Inserting and Deleting Rows and Columns of Excel file

Introduction

Whether creating a new worksheet from scratch or working on an existing worksheet, we may need to add extra rows or columns to accommodate more data. Inversely, we may also need to delete rows or columns from specified positions in the worksheet. To fulfill these requirements, Aspose.Cells for Node.js via C++ provides a very simplest set of classes and methods, discussed below.

Manage Rows and Columns

Aspose.Cells for Node.js via C++ provides a class Workbook, which represents a Microsoft Excel file. The Workbook class contains a Worksheets collection that allows access to each worksheet in an Excel file. A worksheet is represented by the Worksheet class. The Worksheet class provides a getCells() collection that represents all cells in the worksheet.

The getCells() collection provides several methods for managing rows and columns in a worksheet. Some of these are discussed below.

When rows or columns are added, the content in the worksheet is shifted down or to the right, and if rows or columns are removed, the content is shifted up or to the left.

Insert Rows and Columns

How to Insert a Row

Insert a row into the worksheet at any location by calling the insertRow(number) method of the getCells() collection. The insertRow(number) method takes the index of the row where the new row will be inserted.

const path = require("path");
const fs = require("fs");
const AsposeCells = require("aspose.cells.node");

// The path to the documents directory.
const dataDir = path.join(__dirname, "data");
const filePath = path.join(dataDir, "book1.xls");

// Creating a file stream containing the Excel file to be opened
const fstream = fs.readFileSync(filePath);

// Instantiating a Workbook object
// Opening the Excel file through the file stream
const workbook = new AsposeCells.Workbook(fstream);

// Accessing the first worksheet in the Excel file
const worksheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);

// Inserting a row into the worksheet at 3rd position
worksheet.getCells().insertRow(2);

// Saving the modified Excel file
workbook.save(path.join(dataDir, "output.out.xls"));

How to Insert Multiple Rows

To insert multiple rows into a worksheet, call the insertRows(number, number, boolean) method of the getCells() collection. The insertRows(number, number, boolean) method takes two parameters:

Row index, the index of the row from where the new rows will be inserted.
Number of rows, the total number of rows that need to be inserted.

const path = require("path");
const fs = require("fs");
const AsposeCells = require("aspose.cells.node");

const dataDir = path.join(__dirname, "data");
const filePath = path.join(dataDir, "book1.xls");

const fileData = fs.readFileSync(filePath);
const workbook = new AsposeCells.Workbook(fileData);

const worksheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);
worksheet.getCells().insertRows(2, 10);

workbook.save(path.join(dataDir, "output.out.xls"));

How to Insert a Row with Formatting

To insert a row with formatting options, use the insertRows(number, number, boolean) overload that takes InsertOptions as a parameter. Set the CopyFormatType property of InsertOptions class with CopyFormatType Enumeration. The CopyFormatType Enumeration has three members as listed below.

SameAsAbove: Formats the row same as the above row.
SameAsBelow: Formats the row same as below row.
Clear: Clears the formatting.

const fs = require("fs");
const path = require("path");
const AsposeCells = require("aspose.cells.node");

// The path to the documents directory.
const dataDir = path.join(__dirname, "data");

// Creating a file stream containing the Excel file to be opened
const filePath = path.join(dataDir, "book1.xls");
const fstream = fs.readFileSync(filePath);

// Instantiating a Workbook object
// Opening the Excel file through the file stream
const workbook = new AsposeCells.Workbook(fstream);

// Accessing the first worksheet in the Excel file
const worksheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);

// Setting Formatting options
const insertOptions = new AsposeCells.InsertOptions();
insertOptions.setCopyFormatType(AsposeCells.CopyFormatType.SameAsAbove);

// Inserting a row into the worksheet at 3rd position
worksheet.getCells().insertRows(2, 1, insertOptions);

// Saving the modified Excel file
workbook.save(path.join(dataDir, "InsertingARowWithFormatting.out.xls"));

How to Insert a Column

Developers can also insert a column into the worksheet at any location by calling the insertColumn(number, boolean) method of the getCells() collection. The insertColumn(number, boolean) method takes the index of the column where the new column will be inserted.

const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
const AsposeCells = require("aspose.cells.node");

// The path to the documents directory.
const dataDir = path.join(__dirname, "data");
const filePath = path.join(dataDir, "book1.xls");

// Creating a file stream containing the Excel file to be opened
const fileStream = fs.readFileSync(filePath);

// Instantiating a Workbook object
// Opening the Excel file through the file stream
const workbook = new AsposeCells.Workbook(fileStream);

// Accessing the first worksheet in the Excel file
const worksheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);

// Inserting a column into the worksheet at 2nd position
worksheet.getCells().insertColumn(1);

// Saving the modified Excel file
workbook.save(path.join(dataDir, "output.out.xls"));

Delete Rows and Columns

How to Delete Multiple Rows

To delete multiple rows from a worksheet, call the deleteRows(number, number) method of the getCells() collection. The deleteRows(number, number) method takes two parameters:

Row index, the index of the row from where the rows will be deleted.
Number of rows, the total number of rows that need to be deleted.

const fs = require("fs");
const path = require("path");
const AsposeCells = require("aspose.cells.node");

// The path to the documents directory.
const dataDir = path.join(__dirname, "data");
const filePath = path.join(dataDir, "Book1.xlsx");

// Read file contents as Uint8Array
const fileContent = fs.readFileSync(filePath);
const fileBuffer = new Uint8Array(fileContent);

// Instantiating a Workbook object with file buffer
const workbook = new AsposeCells.Workbook(fileBuffer);

// Accessing the first worksheet in the Excel file
const worksheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);

// Deleting 10 rows from the worksheet starting from 3rd row
worksheet.getCells().deleteRows(2, 10);

// Saving the modified Excel file
workbook.save(path.join(dataDir, "output.xlsx"));

How to Delete a Column

To delete a column from the worksheet at any location, call the deleteColumn(number, boolean) method of the getCells() collection. The deleteColumn(number, boolean) method takes the index of the column to delete.

const fs = require("fs");
const path = require("path");
const AsposeCells = require("aspose.cells.node");

// The path to the documents directory.
const dataDir = path.join(__dirname, "data");
// Creating a file stream containing the Excel file to be opened
const filePath = path.join(dataDir, "Book1.xlsx");

// Instantiating a Workbook object
// Opening the Excel file through the file stream
const workbook = new AsposeCells.Workbook(fs.readFileSync(filePath));

// Accessing the first worksheet in the Excel file
const worksheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);

// Deleting a column from the worksheet at 5th position
worksheet.getCells().deleteColumn(4);

// Saving the modified Excel file
workbook.save(path.join(dataDir, "output.xlsx"));

// Closing resources is handled automatically by Node.js, no specific close needed.

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