Word 2007 Binding content control to an XML list

Question

Hi,
i have an xml that contains elements that looks like this:

<Authors>
     <Author>
            <Id>1
            <Name>Joe Smith</Name>
      </Author>
     <Author>
            <Id>2
            <Name>Tom Smith</Name>
      </Author>
     <Author>
            <Id>3
            <Name>Mark Smith</Name>
      </Author>
</Author>

I would like to bind this to two controls that display Id and Name.  The problem is, how do i handle XML nodes that may contain 1 to N amount of elements?  In .NET we could use something like a Repeater control.  Is it possible to do something similar in word where it would display all child Author nodes?

thanks

Answer 1

Hi Mark

First, I hope you aren't trying to use exactly the XML you show, as it's not valid. You have no end element for the Id: </Id>

But in answer to your question, no, Word has no real support for 1:n relationships. It's lacking in mail merge, it's lacking in data-binding and in XML and content controls. Anything you want along these lines has to be created in your code.

So you would have to create a content control for each Id and Name element. (I'm not sure how much sense it would make to also generate "parent" content controls at the Author level, as you won't be able to link that to anything.)

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Cindy Meister, VSTO/Word MVP

Answer 2

Thanks much.