reading Excel Open XML is ignoring blank cells

Question

I am using the accepted solution here to convert an excel sheet into a datatable. This works fine if I have \"perfect\" data but if I have a blank cell in the middle of my

Answer 1

To read blank cells, I am using a variable named "CN" assigned outside the row reader and in while loop, I am checking if column index is greater than or not from my variable as it is being incremented after each cell read. if this does not match, I am filling my column with value I want to. This is the trick I used to catch up the blank cells into my respecting column value. Here is the code:

public static DataTable ReadIntoDatatableFromExcel(string newFilePath)
        {
            /*Creating a table with 20 columns*/
            var dt = CreateProviderRvenueSharingTable();

            try
            {
                /*using stream so that if excel file is in another process then it can read without error*/
                using (Stream stream = new FileStream(newFilePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.ReadWrite))
                {
                    using (SpreadsheetDocument spreadsheetDocument = SpreadsheetDocument.Open(stream, false))
                    {
                        var workbookPart = spreadsheetDocument.WorkbookPart;
                        var workbook = workbookPart.Workbook;

                        /*get only unhide tabs*/
                        var sheets = workbook.Descendants<Sheet>().Where(e => e.State == null);

                        foreach (var sheet in sheets)
                        {
                            var worksheetPart = (WorksheetPart)workbookPart.GetPartById(sheet.Id);

                            /*Remove empty sheets*/
                            List<Row> rows = worksheetPart.Worksheet.Elements<SheetData>().First().Elements<Row>()
                                .Where(r => r.InnerText != string.Empty).ToList();

                            if (rows.Count > 1)
                            {
                                OpenXmlReader reader = OpenXmlReader.Create(worksheetPart);

                                int i = 0;
                                int BTR = 0;/*Break the reader while empty rows are found*/

                                while (reader.Read())
                                {
                                    if (reader.ElementType == typeof(Row))
                                    {
                                        /*ignoring first row with headers and check if data is there after header*/
                                        if (i < 2)
                                        {
                                            i++;
                                            continue;
                                        }

                                        reader.ReadFirstChild();

                                        DataRow row = dt.NewRow();

                                        int CN = 0;

                                        if (reader.ElementType == typeof(Cell))
                                        {
                                            do
                                            {
                                                Cell c = (Cell)reader.LoadCurrentElement();

                                                /*reader skipping blank cells so data is getting worng in datatable's rows according to header*/
                                                if (CN != 0)
                                                {
                                                    int cellColumnIndex =
                                                        ExcelHelper.GetColumnIndexFromName(
                                                            ExcelHelper.GetColumnName(c.CellReference));

                                                    if (cellColumnIndex < 20 && CN < cellColumnIndex - 1)
                                                    {
                                                        do
                                                        {
                                                            row[CN] = string.Empty;
                                                            CN++;
                                                        } while (CN < cellColumnIndex - 1);
                                                    }
                                                }

                                                /*stopping execution if first cell does not have any value which means empty row*/
                                                if (CN == 0 && c.DataType == null && c.CellValue == null)
                                                {
                                                    BTR++;
                                                    break;
                                                }

                                                string cellValue = GetCellValue(c, workbookPart);
                                                row[CN] = cellValue;
                                                CN++;

                                                /*if any text exists after T column (index 20) then skip the reader*/
                                                if (CN == 20)
                                                {
                                                    break;
                                                }
                                            } while (reader.ReadNextSibling());
                                        }

                                        /*reader skipping blank cells so fill the array upto 19 index*/
                                        while (CN != 0 && CN < 20)
                                        {
                                            row[CN] = string.Empty;
                                            CN++;
                                        }

                                        if (CN == 20)
                                        {
                                            dt.Rows.Add(row);
                                        }
                                    }
                                    /*escaping empty rows below data filled rows after checking 5 times */
                                    if (BTR > 5)
                                        break;
                                }
                                reader.Close();
                            }                            
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                throw ex;
            }
            return dt;
        }

  private static string GetCellValue(Cell c, WorkbookPart workbookPart)
        {
            string cellValue = string.Empty;
            if (c.DataType != null && c.DataType == CellValues.SharedString)
            {
                SharedStringItem ssi =
                    workbookPart.SharedStringTablePart.SharedStringTable
                        .Elements<SharedStringItem>()
                        .ElementAt(int.Parse(c.CellValue.InnerText));
                if (ssi.Text != null)
                {
                    cellValue = ssi.Text.Text;
                }
            }
            else
            {
                if (c.CellValue != null)
                {
                    cellValue = c.CellValue.InnerText;
                }
            }
            return cellValue;
        }

public static int GetColumnIndexFromName(string columnNameOrCellReference)
        {
            int columnIndex = 0;
            int factor = 1;
            for (int pos = columnNameOrCellReference.Length - 1; pos >= 0; pos--)   // R to L
            {
                if (Char.IsLetter(columnNameOrCellReference[pos]))  // for letters (columnName)
                {
                    columnIndex += factor * ((columnNameOrCellReference[pos] - 'A') + 1);
                    factor *= 26;
                }
            }
            return columnIndex;
        }

        public static string GetColumnName(string cellReference)
        {
            /* Advance from L to R until a number, then return 0 through previous position*/
            for (int lastCharPos = 0; lastCharPos <= 3; lastCharPos++)
                if (Char.IsNumber(cellReference[lastCharPos]))
                    return cellReference.Substring(0, lastCharPos);

            throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("cellReference");
        }

Code works for:

1. This code reads blank cells
2. skip empty rows after reading complete.
3. read the sheet from first in ascending order
4. if excel file is being used by another process, OpenXML still reads that.

Answer 2

it run success with this code:

            string filePath = "test.xlsx"//your file path 

            //Open the Excel file using ClosedXML.
            using (XLWorkbook workBook = new XLWorkbook(filePath))
            {
                //Read the first Sheet from Excel file.
                IXLWorksheet workSheet = workBook.Worksheet(1);

                //Create a new DataTable.
                DataTable dt = new DataTable();

                //Loop through the Worksheet rows.
                bool firstRow = true;
                foreach (IXLRow row in workSheet.Rows())
                {
                    //Use the first row to add columns to DataTable.
                    if (firstRow)
                    {
                        foreach (IXLCell cell in row.Cells())
                        {
                            dt.Columns.Add(cell.Value.ToString());
                        }
                        firstRow = false;
                    }
                    else
                    {

                        //Add rows to DataTable.
                        dt.Rows.Add();
                        int i = 0;
                        //for (IXLCell cell in row.Cells())
                        for (int j = 1; j <= dt.Columns.Count; j++)
                        {
                            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(row.Cell(j).Value.ToString()))
                                dt.Rows[dt.Rows.Count - 1][i] = "";
                            else
                                dt.Rows[dt.Rows.Count - 1][i] = 
                            row.Cell(j).Value.ToString();
                            i++;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }