How to Auto‑Generate Word Reports with Charts Using Python, pychartdir & Jinja2

This article describes a step‑by‑step method to generate and export Word reports that contain dynamically created charts using Python.

1. Generate chart with pychartdir and convert to byte data

Import the pychartdir library and create a bar chart. The chart is saved as an image file, then converted to a byte array so it can be embedded in the Word document.

Because Word cannot reference external image paths, the image must be converted to byte data using the provided function (shown in the screenshots).

2. Create a Word template and save as XML

Use any Office word processor to design the report layout, then save the document as an XML file. Open the XML in a text editor (e.g., Sublime) and replace the placeholder positions with Jinja2‑style expressions, which are similar to Django templates.

3. Render the XML template with Jinja2 and write the .doc file

Import the jinja2 module, load the edited XML template, render it with the data (including the image byte arrays), and write the output to a .doc file. Ensure each image has a unique w_id and w_pname attribute.

The complete code (shown in the original screenshots) loads the template, injects the image data, and saves the final Word report.

Running the script produces the desired Word report with embedded charts.

References

Jinja2 installation guide (http://docs.jinkan.org/docs/jinja2/)

pychartdir download and installation steps (http://www.advsofteng.com/download.html)

pychartdir API documentation (http://www.advsofteng.com/doc/cdcfdoc/#cover.htm)