Create a word document, Swift [closed]

Answer 1

You can't directly "edit the text" in the Word document. A .docx file is actually a ZIP file with a certain file/folder structure inside (try to rename it to .zip & extract it and you'll see), which conforms to the "Office Open XML" format (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML).

If there are no libraries to modify the Office OpenXML format in Swift, you may just have to resort to writing the code yourself. However, if you have simple requirements (just some plain text, as you state), this shouldn't be too complicated.

Microsoft has an OpenXML library in GitHub at https://github.com/OfficeDev/Open-XML-SDK which may be of help to you.

Answer 2

Given that you mention a user wanting to transfer documents to Google Docs, you could consider working with the RTF format instead. You can also export a docx file to RTF format, work on that and when you are done, import the modified RTF file directly into Google docs.

I suggest this since RTF is also a workable open format: See https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/rtf-pocket-guide/9781449302047/ch01.html. Based on that reference, you can generate this simple (ascii) output:

{\rtf1\ansi\deff0 {\fonttbl {\f0 Verdana;}}
\f0\fs16
Hello World!
}

and save it as a file with the .rtf extension.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to create a .docx file in Swift, given how complicated they are (you can see for yourself by changing the file extension on any old .docx file to .zip, which will reveal their inner structure). The next best thing is to simply create a .txt file, which can also be opened into Pages (though sadly not Docs). If you're looking for a more polished format, complete with formatting and possibly even images, you could choose to create a .pdf file.

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Here are some code samples that might be of assistance:

Creating and sharing a .txt file in Swift 3:

func export(_ string: String, title: String) throws {
    // create a file path in a temporary directory
    let fileName = "\(title).txt"
    let filePath = (NSTemporaryDirectory() as NSString).appendingPathComponent(fileName)

    // save the string to the file
    try string.write(toFile: filePath, atomically: true, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8)

    // open share dialog

        // Initialize Document Interaction Controller
    self.interactionController = UIDocumentInteractionController(url: URL(fileURLWithPath: filePath))
        // Configure Document Interaction Controller
        self.interactionController!.delegate = self
        // Present Open In Menu
    self.interactionController!.presentOptionsMenu(from: yourexportbarbuttonoutlet, animated: true) // create an outlet from an Export bar button outlet, then use it as the `from` argument
}

This can be called with

export("Hello World", title: "HelloWorld")

to instantly create a txt file and open the share dialog for it.

Creating and sharing a simple .pdf file in Swift 3:

func openPDF(_ string: String, title: String) throws {
    // 1. Create a print formatter

    let html = "<h2>\(title)</h2><br><h4>\(string)</h4>" // create some text as the body of the PDF with html.

    let fmt = UIMarkupTextPrintFormatter(markupText: html)

    // 2. Assign print formatter to UIPrintPageRenderer

    let render = UIPrintPageRenderer()
    render.addPrintFormatter(fmt, startingAtPageAt: 0)

    // 3. Assign paperRect and printableRect

    let page = CGRect(x: 10, y: 10, width: 595.2, height: 841.8) // A4, 72 dpi, x and y are horizontal and vertical margins
    let printable = page.insetBy(dx: 0, dy: 0)

    render.setValue(NSValue(cgRect: page), forKey: "paperRect")
    render.setValue(NSValue(cgRect: printable), forKey: "printableRect")

    // 4. Create PDF context and draw

    let pdfData = NSMutableData()
    UIGraphicsBeginPDFContextToData(pdfData, CGRect.zero, nil)

    for i in 1...render.numberOfPages {

        UIGraphicsBeginPDFPage();
        let bounds = UIGraphicsGetPDFContextBounds()
        render.drawPage(at: i - 1, in: bounds)
    }

    UIGraphicsEndPDFContext();

    // 5. Save PDF file

    var path = "\(NSTemporaryDirectory())\(title).pdf"
    pdfData.write(toFile: path, atomically: true)
    print("open \(path)") // check if we got the path right.
        // open share dialog
        print("opening share dialog")
        // Initialize Document Interaction Controller
        self.interactionController = UIDocumentInteractionController(url: URL(fileURLWithPath: path))
        // Configure Document Interaction Controller
        self.interactionController!.delegate = self
        // Present Open In Menu
        self.interactionController!.presentOptionsMenu(from: yourexportbarbuttonoutlet, animated: true) // create an outlet from an Export bar button outlet, then use it as the `from` argument
}

This can be called with

openPDF("Hello World", title: "HelloWorld")

to instantly create a pdf file and open the share dialog for it.

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Edit: Found an interesting (though not polished) workaround to getting text to open up in Google Docs: use the function from the "creating a .txt file" section here, and just change the filename to "\(title).docx". This will fool Docs into thinking it's a .docx document, which will allow the text to open in Docs successfully. Unfortunately, this creates an invalid document that can't be opened by Pages, Word, or really any other app because it doesn't actually create a real document file. And the Interaction Controller will make it look to the user like they can also open it in Pages, though that invariably fails.