rubyXL¶ ↑

This gem supports operating on xlsx files (Open XML format). While it is capable of properly parsing the entire OOXML structure, its current main emphasis is on reading files produced by MS Excel, making minor modifications to them and saving them to be opened again, while preserving as much of the structure as possible.

Please note that proprietary binary xls format is not supported by this gem. If you need to parse those files, try spreadsheet gem.

To Install:¶ ↑

gem install rubyXL

To Use:¶ ↑

require 'rubyXL' # Assuming rubygems is already required

Convenience methods¶ ↑

Starting with version 3.4.0, the main data structure has been separated from the convenience methods that provide access to individual features of the xlsx format, in order to decrease the memory footprint. If you intend to use these features, you will need to additionally include the respective files:

require 'rubyXL/convenience_methods/cell'
require 'rubyXL/convenience_methods/color'
require 'rubyXL/convenience_methods/font'
require 'rubyXL/convenience_methods/workbook'
require 'rubyXL/convenience_methods/worksheet'

If you do not care about your RAM usage, just include them all at once by adding the following line to your code so it can continue operating just as before:

require 'rubyXL/convenience_methods'

Parsing an existing workbook¶ ↑

workbook = RubyXL::Parser.parse("path/to/Excel/file.xlsx")

Creating a new Workbook¶ ↑

workbook = RubyXL::Workbook.new

Accessing¶ ↑

Accessing a Worksheet¶ ↑

workbook.worksheets[0] # Returns first worksheet
workbook[0]            # Returns first worksheet
workbook['Sheet1']     # Finds and returns worksheet titled "Sheet1". Note that sheet names in Excel are limited to 31 character.

Accessing a Row (Array of Cells)¶ ↑

Please note that worksheet is a sparse array of rows. Your code must expect that any row it plucks from the array may be nil.

worksheet = workbook[0]
worksheet.sheet_data[0] # Returns first row of the worksheet
worksheet[0]            # Returns first row of the worksheet

Accessing a Cell object¶ ↑

Please note that row is a sparse array of cells. Your code must expect that any cell it plucks from the array may be nil.

worksheet = workbook[0]
worksheet.sheet_data[0][0] # Returns cell A1 in the worksheet
worksheet[0][0]            # Returns cell A1 in the worksheet

cell = worksheet[0][0]
cell.value                 # Returns a properly converted value in the cell (if the file claims that the cell
                           # is holding a number, returns a respective Integer or Float, and so on).

Or, if you prefer Excel-style references (single-cell only!)

cell = worksheet.cell_at('B11')

Wrappers for accessing Cell properties¶ ↑

cell = workbook[0][0][0]
cell.is_struckthrough  # Returns +true+ if the cell is struckthrough, other boolean properties have same syntax
cell.font_name
cell.font_size
cell.font_color
cell.fill_color
cell.horizontal_alignment
cell.vertical_alignment
cell.get_border(:top)
cell.get_border_color(:top)
cell.text_rotation

Wrappers for accessing Row properties ¶ ↑

Please note: these methods are being phased out in favor of the OOXML object model.

worksheet = workbook[0]
worksheet.get_row_fill(0)
worksheet.get_row_font_name(0)
worksheet.get_row_font_size(0)
worksheet.get_row_font_color(0)
worksheet.is_row_underlined(0)
worksheet.get_row_height(0)
worksheet.get_row_alignment(0, true)
worksheet.get_row_alignment(0, false)
worksheet.get_row_border(0, :right)
worksheet.get_row_border_color(0, :right)

Accessing column properties¶ ↑

Please note: these methods are being phased out in favor of the OOXML object model.

worksheet = workbook[0]
worksheet.get_column_fill(0)
worksheet.get_column_font_name(0)
worksheet.get_column_font_size(0)
worksheet.get_column_font_color(0)
worksheet.is_column_underlined(0)
worksheet.get_column_width(0)
worksheet.get_column_alignment(0, :horizontal)
worksheet.get_column_alignment(0, :vertical)
worksheet.get_column_border(0, :right)
worksheet.get_column_border_color(0, :right)

Modifying¶ ↑

Adding Worksheets¶ ↑

worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet('Sheet2')

Renaming Worksheets¶ ↑

worksheet.sheet_name = 'Cool New Name' # Note that sheet name is limited to 31 characters by Excel.

Adding Cells¶ ↑

worksheet.add_cell(0, 0, 'A1')      # Sets cell A1 to string "A1"
worksheet.add_cell(0, 1, '', 'A1')  # Sets formula in the cell B1 to '=A1'

Changing Cells¶ ↑

worksheet[0][0].change_contents("", worksheet[0][0].formula) # Sets value of cell A1 to empty string, preserves formula

Changing Fonts¶ ↑

worksheet.sheet_data[0][0].change_font_bold(true) # Makes A1 bold
worksheet.change_row_italics(0,true)              # Makes first row italicized
worksheet.change_column_font_name(0, 'Courier')   # Makes first column have font Courier

Changing Fills ¶ ↑

worksheet.sheet_data[0][0].change_fill('0ba53d')  # Sets A1 to have fill #0ba53d
worksheet.change_row_fill(0, '0ba53d')            # Sets first row to have fill #0ba53d
worksheet.change_column_fill(0, '0ba53d')         # Sets first column to have fill #0ba53d

Changing Borders¶ ↑

# Possible weights: hairline, thin, medium, thick
# Possible "directions": top, bottom, left, right, diagonal
worksheet.sheet_data[0][0].change_border(:top, 'thin')  # Sets A1 to have a top, thin border
worksheet.change_row_border(0, :left, 'hairline')       # Sets first row to have a left, hairline border
worksheet.change_column_border(0, :diagonal, 'medium')  # Sets first column to have diagonal, medium border

# Set the border style first so there's something to color.
worksheet.change_row_border_color(0, :top, '0ba53d')    # Sets first row to have a green top border
worksheet.change_column_border_color(0, :top, '0ba53d') # Sets first column to have a green top border

Changing Alignment¶ ↑

Horizontal¶ ↑

# Possible alignments: center, distributed, justify, left, right
worksheet.sheet_data[0][0].change_horizontal_alignment('center') # Sets A1 to be centered
worksheet.change_row_horizontal_alignment(0, 'justify')          # Sets first row to be justified
worksheet.change_column_horizontal_alignment(0, 'right')         # Sets first column to be right-aligned

Vertical¶ ↑

# Possible alignments: bottom, center, distributed, top
worksheet.sheet_data[0][0].change_vertical_alignment('bottom')  # Sets A1 to be bottom aligned
worksheet.change_row_vertical_alignment(0, 'distributed')       # Sets first row to be distributed vertically
worksheet.change_column_vertical_alignment(0, 'top')            # Sets first column to be top aligned

Rotation¶ ↑

# Possible values:
# * 0-90 - degrees counterclockwise, around the bottom LEFT corner of the cell;
# * 91-179 - degrees clockwise, around the bottom RIGHT corner of the cell;
# * 180-254 - degrees clockwise, around the bottom LEFT corner of the cell, text becomes progressively invisible
# * 255 - text is in normal rotation but displayed vertically (one letter under another), line feed starts new line to the right of the previous.
worksheet.sheet_data[0][0].change_text_rotation(90)  # Sets A1 to be rotated by 90 degrees

Changing Row Height¶ ↑

worksheet.change_row_height(0, 30)  # Sets first row height to 30

Changing Column Width¶ ↑

worksheet.change_column_width(0, 30)  # Sets first column width to 30

Merging Cells¶ ↑

worksheet.merge_cells(0, 0, 1, 1)  # Merges A1:B2

Insert Row¶ ↑

This method will insert a row at specified index, pushing all rows below it down. It also copies styles from row above.

WARNING: Use of this method WILL break formulas referencing cells which have been moved, as the formulas do not adapt to the shifted rows

worksheet.insert_row(1)

Insert Column¶ ↑

This method will insert a column at specified index, pushing all columns to the right of it one to the right. It also copies styles from column to the left

WARNING: Use of this method WILL break formulas referencing cells which have been moved, as the formulas do not adapt to the shifted columns

worksheet.insert_column(1)

Delete Row¶ ↑

This method will delete a row at specified index, pushing all rows below it up.

WARNING: Use of this method WILL break formulas referencing cells which have been moved, as the formulas do not adapt to the shifted rows

worksheet.delete_row(1)

Delete Column¶ ↑

This method will delete a column at specified index, pushing all columns to the right of it left.

WARNING: Use of this method WILL break formulas referencing cells which have been moved, as the formulas do not adapt to the shifted columns

worksheet.delete_column(1)

Insert Cell¶ ↑

This method will insert a cell at specified position. It takes a :right or :down option, to shift cells either left or down upon inserting (nil means replacing the cell)

WARNING: Use of this method WILL break formulas referencing cells which have been moved, as the formulas do not adapt to the shifted cells

worksheet.insert_cell(0, 0, "blah", formula = nil, :right)  # Inserts cell at A1, shifts cells in first row right
worksheet.insert_cell(0, 0, "blah", formula = nil, :down)   # Inserts cell at A1, shifts cells in first column down
worksheet.insert_cell(0, 0, "blah")                         # Inserts cell at A1, shifts nothing

Delete Cell¶ ↑

This method will delete a cell at specified position. It takes a :left or :up option, to shift cells either up or left upon deletion (nil means simply deleting the cell contents)