Table of Contents


Setting Up the Templates

In the downloadable TODO ADD FILE REFERENCE, there are completed template files located in CompleteFinancialReport/templates.
A copy of the completed template files are also available TODO ADD FILE REFERENCE.

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. 

Adding an ExcelWriter Reference in Visual Studio

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. Open Visual Studio and create a .NET project.
  2. Add a reference to SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter.dll

Writing the Code

Using Multiple Instances of ExcelTemplate

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

using SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter;

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

ExcelTemplate XLTto;
ExcelTemplate XLTfrom;

3. Create a method to bind and process the two templates. This method takes the filename and returns the processed template object

private ExcelTemplate BindTemplateData(string filename)
{
}

4. In the BindTemplateData method, instantiate a new  ExcelTemplate object to return.

ExcelTemplate XLT = new ExcelTemplate();

5. Open the template files with the ExcelTemplate.Open method.

XLT.Open(Page.MapPath(filename));

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 methods.

DataBindingProperties dataProps = XLT.CreateDataBindingProperties();

Data Binding

1. In the BindTemplateData method, get the data for Assets, Losses, and Other.

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, GenericParsing.dll in the bin directory of the project GetCSVData is defined in Part1.aspx.cs in a region marked Utility Methods.

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:

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 in template 1. This will simply be ignored by template 2.

//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 Top and Details Sales 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

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:

ExcelApplication XLATo = new ExcelApplication();

2. Open the populated template file with ExcelApplication. The file will open as a Workbook object.

Workbook wbTo = XLATo.Open(XLTTo);

3. Access the first Worksheet.

Worksheet wsTo = wbTo.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.

wsTo.PopulatedCells.AutoFitWidth();
wsTo.PopulatedCells.AutoFitWidth();

5. Instantiate the ExcelApplication object for the Worksheet to be copied from:

ExcelApplication XLAFrom = new ExcelApplication();

6. Open the populated template file with ExcelApplication.

Workbook wbFrom = XLAFrom.Open(XLTFrom);

7. Open both the table sheet and the data sheet.

Worksheet wsFrom = wbFrom[0];
Worksheet wsFromData = wbFrom[1];
Worksheet wsFrom = wbFrom[0];            Worksheet wsFromData = wbFrom[1]

8. Call CopySheet with wbTo, and pass the worksheets. Make sure to copy the data sheet first

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.

wbTo.Worksheets.CopySheet(wsFromData, 1, "Data");
wbTo.Worksheets.CopySheet(wsFrom, 1, "Percent by Quarter");

9. Finally, call ExcelApplication.Save to save the final file. This example streams the file using the page response.

XLA.Save(wbTo, Page.Response, "temp.xlsx", false);

Final Code

using SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.ExcelWriter;
...
//Declare Template objects globaly
ExcelTemplate XLTTo;
ExcelTemplate XLTFrom;

protected void RunReport()
{
	//Get the populated files from BindTemplateData
        XLTTo = BindTemplateData("//templates//Part1_Financial_Template.xlsx");
        XLTFrom = BindTemplateData("//templates//Part2_Financial_Template.xlsx");

	//Join the two reports using CopySheet
	JoinReports();
}

protected ExcelTemplate BindTemplateData(string filename)
{
	ExcelTemplate XLT = new ExcelTemplate();


	//Open the template file
	XLT.Open(Page.MapPath(filename));

	//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, Page.Response, "Part3_Output.xlsx", false);
}

Downloads

TBA