Apply Shading to Alternate Rows and Columns with Conditional Formatting
This article makes use of Excel’s built-in functions such as ROW, COLUMN & MOD. Here are some details of these functions for a better understanding of the code snippet provided ahead.
- ROW() function returns the row number of a cell reference. If the reference parameter is omitted, it assumes that the reference is the cell address in which the ROW function has been entered in.
- COLUMN() function returns the column number of a cell reference. If the reference parameter is omitted, it assumes that the reference is the cell address in which the COLUMN function has been entered in.
- MOD() function returns the remainder after a number is divided by a divisor, where the first parameter to the function is the numeric value whose remainder you wish to find and the second parameter is the number used to divide into the number parameter. If the divisor is 0, then it will return the #DIV/0! error.
Let’s start writing some code to accomplish this goal with the help of Aspose.Cells for .NET API.
// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-cells/Aspose.Cells-for-.NET | |
// The path to the documents directory. | |
string dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir(System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType); | |
// Create an instance of Workbook or load existing | |
var book = new Workbook(); | |
// Access the Worksheet on which desired rule has to be applied | |
var sheet = book.Worksheets[0]; | |
// Add FormatConditions to the instance of Worksheet | |
int idx = sheet.ConditionalFormattings.Add(); | |
// Access the newly added FormatConditions via its index | |
var conditionCollection = sheet.ConditionalFormattings[idx]; | |
// Define a CellsArea on which conditional formatting will be applicable | |
// The code creates a CellArea ranging from A1 to I20 | |
var area = CellArea.CreateCellArea("A1", "I20"); | |
//Add area to the instance of FormatConditions | |
conditionCollection.AddArea(area); | |
// Add a condition to the instance of FormatConditions | |
// For this case, the condition type is expression, which is based on some formula | |
idx = conditionCollection.AddCondition(FormatConditionType.Expression); | |
// Access the newly added FormatCondition via its index | |
FormatCondition formatCondirion = conditionCollection[idx]; | |
// Set the formula for the FormatCondition | |
// Formula uses the Excel's built-in functions as discussed earlier in this article | |
formatCondirion.Formula1 = @"=MOD(ROW(),2)=0"; | |
// Set the background color and patter for the FormatCondition's Style | |
formatCondirion.Style.BackgroundColor = Color.Blue; | |
formatCondirion.Style.Pattern = BackgroundType.Solid; | |
// Save the result on disk | |
book.Save(dataDir + "output_out.xlsx"); |
The following snapshot shows the resultant spreadsheet loaded in Excel application.
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In order to apply the shading to alternative columns, all you have to do is to change the formula =MOD(ROW(),2)=0 as =MOD(COLUMN(),2)=0, that is; instead of getting the row index, modify the formula to retrieve the column index. The resultant spreadsheet, in this case, will look as follow.
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