Question

So far all the Excel stuff revolves around opening a file, writing values to it and saving it.

Is there a way to update the data in the Excel (while it’s opened) automatically?

Thanks!

P.S. I am looking for more information with respect to Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel;

Answer 1

Not sure how you’re writing the data, but for reading data from Excel, this is what I do:

select the Range I need (can be from one cell to several rows and columns – it’s a single cell here):

Excel.Range cell = m_worksheet.get_Range(_CellName(end, column), _CellName(end, column));

then get the values you need from the selected cell:

string value = cell.Value2.ToString().Substring(...);

you can also manipulate the colors if there are any:

if(Convert.ToInt32(cell.Interior.ColorIndex) == 6) //we have yellow background

be careful with colors if your users have Excel 2007, though. You’ll have to use the RGB codes.

Also, while processign the Excel file, it’s locked for other applications, I think. You’ll have to check that for the 3rd party readign the values.

And for _CellName:

private string _CellName(int row, int col)
 {
      string result = "";
      if (col > 26) // for columns like 'AA' 
      {
           result = ((char)((char)(col / 26) + 'A' - 1)).ToString(); //get the first letter
      }
      result += ((char)((char)(col % 26) + 'A' - 1)).ToString(); //get the second/only letter
      return result + Convert.ToString(row);
 }