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ExcelWriter offers two approaches to generating, processing and manipulating Excel documents: ExcelTemplate and ExcelApplication. This tutorial will walk you through assigning the contents of a cell using ExcelTemplate and ExcelApplication.

[Download the Hello, World sample code]

{info}You will need ExcelWriter 8 installed in order to run the _Hello, World_ sample. 
* If you haven't purchased ExcelWriter, you can download an evaluation version [here].
* If you need to install ExcelWriter, please visit the [install page| Docs:Installing OfficeWriter] for instructions.{info}

h3. Getting started with ExcelWriter in .NET

After ExcelWriter is installed, the next step is to create a .NET project and add a reference to the ExcelWriter library. These steps have already been done for you in the Hello, World sample. 

# Open Visual Studio and create a .NET project (this tutorial uses a web application). 
# Add a reference to SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter.dll
#* SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter.dll is located under *Program Files > SoftArtisans > OfficeWriter > bin* 


h3. Hello World with ExcelTemplate

ExcelWriter's ExcelTemplate approach allows you to write data to a template file that contains data markers. The data markers tell ExcelWriter where to bind specific sets of data. This tutorial will show you the basics on how to dynamically insert data into a worksheet using ExcelTemplate by taking custom text from a web form textbox and inserting it into a template file. 

h5. Setting up the template file

The template file for Hello, World can be found under *{{\templates\Hello World.xlsx}}*.  

We are going to bind a single string value to a cell in a template file. To do this, we will first need to add a data marker to the cell where we want the value to appear. 

We've already added the single data marker {{%%=$DataValue}} to the {{Hello World.xlsx}} template file. All ExcelWriter data markers are prefaced with {{%%=}} and the {{$}} sign means that the data source for this data marker is 1-dimensional (e.g. 1-dimensional array or single value). {{DataValue}} is the data marker ID we'll  use to bind the data to this data marker.  

SCREEN SHOT 

Now the template file is done. Next is writing the code to bind the string value to the data marker. 

h5. 
This section refers to the code-behind for the ExcelTemplate Hello, World sample: 
* C#: {{ExcelTemplate_HelloWorld.aspx.cs}}
* VB: {{ExcelTemplate_HelloWorld.aspx.VB}}

The corresponding web form is {{ExcelTemplate_HelloWorld.aspx}}.  

1. Include the SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter namespace in the code behind.

{csharp:1}
using SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter;
{csharp}

{vbnet}
Imports SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter
{vbnet}

2.  Instantiate the ExcelTemplate object.

{csharp:2}
ExcelTemplate XLT = new ExcelTemplate();
{csharp}

{vbnet}
{vbnet}

3. Open the template file. 
The ExcelTemplate object corresponds to a single template file, so a given ExcelTemplate instance can only have one template file open.

{csharp:3}
XLT.Open(Page.MapPath("Hello World.xlsx"));
{csharp}

{vbnet}
{vbnet}

4. Create a DataBindingProperties object

{csharp:4}
DataBindingProperties oDataProps = XLT.CreateDataBindingProperties();
{csharp}

{vbnet}
{vbnet}

The data binding properties object can be used to change the behavior of how data is imported. For example, if we were importing multiple rows of data, we can use the DataBindingProperties.MaxRows property to limit the number of rows that are imported. In this sample, we won't be changing any of the import properties, but we still need itthe DataBindingProperties object to bind data. 

5. Get the data and call BindCellData to bind the data to the data marker

{csharp:5}
string value = DataValueBox.Text.Trim();
XLT.BindCellData(value, "DataValue", oDataProps);
{csharp}

{vbnet}
{vbnet}

In this sample, we're pulling the single value from the text box on the web form.
Since we're binding a single value, we use BindCellData() and specify the data marker ID. Note that we need to pass the DataBindingProperties object, even though none of the DataBindingProperties are active.

6. Call Process() to insert the data into the file

{csharp:6}
XLT.Process();
{csharp}

{vbnet}
{vbnet}

ExcelTemplate.Process() handles everything relating to inserting the data into the file. If we were importing multiple rows of data, Process() would handle inserting the new physical rows into the Excel worksheet.

7. Save the output

{csharp:7}
XLT.Save(Page.Response, "Output.xlsx", false);
{csharp}

{vbnet}
{vbnet}

There are several output options including: save to disk, save to memory stream, stream back to the client inline, and stream back to the client as an attachment. In this case, we're streaming the workbook back to the client as an attachment.

8. Go to the web form page, {{ExcelTemplate_HelloWorld.aspx}}, to try out the sample. In the output file, you will see that the data marker has been replaced with the custom text entered in the form.

SCREENSHOT

Congratulations, you have completed Hello,World for ExcelTemplate!

h3. Hello World with ExcelApplication

h3. Next Steps

*[Tutorials]*
{excerpt-include:Tutorials|nopanel=true}

*[API Reference]*
{excerpt-include:Programmer's API Reference|nopanel=true}

*[Help]*
{excerpt-include:Help|nopanel=true}

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