Public API Changes in Aspose.Cells 8.4.1

This document describes the changes to the Aspose.Cells API from version 8.4.0 to 8.4.1 that may be of interest to module/application developers. It includes not only new and updated public methods, added classes etc. and removed classes etc., but also a description of any changes in the behavior behind the scenes in Aspose.Cells.

Added APIs

Mechanism to Modify Database Connection

The Aspose.Cells.ExternalConnections.ExternalConnection class already contained the method & properties that could be used to inspect the database connection details stored in a spreadsheet. Most of the properties associated with Aspose.Cells.ExternalConnections.ExternalConnection class were read only until the release of Aspose.Cells for .NET 8.4.1. With this release, the API has provided the support to manipulate the database connection settings as well.

The following code snippet shows how to dynamically modify database connection settings.

 //Create workbook object

Aspose.Cells.Workbook workbook = new Aspose.Cells.Workbook(input);

//Access first data connection

Aspose.Cells.ExternalConnections.ExternalConnection conn = workbook.DataConnections[0];

//Change a few properties

conn.Name = "MyConnectionName";

conn.OdcFile = "MyDefaulConnection.odc";

conn.ConnectionDescription = "Test Connection";

conn.Credentials = Aspose.Cells.ExternalConnections.CredentialsMethodType.Prompt;

//Save the workbook

workbook.Save(output);

Here are a few most important properties exposed by the {Aspose.Cells.ExternalConnections.ExternalConnection}} class.

Property Name	Description
BackgroundRefresh	Indicates whether the connection can be refreshed in the background (asynchronously). true if preferred usage of the connection is to refresh asynchronously in the background; false if preferred usage of the connection is to refresh synchronously in the foreground.
ConnectionDescription	Specifies the user description for this connection
ConnectionId	Specifies The unique identifier of this connection.
Credentials	Specifies the authentication method to be used when establishing (or re-establishing) the connection.
IsDeleted	Indicates whether the associated workbook connection has been deleted. true if the connection has been deleted; otherwise, false.
IsNew	True if the connection has not been refreshed for the first time; otherwise, false. This state can happen when the user saves the file before a query has finished returning.
KeepAlive	True when the spreadsheet application should make efforts to keep the connection open. When false, the application should close the connection after retrieving the information.
Name	Specifies the name of the connection. Each connection must have a unique name.
OdcFile	Specifies the full path to external connection file from which this connection was created. If a connection fails during an attempt to refresh data, and reconnectionMethod=1, then the spreadsheet application will try again using information from the external connection file instead of the connection object embedded within the workbook.
OnlyUseConnectionFile	Indicates whether the spreadsheet application should always and only use the connection information in the external connection file indicated by the odcFile attribute when the connection is refreshed. If false, then the spreadsheet application should follow the procedure indicated by the reconnectionMethod attribute
Parameters	Gets ConnectionParameterCollection for an ODBC or web query.
ReConnectionMethod	Specify reconnectionMethod type
RefreshInternal	Specifies the number of minutes between automatic refreshes of the connection.
RefreshOnLoad	True if this connection should be refreshed when opening the file; otherwise, false.
SaveData	True if the external data fetched over the connection to populate a table is to be saved with the workbook; otherwise, false.
SavePassword	True if the password is to be saved as part of the connection string; otherwise, False.
SourceFile	Used when the external data source is file-based. When a connection to such a data source fails, the spreadsheet application attempts to connect directly to this file. May be expressed in URI or system-specific file path notation.
SSOId	Identifier for Single Sign On (SSO) used for authentication between an intermediate spreadsheetML server and the external data source.
Type	Specifies the data source type.

Ability to Format Sub-String of DataLabels' Text

Aspose.Cells for .NET 8.4.1 has exposed the DataLabels.Characters method to retrieve an instance of FontSetting class that corresponds to the sub-string of a ChartPoints.DataLabels. In turn, the instance of FontSetting class can be used to format the sub-string of the DataLabels with different font settings & color.

The following code snippet shows how to use the DataLabels.Characters method.

 //Create a workbook from source Excel file

Aspose.Cells.Workbook workbook = new Aspose.Cells.Workbook(input);

//Access first worksheet

Aspose.Cells.Worksheet worksheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];

//Access the first chart inside the sheet

Aspose.Cells.Charts.Chart chart = worksheet.Charts[0];

//Access the data label of first series first point

Aspose.Cells.Charts.DataLabels labels = chart.NSeries[0].Points[0].DataLabels;

//Set data label text

labels.Text = "Rich Text Label";

//Set the font setting of the first 10 characters

Aspose.Cells.FontSetting settings = labels.Characters(0, 10);

settings.Font.Color = System.Drawing.Color.Red;

settings.Font.IsBold = true;

//Save the workbook

workbook.Save(output);

Ability to Set Desired Image Dimensions for Spreadsheet & Chart Export

Aspose.Cells for .NET 8.4.1 has exposed the ImageOrPrintOptions.SetDesiredSize method to set the dimensions of the resultant image while exporting spreadsheets & charts to images. The ImageOrPrintOptions.SetDesiredSize method accepts two integer type parameters, where first is the desired width and second is desired height.

The following code snippet shows how to set the desired dimensions while exporting worksheet to PNG.

 //Create workbook object from source file

Aspose.Cells.Workbook workbook = new Aspose.Cells.Workbook(input);

//Access first worksheet

Aspose.Cells.Worksheet worksheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];

//Create an instance of ImageOrPrintOptions

Aspose.Cells.Rendering.ImageOrPrintOptions options = new Aspose.Cells.Rendering.ImageOrPrintOptions();

//Set resultant image format

options.ImageFormat = System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png;

//Set desired dimensions as 400x400

options.SetDesiredSize(400, 400);

//Render sheet to image

Aspose.Cells.Rendering.SheetRender renderer = new Aspose.Cells.Rendering.SheetRender(worksheet, options);

renderer.ToImage(0, "output.png");

Same property can also be used for converting charts to images.

Rendering Comments to PDF

With the release of v8.4.1, the Aspose.Cells API has provided the PageSetup.PrintComments property & PrintCommentsType enumeration in order to facilitate the rendering of comments while converting spreadsheets to PDF format. The PrintCommentsType enumeration has the following constants.

PrintCommentsType.PrintNoComments: Comments are not to be rendered.
PrintCommentsType.PrintInPlace: Comments are to be rendered where they are placed.
PrintCommentsType.PrintSheetEnd: Comments are to be rendered at the end of worksheet.

The following sample code demonstrates the use of PageSetup.PrintComments property to render the comments using all possible PrintCommentsType enumeration values.

 //Create an instance of workbook

Aspose.Cells.Workbook workbook = new Aspose.Cells.Workbook(input);

//Access first worksheet

Aspose.Cells.Worksheet worksheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];

//Print no comments

worksheet.PageSetup.PrintComments = Aspose.Cells.PrintCommentsType.PrintNoComments;

//Save workbook in PDF format without comments

workbook.Save("nocomments.pdf");

//Print the comments as displayed on sheet

worksheet.PageSetup.PrintComments = Aspose.Cells.PrintCommentsType.PrintInPlace;

//Save workbook in PDF format while rendering comments in place

workbook.Save("printinplace.pdf");

//Print the comments at the end of sheet

worksheet.PageSetup.PrintComments = Aspose.Cells.PrintCommentsType.PrintSheetEnd;

//Save workbook in PDF format while rendering comments at the end of worksheet

workbook.Save("printsheetend.pdf");

Move Worksheets in Aspose.Cells.GridDesktop

Aspose.Cells.GridDesktop provides the WorksheetCollection.MoveTo method, that can used to move a worksheet to the specified index. The aforesaid method takes the indexes (zero-based) of the source worksheet and destination worksheet as parameters.

The following sample code demonstrates the usage of WorksheetCollection.MoveTo property.

 //Move the second worksheet to 4th position.

GridDesktop1.Worksheets.MoveTo(1, 3);

Added Workbook.IsLicensed Property

Aspose.Cells for .NET 8.4.1 has exposed the Workbook.IsLicensed which could be of great help in determining if the license has been successfully loaded or not. If you access this property before setting the license, it will return false and vise versa, however, the license should be valid.

The following sample code demonstrates the usage of Workbook.IsLicensed property.

 //Create workbook object before setting a license

Aspose.Cells.Workbook workbook = new Aspose.Cells.Workbook();

//Check if the license is loaded or not

if (!workbook.IsLicensed)

{

    //Set license

    Aspose.Cells.License license = new Aspose.Cells.License();

    lic.SetLicense(licPath);

}

else

{

    //do process

}

Added ImageOrPrintOptions.SVGFitToViewPort Property

Aspose.Cells for .NET 8.4.1 has exposed the SVGFitToViewPort property for the ImageOrPrintOptions class that can be used to turn on the viewBox attribute for the SVG file format while exporting spreadsheets or charts to SVG format. The default value of this property is false therefore the base XML for SVG file generated without setting the aforesaid property will not include the viewBox attribute.

The following sample code demonstrates the usage of ImageOrPrintOptions.SVGFitToViewPort property.

 //Create workbook object from source file

Aspose.Cells.Workbook workbook = new Aspose.Cells.Workbook(input);

//Access first worksheet

Aspose.Cells.Worksheet worksheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];

//Create an instance of ImageOrPrintOptions

Aspose.Cells.Rendering.ImageOrPrintOptions options = new Aspose.Cells.Rendering.ImageOrPrintOptions();

//Set image format to SVG

options.SaveFormat = Aspose.Cells.SaveFormat.SVG;

//Set the SVGFitToViewPort to true

options.SVGFitToViewPort = true;

//Create an instance of SheetRender and initialize it with worksheet instance as well as object of ImageOrPrintOptions

Aspose.Cells.Rendering.SheetRender renderer = new Aspose.Cells.Rendering.SheetRender(worksheet, options);

renderer.ToImage(0, "output.svg");

Obseleted APIs

Obsoleted Workbook.ValidateFormula Method

Use the Cell.Formula method to validate the formula.

Public API Changes in Aspose.Cells 8.4.0 Public API Changes in Aspose.Cells 8.4.2