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ExcelJS

Read, manipulate and write spreadsheet data and styles to XLSX and JSON.

Reverse engineered from Excel spreadsheet files as a project.

Installation

npm install exceljs

New Features!

Contributions

Contributions are very welcome! It helps me know what features are desired or what bugs are causing the most pain.

I have just one request; If you submit a pull request for a bugfix, please add a unit-test or integration-test (in the spec folder) that catches the problem. Even a PR that just has a failing test is fine - I can analyse what the test is doing and fix the code from that.

Backlog

  • Images - background, in-cell, printing, etc.
  • There are still more print-settings to add; Fixed rows/cols, etc.
  • Still working my way through PRs and Issues and improving the tests.
  • XLSX Streaming Reader.
  • ES6ify - This module was originally built for NodeJS 0.12.4 but things have moved on since then and I really want to start taking advantage of the modern JS features. I would also like to take the time to look at transpilers to support the earlier JSs
  • Parsing CSV with Headers

Contents

Interface

var Excel = require('exceljs');

Create a Workbook

var workbook = new Excel.Workbook();

Set Workbook Properties

workbook.creator = 'Me';
workbook.lastModifiedBy = 'Her';
workbook.created = new Date(1985, 8, 30);
workbook.modified = new Date();

Workbook Views

The Workbook views controls how many separate windows Excel will open when viewing the workbook.

workbook.views = [
  {
    x: 0, y: 0, width: 10000, height: 20000, 
    firstSheet: 0, activeTab: 1, visibility: 'visible'
  }
]

Add a Worksheet

var sheet = workbook.addWorksheet('My Sheet');

Use the second parameter of the addWorksheet function to specify options for the worksheet.

For Example:

// create a sheet with red tab colour
var sheet = workbook.addWorksheet('My Sheet', {properties:{tabColor:{argb:'FFC0000'}}});

// create a sheet where the grid lines are hidden
var sheet = workbook.addWorksheet('My Sheet', {properties: {showGridLines: false}});

// create a sheet with the first row and column frozen
var sheet = workbook.addWorksheet('My Sheet', {views:[{xSplit: 1, ySplit:1}]});

Access Worksheets

// Iterate over all sheets
// Note: workbook.worksheets.forEach will still work but this is better
workbook.eachSheet(function(worksheet, sheetId) {
    // ...
});

// fetch sheet by name
var worksheet = workbook.getWorksheet('My Sheet');

// fetch sheet by id
var worksheet = workbook.getWorksheet(1);

Worksheet Properties

Worksheets support a property bucket to allow control over some features of the worksheet.

// create new sheet with properties
var worksheet = workbook.addWorksheet('sheet', {properties:{tabColor:{argb:'FF00FF00'}}});

// create a new sheet writer with properties
var worksheetWriter = workbookWriter.addSheet('sheet', {properties:{outlineLevelCol:1}});

// adjust properties afterwards (not supported by worksheet-writer)
worksheet.properties.outlineLevelCol = 2;
worksheet.properties.defaultRowHeight = 15;

Supported Properties

Name Default Description
tabColor undefined Color of the tabs
outlineLevelCol 0 The worksheet column outline level
outlineLevelRow 0 The worksheet row outline level
defaultRowHeight 15 Default row height
dyDescent 55 TBD

Page Setup

All properties that can affect the printing of a sheet are held in a pageSetup object on the sheet.

// create new sheet with pageSetup settings for A4 - landscape
var worksheet =  workbook.addWorksheet('sheet', {
  pageSetup:{paperSize: 9, orientation:'landscape'}
});

// create a new sheet writer with pageSetup settings for fit-to-page
var worksheetWriter = workbookWriter.addSheet('sheet', {
  pageSetup:{fitToPage: true, fitToHeight: 5, fitToWidth: 7}
});

// adjust pageSetup settings afterwards
worksheet.pageSetup.margins = {
  left: 0.7, right: 0.7, 
  top: 0.75, bottom: 0.75, 
  header: 0.3, footer: 0.3
};

// Set Print Area for a sheet
worksheet.pageSetup.printArea = 'A1:G20';

Supported pageSetup settings

Name Default Description
margins Whitespace on the borders of the page. Units are inches.
orientation 'portrait' Orientation of the page - i.e. taller (portrait) or wider (landscape)
horizontalDpi 4294967295 Horizontal Dots per Inch. Default value is -1
verticalDpi 4294967295 Vertical Dots per Inch. Default value is -1
fitToPage Whether to use fitToWidth and fitToHeight or scale settings. Default is based on presence of these settings in the pageSetup object - if both are present, scale wins (i.e. default will be false)
pageOrder 'downThenOver' Which order to print the pages - one of ['downThenOver', 'overThenDown']
blackAndWhite false Print without colour
draft false Print with less quality (and ink)
cellComments 'None' Where to place comments - one of ['atEnd', 'asDisplayed', 'None']
errors 'displayed' Where to show errors - one of ['dash', 'blank', 'NA', 'displayed']
scale 100 Percentage value to increase or reduce the size of the print. Active when fitToPage is false
fitToWidth 1 How many pages wide the sheet should print on to. Active when fitToPage is true
fitToHeight 1 How many pages high the sheet should print on to. Active when fitToPage is true
paperSize What paper size to use (see below)
showRowColHeaders false Whether to show the row numbers and column letters
showGridLines false Whether to show grid lines
firstPageNumber Which number to use for the first page
horizontalCentered false Whether to center the sheet data horizontally
verticalCentered false Whether to center the sheet data vertically

Example Paper Sizes

Name Value
Letter undefined
Legal 5
Executive 7
A4 9
A5 11
B5 (JIS) 13
Envelope #10 20
Envelope DL 27
Envelope C5 28
Envelope B5 34
Envelope Monarch 37
Double Japan Postcard Rotated 82
16K 197x273 mm 119

Worksheet Views

Worksheets now support a list of views, that control how Excel presents the sheet:

  • frozen - where a number of rows and columns to the top and left are frozen in place. Only the bottom left section will scroll
  • split - where the view is split into 4 sections, each semi-independently scrollable.

Each view also supports various properties:

Name Default Description
state 'normal' Controls the view state - one of normal, frozen or split
activeCell undefined The currently selected cell
showRuler true Shows or hides the ruler in Page Layout
showRowColHeaders true Shows or hides the row and column headers (e.g. A1, B1 at the top and 1,2,3 on the left
showGridLines true Shows or hides the gridlines (shown for cells where borders have not been defined)
zoomScale 100 Percentage zoom to use for the view
zoomScaleNormal 100 Normal zoom for the view
style undefined Presentation style - one of pageBreakPreview or pageLayout. Note pageLayout is not compatable with frozen views

Frozen Views

Frozen views support the following extra properties:

Name Default Description
xSplit 0 How many columns to freeze. To freeze rows only, set this to 0 or undefined
ySplit 0 How many rows to freeze. To freeze columns only, set this to 0 or undefined
topLeftCell special Which cell will be top-left in the bottom-right pane. Note: cannot be a frozen cell. Defaults to first unfrozen cell 
worksheet.views = [
    {state: 'frozen', xSplit: 2, ySplit: 3, topLeftCell: 'G10', activeCell: 'A1'}
];

Split Views

Split views support the following extra properties:

Name Default Description
xSplit 0 How many points from the left to place the splitter. To split vertically, set this to 0 or undefined
ySplit 0 How many points from the top to place the splitter. To split horizontally, set this to 0 or undefined
topLeftCell undefined Which cell will be top-left in the bottom-right pane.
activePane undefined Which pane will be active - one of topLeft, topRight, bottomLeft and bottomRight 
worksheet.views = [
    {state: 'split', xSplit: 2000, ySplit: 3000, topLeftCell: 'G10', activeCell: 'A1'}
];

Columns

// Add column headers and define column keys and widths
// Note: these column structures are a workbook-building convenience only,
// apart from the column width, they will not be fully persisted.
worksheet.columns = [
    { header: 'Id', key: 'id', width: 10 },
    { header: 'Name', key: 'name', width: 32 },
    { header: 'D.O.B.', key: 'DOB', width: 10, outlineLevel: 1 }
];

// Access an individual columns by key, letter and 1-based column number
var idCol = worksheet.getColumn('id');
var nameCol = worksheet.getColumn('B');
var dobCol = worksheet.getColumn(3);

// set column properties

// Note: will overwrite cell value C1
dobCol.header = 'Date of Birth';

// Note: this will overwrite cell values C1:C2
dobCol.header = ['Date of Birth', 'A.K.A. D.O.B.'];

// from this point on, this column will be indexed by 'dob' and not 'DOB'
dobCol.key = 'dob';

dobCol.width = 15;

// Hide the column if you'd like
dobCol.hidden = true;

// set an outline level for columns
worksheet.getColumn(4).outlineLevel = 0;
worksheet.getColumn(5).outlineLevel = 1;

// columns support a readonly field to indicate the collapsed state based on outlineLevel
expect(worksheet.getColumn(4).collapsed).to.equal(false);
expect(worksheet.getColumn(5).collapsed).to.equal(true);

// iterate over all current cells in this column
dobCol.eachCell(function(cell, rowNumber) {
    // ...
});

// iterate over all current cells in this column including empty cells
dobCol.eachCell({ includeEmpty: true }, function(cell, rowNumber) {
    // ...
});

// cut one or more columns (columns to the right are shifted left)
// If column properties have been definde, they will be cut or moved accordingly
// Known Issue: If a splice causes any merged cells to move, the results may be unpredictable
worksheet.spliceColumns(3,2);

// remove one column and insert two more.
// Note: columns 4 and above will be shifted right by 1 column. 
// Also: If the worksheet has more rows than values in the colulmn inserts, 
//  the rows will still be shifted as if the values existed 
var newCol3Values = [1,2,3,4,5];
var newCol4Values = ['one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five'];
worksheet.spliceColumns(3, 1, newCol3Values, newCol4Values);

Rows

// Add a couple of Rows by key-value, after the last current row, using the column keys
worksheet.addRow({id: 1, name: 'John Doe', dob: new Date(1970,1,1)});
worksheet.addRow({id: 2, name: 'Jane Doe', dob: new Date(1965,1,7)});

// Add a row by contiguous Array (assign to columns A, B & C)
worksheet.addRow([3, 'Sam', new Date()]);

// Add a row by sparse Array (assign to columns A, E & I)
var rowValues = [];
rowValues[1] = 4;
rowValues[5] = 'Kyle';
rowValues[9] = new Date();
worksheet.addRow(rowValues);

// Add an array of rows
var rows = [
    [5,'Bob',new Date()], // row by array
    {id:6, name: 'Barbara', dob: new Date()}
];
worksheet.addRows(rows);

// Get a row object. If it doesn't already exist, a new empty one will be returned
var row = worksheet.getRow(5);

// Get the last editable row in a worksheet (or undefined if there are none)
var row = worksheet.lastRow;

// Set a specific row height
row.height = 42.5;

// make row hidden
row.hidden = true;

// set an outline level for rows
worksheet.getRow(4).outlineLevel = 0;
worksheet.getRow(5).outlineLevel = 1;

// rows support a readonly field to indicate the collapsed state based on outlineLevel
expect(worksheet.getRow(4).collapsed).to.equal(false);
expect(worksheet.getRow(5).collapsed).to.equal(true);


row.getCell(1).value = 5; // A5's value set to 5
row.getCell('name').value = 'Zeb'; // B5's value set to 'Zeb' - assuming column 2 is still keyed by name
row.getCell('C').value = new Date(); // C5's value set to now

// Get a row as a sparse array
// Note: interface change: worksheet.getRow(4) ==> worksheet.getRow(4).values
row = worksheet.getRow(4).values;
expect(row[5]).toEqual('Kyle');

// assign row values by contiguous array (where array element 0 has a value)
row.values = [1,2,3];
expect(row.getCell(1).value).toEqual(1);
expect(row.getCell(2).value).toEqual(2);
expect(row.getCell(3).value).toEqual(3);

// assign row values by sparse array  (where array element 0 is undefined)
var values = []
values[5] = 7;
values[10] = 'Hello, World!';
row.values = values;
expect(row.getCell(1).value).toBeNull();
expect(row.getCell(5).value).toEqual(7);
expect(row.getCell(10).value).toEqual('Hello, World!');

// assign row values by object, using column keys
row.values = {
    id: 13,
    name: 'Thing 1',
    dob: new Date()
};

// Iterate over all rows that have values in a worksheet
worksheet.eachRow(function(row, rowNumber) {
    console.log('Row ' + rowNumber + ' = ' + JSON.stringify(row.values));
});

// Iterate over all rows (including empty rows) in a worksheet
worksheet.eachRow({ includeEmpty: true }, function(row, rowNumber) {
    console.log('Row ' + rowNumber + ' = ' + JSON.stringify(row.values));
});

// Iterate over all non-null cells in a row
row.eachCell(function(cell, colNumber) {
    console.log('Cell ' + colNumber + ' = ' + cell.value);
});

// Iterate over all cells in a row (including empty cells)
row.eachCell({ includeEmpty: true }, function(cell, colNumber) {
    console.log('Cell ' + colNumber + ' = ' + cell.value);
});

// Cut one or more rows (rows below are shifted up)
// Known Issue: If a splice causes any merged cells to move, the results may be unpredictable
worksheet.spliceRows(4,3);

// remove one row and insert two more.
// Note: rows 4 and below will be shifted down by 1 row. 
var newRow3Values = [1,2,3,4,5];
var newRow4Values = ['one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five'];
worksheet.spliceRows(3, 1, newRow3Values, newRow4Values);

// Cut one or more cells (cells to the right are shifted left)
// Note: this operation will not affect other rows
row.splice(3,2);

// remove one cell and insert two more (cells to the right of the cut cell will be shifted right)
row.splice(4,1,'new value 1', 'new value 2');

// Commit a completed row to stream
row.commit();

Handling Individual Cells

// Modify/Add individual cell
worksheet.getCell('C3').value = new Date(1968, 5, 1);

// query a cell's type
expect(worksheet.getCell('C3').type).toEqual(Excel.ValueType.Date);

Merged Cells

// merge a range of cells
worksheet.mergeCells('A4:B5');

// ... merged cells are linked
worksheet.getCell('B5').value = 'Hello, World!';
expect(worksheet.getCell('B5').value).toBe(worksheet.getCell('A4').value);
expect(worksheet.getCell('B5').master).toBe(worksheet.getCell('A4'));

// ... merged cells share the same style object
expect(worksheet.getCell('B5').style).toBe(worksheet.getCell('A4').style);
worksheet.getCell('B5').style.font = myFonts.arial;
expect(worksheet.getCell('A4').style.font).toBe(myFonts.arial);

// unmerging the cells breaks the style links
worksheet.unMergeCells('A4');
expect(worksheet.getCell('B5').style).not.toBe(worksheet.getCell('A4').style);
expect(worksheet.getCell('B5').style.font).not.toBe(myFonts.arial);

// merge by top-left, bottom-right
worksheet.mergeCells('G10', 'H11');
worksheet.mergeCells(10,11,12,13); // top,left,bottom,right

Defined Names

Individual cells (or multiple groups of cells) can have names assigned to them. The names can be used in formulas and data validation (and probably more).

// assign (or get) a name for a cell (will overwrite any other names that cell had)
worksheet.getCell('A1').name = 'PI';
expect(worksheet.getCell('A1').name).to.equal('PI');

// assign (or get) an array of names for a cell (cells can have more than one name)
worksheet.getCell('A1').names = ['thing1', 'thing2'];
expect(worksheet.getCell('A1').names).to.have.members(['thing1', 'thing2']);

// remove a name from a cell
worksheet.getCell('A1').removeName('thing1');
expect(worksheet.getCell('A1').names).to.have.members(['thing2']);

Data Validations

Cells can define what values are valid or not and provide prompting to the user to help guide them.

Validation types can be one of the following:

Type Description
list Define a discrete set of valid values. Excel will offer these in a dropdown for easy entry
whole The value must be a whole number
decimal The value must be a decimal number
textLength The value may be text but the length is controlled
custom A custom formula controls the valid values

For types other than list or custom, the following operators affect the validation:

Operator Description
between Values must lie between formula results
notBetween Values must not lie between formula results
equal Value must equal formula result
notEqual Value must not equal formula result
greaterThan Value must be greater than formula result
lessThan Value must be less than formula result
greaterThanOrEqual Value must be greater than or equal to formula result
lessThanOrEqual Value must be less than or equal to formula result 
// Specify list of valid values (One, Two, Three, Four). Excel will provide a dropdown with these values.
worksheet.getCell('A1').dataValidation = {
    type: 'list',
    allowBlank: true,
    formulae: ['"One,Two,Three,Four"']
};

// Specify list of valid values from a range. Excel will provide a dropdown with these values.
    worksheet.getCell('A1').dataValidation = {
        type: 'list',
        allowBlank: true,
        formulae: ['$D$5:$F$5']
};

// Specify Cell must be a whole number that is not 5. Show the user an appropriate error message if they get it wrong
worksheet.getCell('A1').dataValidation = {
    type: 'whole',
    operator: 'notEqual',
    showErrorMessage: true,
    formulae: [5],
    errorStyle: 'error',
    errorTitle: 'Five',
    error: 'The value must not be Five'
};

// Specify Cell must be a decomal number between 1.5 and 7. Add 'tooltip' to help guid the user
worksheet.getCell('A1').dataValidation = {
    type: 'decimal',
    operator: 'between',
    allowBlank: true,
    showInputMessage: true,
    formulae: [1.5, 7],
    promptTitle: 'Decimal',
    prompt: 'The value must between 1.5 and 7'
};

// Specify Cell must be have a text length less than 15
worksheet.getCell('A1').dataValidation = {
    type: 'textLength',
    operator: 'lessThan',
    showErrorMessage: true,
    allowBlank: true,
    formulae: [15]
};

// Specify Cell must be have be a date before 1st Jan 2016
worksheet.getCell('A1').dataValidation = {
    type: 'date',
    operator: 'lessThan',
    showErrorMessage: true,
    allowBlank: true,
    formulae: [new Date(2016,0,1)]
};

Styles

Cells, Rows and Columns each support a rich set of styles and formats that affect how the cells are displayed.

Styles are set by assigning the following properties:

// assign a style to a cell
ws.getCell('A1').numFmt = '0.00%';

// Apply styles to worksheet columns
ws.columns = [
    { header: 'Id', key: 'id', width: 10 },
    { header: 'Name', key: 'name', width: 32, style: { font: { name: 'Arial Black' } } },
    { header: 'D.O.B.', key: 'DOB', width: 10, style: { numFmt: 'dd/mm/yyyy' } }
];

// Set Column 3 to Currency Format
ws.getColumn(3).numFmt = '�#,##0;[Red]-�#,##0';

// Set Row 2 to Comic Sans.
ws.getRow(2).font = { name: 'Comic Sans MS', family: 4, size: 16, underline: 'double', bold: true };

When a style is applied to a row or column, it will be applied to all currently existing cells in that row or column. Also, any new cell that is created will inherit its initial styles from the row and column it belongs to.

If a cell's row and column both define a specific style (e.g. font), the cell will use the row style over the column style. However if the row and column define different styles (e.g. column.numFmt and row.font), the cell will inherit the font from the row and the numFmt from the column.

Caveat: All the above properties (with the exception of numFmt, which is a string), are JS object structures. If the same style object is assigned to more than one spreadsheet entity, then each entity will share the same style object. If the style object is later modified before the spreadsheet is serialized, then all entities referencing that style object will be modified too. This behaviour is intended to prioritize performance by reducing the number of JS objects created. If you want the style objects to be independent, you will need to clone them before assigning them. Also, by default, when a document is read from file (or stream) if spreadsheet entities share similar styles, then they will reference the same style object too.

Number Formats

// display value as '1 3/5'
ws.getCell('A1').value = 1.6;
ws.getCell('A1').numFmt = '# ?/?';

// display value as '1.60%'
ws.getCell('B1').value = 0.016;
ws.getCell('B1').numFmt = '0.00%';

Fonts

// for the wannabe graphic designers out there
ws.getCell('A1').font = {
    name: 'Comic Sans MS',
    family: 4,
    size: 16,
    underline: true,
    bold: true
};

// for the graduate graphic designers...
ws.getCell('A2').font = {
    name: 'Arial Black',
    color: { argb: 'FF00FF00' },
    family: 2,
    size: 14,
    italic: true
};

// note: the cell will store a reference to the font object assigned.
// If the font object is changed afterwards, the cell font will change also...
var font = { name: 'Arial', size: 12 };
ws.getCell('A3').font = font;
font.size = 20; // Cell A3 now has font size 20!

// Cells that share similar fonts may reference the same font object after
// the workbook is read from file or stream
Font Property Description Example Value(s)
name Font name. 'Arial', 'Calibri', etc.
family Font family. An integer value. 1,2,3, etc.
scheme Font scheme. 'minor', 'major', 'none'
charset Font charset. An integer value. 1, 2, etc.
color Colour description, an object containing an ARGB value. { argb: 'FFFF0000'}
bold Font weight true, false
italic Font slope true, false
underline Font underline style true, false, 'none', 'single', 'double', 'singleAccounting', 'doubleAccounting'
strike Font strikethrough true, false
outline Font outline true, false

Alignment

// set cell alignment to top-left, middle-center, bottom-right
ws.getCell('A1').alignment = { vertical: 'top', horizontal: 'left' };
ws.getCell('B1').alignment = { vertical: 'middle', horizontal: 'center' };
ws.getCell('C1').alignment = { vertical: 'bottom', horizontal: 'right' };

// set cell to wrap-text
ws.getCell('D1').alignment = { wrapText: true };

// set cell indent to 1
ws.getCell('E1').alignment = { indent: 1 };

// set cell text rotation to 30deg upwards, 45deg downwards and vertical text
ws.getCell('F1').alignment = { textRotation: 30 };
ws.getCell('G1').alignment = { textRotation: -45 };
ws.getCell('H1').alignment = { textRotation: 'vertical' };

Valid Alignment Property Values

horizontal vertical wrapText indent readingOrder textRotation
left top true integer rtl 0 to 90
center middle false ltr -1 to -90
right bottom vertical
fill distributed
justify justify
centerContinuous
distributed

Borders

// set single thin border around A1
ws.getCell('A1').border = {
    top: {style:'thin'},
    left: {style:'thin'},
    bottom: {style:'thin'},
    right: {style:'thin'}
};

// set double thin green border around A3
ws.getCell('A3').border = {
    top: {style:'double', color: {argb:'FF00FF00'}},
    left: {style:'double', color: {argb:'FF00FF00'}},
    bottom: {style:'double', color: {argb:'FF00FF00'}},
    right: {style:'double', color: {argb:'FF00FF00'}}
};

// set thick red cross in A5
ws.getCell('A5').border = {
    diagonal: {up: true, down: true, style:'thick', color: {argb:'FFFF0000'}}
};

Valid Border Styles

  • thin
  • dotted
  • dashDot
  • hair
  • dashDotDot
  • slantDashDot
  • mediumDashed
  • mediumDashDotDot
  • mediumDashDot
  • medium
  • double
  • thick

Fills

// fill A1 with red darkVertical stripes
ws.getCell('A1').fill = {
    type: 'pattern',
    pattern:'darkVertical',
    fgColor:{argb:'FFFF0000'}
};

// fill A2 with yellow dark trellis and blue behind
ws.getCell('A2').fill = {
    type: 'pattern',
    pattern:'darkTrellis',
    fgColor:{argb:'FFFFFF00'},
    bgColor:{argb:'FF0000FF'}
};

// fill A3 with blue-white-blue gradient from left to right
ws.getCell('A3').fill = {
    type: 'gradient',
    gradient: 'angle',
    degree: 0,
    stops: [
        {position:0, color:{argb:'FF0000FF'}},
        {position:0.5, color:{argb:'FFFFFFFF'}},
        {position:1, color:{argb:'FF0000FF'}}
    ]
};


// fill A4 with red-green gradient from center
ws.getCell('A2').fill = {
    type: 'gradient',
    gradient: 'path',
    center:{left:0.5,top:0.5},
    stops: [
        {position:0, color:{argb:'FFFF0000'}},
        {position:1, color:{argb:'FF00FF00'}}
    ]
};

Pattern Fills

Property Required Description
type Y Value: 'pattern'
Specifies this fill uses patterns
pattern Y Specifies type of pattern (see Valid Pattern Types below)
fgColor N Specifies the pattern foreground color. Default is black.
bgColor N Specifies the pattern background color. Default is white.

Valid Pattern Types

  • none
  • solid
  • darkVertical
  • darkGray
  • mediumGray
  • lightGray
  • gray125
  • gray0625
  • darkHorizontal
  • darkVertical
  • darkDown
  • darkUp
  • darkGrid
  • darkTrellis
  • lightHorizontal
  • lightVertical
  • lightDown
  • lightUp
  • lightGrid
  • lightTrellis
  • lightGrid

Gradient Fills

Property Required Description
type Y Value: 'gradient'
Specifies this fill uses gradients
gradient Y Specifies gradient type. One of ['angle', 'path']
degree angle For 'angle' gradient, specifies the direction of the gradient. 0 is from the left to the right. Values from 1 - 359 rotates the direction clockwise
center path For 'path' gradient. Specifies the relative coordinates for the start of the path. 'left' and 'top' values range from 0 to 1
stops Y Specifies the gradient colour sequence. Is an array of objects containing position and color starting with position 0 and ending with position 1. Intermediatary positions may be used to specify other colours on the path.

Caveats

Using the interface above it may be possible to create gradient fill effects not possible using the XLSX editor program. For example, Excel only supports angle gradients of 0, 45, 90 and 135. Similarly the sequence of stops may also be limited by the UI with positions [0,1] or [0,0.5,1] as the only options. Take care with this fill to be sure it is supported by the target XLSX viewers.

Rich Text

Individual cells now support rich text or in-cell formatting. Rich text values can control the font properties of any number of sub-strings within the text value. See Fonts for a complete list of details on what font properties are supported.

ws.getCell('A1').value = {
  'richText': [
     {'font': {'size': 12,'color': {'theme': 0},'name': 'Calibri','family': 2,'scheme': 'minor'},'text': 'This is '},
     {'font': {'italic': true,'size': 12,'color': {'theme': 0},'name': 'Calibri','scheme': 'minor'},'text': 'a'},
     {'font': {'size': 12,'color': {'theme': 1},'name': 'Calibri','family': 2,'scheme': 'minor'},'text': ' '},
     {'font': {'size': 12,'color': {'argb': 'FFFF6600'},'name': 'Calibri','scheme': 'minor'},'text': 'colorful'},
     {'font': {'size': 12,'color': {'theme': 1},'name': 'Calibri','family': 2,'scheme': 'minor'},'text': ' text '},
     {'font': {'size': 12,'color': {'argb': 'FFCCFFCC'},'name': 'Calibri','scheme': 'minor'},'text': 'with'},
     {'font': {'size': 12,'color': {'theme': 1},'name': 'Calibri','family': 2,'scheme': 'minor'},'text': ' in-cell '},
     {'font': {'bold': true,'size': 12,'color': {'theme': 1},'name': 'Calibri','family': 2,'scheme': 'minor'},'text': 'format'}
  ]
};

expect(ws.getCell('A1').text).to.equal('This is a colorful text with in-cell format');
expect(ws.getCell('A1').type).to.equal(Excel.ValueType.RichText);

Outline Levels

Excel supports outlining; where rows or columns can be expanded or collapsed depending on what level of detail the user wishes to view.

Outline levels can be defined in column setup:

worksheet.columns = [
    { header: 'Id', key: 'id', width: 10 },
    { header: 'Name', key: 'name', width: 32 },
    { header: 'D.O.B.', key: 'DOB', width: 10, outlineLevel: 1 }
];

Or directly on the row or column

worksheet.getColumn(3).outlineLevel = 1;
worksheet.getRow(3).outlineLevel = 1;

The sheet outline levels can be set on the worksheet

// set column outline level
worksheet.properties.outlineLevelCol = 1;

// set row outline level
worksheet.properties.outlineLevelRow = 1;

Note: adjusting outline levels on rows or columns or the outline levels on the worksheet will incur a side effect of also modifying the collapsed property of all rows or columns affected by the property change. E.g.:

worksheet.properties.outlineLevelCol = 1;

worksheet.getColumn(3).outlineLevel = 1;
expect(worksheet.getColumn(3).collapsed).to.be.true;

worksheet.properties.outlineLevelCol = 2;
expect(worksheet.getColumn(3).collapsed).to.be.false;

File I/O

XLSX

Reading XLSX

// read from a file
var workbook = new Excel.Workbook();
workbook.xlsx.readFile(filename)
    .then(function() {
        // use workbook
    });

// pipe from stream
var workbook = new Excel.Workbook();
stream.pipe(workbook.xlsx.createInputStream());

Writing XLSX

// write to a file
var workbook = createAndFillWorkbook();
workbook.xlsx.writeFile(filename)
    .then(function() {
        // done
    });

// write to a stream
workbook.xlsx.write(stream)
    .then(function() {
        // done
    });

CSV

Reading CSV

// read from a file
var workbook = new Excel.Workbook();
workbook.csv.readFile(filename)
    .then(function(worksheet) {
        // use workbook or worksheet
    });

// read from a stream
var workbook = new Excel.Workbook();
workbook.csv.read(stream)
    .then(function(worksheet) {
        // use workbook or worksheet
    });

// pipe from stream
var workbook = new Excel.Workbook();
stream.pipe(workbook.csv.createInputStream());

// read from a file with European Dates
var workbook = new Excel.Workbook();
var options = {
    dateFormats: ['DD/MM/YYYY']
};
workbook.csv.readFile(filename, options)
    .then(function(worksheet) {
        // use workbook or worksheet
    });


// read from a file with custom value parsing
var workbook = new Excel.Workbook();
var options = {
    map: function(value, index) {
        switch(index) {
            case 0:
                // column 1 is string
                return value;
            case 1:
                // column 2 is a date
                return new Date(value);
            case 2:
                // column 3 is JSON of a formula value
                return JSON.parse(value);
            default:
                // the rest are numbers
                return parseFloat(value);
        }
    }
};
workbook.csv.readFile(filename, options)
    .then(function(worksheet) {
        // use workbook or worksheet
    });

The CSV parser uses fast-csv to read the CSV file. The options passed into the read functions above is also passed to fast-csv for parsing of the csv data. Please refer to the fast-csv README.md for details.

Dates are parsed using the npm module moment. If no dateFormats are supplied, the following are used:

  • moment.ISO_8601
  • 'MM-DD-YYYY'
  • 'YYYY-MM-DD'

Writing CSV

// write to a file
var workbook = createAndFillWorkbook();
workbook.csv.writeFile(filename)
    .then(function() {
        // done
    });

// write to a stream
workbook.csv.write(stream)
    .then(function() {
        // done
    });


// read from a file with European Date-Times
var workbook = new Excel.Workbook();
var options = {
    dateFormat: 'DD/MM/YYYY HH:mm:ss'
};
workbook.csv.readFile(filename, options)
    .then(function(worksheet) {
        // use workbook or worksheet
    });


// read from a file with custom value formatting
var workbook = new Excel.Workbook();
var options = {
    map: function(value, index) {
        switch(index) {
            case 0:
                // column 1 is string
                return value;
            case 1:
                // column 2 is a date
                return moment(value).format('YYYY-MM-DD');
            case 2:
                // column 3 is a formula, write just the result
                return value.result;
            default:
                // the rest are numbers
                return value;
        }
    }
};
workbook.csv.readFile(filename, options)
    .then(function(worksheet) {
        // use workbook or worksheet
    });

The CSV parser uses fast-csv to write the CSV file. The options passed into the write functions above is also passed to fast-csv for writing the csv data. Please refer to the fast-csv README.md for details.

Dates are formatted using the npm module moment. If no dateFormat is supplied, moment.ISO_8601 is used.

Streaming I/O

The File I/O documented above requires that an entire workbook is built up in memory before the file can be written. While convenient, it can limit the size of the document due to the amount of memory required.

A streaming writer (or reader) processes the workbook or worksheet data as it is generated, converting it into file form as it goes. Typically this is much more efficient on memory as the final memory footprint and even intermediate memory footprints are much more compact than with the document version, especially when you consider that the row and cell objects are disposed once they are committed.

The interface to the streaming workbook and worksheet is almost the same as the document versions with a few minor practical differences:

  • Once a worksheet is added to a workbook, it cannot be removed.
  • Once a row is committed, it is no longer accessible since it will have been dropped from the worksheet.
  • unMergeCells() is not supported.

Note that it is possible to build the entire workbook without committing any rows. When the workbook is committed, all added worksheets (including all uncommitted rows) will be automatically committed. However in this case, little will have been gained over the Document version.

Streaming XLSX

Streaming XLSX Writer

The streaming XLSX writer is available in the ExcelJS.stream.xlsx namespace.

The constructor takes an optional options object with the following fields:

Field Description
stream Specifies a writable stream to write the XLSX workbook to.
filename If stream not specified, this field specifies the path to a file to write the XLSX workbook to.
useSharedStrings Specifies whether to use shared strings in the workbook. Default is false
useStyles Specifies whether to add style information to the workbook. Styles can add some performance overhead. Default is false

If neither stream nor filename is specified in the options, the workbook writer will create a StreamBuf object that will store the contents of the XLSX workbook in memory. This StreamBuf object, which can be accessed via the property workbook.stream, can be used to either access the bytes directly by stream.read() or to pipe the contents to another stream.

// construct a streaming XLSX workbook writer with styles and shared strings
var options = {
    filename: './streamed-workbook.xlsx',
    useStyles: true,
    useSharedStrings: true
};
var workbook = new Excel.stream.xlsx.WorkbookWriter(options);

In general, the interface to the streaming XLSX writer is the same as the Document workbook (and worksheets) described above, in fact the row, cell and style objects are the same.

However there are some differences...

Construction

As seen above, the WorkbookWriter will typically require the output stream or file to be specified in the constructor.

Committing Data

When a worksheet row is ready, it should be committed so that the row object and contents can be freed. Typically this would be done as each row is added...

worksheet.addRow({
   id: i,
   name: theName,
   etc: someOtherDetail
}).commit();

The reason the WorksheetWriter does not commit rows as they are added is to allow cells to be merged across rows:

worksheet.mergeCells('A1:B2');
worksheet.getCell('A1').value = 'I am merged';
worksheet.getCell('C1').value = 'I am not';
worksheet.getCell('C2').value = 'Neither am I';
worksheet.getRow(2).commit(); // now rows 1 and two are committed.

As each worksheet is completed, it must also be committed:

// Finished adding data. Commit the worksheet
worksheet.commit();

To complete the XLSX document, the workbook must be committed. If any worksheet in a workbook are uncommitted, they will be committed automatically as part of the workbook commit.

// Finished the workbook.
workbook.commit()
  .then(function() {
    // the stream has been written
  });

Value Types

The following value types are supported.

Enum Name Enum Description Example Value
Excel.ValueType.Null 0 No value. null
Excel.ValueType.Merge 1 N/A N/A
Excel.ValueType.Number 2 A numerical value 3.14
Excel.ValueType.String 3 A text value 'Hello, World!'
Excel.ValueType.Date 4 A Date value new Date()
Excel.ValueType.Hyperlink 5 A hyperlink { text: 'www.mylink.com', hyperlink: 'http://www.mylink.com' }
Excel.ValueType.Formula 6 A formula { formula: 'A1+A2', result: 7 }

Interface Changes

Every effort is made to make a good consistent interface that doesn't break through the versions but regrettably, now and then some things have to change for the greater good.

Interface Breaks in 0.1.0

Worksheet.eachRow

The arguments in the callback function to Worksheet.eachRow have been swapped and changed; it was function(rowNumber,rowValues), now it is function(row, rowNumber) which gives it a look and feel more like the underscore (_.each) function and prioritises the row object over the row number.

Worksheet.getRow

This function has changed from returning a sparse array of cell values to returning a Row object. This enables accessing row properties and will facilitate managing row styles and so on.

The sparse array of cell values is still available via Worksheet.getRow(rowNumber).values;

Interface Breaks in 0.1.1

cell.model

cell.styles renamed to cell.style

Known Issues

Splice vs Merge

If any splice operation affects a merged cell, the merge group will not be moved correctly

Release History

Version Changes
0.0.9
0.1.0
0.1.1
  • Bug Fixes
    • More textual data written properly to xml (including text, hyperlinks, formula results and format codes)
    • Better date format code recognition
  • Cell Font Style
0.1.2
  • Fixed potential race condition on zip write
0.1.3
0.1.5
  • Bug Fixes
    • Now handles 10 or more worksheets in one workbook
    • theme1.xml file properly added and referenced
  • Cell Borders
0.1.6
  • Bug Fixes
    • More compatable theme1.xml included in XLSX file
  • Cell Fills
0.1.8
  • Bug Fixes
    • More compatable theme1.xml included in XLSX file
    • Fixed filename case issue
  • Cell Fills
0.1.9
  • Bug Fixes
    • Added docProps files to satisfy Mac Excel users
    • Fixed filename case issue
    • Fixed worksheet id issue
  • Core Workbook Properties
0.1.10
  • Bug Fixes
    • Handles File Not Found error
  • CSV Files
0.1.11
0.2.0
  • Streaming XLSX Writer
    • At long last ExcelJS can support writing massive XLSX files in a scalable memory efficient manner. Performance has been optimised and even smaller spreadsheets can be faster to write than the document writer. Options have been added to control the use of shared strings and styles as these can both have a considerable effect on performance
  • Worksheet.lastRow
    • Access the last editable row in a worksheet.
  • Row.commit()
    • For streaming writers, this method commits the row (and any previous rows) to the stream. Committed rows will no longer be editable (and are typically deleted from the worksheet object). For Document type workbooks, this method has no effect.
0.2.2
  • One Billion Cells
    • Achievement Unlocked: A simple test using ExcelJS has created a spreadsheet with 1,000,000,000 cells. Made using random data with 100,000,000 rows of 10 cells per row. I cannot validate the file yet as Excel will not open it and I have yet to implement the streaming reader but I have every confidence that it is good since 1,000,000 rows loads ok.
0.2.3
  • Bug Fixes
  • Streaming XLSX Writer
    • At long last ExcelJS can support writing massive XLSX files in a scalable memory efficient manner. Performance has been optimised and even smaller spreadsheets can be faster to write than the document writer. Options have been added to control the use of shared strings and styles as these can both have a considerable effect on performance
  • Worksheet.lastRow
    • Access the last editable row in a worksheet.
  • Row.commit()
    • For streaming writers, this method commits the row (and any previous rows) to the stream. Committed rows will no longer be editable (and are typically deleted from the worksheet object). For Document type workbooks, this method has no effect.
0.2.4
0.2.6
0.2.7
  • Data Validations
    • Cells can now define validations that controls the valid values the cell can have
0.2.8
0.2.9
  • Fixed "read property 'richText' of undefined error. Thanks to james075
0.2.10
  • Refactoring Complete. All unit and integration tests pass.
0.2.11
0.2.12
0.2.13
0.2.14
0.2.15
0.2.16
0.2.17
0.2.18
0.2.19
0.2.20
0.2.21
0.2.22
0.2.23
  • Merged Fall back to JSON.stringify() if unknown Cell.Type #137 with some modification. If a cell value is assigned to an unrecognisable javascript object, the stored value in xlsx and csv files will be JSON stringified. Note that if the file is read again, no attempt will be made to parse the stringified JSON text. Thanks to wulfsolter for the contribution.
0.2.24
  • Merged Protect cell fix #166. This does not mean full support for protected cells merely that the parser is not confused by the extra xml. Thanks to jayflo for the contribution.
0.2.25
  • Added functions to delete cells, rows and columns from a worksheet. Modelled after the Array splice method, the functions allow cells, rows and columns to be deleted (and optionally inserted). See Columns and Rows for details.
    Note: Not compatable with cell merges
0.2.26
0.2.27
0.2.28