Table of Contents | ||||
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Setting Up the Templates
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title | Following the Sample Code |
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Introduction
Note |
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This is Part 3 of the three-part tutorial series Financial Report scenario. It is recommended that you complete Part 1 - Using Modifiers and Ordinal Syntax and Part 2 - Using Styles and Formatting before starting this section. This tutorial also assumes a basic understanding of how to open and manipulate Excel files with ExcelApplication. |
Getting Started
This section covers using ExcelApplication to join two Worksheets into one Workbook. These two worksheets were created in Part 1 and Part 2 of this tutorial.
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In the downloadable ExcelWriter_Basic_Tutorials.zip, there are completed template files located in CompleteFinancialReport/templates. |
Adding an ExcelWriter Reference in Visual Studio
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- Open Visual Studio and create a .NET project.
- The sample code uses a web application.
- Add a reference to SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter.dll
- SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter.dll is located under Program Files > SoftArtisans > OfficeWriter > dotnet > bin
Writing the Code
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Merging template together with CopySheet
1. Include the SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter namespace in the code behind
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using SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter;
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2. Globally declare the ExcelTemplate objects. There are two instances - one for the Workbook being copied to and one for the Workbook being copied from, ExcelApplication, and Workbook objects.
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ExcelTemplateExcelApplication XLTtoXLA; ExcelTemplate XLTfromXLT; Workbook MERGEDWB; |
3. Create Define a method to bind and process the two templates. This method takes the filename and returns the processed template object
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that will open the two template files and merge them together with CopySheet. In this case, the method is called MergeTemplates()
.
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protected void MergeTemplates() { } |
4. In the BindTemplateData method, instantiate a new ExcelTemplate object to return MergeTemplates()
, instantiate the ExcelApplication object.
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XLA ExcelTemplate XLT = new ExcelTemplateExcelApplication(); |
5. Open the template files with the ExcelTemplate.Open
method.Open the workbook that the worksheets will be copied into. For this example, the second template will be copied into the first template workbook.
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MERGEDWB XLT= XLA.Open(Page.MapPath(filename"//templates//Part1_Financial_Template.xlsx")); |
6. Create a DataBindingProperties
object. None of the binding properties will be changed for this tutorial, but DataBindingProperties
is a required parameter in ExcelTemplate
data binding methodsOpen the second workbook that will be merged into the first.
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Workbook DataBindingPropertieswbOther dataProps = XLTXLA.CreateDataBindingProperties()Open(Page.MapPath("//templates//Part2_Financial_Template.xlsx")); |
Data Binding
1. In the BindTemplateData method, get the data for Assets, Losses, and Other.
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In the sample project, we are parsing CSV files with query results, rather than querying a live database. The CSV files are available under the data directory. There is a copy of the CSV parser, |
These calls are to a helper method GetCSVData
that parses the CSV files and returns a DataTable
with the values.
If you are following in your own project and would like to parse the CSV files as well, you will need to:
- Add a reference to
GenericParsing.dll
- Include
GeneringParsing
at the top of your code. - Add the
GetCSVData
method that can be found in the sample code.
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DataTable dtAssets = GetCSVData("//data//Assets.csv");
DataTable dtLosses = GetCSVData("//data//Losses.csv");
DataTable dtOther = GetCSVData("//data//Other.csv");
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2. Create the datasets for the header row in template 1. This will simply be ignored by template 2.
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7. Copy the worksheet from the second template into the first workbook. Worksheet.Name can be used to pass along the original name of the worksheet ("Percent by Quarter"). The worksheet should be copied to the end of the current worksheet collection (index 1).
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MERGEDWB.Worksheets.CopySheet(wbOther[0], 1, wbOther[0].Name);
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Binding Data to the Merged Template
1. Create a method to handle binding and processing the data import for the combined template. For this example, the method is called BindDataToMergedTemplate()
.
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protected void BindDataToMergedTemplate()
{
}
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2. Instantiate ExcelTemplate and open the template file with ExcelTemplate.Open(ExcelApplication, Workbook) to open directly from the pre-existing ExcelApplication instance.
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XLT = new ExcelTemplate();
XLT.Open(XLA, MERGEDWB);
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3. Use the code from Part 1 and Part 2 to bind data to the template. Note that both templates used the same data set, so the calls to bind the data only need to be made once.
Info |
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If there are duplicate data markers in a workbook, ExcelWriter will import the matching data to all the data markers, across all the worksheets in the workbook. |
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//Create data binding properties for ExcelTemplate
DataBindingProperties bindingProps = XLT.CreateDataBindingProperties();
//Create the array of header values. This example only binds a single item
string[] headerValues = { "2011" };
//Create the array of header names.
string[] headerNames = { "FiscalYear" };
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3. Use ExcelTemplate.BindData
to bind the data for the Top and Details Sales data sets.
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XLT. //Get the datatables to be bound into the template. //This example uses CSV data, but the data can come from //anywhere DataTable dtAssets = GetCSVData("//data//Assets.csv"); DataTable dtLosses = GetCSVData("//data//Losses.csv"); DataTable dtOther = GetCSVData("//data//Other.csv"); //Bind the header row data XLT.BindRowData(headerValues, headerNames, "Header", bindingProps); //Bind the datatables XLT.BindData(dtAssets, "Assets", bindingProps); XLT.BindData(dtLosses, "Losses", bindingProps); XLT.BindData(dtOther, "Other", bindingProps); |
4. Use the ExcelTemplate.BindRowData
method to bind the header data to the data markers in the template file (i.e. %%=Header.FiscalYear
).
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XLT.BindRowData(headerValues, headerNames, "Header", bindingProps);
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5. Call ExcelTemplate.Process() to import all data into the file.
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XLT.Process();
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Do not save the file. In the next step the XLT object will be processed by ExcelApplication
Post-Processing
1. The first template has to be post-processed with autofit. This is also the workbook that is being copied to. Instantiate the ExcelApplication object:
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ExcelApplication XLA = new ExcelApplication();
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2. Open the populated template file with ExcelApplication. The file will open as a Workbook object.
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Workbook wbTo = XLA.Open(XLTTo);
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3. Access the first Worksheet.
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Worksheet wsTo = wbTo.Worksheets[0];
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4. Call Area.AutoFitHeight() and Area.AutoFitWidth() to set the column and row height. AutoFitWidth sets the column width to fit the widest populated cell in the column. AutoFitHeight sets the row height to highest populated cell in the row. In this snippet, the area is Worksheet.PopulatedCells, which returns an area containing all populated cells.
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wsTo.PopulatedCells.AutoFitWidth();
wsTo.PopulatedCells.AutoFitWidth();
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5. Open the populated template file with ExcelApplication. One instance of ExcelApplication can be used to open multiple Workbooks
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Workbook wbFrom = XLA.Open(XLTFrom);
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6. Open both the table sheet and the data sheet.
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Worksheet wsFrom = wbFrom[0];
Worksheet wsFromData = wbFrom[1];
Worksheet wsFrom = wbFrom[0]; Worksheet wsFromData = wbFrom[1]
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7. Call CopySheet with wbTo, and pass the worksheets. Make sure to copy the data sheet first
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Always copy the data sheet first. The table sheet references the data sheet. If you copy the data sheet second, the references break and an error is thrown. |
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wbTo.Worksheets.CopySheet(wsFromData, 1, "Data");
wbTo.Worksheets.CopySheet(wsFrom, 1, "Percent by Quarter");
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8. Finally, call ExcelApplication.Save to save the final file. This example streams the file using the page response.
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XLA.Save(wbTo, Page.Response, "temp.xlsx", false);
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Final Code
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using SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter; ... //Declare Template objects globaly ExcelTemplate XLTTo; ExcelTemplate XLTFrom; protected void RunReport //Process to import the data to the file XLT.Process(); XLT.Save(Page.Response, "Part3_Output.xlsx", false); |
Final Code
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using SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter; using GenericParsing; //See Part 1 for more information about the CSV parser ... //Declare globals ExcelApplication XLA; ExcelTemplate XLT; Workbook MERGEDWB; //Merges the reports and binds data to the templates protected void RunReport() { //Join the two reports using CopySheet MergeTemplates(); //bind the data for the newly modified file BindDataToMergedTemplate(); } protected void JoinReports() { //GetInstantiate theExcelApplication populated XLA files= from BindTemplateData XLTTo = BindTemplateData(new ExcelApplication(); //Open the first template MERGEDWB = XLA.Open(Page.MapPath("//templates//Part1_Financial_Template.xlsx")); XLTFrom = BindTemplateData( //Open the second template Workbook wbOther = XLA.Open(Page.MapPath("//templates//Part2_Financial_Template.xlsx")); //JoinCall theCopySheet two reports using CopySheet JoinReports( MERGEDWB.Worksheets.CopySheet(wbOther[0], 1, wbOther[0].Name); } protected ExcelTemplatevoid BindTemplateData(string filename) { ExcelTemplate XLT = new ExcelTemplate(); //Open the template file XLT.Open(Page.MapPath(filename))XLA, MERGEDWB); //Create data binding properties for ExcelTemplate DataBindingProperties bindingProps = XLT.CreateDataBindingProperties(); //Get the datatables to be bound into the template. //This example uses CSV data, but the data can come from //anywhere DataTable dtAssets = GetCSVData("//data//Assets.csv"); DataTable dtLosses = GetCSVData("//data//Losses.csv"); DataTable dtOther = GetCSVData("//data//Other.csv"); //Bind the datatables XLT.BindData(dtAssets, "Assets", bindingProps); XLT.BindData(dtLosses, "Losses", bindingProps); XLT.BindData(dtOther, "Other", bindingProps); /*This section only applies to the first template. It will be ignored by the second template, since there are no markers to bind to.*/ //Create the array of header values. This example only binds a single item string[] headerValues = { "2011" }; //Create the array of header names. string[] headerNames = { "FiscalYear" }; //Bind the header row data XLT.BindRowData(headerValues, headerNames, "Header", bindingProps); //end //Process to import the data to the file XLT.Process(); //Return the populated file return XLT; } protected void JoinReports() { //Instantiate ExcelApplication for the workbook being copied to ExcelApplication XLATo = new ExcelApplication(); //Open the populated template Workbook wbTo = XLATo.Open(XLTTo); //Open the first worksheet Worksheet wsTo = wbTo.Worksheets[0]; //Call AutoFit to set the height and width wsTo.PopulatedCells.AutoFitWidth(); wsTo.PopulatedCells.AutoFitHeight(); //Instantiate ExcelApplication for the workbook being copied from ExcelApplication XLAFrom = new ExcelApplication(); //Open the populated template Workbook wbFrom = XLAFrom.Open(XLTFrom); //Open the first worksheet, with the table Worksheet wsFrom = wbFrom[0]; //Open the second worksheet, with the data Worksheet wsFromData = wbFrom[1]; //Call CopySheet, making sure to copy the data sheet first wbTo.Worksheets.CopySheet(wsFromData, 1, "Data"); wbTo.Worksheets.CopySheet(wsFrom, 1, "Percent by Quarter"); //Save the file XLATo.Save(wbTo, XLT.Save(Page.Response, "Part3_Output.xlsx", false); } |
Downloads
TBA
You can download the code for the Financial Report here.