Create a Simple Report with WinForms C# Application

Add SautinSoft.Document from Nuget.
Start actions in a loop.
Load template documents.
Set a data source.
Execute the mail merge process.
Save the document in DOCX format.
Ends the loop.

This C# app shows how to generate documents populated by data based on template (*.docx).

Introduction

Mail Merge is the feature which allows to easy generate documents populated by data using a template.

To illustrate how works Mail Merge function, let's create a WinForms C# application which allows to enter data and generates "car rental contract" and "insurance policy" populated by this data.

Thus, our application will have a form to enter a data: RenterName, OwnerName, Date etc.
Furthermore, we'll prepare two templates "car-rental-template.docx" and "insurance-template.docx". The app will populate templates by data and generate ready documents in PDF format.

The advantage of this approach is that you enter the data only a one time and get multiplicity various populated documents.

This C# App shows how to create 5 populated by data Docx documents from a Word template (*.docx)

Two main steps:

Create templates in MS Word or use the ready «car-rental-template.docx» and «insurance-template.docx»
Create Winform C# app which allows to enter a data and generate populated documents by executing the mail merge process.

1. Create templates in MS Word with Merge Fields

In this step we have to create two templates.

To start, open MS Word and create new documents named «car-rental-template.docx» and «insurance-template.docx».
Add headings "Car Rental Contacts" and "Insurance Policy" correspondly to the document.
Into "Car Rental Contacts" add Merge Fields and name they so:
Day, Month, Year, RenterName, RenterAddress, RenterPhone, CarModel, CarVIN, CarMilleage and Period.
Into "Insurance Policy" add Merge Fields and name they so:
Day, Month, Year, RenterName, RenterPhone, CarModel and Period.

If you are already familiar with adding of Merge Fields, you may skip this step and use completely ready templates «car-rental-template.docx» and «insurance-template.docx»

If you are novice in this theme and need help, see How to Insert Merge Fields

As result we get: «car-rental-template.docx» and «insurance-template.docx»:

2. Create Winform C# app which allows to enter a data and generate populated documents

Launch Visual Studio and Create new WinForms C# Application (.Net Framework) with name "CarRental".
You may add the reference to the SautinSoft.Document assembly by two ways:

1. Nuget (fast way):

(Solution Explorer->right click by "References"->Manage Nuget Packages...->In the tab "Browse" type "SautinSoft" and find the "SautinSoft.Document")

2. Old good way by adding the reference:

First of all, download the Document .Net package (document_net.zip) from the SautinSoft website.
Unzip document_net.zip and find the assembly file "SautinSoft.Document.dll".
(At the Solution Explorer->right click by "References"->Add Reference...->Browse "SautinSoft.Document.dll")

Note:

SautinSoft.Document.dll compiled for .NET Core is located inside (document_net.zip->Document .Net X.X\Bin\.NET Core X.X) folder.

SautinSoft.Document.dll compiled for .NET Framework is located inside (document_net.zip->Document .Net X.X\Bin\.NET Framework X.X) folder.
Increase the form size and add TextBox control with name "tbRenterName" as shown on the picture below:
Add other controls to make our Form the same as in the picture:
Nine (9) TextBoxes: tbRenterAddress, tbRenterPhone, tbCarModel, tbCarVIN, tbCarMileage, tbPeriod, tbDay, tbMonth, tbYear.
Two (2) CheckBoxes: chkCarContract and chkInsurance.
One (1) ComboBox: comboFormat.
One (1) Button: btnRun.

Here you may find the ready CarRental App

Here is the full code of our CarRental App:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Globalization;
using SautinSoft.Document;

namespace CarRental
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            comboFormat.SelectedIndex = 0;


            // Some Bonus, autocomplite date

            // Year
            tbYear.Text = DateTime.Now.Year.ToString();

            // Month
            CultureInfo ci = new CultureInfo("en-US");
            tbMonth.Text = ci.DateTimeFormat.GetMonthName(DateTime.Now.Month);

            // Day
            tbDay.Text = DateTime.Now.Day.ToString();
        }

        private void btnRun_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Templates <Template Name, Path to a template file>.
            Dictionary<string, string> templateCollection = new Dictionary<string, string>();

            if (chkCarContract.Checked)
                templateCollection.Add("CarRentalContract", @"d:\car-rental-template.docx");

            if (chkInsurance.Checked)
                templateCollection.Add("InsurancePolicy", @"d:\insurance-template.docx");

            // Create dataSource
            var dataSource = new 
            {
                RenterName = tbRenterName.Text,
                RenterAddress = tbRenterAddress.Text,
                RenterPhone = tbRenterPhone.Text,
                CarModel = tbCarModel.Text,
                CarVIN = tbCarVIN.Text,
                CarMileage = tbCarMileage.Text,
                Period = tbPeriod.Text,
                Day = tbDay.Text,
                Month = tbMonth.Text,
                Year = tbYear.Text
            };

            foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> template in templateCollection)
            {
                // template.Value - contains a path to template file.
                // For example, "d:\car-rental-template.docx"
                DocumentCore dc = DocumentCore.Load(template.Value);

                // Do Mail Merge
                // Import data to the template.
                dc.MailMerge.Execute(dataSource);


                // Save the ready document

                // Specify extension for the ready document
                string ext = comboFormat.Text;

                // template.Key - contains a name of our ready document                
                // For example, if RenterName is "John", as result we get: "CarRentalContract-John.pdf".
                string readyDocPath = String.Format("{0}-{1}.{2}", template.Key, dataSource.RenterName, ext);

                // The file format is detected automatically from the file extension.
                dc.Save(readyDocPath);

                // Open the ready document for demonstration purposes.
                System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(readyDocPath);
            }
        }
    }
}

Let us say, Homer Simpson has broken his car again and need to rent a car. After execution of the App with such data, you will get similar results:

As result we get: «CarRentalContract-Homer Simpson.pdf» and «InsurancePolicy-Homer Simpson.pdf»:

If you need a new code example or have a question: email us at support@sautinsoft.com or ask at Online Chat (right-bottom corner of this page) or use the Form below:

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Questions and suggestions from you are always welcome!

We are developing .Net components since 2002. We know PDF, DOCX, RTF, HTML, XLSX and Images formats. If you need any assistance with creating, modifying or converting documents in various formats, we can help you. We will write any code example for you absolutely free.