How to Create PDF in ASP .NET

Some Important Features

• Open, read Excel files, and search data from different spreadsheet formats like XLS/CSV/TSV/XLSX files.
• Export Excel Worksheets to XLS/XLSX/CSV/TSV/JSON.
• Encrypt and decrypt XLSM/XLTX/XLSX files with passwords.
• Import Excel sheets as System.Data.DataSet and System.Data.DataTable objects.
• Excel file formulas are recalculated every time a sheet is edited.
• Intuitive cell range settings with a WorkSheet["A1:B10"] easy syntax.
• Sort Cell Ranges, Columns, and Rows.
• Styling Cells - Font, Font Size, Background color, Border, Alignment, and Numbering formats.

Prerequisites

To use IronXL in C# to read Excel files, the first step is to ensure the following components are installed on the local computer:

1. Visual Studio - It is the official IDE for developing C# .NET applications. You can download and install Visual Studio from the Visual Studio Download Page.
2. IronXL - It is the library that helps work with Excel sheets in C#. It must be installed in a C# program before using it. IronXL can be downloaded from the IronXL NuGet Package or Manage NuGet packages in Visual Studio tools. You can also download the .NET Excel DLL from Iron Software's website.

Adding Necessary Namespaces

Once Visual Studio and IronXL are installed, the IronXL assembly reference for using IronXL should be included in the source code. Add the following line of code at the top of the file within the new project where IronXL functions will be used:

using IronXL;

using IronXL;

Open an Existing Excel file in C#

// Supported Excel spreadsheet formats for reading include: XLSX, XLS, CSV, and TSV
WorkBook workbook = WorkBook.Load("test.xlsx");

// Supported Excel spreadsheet formats for reading include: XLSX, XLS, CSV, and TSV
WorkBook workbook = WorkBook.Load("test.xlsx");

WorkSheet sheet = workbook.WorkSheets.First();

WorkSheet sheet = workbook.WorkSheets.First();

Read Data from Imported Excel file

Once the Excel file is imported, it is ready for reading data. Reading Excel file data in C# using IronXL is very simple and easy. You can read Excel cell values by simply mentioning the cell reference number.

The code below retrieves the value of a cell with reference number "C2":

// Select cells easily in Excel-notation and return the value
int cellValue = sheet["C2"].IntValue;

// Display the value
Console.WriteLine(cellValue);

// Select cells easily in Excel-notation and return the value
int cellValue = sheet["C2"].IntValue;

// Display the value
Console.WriteLine(cellValue);

The output is as follows:

Read Excel

Now, let's read data from a range of cells in the opened Excel file. The code goes as follows:

// Read from a range of cells elegantly.
foreach (var cell in sheet["A2:A6"])
{
    Console.WriteLine("Cell {0} has value '{1}'", cell.AddressString, cell.Text);
}

// Read from a range of cells elegantly.
foreach (var cell in sheet["A2:A6"])
{
    Console.WriteLine("Cell {0} has value '{1}'", cell.AddressString, cell.Text);
}

The code is very simple, clean, and clear. The range of cells can be referenced with simple syntax as shown in a foreach loop: sheet["A2:A6"] and each cell can be iterated using a foreach loop to get its value. Here, you will see the names in column A from row 2 to row 6 on the console output:

Read Range of Cells

For more details on reading and writing cell values, check this tutorial on reading Excel files in C#.

Import all Data from an Excel file

WorkBook workbook = WorkBook.Load("test.xlsx");
WorkSheet sheet = workbook.WorkSheets.First();

// Traverse all rows of Excel WorkSheet
for (int i = 0; i < sheet.Rows.Count(); i++)
{
    // Traverse all columns of specific Row
    for (int j = 0; j < sheet.Columns.Count(); j++)
    {
        // Get the value as a string
        string val = sheet.Rows[i].Columns[j].Value.ToString();
        Console.Write("{0}\t", val);
    }
    Console.WriteLine();
}

WorkBook workbook = WorkBook.Load("test.xlsx");
WorkSheet sheet = workbook.WorkSheets.First();

// Traverse all rows of Excel WorkSheet
for (int i = 0; i < sheet.Rows.Count(); i++)
{
    // Traverse all columns of specific Row
    for (int j = 0; j < sheet.Columns.Count(); j++)
    {
        // Get the value as a string
        string val = sheet.Rows[i].Columns[j].Value.ToString();
        Console.Write("{0}\t", val);
    }
    Console.WriteLine();
}

Summary

In this article, we learned how to import and read an Excel file in C# without any Microsoft Excel installed. Then we considered multiple ways to read data from an Excel spreadsheet. IronXL also helps create Excel files in C# without any Excel installed.

IronXL provides an all-in-one solution for all MS Excel document-related tasks to be implemented programmatically. You can perform formula calculation, string or number sorting, trimming and appending, find and replace, merge and unmerge, save files, etc. You can edit cell values and also set cell data formats along with validating spreadsheet data. It also supports CSV files and helps you to work with Excel-like data.

Try IronXL for Free and explore its features. It can be licensed for commercial use with its Lite package starting at only $799.