creating cell comments using HSSFClientAnchor in apache poi

Question

Could someone please explain to me how to properly use the Anchors when creating cell comments? Mine were working, but the spread sheet changed and I am having issues gettin

Answer 1

A bit late, but this will probably work (it works for me, while the Apache POI example from the quick start also didn't work for me):

    public void setComment(String text, Cell cell) {
    final Map<Sheet, HSSFPatriarch> drawingPatriarches = new HashMap<Sheet, HSSFPatriarch>();

    CreationHelper createHelper = cell.getSheet().getWorkbook().getCreationHelper();
    HSSFSheet sheet = (HSSFSheet) cell.getSheet();
    HSSFPatriarch drawingPatriarch = drawingPatriarches.get(sheet);
    if (drawingPatriarch == null) {
        drawingPatriarch = sheet.createDrawingPatriarch();
        drawingPatriarches.put(sheet, drawingPatriarch);
    }

    Comment comment = drawingPatriarch.createComment(new HSSFClientAnchor(0, 0, 0, 0, (short) 4, 2, (short) 6, 5));
    comment.setString(createHelper.createRichTextString(text));
    cell.setCellComment(comment);
}

Erik Pragt

Answer 2

The following code works for me for Office 2007 (xlsx) format files. Figured this out from POI guide http://poi.apache.org/spreadsheet/quick-guide.html#CellComments and How to set comments for 3 cells using apache poi

protected void setCellComment(Cell cell, String message) {
    Drawing drawing = cell.getSheet().createDrawingPatriarch();
    CreationHelper factory = cell.getSheet().getWorkbook()
            .getCreationHelper();
    // When the comment box is visible, have it show in a 1x3 space
    ClientAnchor anchor = factory.createClientAnchor();
    anchor.setCol1(cell.getColumnIndex());
    anchor.setCol2(cell.getColumnIndex() + 1);
    anchor.setRow1(cell.getRowIndex());
    anchor.setRow2(cell.getRowIndex() + 1);
    anchor.setDx1(100);
    anchor.setDx2(100);
    anchor.setDy1(100);
    anchor.setDy2(100);

    // Create the comment and set the text+author
    Comment comment = drawing.createCellComment(anchor);
    RichTextString str = factory.createRichTextString(message);
    comment.setString(str);
    comment.setAuthor("Apache POI");
    // Assign the comment to the cell
    cell.setCellComment(comment);
}