In the last post, we’ve looked at how easy and intuitive the Spreadsheet API is. Let’s explore other handy features.
Ranges
A Worksheet Range is a collection of sequential cells that can be updated in one shot, instead of iterating thru individual cells one by one. A Range, is referenced using the named coordinates from top-left cell to the bottom-right:
Fig 1: Cell Range
The following example demonstrates how to set a value to a cell range and update it’s formatting.
Workbook book = new Workbook(); // Set values and size... book.Worksheets[0].Range["B2:D4"].Value = "W"; book.Worksheets[0].Range["B2:D4"].ColumnWidth = 128; book.Worksheets[0].Range["B2:D4"].RowHeight = 128; // Apply custom formatting... Formatting b2d4 = book.Worksheets[0].Range["B2:D4"].BeginUpdateFormatting(); b2d4.Alignment.Horizontal = HorizontalAlignment.Center; b2d4.Borders.BottomBorder.Color = Color.Orange; b2d4.Borders.BottomBorder.LineStyle = BorderLineStyle.Medium; b2d4.Borders.TopBorder.Color = Color.Orange; b2d4.Borders.TopBorder.LineStyle = BorderLineStyle.Medium; b2d4.Borders.LeftBorder.Color = Color.Orange; b2d4.Borders.LeftBorder.LineStyle = BorderLineStyle.Medium; b2d4.Borders.RightBorder.Color = Color.Orange; b2d4.Borders.RightBorder.LineStyle = BorderLineStyle.Medium; b2d4.Fill.BackgroundColor = Color.WhiteSmoke; b2d4.Font.Name = "Forte"; b2d4.Font.Color = Color.Navy; book.Worksheets[0].Range["B2:D4"].EndUpdateFormatting(b2d4);
Fig 2: Cell Range
Formulas
The ability to calculate totals, averages, set current dates and to perform various calculations within the document, is of course one of the major reasons why Spreadsheets are an amazingly very power tool. We will ship countless of functions, ranging from simple Summations to Boolean logic operators, from Financial to a complete Trigonometry routines.
Formulas and expressions are set with the help of the Formula property on a cell or a range. For example, the code bellow sets a 3 values for cells B1:B3 and sums them up in B4
Workbook book = new Workbook(); book.Worksheets[0].Range["B1:B3"].Value = 43; book.Worksheets[0].Range["B1:B3"].NumberFormat = "$#,##0.00"; book.Worksheets[0].Cells["B4"].Formula = "= SUM(B1:B3)"; book.Worksheets[0].Cells["B4"].NumberFormat = "$#,##0.00"; book.Worksheets[0].Cells["B4"].Borders.TopBorder.Color = Color.Orange; book.Worksheets[0].Cells["B4"].Borders.TopBorder.LineStyle = BorderLineStyle.Medium;
Stay tuned, I‘ll show you how easy it is to create an invoice in the next part.
Cheers
Azret