Table of Contents |
---|
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 format the data. This part of the tutorial will make use of data marker modifiers.
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 demonstrate adding modifiers.
This template uses two different data marker modifiers - fieldname and optional. Modifiers are added in parentheses at the end of a data marker. They alter the binding behavior of the data marker.
The fieldname modifier shows the fieldname of the column being bound. It will not bind any additional data. It is used like this:
The optional modifier allows that data marker to be ignored on data binding. The optional modifier allows you to bind data if the column might be empty. It is used like this:
After the modifiers are added, the template should resemble this:
ExcelTemplate will persist conditional formatting in a template. In this tutorial, conditional formatting is applied to the "Other" table. It sets negative numbers to be red and bold.
1. On the "Home" tab in Excel, click on "Conditional Formatting"
2. Select "New Rule..."
3. In this tutorial the condition type is "Format only cells that contain..." The rule is "Cell value less than 0"
4. Click on "Format..." Set the text to be dark red. Set the typeface to be bold.
5. Click OK to save the rule.
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(); |
1.Get the data for the Assets, Losses, and Other datasets
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:
GenericParsing.dll
GeneringParsing
at the top of your code.GetCSVData
method that can be found in the sample code.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(); |
Do not save the file. In the next step the XLT object will be processed by ExcelApplication.
Without the post processing, the populated file will persist the column width and heights. It should look something like this:
1. In the post-processing method, instantiate the ExcelApplication object:
ExcelApplication XLA = new ExcelApplication(); |
2. Open the populated file with ExcelApplication. The file will open as a Workbook object
Workbook wb = XLA.Open(XLT); |
3. Access the first Worksheet.
Worksheet ws = wb.Worksheets[0]; |
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.
ws.PopulatedCells.AutoFitWidth(); ws.PopulatedCells.AutoFitWidth(); |
5. Finally, call ExcelApplication.Save to save the final file. This example streams the file using the page response.
XLA.Save(wb, Page.Response, "temp.xlsx", false); |
The final output should look something like this:
using SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter; ... //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(); /*This next section handles the post-processing*/ //Instantiate ExcelApplication ExcelApplication XLA = new ExcelApplication(); //Open the XLT object as a new workbook Workbook wb = XLA.Open(XLT); //Get the first worksheet Worksheet ws = wb.Worksheets[0]; //Set the autofit width and height ws.PopulatedCells.AutoFitWidth(); ws.PopulatedCells.AutoFitHeight(); //Save the file XLA.Save(wb, Page.Response, "temp.xlsx", false); |
You can download the code for the Financial Report here.
Continue to Part 2: Sub-Report with Number Formats