Arnold Boersma | On demand conversion with Word automation services

On demand conversion with Word automation services

Introduction

In SharePoint 2010 word automation services was introduced the service could be used to do a lot of batch conversion tasks. The implementation had a couple of drawback’s:

File generation has to wait for the timer job to execute
Can only handle files in SharePoint
No feedback when job is done in an easy way

With SharePoint 2013 it is now possible to:

Convert documents on the fly
Source file doesn’t need to exist in SharePoint
Save converted files anywhere you want

The following TechNet article describes the architecture of on demand file conversion: What’s new in Word Automation Services for developers

Code download

Download solution

Solution

With the following code examples I want to demonstrate how you can convert files on demand, in the example an word document can be converted on demand to a PDF document.

In the solution the following items are created:

Custom action with an Edit Control block
Application page were the conversion takes place

Custom action

The custom action should be added to the EditControlBlock and only be available for word documents.

Create custom action in Visual studio:

<Elements xmlns=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/"> <CustomAction Id=“E0648444-7D5A-4917-875D-C594E4266282.CustomAction” RegistrationType=“FileType” RegistrationId=“docx” Location=“EditControlBlock” Sequence=“10001” Title=“Convert to PDF” ImageUrl="/_layouts/15/images/icpdf.png”> <UrlAction Url=“javascript:OpenPopUpPageWithTitle('{SiteUrl}/_layouts/Vivens.SP2013.WordServices/WordAutomationConverter.aspx?

ListId={ListId}&ItemId={ItemId}&ItemUrl={ItemUrl}', RefreshOnDialogClose, 600, 400,‘Convert to PDF’)"/>

Application page

The application page is opened in a dialog window and from this page it is possible to initiate the on demand conversion.

WordAutomationConverter.aspx

<asp:Content ID=“Main” ContentPlaceHolderID=“PlaceHolderMain” runat=“server”> <asp:Panel id=“pnlConversion” runat=“server”> <asp:Label ID=“lblInputItem” runat=“server” Text=“Label”></asp:Label>

    <asp:Button ID=<span class="str">"btnConvertSharePointFile"</span> runat=<span class="str">"server"</span> Text=<span class="str">"Save document as PDF"</span> OnClick=<span class="str">"btnConvertSharePointFile_Click"</span> />
    <asp:Button ID=<span class="str">"btnDownloadAsPdf"</span> runat=<span class="str">"server"</span> Text=<span class="str">"Download file as PDF"</span> OnClick=<span class="str">"btnDownloadAsPdf_Click"</span> />
</asp:Panel>
<asp:Panel ID=<span class="str">"pnlCompleted"</span> runat=<span class="str">"server"</span> Visible=<span class="str">"false"</span>>
    <asp:Label ID=<span class="str">"lblConvertStatus"</span> runat=<span class="str">"server"</span> Text=<span class="str">"Label"</span>></asp:Label>
    <asp:Button ID=<span class="str">"btnReturnToList"</span> runat=<span class="str">"server"</span> Text=<span class="str">"Return to list"</span> OnClick=<span class="str">"btnReturnToList_Click"</span>  />
</asp:Panel>

</asp:Content>

WordAutomationConverter.aspx.cs

Read the input file in the Page_Load event

    <span class="kwrd">protected</span> <span class="kwrd">void</span> Page_Load(<span class="kwrd">object</span> sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        <span class="rem">// Only set up the values the first time the page is loaded</span>
        <span class="kwrd">if</span> (!IsPostBack)
        {
            <span class="rem">// Get the input file URL from the query string</span>
            <span class="kwrd">string</span> itemUrl = Request.QueryString[<span class="str">"ItemUrl"</span>];
            <span class="kwrd">string</span> inputPath = Site.Url + itemUrl;
            lblInputItem.Text = inputPath;
        }
    }

    <span class="kwrd">protected</span> <span class="kwrd">void</span> btnConvertSharePointFile_Click(<span class="kwrd">object</span> sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        WordAutomationConverterHelper converter = <span class="kwrd">new</span> WordAutomationConverterHelper(SPContext.Current.Site);
        <span class="kwrd">string</span> inputFile = lblInputItem.Text;
        <span class="kwrd">string</span> outputFile = Path.ChangeExtension(lblInputItem.Text, <span class="str">"pdf"</span>);

        <span class="rem">//Conversion takes place here</span>
        var conversionStatus = converter.ConvertWordDocument(inputFile, outputFile);
        var conversionTime = conversionStatus.CompleteTime.Value.Subtract(conversionStatus.StartTime.Value).Milliseconds.ToString();

        <span class="kwrd">if</span> (conversionStatus.Succeeded)
        {
            lblConvertStatus.Text = <span class="kwrd">string</span>.Format(<span class="str">"File converted from <a href='{0}'>{0}</a> to <a href='{1}'>{1}</a>. in {2} milliseconds"</span>, inputFile, outputFile, conversionTime);
        }
        <span class="kwrd">else</span>
        {
            lblConvertStatus.Text = <span class="kwrd">string</span>.Format(<span class="str">"Something went wrong while converting with message: {0}"</span>, conversionStatus.ErrorMessage);
        }
        pnlConversion.Visible = <span class="kwrd">false</span>;
        pnlCompleted.Visible = <span class="kwrd">true</span>;
    }

Download the document

    <span class="kwrd">protected</span> <span class="kwrd">void</span> btnDownloadAsPdf_Click(<span class="kwrd">object</span> sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        WordAutomationConverterHelper converter = <span class="kwrd">new</span> WordAutomationConverterHelper(SPContext.Current.Site);
        <span class="kwrd">string</span> inputFile = lblInputItem.Text;

        <span class="kwrd">byte</span>[] file;
        SPFile document = SPContext.Current.Web.GetFile(lblInputItem.Text);

        var conversionStatus = converter.ConvertWordDocument(document.OpenBinary(), <span class="kwrd">out</span> file);
        <span class="kwrd">if</span> (conversionStatus.Succeeded)
        {
            lblConvertStatus.Text = <span class="kwrd">string</span>.Format(<span class="str">"File converted successfully."</span>);
            pnlConversion.Visible = <span class="kwrd">false</span>;
            pnlCompleted.Visible = <span class="kwrd">true</span>;

            Response.Buffer = <span class="kwrd">false</span>; <span class="rem">//transmitfile self buffers</span>
            Response.Clear();
            Response.ClearContent();
            Response.ClearHeaders();
            Response.ContentType = <span class="str">"application/pdf"</span>;
            Response.AddHeader(<span class="str">"Content-Disposition"</span>, <span class="str">"attachment; filename="</span> + Path.ChangeExtension(document.Name, <span class="str">"pdf"</span>));   
            Response.BinaryWrite(file);
            Response.End();
        }
        <span class="kwrd">else</span>
        {
            lblConvertStatus.Text = <span class="kwrd">string</span>.Format(<span class="str">"Something went wrong while converting with message: {0}"</span>, conversionStatus.ErrorMessage);
        }
    }

WordAutomationConverterHelper

<span class="kwrd">public</span> <span class="kwrd">class</span> WordAutomationConverterHelper
{
    <span class="kwrd">private</span> SPSite _site;

    <span class="kwrd">public</span> WordAutomationConverterHelper(SPSite site)
    {
        _site = site;
    }

    <span class="rem">/// <summary></span>
    <span class="rem">/// Converts the word document.</span>
    <span class="rem">/// </summary></span>
    <span class="rem">/// <param name="inputPath">The input path.</param></span>
    <span class="rem">/// <param name="outPutPath">The out put path.</param></span>
    <span class="rem">/// <returns>Conversion Status.</returns></span>
    <span class="kwrd">public</span> ConversionItemInfo ConvertWordDocument(<span class="kwrd">string</span> inputPath, <span class="kwrd">string</span> outPutPath) 
    {
        SPServiceContext context = SPServiceContext.GetContext(_site);

        <span class="rem">//Get default WordService application</span>
        WordServiceApplicationProxy wordProxy = context.GetDefaultProxy(<span class="kwrd">typeof</span>(WordServiceApplicationProxy)) <span class="kwrd">as</span> WordServiceApplicationProxy;

        <span class="rem">//Set the settings for the conversion</span>
        ConversionJobSettings jobSettings = <span class="kwrd">new</span> ConversionJobSettings();
        <span class="rem">//SaveFormat.Automatic will try to select the format based on the extension of outPuthPath</span>
        jobSettings.OutputFormat = SaveFormat.Automatic;

        SyncConverter converter = <span class="kwrd">new</span> SyncConverter(wordProxy, jobSettings);
        converter.UserToken = _site.RootWeb.CurrentUser.UserToken;

        ConversionItemInfo result = converter.Convert(inputPath, outPutPath);
        <span class="kwrd">return</span> result;
    }


    <span class="rem">/// <summary></span>
    <span class="rem">/// Converts the byte array to PDF.</span>
    <span class="rem">/// </summary></span>
    <span class="rem">/// <param name="inputFile">The input file byte array.</param></span>
    <span class="rem">/// <param name="outPutFile">The output file as byte array.</param></span>
    <span class="rem">/// <returns>Conversion Status.</returns></span>
    <span class="kwrd">public</span> ConversionItemInfo ConvertWordDocument(<span class="kwrd">byte</span>[] inputFile, <span class="kwrd">out</span> <span class="kwrd">byte</span>[] outPutFile)
    {
        SPServiceContext context = SPServiceContext.GetContext(_site);

        <span class="rem">//Get default WordService application</span>
        WordServiceApplicationProxy wordProxy = context.GetDefaultProxy(<span class="kwrd">typeof</span>(WordServiceApplicationProxy)) <span class="kwrd">as</span> WordServiceApplicationProxy;

        <span class="rem">//Set the settings for the conversion</span>
        ConversionJobSettings jobSettings = <span class="kwrd">new</span> ConversionJobSettings();
        jobSettings.OutputFormat = SaveFormat.PDF;

        SyncConverter converter = <span class="kwrd">new</span> SyncConverter(wordProxy, jobSettings);
        converter.UserToken = _site.RootWeb.CurrentUser.UserToken;

        <span class="kwrd">byte</span>[] convertedFile;
        ConversionItemInfo result = converter.Convert(inputFile, <span class="kwrd">out</span> convertedFile);
        outPutFile = convertedFile;

        <span class="kwrd">return</span> result;
    }
}

Summary

With the possibility for on demand conversions it is now possible to interact immediately with your users and make it possible to create ad-hoc conversions of your word documents.