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In the downloadable ExcelWriter_Basic_Tutorials.zip, there is a completed template file located in CompleteFinancialReport/templates/Part1_Financial_Template.xlsx. |
In this tutorial ExcelTemplate is being used to populate data and ExcelApplication is being used to apply some formatting and merge workbooks together. This part of the tutorial will demonstrate how to use of data marker modifiers and ordinal syntax in ExcelWriter templates.
This example assumes an understanding of ExcelTemplate. If you are not familiar with how to set up an Excel template with data markers, please go through the Simple Expense Summary first. |
Here is the starting template:
The next few steps will show the process of using ordinal syntax.
ExcelTemplate normally requires the data marker for a column of data to specify the data set and the column name (e.g. %%=DataSource.ColumnName). In the event that the column name or data source name is unknown, ExcelWriter supports the use of ordinal numbering based on the data source column.
Instead of binding to to a specific column name, "%%=Assets.Q1", the column name can be replaced with ordinal syntax, "%%=Assets.#2". This denotes the second column in the 'Assets' data set. The data set name can also be replaced, "%%=#3.#2", which denotes the second column from the third data source bound to the template.
However, in this example, we will only change the column name, as shown below:
In addition to ordinal syntax, ExcelWriter supports data marker modifiers, which are tags that change how and what data is imported into the file. This template uses two different data marker modifiers - fieldname and optional. Modifiers are added in parentheses at the end of a data marker.
The fieldname modifier shows the field name of the column being bound. The syntax is as follows:
The optional modifier allows the data marker to be ignored if there is no data corresponding with that column. This is just an ignore - the column itself will still exist, but the data marker will be skipped. Here is a usage example:
In the above, the "Division" column will be ignored if no division data is available.
After the modifiers are added, the template should resemble this:
In the sample code, the reference to SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter.dll has already been added to the CompleteFinancialReport project. |
Create a .NET project and add a reference to the ExcelWriter library.
1. Include the SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter namespace in the code behind
using SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter; |
2. In the method that will run the report, instantiate the ExcelTemplate object.
ExcelTemplate XLT = new ExcelTemplate(); |
3. Open the template file with the ExcelTemplate.Open
method.
XLT.Open(Page.MapPath("//templates//Part1_Financial_Template.xlsx")); |
4. 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 methods.
DataBindingProperties dataProps = XLT.CreateDataBindingProperties(); |
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, |
If you are following in your own project and would like to parse the CSV files as well, you will need to:
GenericParsing.dll
GeneringParsing
at the top of your code.GetCSVData
method that can be found in the sample code.1.Get the data for the Assets, Losses, and Other datasets
These calls are to a helper method GetCSVData
that parses the CSV files and returns a DataTable
with the values.
DataTable dtAssets = GetCSVData("//data//Assets.csv"); DataTable dtLosses = GetCSVData("//data//Losses.csv"); DataTable dtOther = GetCSVData("//data//Other.csv"); |
2. Create the datasets for the header row. Recall the optional modifier for the "Division" tag. This tutorial will not bind any data for that tag to demonstrate the function.
//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" }; |
3. Use ExcelTemplate.BindData
to bind the data for the Assets, Losses, and Other data sets.
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
).
XLT.BindRowData(headerValues, headerNames, "Header", bindingProps); |
5. Call ExcelTemplate.Process() to import all data into the file.
XLT.Process(); |
6. Call ExcelTemplate.Save() to save the final output
XLT.Save(Page.Response, "temp.xlsx", false); |
The final output should look something like this:
using SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter; using GenericParsing; ... //Instantiate the template object ExcelTemplate XLT = new ExcelTemplate(); //Open the file XLT.Open(Page.MapPath("//templates//Part1_Financial_Template.xlsx")); //Create data binding properties DataBindingProperties bindingProps = XLT.CreateDataBindingProperties(); //Get the data from the CSVs. More info about the generic parser is available //in the project and in the tutorial above. DataTable dtAssets = GetCSVData("//data//Assets.csv"); DataTable dtLosses = GetCSVData("//data//Losses.csv"); DataTable dtOther = GetCSVData("//data//Other.csv"); //Declare the row data. This tutorial uses a single item array to demonstrate the //optional modifier string\[\] headerValues = { "2011" }; string\[\] headerNames = { "FiscalYear" }; //Bind each datatable XLT.BindData(dtAssets, "Assets", bindingProps); XLT.BindData(dtLosses, "Losses", bindingProps); XLT.BindData(dtOther, "Other", bindingProps); //Bind the single row data XLT.BindRowData(headerValues, headerNames, "Header", bindingProps); //Call process to import data to file XLT.Process(); //Save the file XLT.Save(Page.Response, "temp.xlsx", false); |
You can download the code for the Financial Report here.
Continue to Part 2: Using Styles and Formatting