Working with Form Fields Leave feedback

This article demonstrates how to load, edit, and read form fields in a Word document using GroupDocs.Editor for Node.js via Java. We will go through the process of opening a document, retrieving form fields, and processing them based on their types.

1. Get the Path to the Input File

   Specify the path to your input Word document (.docx) that contains form fields.

   const inputFilePath = 'path/to/your/document.docx';
   

2. Create a Readable Stream from the Path

   Create a readable stream from the input file path.

   const fs = require('fs');
   const inputStream = fs.createReadStream(inputFilePath);
   

3. Create Load Options

   Initialize the WordProcessingLoadOptions for loading the document. If your document is password-protected, specify the password. In this example, the document is unprotected, so the password will be ignored.

   const groupdocsEditor = require('groupdocs-editor');
   
   const loadOptions = new groupdocsEditor.WordProcessingLoadOptions();
   loadOptions.setPassword('some_password_to_open_a_document');
   

4. Load the Document into the Editor Instance

   Use the Editor class to load the document with the specified load options.

   const editor = new groupdocsEditor.Editor(inputStream, loadOptions);
   

5. Retrieve and Process the Form Fields

   Obtain the FormFieldManager instance from the Editor. Use it to read the FormFieldCollection and process each form field based on its type.

   // Get the FormFieldManager instance
   const fieldManager = editor.getFormFieldManager();
   
   // Get the FormFieldCollection in the document
   const collection = fieldManager.getFormFieldCollection();
   
   // Iterate over each form field in the collection
   collection.forEach((formField) => {
       switch (formField.getType()) {
           case groupdocsEditor.FormFieldType.Text:
               const textFormField = collection.getFormField(formField.getName(), groupdocsEditor.TextFormField);
               console.log(`TextFormField detected, name: ${formField.getName()}, value: ${textFormField.getValue()}`);
               break;
           case groupdocsEditor.FormFieldType.CheckBox:
               const checkBoxFormField = collection.getFormField(formField.getName(), groupdocsEditor.CheckBoxForm);
               console.log(`CheckBoxForm detected, name: ${formField.getName()}, value: ${checkBoxFormField.getValue()}`);
               break;
           case groupdocsEditor.FormFieldType.Date:
               const dateFormField = collection.getFormField(formField.getName(), groupdocsEditor.DateFormField);
               console.log(`DateFormField detected, name: ${formField.getName()}, value: ${dateFormField.getValue()}`);
               break;
           case groupdocsEditor.FormFieldType.Number:
               const numberFormField = collection.getFormField(formField.getName(), groupdocsEditor.NumberFormField);
               console.log(`NumberFormField detected, name: ${formField.getName()}, value: ${numberFormField.getValue()}`);
               break;
           case groupdocsEditor.FormFieldType.DropDown:
               const dropDownFormField = collection.getFormField(formField.getName(), groupdocsEditor.DropDownFormField);
               const selectedValue = dropDownFormField.getValue()[dropDownFormField.getSelectedIndex()];
               console.log(`DropDownFormField detected, name: ${formField.getName()}, selected value: ${selectedValue}`);
               break;
           default:
               console.log(`Unknown form field type detected, name: ${formField.getName()}`);
       }
   });
   

   In this code:

   • We use the getType() method to determine the type of each form field.
   • Retrieve the specific form field instance using getFormField() with the appropriate class.
   • Access the properties of each form field and print them to the console.

Below is the complete example code demonstrating the entire process:

/**
 * This example demonstrates how to load, edit, and read form fields in a Word document using GroupDocs.Editor for Node.js via Java.
 */

// Import the necessary modules
const fs = require('fs');
const groupdocsEditor = require('groupdocs-editor');

(async () => {
    try {
        // 1. Get the path to the input file (or stream with file content).
        // In this case, it is a sample DOCX with form fields.
        const inputFilePath = 'path/to/your/document.docx';

        // 2. Create a readable stream from this path
        const inputStream = fs.createReadStream(inputFilePath);

        // 3. Create load options for this document
        const loadOptions = new groupdocsEditor.WordProcessingLoadOptions();
        // 3.1. If the input document is password-protected, specify the password for its opening...
        loadOptions.setPassword('some_password_to_open_a_document');
        // 3.2. ...but, because the document is unprotected, this password will be ignored

        // 4. Load the document with options into the Editor instance
        const editor = new groupdocsEditor.Editor(inputStream, loadOptions);

        // 5. Retrieve and process the form fields
        // 5.1. Get the FormFieldManager instance
        const fieldManager = editor.getFormFieldManager();

        // 5.2. Get the FormFieldCollection in the document
        const collection = fieldManager.getFormFieldCollection();

        // 5.3. Iterate over each form field in the collection
        collection.forEach((formField) => {
            switch (formField.getType()) {
                case groupdocsEditor.FormFieldType.Text:
                    const textFormField = collection.getFormField(formField.getName(), groupdocsEditor.TextFormField);
                    console.log(`TextFormField detected, name: ${formField.getName()}, value: ${textFormField.getValue()}`);
                    break;
                case groupdocsEditor.FormFieldType.CheckBox:
                    const checkBoxFormField = collection.getFormField(formField.getName(), groupdocsEditor.CheckBoxForm);
                    console.log(`CheckBoxForm detected, name: ${formField.getName()}, value: ${checkBoxFormField.getValue()}`);
                    break;
                case groupdocsEditor.FormFieldType.Date:
                    const dateFormField = collection.getFormField(formField.getName(), groupdocsEditor.DateFormField);
                    console.log(`DateFormField detected, name: ${formField.getName()}, value: ${dateFormField.getValue()}`);
                    break;
                case groupdocsEditor.FormFieldType.Number:
                    const numberFormField = collection.getFormField(formField.getName(), groupdocsEditor.NumberFormField);
                    console.log(`NumberFormField detected, name: ${formField.getName()}, value: ${numberFormField.getValue()}`);
                    break;
                case groupdocsEditor.FormFieldType.DropDown:
                    const dropDownFormField = collection.getFormField(formField.getName(), groupdocsEditor.DropDownFormField);
                    const selectedValue = dropDownFormField.getValue()[dropDownFormField.getSelectedIndex()];
                    console.log(`DropDownFormField detected, name: ${formField.getName()}, selected value: ${selectedValue}`);
                    break;
                default:
                    console.log(`Unknown form field type detected, name: ${formField.getName()}`);
            }
        });

        console.log('Working with form fields routine has successfully finished.');
    } catch (error) {
        console.error('An error occurred:', error);
    }
})();

This guide demonstrates how to work with form fields in Word documents using GroupDocs.Editor for Node.js via Java. By following these steps, you can load a document, retrieve form fields, and process them based on their types. This functionality is essential for applications that require manipulation and extraction of form field data from documents.

Note: Make sure to replace 'path/to/your/document.docx' with the actual file path in your application.

For more examples and detailed information, you can refer to the GroupDocs.Editor for Node.js via Java Examples repository on GitHub.