As you may already know, our Office File API suite now supports the .NET MAUI development platform. In this blog post series, I will share straightforward ways to incorporate many DevExpress Office File API features in your .NET MAUI mobile app. This particular post details how to leverage our Office File API's mail merge capabilities to generate e-mail messages from templates in your DevExpress-powered .NET MAUI app.
By introducing mail merge support in your .NET MAUI app, users can generate Word documents (based on templates) with relative ease and reduce repetitive actions when creating messages with similar content. Since mail merge support can seamlessly integrate with mobile devicecontact management systems, introducing this capability can alsostreamline the recipient selection process.
If mail merge support is on your mobile development radar, the Word Processing Document API (included in our Office File API suite) can load/create templates, bind data sources, and generate/share messages. The library supports IList, ArrayList, and DataTable data sources. You can export generated text to any supported format or send it to an e-mail application.
We have created a GitHub example that demonstrates theuse of our Word Processing Document API. This example sends e-mail messages (generated from an e-mail template) to records in a database. Please refer to the following link for implementation details: DevExpress .NET MAUI Controls - Send Template Messages Using Mail Merge.
Example Overview
This sample application displays a contact list within our .NET MAUI Data Grid (DataGridView component). You can swipe the desired contact (to the right) to generatean email. Once you select the template you wish to use, an e-mail app tab appears on-screen. You canedit the document (if required) and send it to the recipient.
Our RichEditDocumentServer acts as the mail merge engine. It is used to populate placeholders within ane-mail template (using the selected contact's information). Once complete, output is sent to the Microsoft Outlook mail app.
For more information on app structure, please refer to the following document: Send Template Messages Using Mail Merge.
Get Started with DevExpress .NET MAUI UI Controls and Our Office File API
Our .NET MAUI component libraries offer many more features than those described in this blog post. Refer to the following step-by-step guides if you are new to.NET MAUI and our Word Processing Document API:
- Get Started with DevExpress Controls for .NET Multi-platform App UI (.NET MAUI)
- Get Started with Word Processing Document API
Check out other blog posts from this series to learn more about .NET MAUI/Office File API integration: Electronic and Hand-Drawn PDF Signatures in a .NET MAUI Mobile App with Office File API (v23.1)