Simulation Software & Technology (S2T) Pte Ltd
S2T is a developer of web-intelligence, cyber-intelligence, and horizon scanning products, based in Singapore. We build solutions to empower analysts and users to make sense of large volumes of data from multiple data sources. We work with partners worldwide and regularly attend global exhibitions and trade shows. The solution is deployed in many countries and is mainly used by Law Enforcement agencies. As part of the solution, users are able to automatically generate PDF and Word reports from the system.
Problem
We had no problems generating reports with all our customers except when the customer is from the Asia-Pacific region and requires MS Word as the file format for reports. The challenge has been that these customers work with data that use non-Latin character sets such as Thai and Burmese. Prior to using Aspose.Words for .NET, our system was consistently having font rendering and character-set related issues when producing MS Word reports. Needless to say, our customers were not happy.
The figure below highlights the problem of Myanmar-language reports. The parts highlighted in yellow are some of the incorrectly rendered text.
Image 1:- Image preview of MS Word document showing Myanmar language
Solution and Experience
Our system produces reports using a JavaScript-based system that renders reports as PDF files. Our initial approach was to convert the PDF file to MS Word. We tried several products/tools that converted the PDF reports to MS Word – none of them worked to the satisfaction of our customers. After weeks of attempts, we changed our approach. We modified the report generation module to produce HTML reports instead and then tried converting the HTML to MS Word. To this end, we again evaluated several products/tools, but again the problem with font and character-sets for non-Latin text persisted.
We then discovered Aspose.Words for .NET and tried it. It worked perfectly! We were delighted that Aspose Customer Support provided us with a 30-day license that did not constrain the product in any way (i.e. no watermark, no limit on the number of pages). This allowed us to give our customers enough time to test and validate the output of the product. This is very important because our company also doesn’t have people who understand our customers’ native languages.
Aspose.Words for .NET is very easy to use and integrate into our product. As a result, we were able to deliver our project on time and to the satisfaction of our customers.
Image 2:- An example of a correctly rendered Myanmar-language report.
Next Steps
With our highly satisfactory experience with Aspose.Words for .NET and we are keen to evaluate other Aspose product offerings to see if we can match them against our customers’ other requirements.
Summary
Aspose.Words for .NET is an excellent software component for producing MS Word documents. It is easy to use, reliable, and most importantly for us. It is able to accurately render MS Word documents that contain non-Latin character sets. We highly recommend this product to anyone who has a requirement to generate MS Word reports.
**Hajindar Singh
**Operations Manager
Simulation Software & Technology (S2T) Pte Ltd