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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

 
QuestionWhat namespaces are you using? Pin
Jonathan Killen12-Jan-09 8:50
Jonathan Killen12-Jan-09 8:50 
Generalvery good, but some bugs Pin
Huisheng Chen6-Jan-09 18:25
Huisheng Chen6-Jan-09 18:25 
GeneralProblem with Protected Excel Sheets [modified] Pin
Shah Nazar4-Dec-08 9:01
Shah Nazar4-Dec-08 9:01 
Questionproblem in reading Decimal data Pin
bharati Terse2-Nov-08 22:35
bharati Terse2-Nov-08 22:35 
GeneralUpdate of QiHe to read Excel 2007 files Pin
ninforu21-Oct-08 22:55
ninforu21-Oct-08 22:55 
QuestionProblem to read the office 2007 files Pin
amarpandharpure20-Oct-08 18:54
amarpandharpure20-Oct-08 18:54 
QuestionUnreadable text Pin
AskewDW21-Aug-08 22:16
AskewDW21-Aug-08 22:16 
GeneralMajor truncating error Pin
Sinbios11-Aug-08 18:24
Sinbios11-Aug-08 18:24 
GeneralRe: Major truncating error Pin
Sinbios14-Aug-08 2:13
Sinbios14-Aug-08 2:13 
GeneralNot able to find the provision to read the named cell value and its comment Pin
Member 44485876-Aug-08 5:04
Member 44485876-Aug-08 5:04 
QuestionHeader problems Pin
humble.apprentice18-Jul-08 5:33
humble.apprentice18-Jul-08 5:33 
AnswerRe: Header problems Pin
kianno23-Jul-08 1:35
kianno23-Jul-08 1:35 
AnswerRe: Header problems Pin
Liu Junfeng5-Aug-08 16:13
Liu Junfeng5-Aug-08 16:13 
GeneralRe: Header problems Pin
humble.apprentice5-Aug-08 21:16
humble.apprentice5-Aug-08 21:16 
GeneralLibrary?! Pin
ilhyfe7-Jul-08 2:25
ilhyfe7-Jul-08 2:25 
GeneralRe: Library?! Pin
philvx8-Jul-08 5:12
philvx8-Jul-08 5:12 
QuestionEdit the file? Pin
warnov4-May-08 18:53
warnov4-May-08 18:53 
Generalcolor in cells Pin
mandrij19-Feb-08 9:46
mandrij19-Feb-08 9:46 
GeneralCell formats Pin
Member 379145915-Feb-08 5:32
Member 379145915-Feb-08 5:32 
GeneralFormulas Pin
ragundo15-Dec-07 21:06
ragundo15-Dec-07 21:06 
QuestionInternationalitation problem Pin
ragundo11-Dec-07 8:19
ragundo11-Dec-07 8:19 
GeneralRe: Internationalitation problem Pin
ragundo12-Dec-07 6:37
ragundo12-Dec-07 6:37 
GeneralRe: Internationalitation problem Pin
Nandkishor Sonar19-Jul-08 13:15
Nandkishor Sonar19-Jul-08 13:15 
GeneralRe: Internationalitation problem Pin
ragundo19-Jul-08 21:49
ragundo19-Jul-08 21:49 
GeneralPls Help Pin
Govind Bhanushali14-Nov-07 22:28
Govind Bhanushali14-Nov-07 22:28 

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