/exceljs

Excel Workbook Manager

Primary LanguageJavaScriptMIT LicenseMIT

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!

  • Bug Fixes
    • Added docProps files to satisfy Mac Excel users
    • Fixed filename case issue
    • Fixed worksheet id issue
  • Core Workbook Properties

Coming Soon

  • Column and Row Styles
  • CSV

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();

Add a Worksheet

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

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);

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 }
];

// 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;

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);

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

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

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
// Note: interface change - argument order is now row, rowNumber
worksheet.eachRow(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);
});

## Handling Individual Cells

```javascript
// 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");

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

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

Cell Styles

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.

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
    });

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 }

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

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

Too Many Worksheets Results in Parse Error

There appears to be an issue in one of the dependent libraries (unzip) where too many files causes the following error to be emitted:

    invalid signature: 0x80014

In practical terms, this error only seems to arise with over 98 sheets (or 49 sheets with hyperlinks) so it shouldn't affect that many. I will keep an eye on it though.