programmatically comparing word documents

Question

I need to compare two office documents, in this case two word documents and provide a difference, which is somewhat similar to what is show in SVN. Not to that extent, but at least be able to highlight the differences.

I tried using the office COM dll and got this far..

object fileToOpen = (object)@"D:\doc1.docx";
string fileToCompare = @"D:\doc2.docx";

WRD.Application WA = new WRD.Application();

Document wordDoc = null;

wordDoc = WA.Documents.Open(ref fileToOpen, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing,      Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing);
wordDoc.Compare(fileToCompare, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing);

Any tips on how to proceed further? This will be a web application having a lot of hits. Is using the office com object the right way to go, or are there any other things I can look at?

Answer 1

You should use Document class to compare files and open in a Word document the result.

using OfficeWord = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;

object fileToOpen = (object)@"D:\doc1.docx";
string fileToCompare = @"D:\doc2.docx";

var app = Global.OfficeFile.WordApp;

object readOnly = false;
object AddToRecent = false;
object Visible = false;

OfficeWord.Document docZero = app.Documents.Open(fileToOpen, ref missing, ref readOnly, ref AddToRecent, Visible: ref Visible);

docZero.Final = false;
docZero.TrackRevisions = true;
docZero.ShowRevisions = true;
docZero.PrintRevisions = true;

//the OfficeWord.WdCompareTargetNew defines a new file, you can change this valid value to change how word will open the document
docZero.Compare(fileToCompare, missing, OfficeWord.WdCompareTarget.wdCompareTargetNew, true, false, false, false, false);