Threaded Comments with Node.js via C++

Threaded Comments

MS Excel 365 provides a feature to add threaded comments. These comments work as conversations and can be used for discussions. The comments now come with a Reply box that allows for threaded conversations. The old comments are called Notes in Excel 365. The screenshot below shows how threaded comments are displayed when opened in Excel.

Threaded comments are shown like this in older versions of Excel. The following images have been taken by opening the sample file in Excel 2016.

Aspose.Cells also provides the feature to manage threaded comments.

Add Threaded Comments

Add Threaded comment with Excel

To add threaded comments in Excel 365, follow these steps.

• Method 1
  • Click the Review Tab
  • Click the New Comment button
  • This will open a dialog to enter comments in the active cell.
  • 
• Method 2
  • Right‑click on the cell where you want to insert the comment.
  • Click the New Comment option.
  • This will open a dialog to enter comments in the active cell.
  • 

Add Threaded Comment using Aspose.Cells

Aspose.Cells provides Comments.AddThreadedComment method to add threaded comments. The Comments.AddThreadedComment method accepts the following three parameters.

• Cell Name: The name of the cell where the comment will be inserted.
• Comment Text: The text of the comment.
• ThreadedCommentAuthor: The author of the comment

The following code sample demonstrates the use of Comments.AddThreadedComment method to add a threaded comment to cell A1. Please see the output Excel file generated by the code for reference.

Sample Code

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

// Source directory
const outDir = path.join(__dirname, "output");

const workbook = new AsposeCells.Workbook();

// Add Author
const authorIndex = workbook.getWorksheets().getThreadedCommentAuthors().add("Aspose Test", "", "");
const author = workbook.getWorksheets().getThreadedCommentAuthors().get(authorIndex);

// Add Threaded Comment
workbook.getWorksheets().get(0).getComments().addThreadedComment("A1", "Test Threaded Comment", author);

workbook.save(outDir + "AddThreadedComments_out.xlsx");

Read Threaded Comments

Read Threaded comments with Excel

To read threaded comments in Excel, simply hover your mouse over the cell containing comments to view the comments. The comments view will look like the one in the following image.

Read Threaded comments using Aspose.Cells

Aspose.Cells provides Comments.GetThreadedComments method to retrieve threaded comments for the specified cell. Comments.GetThreadedComments method accepts the cell name as a parameter and returns the ThreadedCommentCollection. You can iterate over the ThreadedCommentCollection to view the comments.

The following example demonstrates reading comments from cell A1 by loading the sample Excel File. Please see the console output generated by the code for reference.

Sample Code

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

// Source directory
const sourceDir = path.join(__dirname, "data"); // Adjust as necessary

const filePath = path.join(sourceDir, "ThreadedCommentsSample.xlsx");

// Loads the workbook which contains threaded comments
const workbook = new AsposeCells.Workbook(filePath);

// Access first worksheet
const worksheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);

// Get Threaded Comments
const threadedComments = worksheet.getComments().getThreadedComments("A1");

const count = threadedComments.getCount();
for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) {
    const comment = threadedComments.get(i);
    console.log("Comment: " + comment.getNotes());
    console.log("Author: " + comment.getAuthor().getName());
}

Console Output

  

Comment: Test Threaded Comment  

Author: Aspose Test  

Read Created Time of threaded comments

Aspose.Cells provides Comments.GetThreadedComments method to retrieve threaded comments for the specified cell. Comments.GetThreadedComments method accepts the cell name as a parameter and returns the ThreadedCommentCollection. You can iterate over the ThreadedCommentCollection and use the ThreadedComment.getCreatedTime() property.

The following example demonstrates reading the created time of threaded comments by loading the sample Excel File. Please see the console output generated by the code for reference.

Sample Code

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

// Source directory
const sourceDir = path.join(__dirname, "data");
const filePath = path.join(sourceDir, "ThreadedCommentsSample.xlsx");

// Loads the workbook
const workbook = new AsposeCells.Workbook(filePath);

// Access first worksheet
const worksheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);

// Get Threaded Comments
const threadedComments = worksheet.getComments().getThreadedComments("A1");

const count = threadedComments.getCount();

for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) {
    const comment = threadedComments.get(i);
    console.log("Comment: " + comment.getNotes());
    console.log("Author: " + comment.getAuthor().getName());
    console.log("Created Time: " + comment.getCreatedTime());
}

Console Output

  

Comment: Test Threaded Comment  

Author: Aspose Test  

Created Time: 5/15/2019 12:46:23 PM  

Edit Threaded Comments

Edit Threaded comment with Excel

To edit a threaded comment in Excel, click the Edit link on the comment as shown in the following image.

Edit Threaded comment using Aspose.Cells

Aspose.Cells provides Comments.GetThreadedComments method to retrieve threaded comments for the specified cell. Comments.GetThreadedComments method accepts the cell name as a parameter and returns the ThreadedCommentCollection. You can update the required comment in the ThreadedCommentCollection and save the workbook.

The following example demonstrates editing the first threaded comment in cell A1 by loading the sample Excel File. Please see the output Excel file generated by the code showing the updated comment for reference.

Sample Code

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

// Source and output directories
const sourceDir = path.join(__dirname, "data");
const outDir = path.join(__dirname, "output");

const filePath = path.join(sourceDir, "ThreadedCommentsSample.xlsx");
const workbook = new AsposeCells.Workbook(filePath);

// Access first worksheet
const worksheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);

// Get Threaded Comment
const comment = worksheet.getComments().getThreadedComments("A1").get(0);
comment.setNotes("Updated Comment");

workbook.save(outDir + "EditThreadedComments.xlsx");

Remove Threaded Comments

Remove Threaded comments with Excel

To remove threaded comments in Excel, right‑click on the cell containing the comments and click the Delete Comment option as shown in the following image.