Working with Editable Ranges

Working with Editable Ranges

This guide shows how to inspect and remove editable ranges – the regions Word’s “Restrict Editing” feature exempts from a document’s overall editing restriction, optionally scoped to a specific user or group – in Aspose.Words FOSS for .NET. An editable range is bracketed in the document tree by a pair of marker nodes, EditableRangeStart and EditableRangeEnd, and described as a whole by the EditableRange facade class.

Finding Editable Ranges in a Document

There is no single collection property for editable ranges; find them by walking the node tree. CompositeNode.GetChildNodes(nodeType, isDeep) with NodeType.EditableRangeStart returns every EditableRangeStart node in the document (or in a subtree, if called on a node other than Document). Each EditableRangeStart.EditableRange property then returns the corresponding EditableRange facade object.

The EditableRange Facade

EditableRange describes a single editable range as a whole: Id identifies it, SingleUser optionally names a specific user allowed to edit it, and EditorGroup (an EditorType value) optionally names an editing group instead. EditableRangeStart and EditableRangeEnd return the pair of marker nodes that bracket the range in the document. EditableRange.Remove() removes the editable range – lifting the editing restriction exemption for that region, without deleting the document content inside it.

The Marker Nodes: EditableRangeStart and EditableRangeEnd

EditableRangeStart and EditableRangeEnd are sealed Node subclasses that mark the boundaries of a range in the document’s content flow. EditableRangeStart.Id and EditableRangeEnd.Id identify the range; EditableRangeStart.EditableRange reaches the facade object directly, and EditableRangeEnd.EditableRangeStart reaches back to the corresponding start marker. Being ordinary nodes, both support the standard Node members – ParentNode, Document, PreviousSibling, NextSibling, and Remove() to delete the individual marker.

Restricting Access with EditorType

EditorType enumerates the editing groups an EditableRange.EditorGroup can reference: Administrators, Contributors, Editors, Owners, Everyone, Current, None, and Unspecified (also available as Default, an alias for Unspecified).

Tips and Best Practices

• Use GetChildNodes(NodeType.EditableRangeStart, true) with isDeep: true to find editable ranges anywhere in the document, not just among a node’s immediate children.
• Read EditableRange.SingleUser and EditorGroup together to determine who a range is restricted to – a range can be scoped to one specific user, one editing group, or neither.
• Call EditableRange.Remove() (on the facade) rather than removing the EditableRangeStart and EditableRangeEnd marker nodes individually, so both ends of the range are cleaned up consistently.

Common Issues

FAQ

How do I find all editable ranges in a document?

Call Document.GetChildNodes(NodeType.EditableRangeStart, true), then read the EditableRange property on each EditableRangeStart node returned.

How do I tell who is allowed to edit a given range?

Read EditableRange.SingleUser (a specific user) and EditableRange.EditorGroup (an EditorType editing group) on the facade object.

How do I remove an editing restriction from part of a document?

Call Remove() on the EditableRange facade object for that range.

What’s the difference between EditableRangeStart.EditableRange and EditableRangeEnd.EditableRangeStart?

EditableRangeStart.EditableRange reaches the facade object describing the whole range directly. EditableRangeEnd.EditableRangeStart reaches back to the corresponding start marker node, from which EditableRange can then be reached.

API Reference Summary

See Also

• Aspose.Words — Enterprise Documentation