim field As Field = document.Fields.Create(range.End, "SEQ  Image \*ARABIC")
Next i
document.Fields.Update()
document.EndUpdate()

2. 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
SubDocument.BeginUpdate	Initialize the document modification.
SubDocument.Paragraphs	Provides access to the target paragraph.
FieldCollection.Create	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.Update	Updates the given field.
SubDocument.EndUpdate	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 code sample below inserts a TOC field into the given document position.

C#

Document document = richEditControl1.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();

VB.NET

Dim document As Document = richEditControl1.Document
document.BeginUpdate()
Dim paragraph As 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) " & ControlChars.Cr)
Dim field As Field = document.Fields.Create(paragraph.Range.Start, "TOC \h ")
field.Update()

' Update all fields to apply changes
document.Fields.Update()
document.EndUpdate()