Just removing the font table will work only if both documents use the same set of fonts. You will need to uniquely merge (union) the font tables (font element wise) if you want to preserve font info of both the rtfs. This will work for n number of rtfs but again we need the union of individual font tables.. I am currently workin on developing the code for this union will post once ready.. :)
In our project we also used the Office Doc object to render rtfs and benefit from word's automation. But it creates a dependency of having ms-word installed. Particularly it can raise problem if the code needs to run from a server where memory is also a concern as using word API causes instance of ms-word to be loaded in memory. But the solution does work!!
Okay!! So ready with the code for union of Font tables in two rtfs and merging them to preserve varying fonts..Please read the RTFs in strings.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Collections;
//Arjun 02nd May
namespace MergeRtf
{
class RTFUtils
{
public static string getRTFBlock(string blockName,string rtf){
int i=rtf.IndexOf(@"{\"+blockName);
int startOfBlock = i;
//Next find the end of style sheet element tag
Stack<char> braceHolder=new Stack<char>();
braceHolder.Push('{');
string stylesheetBlock = "";
while (braceHolder.Count != 0&&i<rtf.Length) {
i++;
if (rtf[i] == '{') {
braceHolder.Push('{');
continue;
}
if (rtf[i] == '}') {
braceHolder.Pop();
}
}
if (braceHolder.Count == 0) {
//encountered the ending tag for stylesheet
stylesheetBlock = rtf.Substring(startOfBlock, i-startOfBlock+1);
return stylesheetBlock;
}
else
{
//Error in doc format
throw (new Exception("Error in doc format"));
}
}
public static string MergeRTFs(string rtf1,string rtf2,string mergingBreak){
//mergingBreak is the type of break that will be sandwiched between the docs
//get the fonttbl blocks for both the documents
string fontTableOfDoc1 = getRTFBlock("fonttbl", rtf1);
string fontTableOfDoc2 = getRTFBlock("fonttbl", rtf2);
//get font lists
List<string> fontList1 = ExtractRTFFonts(fontTableOfDoc1);
List<string> fontList2 = ExtractRTFFonts(fontTableOfDoc2);
//Union the font list
IEnumerable<string> mergedfonts = fontList1.Union(fontList2);
List<string> fontList3 = new List<string>(mergedfonts);
string mergedFontListBlock = @"{\fonttbl";
foreach (string font in fontList3) {
mergedFontListBlock += font;
}
mergedFontListBlock += "}";
//Find location of the fonttable in doc 1 and doc 2
int indexOfFontTable1 = rtf1.IndexOf(@"{\fonttbl");
int indexOfFontTable2 = rtf2.IndexOf(@"{\fonttbl");
string rtfMerged = "";
//Get rtf content before and after fonttable
string headerRTF1 = rtf1.Substring(0, indexOfFontTable1);
int endOfFontTableIndex=indexOfFontTable1 + (fontTableOfDoc1.Length-1);
string trailerRTF1 = rtf1.Substring(endOfFontTableIndex + 1, rtf1.LastIndexOf('}') - (endOfFontTableIndex + 1)); //-2 to remove ending } of 1st doc
//create the first rtf with merged fontlist
rtfMerged = headerRTF1 + mergedFontListBlock + trailerRTF1;
//next identify trailer part after font table in rtf 2
string trailerRTF2 = rtf2.Substring(indexOfFontTable2 + fontTableOfDoc2.Length);
rtfMerged += mergingBreak + trailerRTF2;
return rtfMerged;
}
private static List<string> ExtractRTFFonts(string fontTableBlock) {
Stack<char> braces = new Stack<char>();
List<string> fonts = new List<string>();
int fontDefStart=0,fontDefLength;
braces.Push('{');
int i=0;
while (braces.Count > 0 && i < fontTableBlock.Length) {
i++;
if (fontTableBlock[i] == '{') {
braces.Push('{');
if (braces.Count == 2) {
//means font definition brace started store the position
fontDefStart = i;
}
continue;
}
if (fontTableBlock[i] == '}') {
braces.Pop();
if (braces.Count == 1) {
//means only root level brace left identifying one font definition ended
fontDefLength = i - fontDefStart + 1;
fonts.Add(fontTableBlock.Substring(fontDefStart,fontDefLength));
}
}
}
if (braces.Count == 0)
{
//everything is fine then
return fonts;
}
else {
//malformed font table passed
throw (new Exception("Malformed font table passed"));
}
}
}
}