Append Documents
The RadDocumentMerger class exposes the AppendDocument() method that enables you to append a RadDocument instances.
The overloads of the AppendDocument() method allow you to pass a parameter of type AppendDocumentOptions. You can use this parameter to customize the way the merge conflicts are resolved and the new document is inserted. The available properties are as follows:
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ConflictingStylesResolutionMode: Determines the mode of resolving conflicts between styles with same IDs. This property is of type ConflictingStylesResolutionMode and can have the following enum values:
UseTargetStyle: The style of the target document is used. For example, if the target and source documents have a style with the name "MyStyle", but with different properties, the one from the target document is used by the merged document and the one from the source document is not added to the style repository of the target document.
RenameSourceStyle: The style of the source document is renamed and used. For example, if the target and source documents have a style with the name "MyStyle", but with different properties, the one from the source is renamed to "MyStyle_1", added to the style repository of the target document and used by the elements merged from the source document. This is the default value.
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FirstSourceSectionPropertiesResolutionMode: Determines whether the source document should be inserted in the target with a preceding SectionBreak, and whether the source section properties should be omitted or preserved. The value is used only for the first section of the source document. The rest of the section elements and their properties remain unchanged.
The property is of type SectionPropertiesResolutionMode and it can have the following enum values:
NoSectionBreak: Append the document elements from the source RadDocument into the target without a preceding section break. Only the block elements from the first source section are inserted. The first section properties, headers and footers are omitted.
Source: Append the first source section as it is, with a preceding section break. The type of break is specified in the section properties of the first source section. The rest of the section properties, headers and footers are preserved. For example, if the source section has a landscape orientation and the target has portrait, the result section will have a landscape orientation.
Target: Append the first source section with a preceding section break. The type of break is specified in the section properties of the first source section. The section properties, headers and footers are copied from the last section in the target document. For example, if the source section has a landscape orientation and the target has portrait, the result section will have a portrait orientation.
SourceStartOnNextPage: Append the first source section as it is, with a preceding section break of type SectionBreakType.NextPage. The section properties, headers and footers are preserved. For example, if the source section has a landscape orientation and the target has portrait, the result section will have a landscape orientation.
SourceStartOnEvenPage: Append the first source section as it is, with a preceding section break of type SectionBreakType.EvenPage. The section properties, headers and footers are preserved. For example, if the source section has a landscape orientation and the target has portrait, the result section will have a landscape orientation.
SourceStartOnOddPage: Append the first source section as it is, with a preceding section break of type SectionBreakType.OddPage. The section properties, headers and footers are preserved. For example, if the source section has a landscape orientation and the target has portrait, the result section will have a landscape orientation.
SourceStartContinuous: Append the first source section as it is, with a preceding section break of type SectionBreakType.Continuous. The section properties, headers and footers are preserved. For example, if the source section has a landscape orientation and the target has portrait, the result section will have a landscape orientation, but the break type will change to a next page since two sections with different orientation or a page size cannot exist on a single page.
Example 1: Using the AppendDocument() method
AppendDocumentOptions options = new AppendDocumentOptions();
options.ConflictingStylesResolutionMode = ConflictingStylesResolutionMode.UseTargetStyle;
options.FirstSourceSectionPropertiesResolutionMode = SectionPropertiesResolutionMode.Target;
merger.AppendDocument(sourceDocument, options);
There is another overload of AppendDocument() that takes only a RadDocument instance. When you use this overload, the default values of AppendDocumentOptions are used when merging documents.
Behavior
AppendDocumentOptions enables full customization over the way the appending is executed. So, the results of the different scenarios depend on the settings you choose. Table 1 describes several restrictions you should keep in mind when using AppendDocument().
Table 1: Restrictions for using AppendDocument()
| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Append the source document in a table cell and source document contains multiple sections. | An InvalidOperationException is thrown. |
| Source document is empty. | An ArgumentException is thrown. |