Where does IContentElement live in the IronWord API?

IContentElement is an interface in the IronWord.Models.Abstract.Interfaces namespace, shipped in IronWord.dll. It is a standalone contract that declares the child-holding members of a Word content node, typed against the ContentElement family.

What does IContentElement represent in IronWord?

It represents a content node that owns a subtree of other nodes. Its Children property is a list of ContentElement, and its Parent points back at the containing ContentElement, so code that takes an IContentElement can walk and rewrite a document tree without naming a concrete node class.

How do you edit a node's children through IContentElement in C#?

Call AddChild or InsertChildToIndex to insert nodes, RemoveChildren or RemoveAllChildren to clear them, and Replace to swap a child in place. Use GetChildByIndex for a typed child by position and ExtractElements to collect every descendant of a type.

Interface IContentElement

Represents an element that can contain and manage child content elements.

Namespace: IronWord.Models.Abstract.Interfaces

Assembly: IronWord.dll

Syntax

public interface IContentElement

IContentElement is the contract that describes a child-holding node in the IronWord content model. It declares the operations a document element exposes when it owns a subtree of other elements, so code can read and reshape that subtree without depending on a concrete node type. The contract mirrors the shape of the ContentElement family: it speaks in terms of ContentElement children and a ContentElement parent.

A developer works through the interface rather than instantiating it, since an interface has no constructor. The everyday members read clearly. Children is the list of ContentElement nodes the element holds, and Parent points back at the ContentElement that contains it, so traversal works in both directions. AddChild appends nodes, InsertChildToIndex places one at a position, and Clone returns a ContentElement copy. Coding to IContentElement keeps editing routines decoupled from any single node class and makes them easy to test with a stand-in.

The rest of the surface fills out tree editing. Remove detaches the element, RemoveChildren and RemoveAllChildren clear nodes, and Replace swaps a child in place. GetChildByIndex<T> fetches a typed child by position, and ExtractElements<T> collects every descendant of a requested type into a list. Because all of these are typed against ContentElement, a routine that accepts an IContentElement can walk and rewrite a document tree whatever concrete elements it actually contains.

The document element tutorial explains the content tree this contract describes, the add text how-to adds children, and the remove text how-to detaches them.

Properties

Children

Gets or sets the list of child content elements.

Declaration

List<ContentElement> Children { get; set; }

Property Value

Type	Description
System.Collections.Generic.List<ContentElement>

Parent

Gets the parent content element.

Declaration

ContentElement Parent { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
ContentElement

Methods

AddChild(ContentElement[])

Adds one or more child content elements to the current content element.

Declaration

void AddChild(params ContentElement[] children)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
ContentElement[]	children	The content elements to be added as children.

Clone()

Creates a deep copy of the content element.

Declaration

ContentElement Clone()

Returns

Type	Description
ContentElement	A new instance of the content element with all properties and child elements copied.

ExtractElements<T>()

Extracts elements of a specified type from the child content elements.

Declaration

List<T> ExtractElements<T>()
    where T : ContentElement

Returns

Type	Description
System.Collections.Generic.List<T>	A list of content elements of the specified type.

Type Parameters

Name	Description
T	The type of content element to extract.

GetChildByIndex<T>(Int32)

Gets the child content element at the specified index and of the specified type.

Declaration

ContentElement GetChildByIndex<T>(int index)
    where T : ContentElement

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.Int32	index	The index of the child content element.

Returns

Type	Description
ContentElement	The child content element at the specified index and of the specified type.

Type Parameters

Name	Description
T	The type of content element to retrieve.

InsertChildToIndex(Int32, ContentElement[])

Inserts one or more child content elements at the specified index.

Declaration

void InsertChildToIndex(int index, params ContentElement[] children)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.Int32	index	The index at which the child content elements should be inserted.
ContentElement[]	children	The content elements to be inserted.

Remove()

Removes the current content element from its parent.

Declaration

void Remove()

RemoveAllChildren()

Removes all child content elements from the current content element.

Declaration

void RemoveAllChildren()

RemoveChildren(ContentElement[])

Removes specified child content elements from the current content element.

Declaration

void RemoveChildren(params ContentElement[] children)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
ContentElement[]	children	The content elements to be removed.

Replace(ContentElement)

Replaces the current content element with a new child content element.

Declaration

void Replace(ContentElement newChild)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
ContentElement	newChild	The new child content element to replace the current element.