Creating a new section to .docx file in Docx4J

Question

I am trying to insert a new section to .docx file. The inserted section should function the same way added sections through word processor does. I am using the Docx4j library for this task.

Here is code I use to create new .docx file and:

1. Add paragraph containing a run and text
2. Add "continuous" section to the document
3. Add another paragraph, containing run and text

4. Save the document to file

   WordprocessingMLPackage wordMLPackage = WordprocessingMLPackage.createPackage();
   
   // create new paragraph with a run containing text and add it to the document.
   P paragraph1 = objectFactory.createP(); // create new paragraph
   R run1 = objectFactory.createR(); // create new run 
   Text text1 = objectFactory.createText(); // create text
   
   text1.setValue("This is text in paragraph 1 that should be located in section 1.");
   run1.getContent().add(text1); // add text ton the run
   paragraph1.getContent().add(run1); // add run to paragraph
   wordMLPackage.getMainDocumentPart().addObject(paragraph1); // add to main document part
   
   // create new section and add it to the document
   SectPr sectPr = objectFactory.createSectPr(); // create new section
   
   SectPr.Type sectPrType = objectFactory.createSectPrType();
   sectPrType.setVal("continuous"); // "continuous" means no page break before section
   
   sectPr.setType(sectPrType);
   
   wordMLPackage.getMainDocumentPart().addObject(sectPr); // add section to document part
   
   // proceed to create another paragraph with a run containing text.
   P paragraph2= objectFactory.createP(); // create new paragraph
   R run2 = objectFactory.createR(); // create new run 
   Text text2 = objectFactory.createText(); // create text
   
   text2.setValue("This is text in paragraph 2 that should be located in section 2.");
   run2.getContent().add(text2); // add text ton the run
   paragraph2.getContent().add(run2); // add run to paragraph
   wordMLPackage.getMainDocumentPart().addObject(paragraph2); // add to main document part
   
   wordMLPackage.save(new java.io.File("should contain_two_sections.docx")); // save
   

Created file contains the paragraphs defined in the code. The section is either missing or just doesn't work as inserting sections "normally" through a word processor (ie. LibreOffice Writer or Microsoft Word) does.

I've read through the Docx4J documentation, SO questions like this and in the Docx4J examples in GitHub repo, but I haven't found any working examples to add the described functionality.

Answer 1

You are adding your sectPr as a sibling to the top-level paragraphs; instead it should be within w:p/w:pPr.

To avoid mistakes like this, you should generate Java code from a working Word docx, using either the docx4j webapp, or the Helper AddIn.

As a side note, a sectPr is allowed as the last element in the body, but that one is added using setSectPr