rubyXL

To Install:

gem install rubyXL

To Use:

require 'rubyXL' # Assuming rubygems is already required

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"

Accessing just the values

worksheet = workbook[0]
worksheet.extract_data  # Produces a simple rectangular array that consists only of cell values (rather than the Cell objects)

Accessing a Row (Array of Cells)

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

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

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.border_top

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_horizontal_alignment(0)
worksheet.get_row_vertical_alignment(0)
worksheet.get_row_border_right(0)

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_height(0)
worksheet.get_column_horizontal_alignment(0)
worksheet.get_column_vertical_alignment(0)
worksheet.get_column_border_right(0)

Table identification

worksheet = workbook[0]
worksheet.get_table(["NAME", "AGE", "HEIGHT"]) # Returns hash of a table in the first worksheet, with the specified strings as headers, accessible by row and column
#it returns the following structure
{
 :Name=>["John", "Jane", "Joe"], 
 :Height=>[70, 65, 68], 
 :Age=>[30, 25, 35]
 :table=>[
  {:Name=>"John", :Height=>70, :Age=>30},
  {:Name=>"Jane", :Height=>65, :Age=>25}, 
  {:Name=>"Joe", :Height=>68, :Age=>35}
 ]
}

Modifying

Adding Worksheets

worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet('Sheet2')

Renaming Worksheets

worksheet.sheet_name = 'Cool New Name'

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

Changing Alignment

Horizontal

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

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

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)

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.delete_cell(0, 0, :left)  # Deletes A1, shifts contents of first row left
worksheet.delete_cell(0, 0, :up)    # Deletes A1, shifts contents of first column up
worksheet.delete_cell(0, 0)         # Deletes A1, does not shift cells

Writing

workbook.write("path/to/desired/Excel/file.xlsx")

Miscellaneous

Reference.ind2ref(0,0) == 'A1'    # Converts row and column index to Excel-style cell reference
Reference.ref2ind('A1') == [0, 0] # Converts Excel-style cell reference to row and column index

For more information

Take a look at the files in spec/lib/ for rspecs on most methods

Contributing to rubyXL

Check out the latest master to make sure the feature hasn’t been implemented or the bug hasn’t been fixed yet
Check out the issue tracker to make sure someone already hasn’t requested it and/or contributed it
Fork the project
Start a feature/bugfix branch
Commit and push until you are happy with your contribution
Make sure to add tests for it. This is important so I don’t break it in a future version unintentionally.
Please try not to mess with the Rakefile, version, or history. If you want to have your own version, or is otherwise necessary, that is fine, but please isolate to its own commit so I can cherry-pick around it.

rubyXL

To Install:

To Use:

Parsing an existing workbook

Creating a new Workbook

Accessing

Accessing a Worksheet

Accessing just the values

Accessing a Row (Array of Cells)

Accessing a Cell object

Wrappers for accessing Cell properties

Wrappers for accessing Row properties

Accessing column properties

Table identification

Modifying

Adding Worksheets

Renaming Worksheets

Adding Cells

Changing Cells

Changing Fonts

Changing Fills

Changing Borders

Changing Alignment

Horizontal

Vertical

Changing Row Height

Changing Column Width

Merging Cells

Insert Row

Insert Column

Delete Row

Delete Column

Insert Cell

Delete Cell

Writing

Miscellaneous

For more information

Contributing to rubyXL

Copyright