VSTO How to identify parts (like a table) in a word document? - ms-word

Question

I have multiple tables in a word template and need to change each of it in an other way. Also it is possible that one or the other will be deleted or inserted so I can't say I take the 5th and that's always the same one.
The identification has to be saved so I can't use the .ID value.
What way is there to identify a specific table with VSTO? Preferable one which can also be set in the document without VSTO.

Answer 1

I found a way to do it:
Mark the table in word and add a bookmark to it. You have to choose a unique name so you can also identify the table. The identification can be done with a method like the following:
public Word.Bookmark GetBookmark(String bookmarkName)
{
// Find bookmark
Word.Bookmark bookmark = null;
foreach (Word.Bookmark curBookmark in Globals.ThisDocument.Bookmarks)
{
if (curBookmark.Name.Equals(bookmarkName))
{
bookmark = curBookmark;
break;
}
}
return bookmark;
}

Answer 2

I ran into similar problem. To solve the problem I set title of the table in word tamplate(Right click table->Table Properties...->Alt text->Title) and search all the table in word document for the title. Below is the code I used to search the table.
public static Table getTable(Document doc, String title){
int totalTables = doc.Tables.Count;
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Table ret = null;
for (int i = 1; i <= totalTables; i++){
if (title.Equals(doc.Tables[i].Title, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)){
ret = doc.Tables[i];
break;
}
}
return ret;
}

Answer 3

Is it possible to use alternative text for the tables as identifier?
Use the below code to retrieve them (code copied from here)
Word.Application wdApp = Application;
Word.Document wdDoc = wdApp.ActiveDocument;
Word.Table wdTable = wdDoc.Tables[1];
MessageBox.Show(wdTable.Title + "\n" + wdTable.Descr);