Building blocks and content controls are extremely flexible. You can create building blocks that contain content controls, or you can create content controls that use building blocks to present rich content selections to the user. In this video, you learn how to programmatically create a content control, and then how to programmatically add that content control to an entry in a building block gallery.

The following objects are used in this example:

• Template

• BuildingBlock

• Range

• ContentControl

The following example inserts a content control into the active document, and then adds the content control to the collection of building blocks in the template attached to the active document.

private void InsertContentControlIntoBuildingBlock()
{
  //Variable for the new content control.
  Word.ContentControl objCC;

  objCC = Application.ActiveDocument.
    ContentControls.Add(Word
    .WdContentControlType
    .wdContentControlComboBox,
    ref missing);

  objCC.DropdownListEntries
    .Add("Outstanding", "Outstanding", 1);
  objCC.DropdownListEntries
    .Add("Good", "Good", 2);
  objCC.DropdownListEntries
    .Add("Fair", "Fair", 3);

  //Variables for the building block.
  Word.Template objTemplate;
  Word.BuildingBlock objBB;
  Word.Range objRange;

  objTemplate = (Word.Template)Application
    .ActiveDocument.get_AttachedTemplate();
  objRange = Application.ActiveDocument
    .Paragraphs[1].Range;
  objBB = objTemplate.BuildingBlockEntries
    .Add("OGF Rating Scale",
    Word.WdBuildingBlockTypes.wdTypeCustom1, 
    "Building Blocks", objRange, ref missing,
    Word.WdDocPartInsertOptions
    .wdInsertParagraph);
}

You can also create content controls that use building blocks to display rich text to the user. For more information about how to do this, see the next video in this series: Filtering the Building Block List in a Word 2007 Content Control.

Watch the Video

Video Length: 00:03:11

File Size: 3.9 MB WMV

• Word Developer Portal

• Working with Content Controls

• Working with Building Blocks

• Building Word 2007 Document Templates Using Content Controls

• Create and Use Document Building Blocks in Office Word 2007

• Creating a Custom Building Block Gallery for Word 2007

• Filtering the Building Block List in a Word 2007 Content Control

• Locking Word 2007 Content Controls