Working with runs (Open XML SDK)

The following text from the ISO/IEC 29500 specification introduces the Open XML WordprocessingML run element.

The next level of the document hierarchy [after the paragraph] is the run, which defines a region of text with a common set of properties. A run is represented by an r element, which allows the producer to combine breaks, styles, or formatting properties, applying the same information to all the parts of the run.

Just as a paragraph can have properties, so too can a run. All of the elements inside an r element have their properties controlled by a corresponding optional rPr run properties element, which must be the first child of the r element. In turn, the rPr element is a container for a set of property elements that are applied to the rest of the children of the r element. The elements inside the rPr container element allow the consumer to control whether the text in the following t elements is bold, underlined, or visible, for example. Some examples of run properties are bold, border, character style, color, font, font size, italic, kerning, disable spelling/grammar check, shading, small caps, strikethrough, text direction, and underline.

© ISO/IEC29500: 2008.

The following table lists the most common Open XML SDK classes used when working with runs.

The Open XML SDK 2.5Run class represents the run (<r>) element defined in the Open XML File Format schema for WordprocessingML documents as discussed above. Use a Run object to manipulate an individual <r> element in a WordprocessingML document.

RunProperties Class

Text Object

The following code adds text to the main document surface of the specified WordprocessingML document. A Run object demarcates a region of text within the paragraph and then a RunProperties object is used to apply bold formatting to the run.

When this code is run, the following XML is written to the WordprocessingML document specified in the preceding code.

<w:p>
  <w:r>
    <w:rPr>
      <w:b />
    </w:rPr>
    <w:t>String from WriteToWordDoc method.</w:t>
  </w:r>
</w:p>

Concepts