How to insert barcode images into a Microsoft Word document using C# or VB.NET and Barcode Professional for .NET

Product Barcode Professional for Windows Forms Published 04/11/2007 Updated 04/11/2007

Requirements

  Neodynamic Barcode Professional 2.5 for .NET Windows Forms or greater
  Microsoft .NET Framework 1.x or greater
  Microsoft Visual Studio .NET or greater
  Microsoft Office Primary Interop Assemblies (PIA)

Due to its flexible design, Barcode Professional allows you to easily insert barcode images into a Microsoft Word document using .NET technology.

In the following sample we're going to generate a simple .NET Windows Forms application that will allow you to insert a barcode image into a predefined Word document.

Follow these steps:

  • Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Forms Application.
  • Open the default Form at design time and design it as is shown in the following figure

    Inserting barcode into Microsoft Word

  • In order to manipulate Word documents from .NET, we're going to use the Microsoft Office Primary Interop Assemblies (PIA) provided by Microsoft. PIA is available for Microsoft Office XP and Office 2003. You can get them from the following locations:

    Office XP PIA
    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c41bd61e-3060-4f71-a6b4-01feba508e52&DisplayLang=en
    Office 2003 PIA
    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=3c9a983a-ac14-4125-8ba0-d36d67e0f4ad&DisplayLang=en

    Please, download the correct PIA and install it on your box.

    NOTE:
    For older versions of Office, please read the following papers at Microsoft website about interoperation between Microsoft .NET managed code and Microsoft Office applications.
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/archive/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/odc_of2003_bk/html/officeinteroperabilitych2_part1.asp
  • With your Windows Forms project opened, add a reference to Microsoft Word [Version] Object Library as is shown in the following figure:

    Add Reference

    And add a reference to Barcode Professional as is shown in the following figure. IMPORTANT: Please, select the correct version of Barcode Professional depending on what version of the .NET Framework you're using.

    Add Reference

  • Now, we'll need to prepare our predefined Word document so we can specify where the barcode image will be inserted by code. In our case we're going to use a fictitious Invoice document that you'll find at the end of this guide available for download.

    We have prepared the Word document so we can specify where to insert the barcode image. To do that, we've added a bookmark. You can do the same like follows:

    Open your predefined document using Microsoft Word. Locate the point where you want the barcode be inserted, type "BarcodeHere" and select it. With that word selected, go to Insert > Bookmark

    INVOIVE.doc - Microsoft Word

    In the Bookmark dialog box type BarcodeBookmark and click Add button. Close the dialog box.

    INVOIVE.doc - Microsoft Word

    IMPORTANT: We've inserted a bookmark labeled BarcodeBookmark. The bookmark name is very important because we'll reference it in code.
  • After the Word document is ready, back to the Windows Forms project and add the following method in the form's code behind file:

    VB

    
Private Sub AddBarcodeIntoWordDoc()
'Create barcode professional instance
Dim bc As New Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.BarcodeProfessional
'Set some barcode symbology
bc.Symbology = Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.Symbology.Code128
'Set value to encode
bc.Code = Me.TextBox1.Text
bc.Text = ""

'Create barcode image
Dim ms As New System.IO.MemoryStream(bc.GetBarcodeImage(System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png))
Dim barcodeImage As Bitmap = CType(Image.FromStream(ms), Bitmap)

'Create a Word App
Dim wordApp As New Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application
wordApp.Visible = False

'Interop params
Dim oMissing As Object = System.Reflection.Missing.Value
Dim save As Object = False

'The Word doc paths
Dim destFile As Object = "C:\INVOICE_WITH_BARCODE.doc"
Dim docFile As Object = "C:\INVOICE.doc"

'Open the doc file
Dim wordDoc As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Document
wordDoc = wordApp.Documents.Open(docFile)

'Find the predefined barcode bookmark into the doc
Dim oBarcodeBookmark As Object = "BarcodeBookmark"
Dim range As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Range
range = wordDoc.Bookmarks.Item(oBarcodeBookmark).Range

'Copy the barcode image into Clipboard
Clipboard.SetDataObject(barcodeImage)

'Paste the barcode image
range.Paste()

'Save a doc copy with barcode
wordDoc.SaveAs(destFile)

'Quit
wordApp.Quit(save)
System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(wordApp)

ms.Close()
barcodeImage.Dispose()

MessageBox.Show("Barcode inserted!")
End Sub

    C#

    
private void AddBarcodeIntoWordDoc()
{
//Create barcode professional instance
Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.BarcodeProfessional bc = new Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.BarcodeProfessional();
//Set some barcode symbology
bc.Symbology = Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.Symbology.Code128;
//Set value to encode
bc.Code = this.textBox1.Text;
bc.Text = "";
//Create barcode image
System.IO.MemoryStream ms = new System.IO.MemoryStream(bc.GetBarcodeImage(System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png));
Bitmap barcodeImage = (Bitmap)Image.FromStream(ms);

//Create a Word App
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.ApplicationClass wordApp = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.ApplicationClass();
wordApp.Visible = false;

//Interop params
object oMissing = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;
object save = false;

//The Word doc paths
object docFile = @"C:\INVOICE.doc";
object destFile = @"C:\INVOICE_WITH_BARCODE.doc";

//Open the doc file
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Document wordDoc = wordApp.Documents.Open(ref docFile, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);

//Find the predefined barcode bookmark into the doc
object oBarcodeBookmark = "BarcodeBookmark";
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Range range = wordDoc.Bookmarks.get_Item(ref oBarcodeBookmark).Range;

//Copy the barcode image into Clipboard
Clipboard.SetDataObject(barcodeImage);

//Paste the barcode image
range.Paste();

//Save a doc copy with barcode
wordDoc.SaveAs(ref destFile, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);

//Quit
wordApp.Quit(ref save, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(wordApp);

ms.Close();
barcodeImage.Dispose();

MessageBox.Show("Barcode inserted!");
}

    TIP: How to insert barcode images with DPI support

    Barcode Professional 3.0 or grater lets you to generate barcode images with DPI support. If you want to insert barcode images with such feature, then you can do that as follows:

    VB

    • Replace the following code in the AddBarcodeIntoWordDoc() method: 
    
'Copy the barcode image into Clipboard
Clipboard.SetDataObject(barcodeImage)
'Paste the barcode image
range.Paste()
    • By this code: 
    
'Save the barcode image at 300 DPI
Dim tmpBarcode As System.Drawing.Image = bc.GetBarcodeImage(300)
Dim barcodeTempFileName As String = System.IO.Path.GetTempPath() + Guid.NewGuid().ToString() + ".jpg"
tmpBarcode.Save(barcodeTempFileName, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Jpeg)
tmpBarcode.Dispose()
range.Select()
wordDoc.Application.Selection.InlineShapes.AddPicture(barcodeTempFileName)
System.IO.File.Delete(barcodeTempFileName)

    C#

    • Replace the following code in the AddBarcodeIntoWordDoc() method: 
    
//Copy the barcode image into Clipboard
Clipboard.SetDataObject(barcodeImage);
//Paste the barcode image
range.Paste();
    • By this code: 
    
//Save the barcode image at 300 DPI
System.Drawing.Image tmpBarcode = bc.GetBarcodeImage(300);
string barcodeTempFileName = System.IO.Path.GetTempPath() +
Guid.NewGuid().ToString() + ".jpg";
tmpBarcode.Save(barcodeTempFileName, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Jpeg);
tmpBarcode.Dispose();
range.Select(); 
wordDoc.Application.Selection.InlineShapes.AddPicture(barcodeTempFileName);
System.IO.File.Delete(barcodeTempFileName);
  • Add the following code for button's Click events

    VB

    
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
If Me.TextBox1.Text.Length > 0 Then
Me.AddBarcodeIntoWordDoc()
End If
End Sub

Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("C:\INVOICE_WITH_BARCODE.doc")
End Sub

    C#

    
private void button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
if (this.TextBox1.Text.Length > 0)
this.AddBarcodeIntoWordDoc();
}

private void button2_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(@"C:\INVOICE_WITH_BARCODE.doc");
}
  • That's it. Run your project, type some value to encode and click Insert button. The barcode image will appear into the Word document!

    Inserting barcode into Microsoft Word

    INVOICE_WITH_BARCODE.doc - Microsoft Word

Sample Files Download


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