Set Conditional Formats of Excel and ODS files with C++

Introduction

Conditional formatting is an advanced Microsoft Excel feature that allows you to apply formats to a cell or range of cells and have that formatting change depending on the value of the cell or the value of a formula. For example, you can have a cell appear bold only when the value of the cell is greater than 500. When the value of the cell meets the condition, the specified format is applied to the cell. If the value of the cell does not meet the format condition, the cell’s default formatting is used. In Microsoft Excel, select Format, then Conditional Formatting to open the Conditional Formatting dialog.

Aspose.Cells supports applying conditional formatting to cells at runtime. This article explains how. It also explains how to calculate the color used by Excel for color‑scale conditional formatting.

Applying Conditional Formatting

Aspose.Cells supports conditional formatting in several ways:

Using a designer spreadsheet
Using the copy method.
Creating conditional formatting at runtime.

Using Designer Spreadsheet

Developers can create a designer spreadsheet that contains conditional formatting in Microsoft Excel and then open that spreadsheet with Aspose.Cells. Aspose.Cells loads and saves the designer spreadsheet, keeping any conditional formatting settings.

Using the Copy Method

Aspose.Cells allows developers to copy conditional format settings from one cell to another in the worksheet by calling the Range.Copy() method.

#include <iostream>
#include <memory>
#include "Aspose.Cells.h"

using namespace Aspose::Cells;

int main()
{
    Aspose::Cells::Startup();

    // Source directory path
    U16String srcDir(u"..\\Data\\01_SourceDirectory\\");

    // Output directory path
    U16String outDir(u"..\\Data\\02_OutputDirectory\\");

    // Path of input Excel file
    U16String inputFilePath = srcDir + u"Book1.xlsx";

    // Path of output Excel file
    U16String outputFilePath = outDir + u"output.xls";

    // Open the Excel file
    Workbook workbook(inputFilePath);

    // Access the first worksheet in the Excel file
    Worksheet worksheet = workbook.GetWorksheets().Get(0);

    int totalRowCount = 0;

    // Iterate through all worksheets in the workbook
    for (int i = 0; i < workbook.GetWorksheets().GetCount(); i++)
    {
        Worksheet sourceSheet = workbook.GetWorksheets().Get(i);

        // Get the maximum display range of the source sheet
        Range sourceRange = sourceSheet.GetCells().GetMaxDisplayRange();

        // Create a destination range in the first worksheet
        Range destRange = worksheet.GetCells().CreateRange(
            sourceRange.GetFirstRow() + totalRowCount, 
            sourceRange.GetFirstColumn(),
            sourceRange.GetRowCount(), 
            sourceRange.GetColumnCount());

        // Copy data from source range to destination range
        destRange.Copy(sourceRange);

        // Update the total row count
        totalRowCount += sourceRange.GetRowCount();
    }

    // Save the modified Excel file
    workbook.Save(outputFilePath);

    Aspose::Cells::Cleanup();

    return 0;
}

Applying Conditional Formatting at Runtime

Aspose.Cells lets you both add and remove conditional formatting at runtime. The code samples below show how to set conditional formatting:

Instantiate a workbook.
Add an empty conditional format.
Set the range that the formatting should apply to.
Define the formatting conditions.
Save the file.

After this example come a number of other smaller examples that show how to apply font settings, border settings, and patterns.

Microsoft Excel 2007 added more advanced conditional formatting that Aspose.Cells also supports. The examples here illustrate how to use simple formatting; the Microsoft Excel 2007 examples show how to apply more advanced conditional formatting.

#include <iostream>
#include "Aspose.Cells.h"

using namespace Aspose::Cells;

int main() {
    Aspose::Cells::Startup();

    // Source directory path
    U16String srcDir(u"..\\Data\\01_SourceDirectory\\");

    // Output directory path
    U16String outDir(u"..\\Data\\02_OutputDirectory\\");

    // Path of input Excel file
    U16String filePath = srcDir + u"Book1.xlsx";

    // Instantiating a Workbook object
    Workbook workbook;
    Worksheet sheet = workbook.GetWorksheets().Get(0);

    // Adds an empty conditional formatting
    int index = sheet.GetConditionalFormattings().Add();
    FormatConditionCollection fcs = sheet.GetConditionalFormattings().Get(index);

    // Sets the conditional format range.
    CellArea ca;
    ca.StartRow = 0;
    ca.EndRow = 0;
    ca.StartColumn = 0;
    ca.EndColumn = 0;
    fcs.AddArea(ca);

    ca = CellArea();
    ca.StartRow = 1;
    ca.EndRow = 1;
    ca.StartColumn = 1;
    ca.EndColumn = 1;
    fcs.AddArea(ca);

    // Adds condition.
    int conditionIndex = fcs.AddCondition(FormatConditionType::CellValue, OperatorType::Between, u"=A2", u"100");

    // Adds condition.
    int conditionIndex2 = fcs.AddCondition(FormatConditionType::CellValue, OperatorType::Between, u"50", u"100");

    // Sets the background color.
    FormatCondition fc = fcs.Get(conditionIndex);
    fc.GetStyle().SetBackgroundColor(Color::Red());

    // Saving the Excel file
    workbook.Save(outDir + u"output.xls");

    std::cout << "Conditional formatting applied successfully!" << std::endl;

    Aspose::Cells::Cleanup();
    return 0;
}

Set Font

#include <iostream>
#include "Aspose.Cells.h"
using namespace Aspose::Cells;

int main()
{
    Aspose::Cells::Startup();

    // Source directory path
    U16String srcDir(u"..\\Data\\01_SourceDirectory\\");

    // Output directory path
    U16String outDir(u"..\\Data\\02_OutputDirectory\\");

    // Create a new workbook
    Workbook workbook;

    // Add a new worksheet to the workbook
    int i = workbook.GetWorksheets().Add();

    // Get the reference of the newly added worksheet by passing its sheet index
    Worksheet worksheet = workbook.GetWorksheets().Get(i);

    // Access the "A1" cell from the worksheet
    Cell cell = worksheet.GetCells().Get(u"A1");

    // Add a value to the "A1" cell
    cell.PutValue(u"Hello Aspose!");

    // Get the style of the cell
    Style style = cell.GetStyle();

    // Set the font weight to bold
    Font font = style.GetFont();
    font.SetIsBold(true);

    // Apply the style to the cell
    cell.SetStyle(style);

    // Save the Excel file
    workbook.Save(outDir + u"book1.out.xls", SaveFormat::Excel97To2003);

    std::cout << "Excel file saved successfully!" << std::endl;

    Aspose::Cells::Cleanup();
}

You can only change font style, text color, underline style, and strikeout style.

Set Border

#include <iostream>
#include "Aspose.Cells.h"
using namespace Aspose::Cells;

int main()
{
    Aspose::Cells::Startup();

    // Source directory path
    U16String srcDir(u"..\\Data\\01_SourceDirectory\\");

    // Output directory path
    U16String outDir(u"..\\Data\\02_OutputDirectory\\");

    // Create a new workbook
    Workbook workbook;

    // Get the first worksheet
    Worksheet sheet = workbook.GetWorksheets().Get(0);

    // Add an empty conditional formatting
    int index = sheet.GetConditionalFormattings().Add();
    FormatConditionCollection fcs = sheet.GetConditionalFormattings().Get(index);

    // Set the conditional format range
    CellArea ca;
    ca.StartRow = 0;
    ca.EndRow = 5;
    ca.StartColumn = 0;
    ca.EndColumn = 3;
    fcs.AddArea(ca);

    // Add condition
    int conditionIndex = fcs.AddCondition(FormatConditionType::CellValue, OperatorType::Between, u"50", u"100");

    // Set the background color
    FormatCondition fc = fcs.Get(conditionIndex);
    fc.GetStyle().GetBorders().Get(BorderType::LeftBorder).SetLineStyle(CellBorderType::Dashed);
    fc.GetStyle().GetBorders().Get(BorderType::RightBorder).SetLineStyle(CellBorderType::Dashed);
    fc.GetStyle().GetBorders().Get(BorderType::TopBorder).SetLineStyle(CellBorderType::Dashed);
    fc.GetStyle().GetBorders().Get(BorderType::BottomBorder).SetLineStyle(CellBorderType::Dashed);

    fc.GetStyle().GetBorders().Get(BorderType::LeftBorder).SetColor(Color{0, 255, 255, 255});
    fc.GetStyle().GetBorders().Get(BorderType::RightBorder).SetColor(Color{0, 255, 255, 255});
    fc.GetStyle().GetBorders().Get(BorderType::TopBorder).SetColor(Color{0, 255, 255, 255});
    fc.GetStyle().GetBorders().Get(BorderType::BottomBorder).SetColor(Color{255, 255, 0, 255});

    // Save the workbook
    workbook.Save(outDir + u"output.xlsx");

    Aspose::Cells::Cleanup();
}

You can only use thin line styles for the outline border. Diagonal lines are not allowed.

Set Pattern

#include <iostream>
#include "Aspose.Cells.h"

using namespace Aspose::Cells;

int main() {
    Aspose::Cells::Startup();

    // Source directory path
    U16String srcDir(u"..\\Data\\01_SourceDirectory\\");
    // Output directory path
    U16String outDir(u"..\\Data\\02_OutputDirectory\\");

    // Create a new workbook
    Workbook workbook;
    Worksheet sheet = workbook.GetWorksheets().Get(0);

    // Adds an empty conditional formatting
    int index = sheet.GetConditionalFormattings().Add();
    FormatConditionCollection fcs = sheet.GetConditionalFormattings().Get(index);

    // Sets the conditional format range
    CellArea ca;
    ca.StartRow = 0;
    ca.EndRow = 5;
    ca.StartColumn = 0;
    ca.EndColumn = 3;
    fcs.AddArea(ca);

    // Adds condition
    int conditionIndex = fcs.AddCondition(FormatConditionType::CellValue, OperatorType::Between, u"50", u"100");
    FormatCondition fc = fcs.Get(conditionIndex);
    fc.GetStyle().SetPattern(BackgroundType::ReverseDiagonalStripe);
    fc.GetStyle().SetForegroundColor(Color{255, 255, 0, 255});
    fc.GetStyle().SetBackgroundColor(Color{0, 255, 255, 255});

    // Save the workbook
    workbook.Save(outDir + u"output.xlsx");

    std::cout << "Conditional formatting applied successfully!" << std::endl;

    Aspose::Cells::Cleanup();
    return 0;
}

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