Xpath Part NULL, with xpaths set via content control toolkit - xpath

Question

I've been able to set, via code, the xpaths for the placeholders found in the document.
for (Object o : finderSdtRun.results) {
if (o instanceof SdtRun){
SdtPr sdtPr=((SdtRun) o).getSdtPr();
Tag t = sdtPr.getTag();
CTDataBinding ctDataBinding = Context.getWmlObjectFactory().createCTDataBinding();
//JAXBElement jaxbDB = Context.getWmlObjectFactory().createSdtPrDataBinding(ctDataBinding);
sdtPr.setDataBinding(ctDataBinding);
ctDataBinding.setXpath("tuttappostaferragost");
ctDataBinding.setStoreItemID("something");
ObjectFactory factory = new org.opendope.xpaths.ObjectFactory();
DataBinding db = factory.createXpathsXpathDataBinding();
db.setXpath("tuttappostaferragost");
db.setStoreItemID("something");
Xpaths.Xpath xp = factory.createXpathsXpath();
xp.setDataBinding(db);
xp.setId("something");
try {
wordMLPackage.getMainDocumentPart().getXPathsPart().getContents().getXpath().add(xp);
} catch (Docx4JException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
;
The problem is that, once set, they are not recognized by word, so I thought to add the created Xpaths to a new XpathPart, and then add it to the main Document part.
But I failed because the method:
wordMLPackage.getMainDocumentPart().getXPathsPart()
returns null. This sounded reasonable, since only content control was set, without any Xpath.
Then I set the Xpaths via content control toolkit and the same line of code like above, returned me null, which added a lot of confusion in my yet confused ideas.
Is there any way to tell the document that new Xpath have been added to the document?
I mean, if there is a way to add Xpath via code (the w:databinding w:storedItemId tags), why it is not possible to make it work?
In general I want to add Xpath and all information necessary, via code, avoiding the use of any toolkit.
Thank you :D

Answer 1

First, you have to decide whether you want plain old Word databinding, or the additional OpenDoPE capabilities (which use the content control tag to support repeats, conditionals etc).
You only need an XPaths part if you are using the OpenDoPE extensions.
I'll assume for now that you are just looking to do basic Word content control databinding.
To set that up programmatically, you need to add a custom xml part, and a rel from it to its itemProps.xml part, which contains something like:
<ds:datastoreItem ds:itemID="{5448916C-134B-45E6-B8FE-88CC1FFC17C3}" xmlns:ds="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/customXml">
<ds:schemaRefs/>
</ds:datastoreItem>
(to add a part B to part A, use partA.addTargetPart)
You can see it is this part with gives the custom xml part its itemID; this corresponds with the value you set in:
DataBinding db = factory.createXpathsXpathDataBinding();
db.setStoreItemID("something");
Then, set the XPath via the method you were using.