Generate multiple invoices in one docx, one invoice per page

[aetna-softwares]

The current features of this library are great to generate a "single item" output file, such as for example editing an invoice.

I am looking to an enhancement that allow us to work with the same template but give it an array of data and obtain a document containing all items in one file (such as a mailing in word with an xls file).

the idea is to create each individual files and to concatenate them in a final document with a page break between each item.

I try to get this result by using loop syntax with in page-break inside :

 {#invoices} 
... contents ...
[page break here]
{/invoice} 

but it has 2 drawbacks :
1/ from a user point of view the {#invoices} tag is difficult to understand as he is creating a template for a single invoice
2/ as I force a page break at the end of content, I have a white page at the end of generated document

A workaround for this 2 point should be to automatically add the {#invoices} tags to the user template before starting the merge and to remove the last page break from the generated file but I would prefer a clean feature than to do this kind of quick hack ;)

do you think that it could be a good feature for your lib ?

[Zulus88]

Same problem for me - multiplying invoices ):. As far as I undestand, your syntax tells that '...contents...' consists of all remaining tags with replacement data, am I correct? Do you put {#invoices} tag at top of page 1 and {/invoice} at top of page 2 (after page break)? Or do you put some command for Word when generating output docx?

[aetna-softwares]

hi,

yes '...contents...' is my template of invoice with tags of my invoice data.

the {/invoice} is indeed on the page 2 after the page break.

in this early test, it is a pure usage of the lib "as is" and it works quite well if you do yourself the templates and if you don't care about the white page at the end.

[aetna-softwares]

for your information, here is a quick hack to automatically add the "array" tags with the page break :

var docx = new Docxtemplater(contentsDocx);

            if(Array.isArray(data)){
                Object.keys(docx.zip.files).forEach(function(f){
                    var asTextOrig = docx.zip.files[f].asText ;
                    docx.zip.files[f].asText = function(){
                        var text = asTextOrig.apply(docx.zip.files[f]) ;

                        text = text.replace("<w:body>", "<w:body><w:t>{#pages}</w:t>");
                        text = text.replace("</w:body>", '<w:p w:rsidR="00C7053A" w:rsidRDefault="00C7053A"><w:r><w:rPr><w:lang w:val="fr-FR" /></w:rPr><w:br w:type="page" /></w:r></w:p><w:t>{/pages}</w:t></w:body>');

                        return text
                    }
                }) ;

                data = {pages : data} ;
            }

            docx.setData(data);
            docx.render();

            var buf = docx.getZip().generate({type:"nodebuffer"});

please note that I am note an openXML guru so the breakpage syntax should probably be improved

and the last part of the trick (remove the last page break in resulting file) is not done here.

disclaimer : this is only a quick hack and use some not documented part of docxtemplater so it may break any moment on a version update !

[edi9999]

Hi,

I am quite nitpicky about integrating new features to docxtemplater. For example, in the past (v0.x), the image module was integrated inside this repository, but it was making the code base more complex and less lightweight (some people use docxtemplater in the browser). Also, it was not easy to add functionality without integrating your code inside the repository (or maintaining a fork).

That's why I have created the concept of modules. Modules makes it possible to hook into events triggered by docxtemplater.

Here's the code of the image-module :

https://github.com/open-xml-templating/docxtemplater-image-module

It would be possible to integrate the feature you want in a new module, for example with the following syntax:

var MultiDocModule=require('docxtemplater-multi-doc-module')

var opts = {}
opts.loopOver = "invoices";
var multiDocModule=new MultiDocModule(opts);

var docx=new DocxGen()
    .attachModule(multiDocModule)
    .load(content)
    .setData({invoices: [  {"customer" : "John Doe", price: "10 $"},  {"customer" : "Jane Doe", price: "20 $"},  {"customer" : "John Doe", price: "10 $"} ] })
    .render()

var buffer= docx
        .getZip()
        .generate({type:"nodebuffer"})

fs.writeFile("test.docx",buffer);

You can either do your module yourself (I can help you for specific question if you do it open-source), or we could agree on a contract (in that case, please contact me via email)

[aetna-softwares]

This is a good concept !

I will certainly try to write this module when i'll have some spare time

[andrest]

@aetna-softwares solution provides what I need, however, it looks like footer and header are not kept in the same loop scope. Any ideas on how to pass along the scope?

[edi9999]

I think that this should be done from word in your template: you should select something like : "apply header to whole document" as far as I can tell. There is also the possibility to use a header for odd page numbers and a header for even page numbers.

You could also do it programmatically by copying the content header.xml and create the right rel

[motleydev]

@aetna-softwares, did you ever get this turned into a module?

[aetna-softwares]

Hi,

Finally I didn't need it anymore so I didn't take the time to do it.

We ended to generate individual documents and when we need some document aggregation we do it on PDF not at the docx generation time.