How to add a footnote in MS Word using win32::ole

Adithyakiran.k has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I have to convert a xml file to MS Word Document. I have predefined styles in a .dotx file which should be applied to the text extracted from the XML. Like there are specific styles to "Title", "Paragraphs", "Lists", etc.,. I am using win32::ole to create MS Word Document. I am not able to get the footnote references at the places I want them to be. Please suggest how can I get the footnotes at right places in the Word document. Please see the below code.

 use warnings;
use strict;

use Win32::OLE;
use Win32::OLE::Const 'Microsoft.Word';    # wd  constants
use Win32::OLE::Const 'Microsoft Office';  # mso constants

my $cur_style    = 'a';
my $cur_bookmark = 'a';

sub bold {
  my $document = shift;
  my $bold     = shift;

  $document->ActiveWindow->Selection->{Font}->{Bold} = $bold ? -1 : 0;
}

sub save_doc_as {
  my $document = shift;
  my $filename = shift;

  $document->SaveAs($filename);
}

sub create_style {
  my $document  = shift;
  my $fontname  = shift;
  my $font_size = shift;
  my $bold      = shift;
  my $italic    = shift;

  my $style = $document->Styles->Add($cur_style);

  my $style_font = $style->{Font};

  $style_font -> {Name  } = $fontname;
  $style_font -> {Size  } = $font_size;
  $style_font -> {Bold  } = $bold;
  $style_font -> {Italic} = $italic;

  my %style;

  $style{name} = $cur_style++;
  return \%style;
}

sub set_style {
  my $document = shift;
  my $style_arg = shift;

  $document->ActiveWindow->Selection -> {Style} = $style_arg -> {name}
+;
}

sub text {
  my $document = shift;
  my $text      = shift;

  $document->ActiveWindow->Selection -> TypeText($text);
}

# aka new line, newline or NL
sub enter {
  my $document = shift;

  $document->ActiveWindow->Selection -> TypeParagraph;
}

my $word = CreateObject Win32::OLE 'Word.Application' or die $!;
$word->{'Visible'} = 1;

my $document = $word->Documents->Add('new.dotx',0,0,-1);

# selection is the insertion point.
my $selection = $word->Selection;

$selection->{Style}="Title" ;
text($document, "135: This is the Document Title");
text($document,"\n");
$selection->{Style}="Normal" ;
bold($document, 1);
text($document, "Authors:");
bold($document,0);
enter($document);
text($document, "some text ............");
#----------------------------------------
#Insert Footnote Here
$selection->Footnotes->Add($selection->{Range},"1", "This is the First
+ Footnote");
#----------------------------------------
text($document, "some other text .........");
#----------------------------------------
#Insert Footnote Here
$selection->Footnotes->Add($selection->{Range},"2", "This is the secon
+d Footnote");
#----------------------------------------
enter($document);
bold($document, 1);
text($document, "Introduction");
bold($document,0);
enter($document);
text($document, "This will have the introduction .... ");
$selection->{Style}=" :000" ;
text($document, "Quick Look");
$selection->{Style}="Normal" ;
enter($document);
text($document, "This is the Normal Paragraph Data");
save_doc_as($document, 'output.docx');
[download]

Comment on How to add a footnote in MS Word using win32::ole Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: How to add a footnote in MS Word using win32::ole by hdb (Monsignor) on Aug 28, 2013 at 11:13 UTC
I understand that your problem is that the footnote symbol (like superscript 1) is in the wrong place. I do not really know what the problem is, but when I manually type word documents I usually first type a space, then go one char left, add a footnote, and then continue typing after the space. This workaround seems to be ok for Perl as well. The following works for me: `#---------------------------------------- #Insert Footnote Here $selection->Move(-1); $selection->Footnotes->Add( $selection->{Range},"1", "This is the Firs +t Footnote"); $selection->Move(1);` [download] Again, I do not really know why but you could encapsulate it into another subroutine.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: How to add a footnote in MS Word using win32::ole by Adithyakiran.k (Novice) on Sep 12, 2013 at 11:59 UTC
Thank you. This worked.	[reply]
Re^2: How to add a footnote in MS Word using win32::ole by Adithyakiran.k (Novice) on Nov 07, 2013 at 15:02 UTC
Hi, Is there anyway to format the footnote text that is added to the Word doc? `#---------------------------------------- #Insert Footnote Here $selection->Move(-1); $selection->Footnotes->Add( $selection->{Range},"1", "This is the <i>F +irst Footnote</i>"); $selection->Move(1);` [download] The text within the "i" tags should be in Italics Format in Footnote in word document.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: How to add a footnote in MS Word using win32::ole by Anonymous Monk on Aug 28, 2013 at 00:22 UTC
What happens (whats wrong)?	[reply]
Re^2: How to add a footnote in MS Word using win32::ole by Anonymous Monk on Aug 28, 2013 at 04:44 UTC
All the footnotes are coming at the end of the document.	[reply]
Re^3: How to add a footnote in MS Word using win32::ole by Anonymous Monk on Aug 28, 2013 at 07:59 UTC
All the footnotes are coming at the end of the document. What do you mean by that? Cause that kind of makes sense, they're called footnotes :) and you usually read them at the end of a page or document It looks like you're using the documented api correctly, so I'm out of ideas :)	[reply]