Automating Word Document Creation with Python and FastAPI (Using python-docx-template)

Need to create Word documents with dynamic content and automate the process? Python, with the python-docx-template library, offers an efficient solution. This tutorial demonstrates how to dynamically generate Word documents, eliminating the need for manual updates.

Let's illustrate with an invoice example. Manually updating invoice data is tedious and impractical when dealing with data from APIs. Dynamic generation solves this.

Consider a Word document template:

Company details and item lists frequently change. Dynamic generation handles this variability.

To achieve this, modify the template for Jinja2 compatibility. Jinja2's templating features (conditional rendering, looping) enable dynamic population based on provided data.

• Learn more about Jinja2: https://www.php.cn/link/7ef6c2494e3925e414c7730d6455b50f

The Jinja2-compatible template looks like this:

Jinja2 syntax (e.g., {% if %} and {% for %}) might seem initially complex, but it provides powerful control. Expressions within {{ }} represent variables populated at runtime. For instance, {% if items %} checks if the items variable exists before rendering table rows. {% for item in items %} iterates through the items list, generating a row for each item.

• Learn more about Jinja2 tags: https://www.php.cn/link/a3a8185b610d2c5e39015f64972c8705 and https://www.php.cn/link/7ef6c2494e3925e414c7730d6455b50f

Now, let's create a FastAPI server to render the template using Python.

1. Create a virtual environment:

   <code class="language-bash">pip3 install virtualenv
   virtualenv -p python3 venv
   source venv/bin/activate</code>

2. Install libraries:

   <code class="language-bash">pip install "fastapi[standard]" docx docxtpl pydantic requests</code>

3. Create main.py: Start with a basic FastAPI endpoint:

   <code class="language-python">from fastapi import FastAPI
   app = FastAPI()
   @app.get("/")
   def read_root():
       return {"Hello": "World"}</code>

   Accessing localhost:8000 should return {"Hello": "World"}.

4. Import the Jinja2 template: Place your modified invoice_tpl.docx in the project root.

5. Enhance main.py: The following code handles the template rendering, image fetching, and total amount calculation:

   <code class="language-bash">pip3 install virtualenv
   virtualenv -p python3 venv
   source venv/bin/activate</code>

6. Test the endpoint: Send a JSON payload (similar to the example in the original text) to the / endpoint.

7. Output examples: (Images from the original text would be included here)

Conclusion: This tutorial demonstrates dynamic Word document generation using python-docx-template and FastAPI. The combination of Jinja2 and FastAPI creates a flexible system for automating document creation. A future blog post (Part 2) will cover PDF generation.

Repository: https://www.php.cn/link/1df146af0948a68b1342ce39907668fe

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Remember to replace the placeholder image URLs with actual image URLs. The code also assumes you have the necessary data models defined (Company, BankInformation, Item, VatInformation, InvoiceContext) as in the original example.

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