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Support Knowledge Base, Article 1251

Product

WordWriter

Version

3.8.1

Title

HOW TO: Insert images from the internet into a Word document

Problem

How do I insert images from the internet into a Word document using their URLs?

Solution

The Element.InsertImageAfter() method in the WordApplication object can insert an image into a document from an image file location or a FileStream. It cannot insert an image from a URL as a string, however. In order to insert an image from a URL, you must first retrieve the image as a stream.

Microsoft's HttpWebRequest and WebReponse objects in the System.Net namespace allow you to send an HTTP request and receive an HTTP Response programmatically and return the Response as a stream. The HttpWebRequest and WebResponse objects are described here in Microsoft's MSDN documentation:

HttpWebRequest
WebResponse

In this example, the Word document is being filled with data using the WordTemplate object. Then, it is passed to the WordApplication object, where the the SearchMatch object is used to find all instances in the document of a string ending in an image file extension that is WordWriter-compatible (.jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png, .bmp) using a Regular Expression. Then the .NET HttpWebResponse and WebResponse objects are used to retrieve the image as a stream. Finally, the images are inserted into the document.

Note: If you are using this code in a Web Application, you will need to pass the correct credentials to the proxy server or you will receive a 407 error. Microsoft has a support article addressing this issue located here:

IIS 5.0: Error message "HTTP/1.1 407 proxy authentication required

Example:

[C#] [VB.NET]

protected void InsertImagesFromURL() { //Create the Word Template object and open the template WordTemplate wt = new WordTemplate(); wt.Open(Page.MapPath("templates/DatabaseSourceTest.doc")); //Insert sample images into a template document string[] data = new string[2] { "http://www.mbta.com/images/logo-mbta.gif", "http://www.purepage.com/sample/purepageimages/final_logo_bmp.Bmp" }; string[] names = new string[2] { "OrderID", "CustomerID" }; //Set the datasource for the template wt.SetDataSource(data, names); wt.Process(); //Open the template as a WordApplication Document for editing WordApplication wa = new WordApplication(); Document doc = wa.Open(wt); //Call the SearchAndReplaceWithImage method to search the document for //image URLs and replace them with images SearchAndReplaceWithImage(doc); //Export the final document wa.Save(doc, Page.Response, "output.doc", false); } public void SearchAndReplaceWithImage(Document doc) { //Search for all strings in the document ending in //.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .bmp. //These are all of the valid picture types that can be imported //using WordWriter. //Use regular expressions to perform the search efficiently. SearchMatch[] searcherator = doc.Search(@"(?i).*jpe?g$|.*gif$|.*png$|.*bmp$"); //For every string that ends with an image extension, do this for (int i = 0; i < searcherator.Length; i++) { //Select a match from the SearchMatch array SearchMatch match = (SearchMatch)searcherator[i]; //Use the DownloadAndInsertImage method to retrieve the image as //a stream stream and insert it into the document. DownloadAndInsertImage(match); } } public void DownloadAndInsertImage(SearchMatch match) { //Retrieve the URL as a string from the SearchMatch object string strhttp = match.Element.Text; //Send an HTTP request and get the image at the URL as an HTTP response HttpWebRequest myReq = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(strhttp); WebResponse myResp = myReq.GetResponse(); //Get a stream from the webresponse Stream stream = myResp.GetResponseStream(); //Insert the image into the document and delete the URL string match.Element.InsertImageAfter(stream); match.Element.DeleteElement(); }

Sub InsertImagesFromURL() 'Create the Word Template object and import the template Dim wt As New WordTemplate wt.Open("..\\template\DatabaseSourceTest.doc") 'Insert sample image URLs into a template document Dim data As String() = { _ "http://www.mbta.com/images/logo-mbta.gif", _ "http://www.purepage.com/sample/purepageimages/final_logo_bmp.Bmp"} Dim names As String() = {"OrderID", "CustomerID"} 'Set the datasource for the template wt.SetDataSource(data, names) wt.Process() 'Open the template as a WordApplication Document for editing Dim wa As New WordApplication Dim doc As Document = wa.Open(wt) 'Call the SearchAndReplaceWithImage method to search the document for 'image URLs and replace them with images. SearchAndReplaceWithImage(doc) 'Export the final document wa.Save(doc, "..\\template\output.doc") End Sub Public Sub SearchAndReplaceWithImage(ByVal doc As Document) 'Search for all strings in the document ending in '.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .bmp. 'These are all of the valid picture types that can be imported 'using WordWriter. 'Use regular expressions to perform the search efficiently. Dim searcherator As SearchMatch() = _ doc.Search("(?i).*jpe?g$|.*gif$|.*png$|.*bmp$") Dim i As Integer 'For every string that ends with an image extension, do this For i = 0 To searcherator.Length - 1 'Select a match from the SearchMatch array Dim match As SearchMatch = searcherator(i) 'Use the DownloadAndInsertImage method to retrieve the image as 'a stream stream and insert it into the document. DownloadAndInsertImage(match) Next End Sub Public Sub DownloadAndInsertImage(ByVal match As SearchMatch) 'Retrieve the URL as a string from the SearchMatch object Dim strhttp As String = match.Element.Text 'Send an HTTP request and get the image at the URL as an HTTP response Dim myReq As HttpWebRequest = _ CType(WebRequest.Create(strhttp), HttpWebRequest) Dim myResp As WebResponse = myReq.GetResponse() 'Get a stream from the webresponse Dim stream As Stream = myResp.GetResponseStream() 'Insert the image into the document and delete the URL string match.Element.InsertImageAfter(stream) match.Element.DeleteElement() End Sub