Modifying existing excel using jxl

Question

I m not able to edit the existing excel sheet using jxl. It always creates a new one. Can anyone please help me out with it. Please give a small sample code.

Answer 1

I personally use this code to append the xls file and create one if it doesn't exist.
Using jxl 2.6:

    public class Excel {

        private String fileName = "excel_file.xls";
        private String sheetName = "sheet1";
        private WritableWorkbook writableWorkbook;
        private int rowCount;
        private Workbook wb;

// assigns checks if file exists or not, both cases we assign it to a WritableWorkbook // object so that we can write to it.
        private void assignWorkBook() throws IOException, BiffException {
    //        File f = new File(System.getProperty("user.dir") +"\\"+fileName);
            File inp = new File(fileName);
            try{
                wb = Workbook.getWorkbook(inp);
                writableWorkbook = Workbook.createWorkbook(inp, wb);
            } catch (FileNotFoundException e){
                writableWorkbook = Workbook.createWorkbook(inp); //Create a new one
            }
        }

        public int getRowCount() {
            return rowCount;
        }

// this function writes a vector to an excel file, checks if there is already a sheet 
// with that name or not, and uses it. then we have to close the Workbook object before 
// we could write to the file, and then we save the file.
// That is, the file is always saved after writing to it.

        public void writeRow(Vector<String> playerVector) throws WriteException, IOException, BiffException {
            assignWorkBook();
            WritableSheet excelSheet;
            if(writableWorkbook.getNumberOfSheets() == 0) {
                excelSheet = writableWorkbook.createSheet(sheetName, 0);
            }
            else {
                excelSheet = writableWorkbook.getSheet(sheetName);
            }
            rowCount = excelSheet.getRows();
            int colCount = 0;
            for(String playerStat:playerVector) {
                Label label = new Label(colCount++, rowCount, playerStat);
                excelSheet.addCell(label);
            }
            if(wb != null) {
                wb.close();
            }
            writableWorkbook.write();
            writableWorkbook.close(); //everytime save it.
        }
    }

Answer 2

jxl is designed for increased read efficiency (since this is the primary use of the API). In order to improve performance, data which relates to output information (eg. all the formatting information such as fonts) is not interpreted when the spreadsheet is read, since this is superfluous when interrogating the raw data values.

However, if we need to modify this spreadsheet a handle to the various write interfaces is needed, which can be obtained using the copy method.

Workbook workbook = Workbook.getWorkbook(new File("myfile.xls"));
WritableWorkbook copy = Workbook.createWorkbook(new File("temp.xls"), workbook);

This copies the information that has already been read in as well as performing the additional processing to interpret the fields that are necessary to for writing spreadsheets. The disadvantage of this read-optimized strategy is that we have two spreadsheets held in memory rather than just one, thus doubling the memory requirements.

But after this, you can do whatever you want. Like:

WritableSheet sheet2 = copy.getSheet(1); 
WritableCell cell = sheet2.getWritableCell(1, 2); 

if (cell.getType() == CellType.LABEL) 
{ 
  Label l = (Label) cell; 
  l.setString("modified cell"); 
}
copy.write(); 
copy.close();
workbook.close();

Note: this is directly taken from Andy Khan's tutorial page.

Answer 3

//there is god example of it, you can copy in ur project and check it out, to 
//understand how  it works

Workbook wk = Workbook.getWorkbook(new File("ex.xls"));
// 
WritableWorkbook wkr = Workbook.createWorkbook(new File("modifed.xls"), wk);
/* second line makes copy of wk excel file object /creates a readable spreadsheet.
both are now similar and i can Modify exiting wkr spreadsheets */



 //next 2 line retrieve sheet number 0  and cell (1,1)


 WritableSheet getsht = wkr.getSheet(0);
 WritableCell getcl = getsht.getWritableCell(1, 1);


 //making own font 

WritableFont ft = new WritableFont(WritableFont.ARIAL, 20 , WritableFont.BOLD, true , UnderlineStyle.SINGLE); 
//making Format, which uses font
WritableCellFormat   form   =   new WritableCellFormat( ft);

Number nb = ( Number ) getcl ;          
nb.setCellFormat( form );    


wkr.write();
wkr.close();

Answer 4

I know that this is quite an old question, but if anyone will encounter the same problem, then to preserve the correct formatting (font type, colouring, etc. ) you should save the cell format before casting it to Label, and then force the cell to the previous formatting. Code:

CellFormat cfm = cell.getCellFormat();
Label l = (Label) cell; 
l.setString("modified cell");
cell.setCellFormat(cfm);