Storing custom metadata in a Word 2010 document(Interop)

Question

Good Morning

I would like to know if there is a way to store a custom object inside a Word 2010 document and if you could please point me to any helpful resources on how this can be done?

Basically while the document is open in Word I create a new instance of my Metadata class shown below and populate it with custom data,when the document is saved on the local machine I want to somehow embed this object in the Word document so next time it's open i have access to the properties defined in the class below:

I'm using C# .NET 4.0 and Word 2010 vsto

    public class Metadata
    {
        public string TemplateName { get; set; }
        public string TemplateDescription { get; set; }
        public List<string> Languages { get; set; }
        public List<string> Categories { get; set; }
        public List<string> Types { get; set; }
    }

Answer 1

Hi Denys,

You can use the Documents Variables property. I don't think you can store entire .net objects innside. But you can create a custom variable for each of your metadata properties.

EXAMPLE
To create a variable on a Word document:

wordDocument.Variables.Add("TemplateName", Metadata.TemplateName.ToString());

To retreive the value at a later time:

Variable templateNameVariable = wordDocument.Variables["TemplateName"];
string templateName = templateNameVariable.ToString();

Give it a try :)

Answer 2

or you can use JSON or XML serialization.

Answer 3

Thanks, used serialization and custom properties

        private void AddCustomProperty(string name, string value, Office.MsoDocProperties type)
        {
            object missing = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;
            Office.DocumentProperties props = (Office.DocumentProperties)CurrentDocument.CustomDocumentProperties;
            props.Add(name, false, type, value, missing);
        }

Answer 4

just remember that user will see it in document panel.