B4J Tutorial SithasoDocxTemplator: Creating MS Word Documents from Dynamic Templates in JavaScript

Hi the

This was an interesting find: https://docxtemplater.com/, also its just so easy to use and understand.

Below is my template. I am attempting to generate the API documentation for the SithasoDaisy ebook. This was easy to achieve using tables on the demo. And yes, I could fire up HTML2DOCX, but this is not what I wanted.

I wanted to create a template that could suit my needs and all i will do is feed it content. The tables will have repeat rows {#properties} etc. These are stored as lists/arrays in the json file.

An example of the output based on a HTML in the running app is like this...

So I have JSON files (example attached) that have these definitions, when each component is selected, I am reading the JSON file and then generating the table above.

To do this for the word documents, I will have to do a similar thing. In this case, I click on a button, the file is read and then a simple scripts generates the needed word document.

Sub apiprops_doc (e As BANanoEvent)
    apiprops.ToolbarButtonLoading("doc", True)
    Dim jsonFile As Map = banano.Await(banano.GetFileAsJSON($"./assets/${CompName}.json"$, Null))
 
    Dim properties As List = jsonFile.Get("properties")
    Dim events As List = jsonFile.Get("events")
    Dim methods As List = jsonFile.Get("methods")
    '
    Dim doc As SithasoDocxTemplator
    doc.Initialize(Me, "docx", "./assets/api.docx", $"${CompName}.docx"$)
    doc.SetField("component", CompName.ToUpperCase)
    doc.SetField("properties", properties)
    doc.SetField("events", events)
    doc.SetField("methods", methods)
    banano.Await(doc.BuildWait)
 
    apiprops.ToolbarButtonLoading("doc", False)
End Sub

This is the complete code for the SithasoDocxTemplator

#IgnoreWarnings:32

#Event: Finished

Sub Class_Globals
    Private fn As String
    Private BANano As BANano            'ignore
    Private mcallback As Object
    Private eventName As String
    Private tags As Map
    Private ffn As String
End Sub

Public Sub Initialize(mcb As Object, event As String, tmpFile As String, target As String)
    fn = tmpFile
    mcallback = mcb
    eventName = event
    tags.Initialize
    ffn = target
End Sub

Sub SetField(key As String, value As Object)
    tags.Put(key,value)
End Sub

Sub BuildWait
    Dim PizZipUtils As BANanoObject
    PizZipUtils.Initialize("PizZipUtils")
    '
    Dim error, content As Object
    Dim cb As BANanoObject = BANano.CallBack(Me, "generate", Array(error, content))
    PizZipUtils.RunMethod("getBinaryContent", Array(fn, cb))
End Sub

Private Sub generate(error As Object, content As Object)            'ignore
    If BANano.IsNull(error) = False Then
        BANano.throw(error)
        Return
    End If
    'start processing
    Dim zip As BANanoObject
    zip.Initialize2("PizZip", content)
    '
    Dim options As Map = CreateMap()
    options.Put("paragraphLoop", True)
    options.Put("linebreaks", True)
    '
    Dim doc As BANanoObject
    doc.Initialize2("Docxtemplater", Array(zip, options))
    '
    doc.RunMethod("render", tags)
    '
    Dim blobOptions As Map = CreateMap()
    blobOptions.Put("type", "blob")
    blobOptions.Put("mimeType", "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document")
    blobOptions.Put("compression", "DEFLATE")
    '
    Dim blob As BANanoObject = doc.RunMethod("getZip", Null).RunMethod("generate", blobOptions)
    BANano.RunJavascriptMethod("saveAs", Array(blob, ffn))
 
    If SubExists(mcallback, $"${eventName}_finished"$) Then
        CallSub(mcallback, $"${eventName}_finished"$)
    Else
        BANano.Console.Warn($"SithasoDocxTemplator: '${eventName}_finished' event does not exist!"$)
    End If
End Sub

Of course this can be adopted to work for ones use cases. So far this is good progress.

 

[asales]

Hello @Mashiane.

I use the SithasoDaisy to create - and download - a file (json), using this code:

Dim txt As String = banano.ToJson(ToMap)  
app.Download(txt, file_name & ".cad")

It works fine in the computer browser, but in the mobile browser the extension (.cad) is change to .txt and when I attach the file into WhatsApp the name change to "null.txt".

I think that I could save the json as a zip file to avoid this.

Could I use this PizZipUtils object to make this?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Mashiane]

Hello @Mashiane.

I use the SithasoDaisy to create - and download - a file (json), using this code:

Dim txt As String = banano.ToJson(ToMap) 
app.Download(txt, file_name & ".cad")

It works fine in the computer browser, but in the mobile browser the extension (.cad) is change to .txt and when I attach the file into WhatsApp the name change to "null.txt".

I think that I could save the json as a zip file to avoid this.

Could I use this PizZipUtils object to make this?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi, the question you have posted is not related to this thread. Can you create a new thread please?

 

[asales]

Can you create a new thread please?

Done!