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Excel Reader

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4.92/5 (109 votes)
20 Feb 2009LGPL32 min read 1.1M   25.8K   357   173
Create, read and modify Excel *.xls files in pure C# without COM interop
Sample Image - ExcelReader.png

Introduction

This library is built based on the following documents, thanks to their authors:

Record structures in BIFF8/BIFF8X format are considered.

Now this project is hosted on Google Code.
You can get the latest code, report issues and submit improvements from there. 

What It Can Do?

  • It can read worksheets in a workbook and read cells in a worksheet.
  • It can read cell content (text, number, datetime, or error) and cell format (font, alignment, linestyle, background, etc.).
  • It can read pictures in the file, get information of image size, position, data, and format.
  • It can create a workbook and save to file.

Using the Code

  1. Open file:
    C#
    Stream fileStream = File.OpenRead(file);
    Workbook book = new Workbook();
    book.Open(fileStream);
    Worksheet sheet = book.Worksheets[0];
  2. Read cell:
    C#
    int row = 1;
    int col = 0;
    string ID = sheet.Cells[row, col].StringValue;
    
    Picture pic = sheet.ExtractPicture(row, col);
  3. Create workbook:
    C#
    string file = "C:\\newdoc.xls";
    Workbook workbook = new Workbook();
    Worksheet worksheet = new Worksheet("First Sheet");
    worksheet.Cells[0, 1] = new Cell(1);
    worksheet.Cells[2, 0] = new Cell(2.8);
    worksheet.Cells[3, 3] = new Cell((decimal)3.45);
    worksheet.Cells[2, 2] = new Cell("Text string");
    worksheet.Cells[2, 4] = new Cell("Second string");
    worksheet.Cells[4, 0] = new Cell(32764.5, "#,###.00");
    worksheet.Cells[5, 1] = new Cell(DateTime.Now, @"YYYY\-MM\-DD");
    worksheet.Cells.ColumnWidth[0, 1] = 3000;
    workbook.Worksheets.Add(worksheet);
    workbook.Save(file);
  4. Traverse worksheet:
    C#
    // traverse cells
    foreach (Pair<Pair<int, int>, Cell> cell in sheet.Cells)
    {
        dgvCells[cell.Left.Right, cell.Left.Left].Value = cell.Right.Value;
    }
    
    // traverse rows by Index
    for (int rowIndex = sheet.Cells.FirstRowIndex;
       rowIndex <= sheet.Cells.LastRowIndex; rowIndex++)
    {
        Row row = sheet.Cells.GetRow(rowIndex);
        for (int colIndex = row.FirstColIndex;
       colIndex <= row.LastColIndex; colIndex++)
        {
            Cell cell = row.GetCell(colIndex);
        }
    }
    

History

  • 2007-5-17
    • Displayed each Sheet in separate tabpage
    • Fixed some bugs in FORMULA.cs and Form1.cs
  • 2007-5-26
    • Decoded FORMULAR result
  • 2008-1-23
    • Changed default Encoding from ASCII to UTF8 in Record.cs ln97 (suggested by ragundo)
    • Return EmptyCell instead of null for non existing cells (requested by amrlafi)
    • Bug fix in Record.cs ln83 and ln133 (proposed by dhirshjr and ilogpasig)
    • Tried to fix bug in CompoundDocument.cs (found by stevenbright)
  • 2008-9-15
    • Create, Open and Modify CompoundDocument
  • 2008-9-22
    • Save modified CompoundDocument
  • 2008-10-26
    • Encoded workbook and worksheet to BIFF8 records
    • Fixed a bug that compressed Unicode string wrongly decoded by UTF8
  • 2008-11-10
    • Fixed XF format so that the created *.xls file can be opened by Microsoft Excel 2003
  • 2008-11-16
    • Assigned number format for number and date time values
    • Set column widths
  • 2009-1-3
    • Updated project source code and article text
    • Many bug fixes
    • Added support to create and modify *.xls files
  • 2009-01-20
    • Fix for getting 'NaN' when reading string value of a formula cell
    • Start a Google Code project
  • 2009-01-23
    • Support for decode cell format and encode predefined cell format
    • Changed namespaces and directory structure
    • Added some test cases
  • 2009-02-12
    • Initial implementation of encode images

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPLv3)


Written By
Architect YunCheDa Hangzhou
China China
This member has not yet provided a Biography. Assume it's interesting and varied, and probably something to do with programming.

Comments and Discussions

 
QuestionAny way to check if a column is hidden? Pin
bnpwards19-Feb-09 0:40
bnpwards19-Feb-09 0:40 
GeneralHere's an update for VS2008 (nunit tests coming) Pin
andy.d.bruce18-Feb-09 22:49
andy.d.bruce18-Feb-09 22:49 
GeneralRe: Here's an update for VS2008 (nunit tests coming) Pin
jetcat_au23-Feb-09 14:04
jetcat_au23-Feb-09 14:04 
GeneralRe: Here's an update for VS2008 (nunit tests coming) Pin
andy.d.bruce24-Feb-09 7:01
andy.d.bruce24-Feb-09 7:01 
GeneralRe: Here's an update for VS2008 (nunit tests coming) Pin
Liu Junfeng24-Feb-09 17:42
Liu Junfeng24-Feb-09 17:42 
GeneralContinuedRecord error Pin
sshenoi17-Feb-09 5:48
sshenoi17-Feb-09 5:48 
GeneralRe: ContinuedRecord error Pin
jetcat_au17-Feb-09 13:30
jetcat_au17-Feb-09 13:30 
GeneralNew Msg in the Google Code... Pin
Guilherme Morais11-Feb-09 8:26
Guilherme Morais11-Feb-09 8:26 
GeneralArgumentOutOfRangeException("sectorID") Pin
bhavana_14in10-Feb-09 23:36
bhavana_14in10-Feb-09 23:36 
GeneralRe: ArgumentOutOfRangeException("sectorID") Pin
Guilherme Morais11-Feb-09 10:19
Guilherme Morais11-Feb-09 10:19 
AnswerRe: ArgumentOutOfRangeException("sectorID") [modified] Pin
won tae,,Jeong28-Mar-09 17:45
won tae,,Jeong28-Mar-09 17:45 
AnswerDate Value/Format Solution [modified] Pin
mars.coder30-Jan-09 10:14
mars.coder30-Jan-09 10:14 
AnswerRe: Date Value/Format Solution Pin
Liu Junfeng3-Feb-09 22:48
Liu Junfeng3-Feb-09 22:48 
GeneralThank U Pin
Watson Jason18-Jan-09 20:07
Watson Jason18-Jan-09 20:07 
QuestionAny plan to move the code into a separate open source project? Pin
jetcat_au18-Jan-09 12:27
jetcat_au18-Jan-09 12:27 
AnswerRe: Any plan to move the code into a separate open source project? Pin
Liu Junfeng20-Jan-09 0:50
Liu Junfeng20-Jan-09 0:50 
GeneralExcel upload error Pin
Member 407264316-Jan-09 19:40
Member 407264316-Jan-09 19:40 
GeneralRe: Excel upload error Pin
bharati Terse9-Mar-09 20:15
bharati Terse9-Mar-09 20:15 
GeneralIssues with writting large excel file Pin
jetcat_au15-Jan-09 20:47
jetcat_au15-Jan-09 20:47 
GeneralRe: Issues with writting large excel file Pin
rcoronel2-Jun-11 21:58
rcoronel2-Jun-11 21:58 
GeneralCell format extension Pin
jetcat_au15-Jan-09 16:59
jetcat_au15-Jan-09 16:59 
GeneralPossible fix for getting 'NaN' is returned when reading string value of a formula field Pin
jetcat_au15-Jan-09 16:45
jetcat_au15-Jan-09 16:45 
GeneralGreat work !!! Pin
Ashutosh Phoujdar13-Jan-09 0:57
Ashutosh Phoujdar13-Jan-09 0:57 
GeneralQuestion about Dates Pin
TMerrifield12-Jan-09 12:28
TMerrifield12-Jan-09 12:28 
GeneralRe: Question about Dates Pin
Liu Junfeng14-Jan-09 0:14
Liu Junfeng14-Jan-09 0:14 

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