Excel File Creation in C# Without Microsoft Office Installation

Generate Excel Files in C# Seamlessly

Creating Excel files (.XLS and.XLSX) in C# might be an important need for many applications. However, relying on Microsoft Office installation on the server or client system might be inconvenient and inefficient.

Fortunately, there are robust APIs and tools available that enable developers to produce Excel spreadsheets programmatically in C# without the use of Microsoft Office. This article examines the many approaches and libraries for accomplishing this efficiently.

Understanding the creation of Excel files in C#.

The preceding scripts show how to create Excel files (.XLS and.XLSX) in C# without installing Microsoft Office using two common libraries: EPPlus and NPOI. The first script uses the EPPlus library. To begin, use the command ExcelPackage.LicenseContext = LicenseContext.NonCommercial; to set EPPlus' license context to non-commercial use. This assures adherence to the EPPlus licensing terms. Next, it creates a new Excel package instance using using (var package = new ExcelPackage()) and adds a new worksheet named "Sheet1" with var worksheet = package.Workbook.Worksheets.Add("Sheet1");. To add data to cells, set their values directly. For example, worksheet.Cells[1, 1].Value = "Hello"; assigns the value "Hello" to the first cell in the first row. The file is subsequently saved to the disk with package.SaveAs(new FileInfo("example.xlsx"));, which completes the Excel file creation process.

The second script uses the NPOI library to generate an Excel file. It begins by initializing a new workbook instance for creating.XLSX files with 5.. Using ISheet sheet = workbook.CreateSheet("Sheet1");, a new sheet called "Sheet1" is added to the workbook. Calling IRow row = sheet.CreateRow(0); and row.CreateCell(0).SetCellValue("Hello"); creates rows and populates cells with data, respectively. The workbook is written to a file stream and saved to the disk using a FileStream wrapped in a using statement to manage resources properly. Finally, Console.WriteLine("Excel file created successfully!"); displays a success message in the console. These scripts demonstrate how effective and adaptable these libraries are for creating Excel files in C# without using Microsoft Office.

using System;
using System.IO;
using OfficeOpenXml;

namespace ExcelCreationExample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            ExcelPackage.LicenseContext = LicenseContext.NonCommercial;
            using (var package = new ExcelPackage())
            {
                var worksheet = package.Workbook.Worksheets.Add("Sheet1");
                worksheet.Cells[1, 1].Value = "Hello";
                worksheet.Cells[1, 2].Value = "World";
                var file = new FileInfo("example.xlsx");
                package.SaveAs(file);
                Console.WriteLine("Excel file created successfully!");
            }
        }
    }
}

using System;
using System.IO;
using NPOI.SS.UserModel;
using NPOI.XSSF.UserModel;

namespace ExcelCreationExample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            IWorkbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook();
            ISheet sheet = workbook.CreateSheet("Sheet1");
            IRow row = sheet.CreateRow(0);
            row.CreateCell(0).SetCellValue("Hello");
            row.CreateCell(1).SetCellValue("World");
            using (var file = new FileStream("example.xlsx", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write))
            {
                workbook.Write(file);
            }
            Console.WriteLine("Excel file created successfully!");
        }
    }
}

Creating Excel files with ClosedXML in C#

ClosedXML is another fantastic package for producing Excel files in C# that does not require Microsoft Office. ClosedXML is a.NET library that reads, manipulates, and writes Excel 2007+ (.XLSX) files. It is intuitive and simple to use, making it popular among developers. ClosedXML allows you to produce Excel files with advanced features such as cell formatting, formula addition, and table creation. To use ClosedXML, first install it using NuGet. After configuring, you can generate a new Excel worksheet using only a few lines of code. For example, you use the var workbook = new XLWorkbook(); and var worksheet = workbook.Worksheets.Add("Sheet1"); instructions to create a new workbook and add a worksheet named "Sheet1".

You can add data to cells using commands like worksheet.Cell(1, 1).Value = "Hello";, and format cells, add borders, and adjust font styles with easy, legible commands. After you've entered your data, use workbook.SaveAs("example.xlsx"); to save the workbook as a file. ClosedXML includes a variety of capabilities such as pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts, making it an effective tool for building sophisticated Excel documents automatically. This flexibility allows developers to create Excel files that are suited to their individual needs without requiring Microsoft Office installation, simplifying application development and distribution.