I'm using the python-docx module and python 3.9.0 to create word docx files with python. The problem I have is the following:
A) I defined a table style named my_table_style
B) I open my template, add one table of that style to my document object and then I store the created file with the following code:
import os
from docx import Document
template_path = os.path.realpath(__file__).replace("test.py","template.docx")
my_file = Document(template_path)
my_file.add_table(1,1,style="my_table_style").rows[-1].cells[0].paragraphs[0].add_run("hello")
my_file.save(template_path.replace("template.docx","test.docx"))
When I now open test.docx, it's all good, there's one table with one row saying "hello".
NOW, when I use this syntax to create two of these tables:
import os
from docx import Document
template_path = os.path.realpath(__file__).replace("test.py","template.docx")
my_file = Document(template_path)
my_file.add_table(1,1,style="my_table_style").rows[-1].cells[0].paragraphs[0].add_run("hello")
my_file.add_table(1,1,style="my_table_style").rows[-1].cells[0].paragraphs[0].add_run("hello")
my_file.save(template_path.replace("template.docx","test.docx"))
Instead of getting two tables, each with one row saying "hello", I get one single table with two rows, each saying "hello". The formatting is however correct, according to my_table_style, so it seems that python-docx merges two subsequently added tables of the same table style. Is this normal behavior? How can I avoid that?
Cheers!
HINTS:
When I use print(len(my_file.tables)) to print the amount of tables present in my_file, I actually get "2"! Also, when I change the style used in the second add_table line it works all good, so this seems to be related to the fact of using the same style. Any ideas, anyone?
Alright, so I figured it out, it seems to be default behaviour by Word to do what's described above. I manually created a table style my_custom_style in the template.docx file where I customized the table border lines etc. to have the format I want to have as if I would have two tables.
Instead of then using two add_table() statements, I used
new_table = my_file.add_table(1,1,style = "my_custom_style")
first_row = new_table.rows[-1]
second_row = new_table.add_row()
(you can actually access table styles defined in your template via python-docx, simply by using the table style name you used to manually create your table style in your word template file used to open your Document object. Just make sure you tick the "add this table style to the word template" option upon saving the style in Word and it should all work). Everything working now.