How to Work With Excel Files Using IronXL: A .NET Excel Library

In this article, one of the most popular libraries, IronXL, an Excel library will be used to compare and contrast how to interact with Microsoft Excel documents programmatically in .NET technologies and it will create an Excel spreadsheet environment to read Excel worksheets, write Excel tables, and export spreadsheet files to CSV.

IronXL - Fast Excel Library Features

Documents created in Microsoft Excel can be read and converted to CSV files using the C# IronXL, .NET Excel library. IronXL is a standalone .NET Excel software library that doesn't need Microsoft Office or Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel or Excel Interop to be installed. It can read several spreadsheet formats and is not just a static library.

IronXL's simple C# API makes it easy to read multiple worksheets, modify, and generate Excel spreadsheets in a .NET environment. It fully supports Xamarin, Linux, macOS, Azure, .NET Core applications, and .NET Framework.

• IronXL, a C# library compatible with both .NET Core and .NET Framework, is among the best for Excel spreadsheets.
• IronXL supports almost every .NET Framework, including Web apps, Windows Forms, and Console.
• IronXL can be used with Linux, macOS, and Windows operating systems.
• IronXL offers quick and easy access to Excel files.
• IronXL is capable of reading a wide range of Excel file types, including XLSX, CSV, XLS, XLST, TSV, XLSM, and more. The functions for importing, updating, and exporting data tables and datasets are only a few of the library's numerous options.
• For the Excel spreadsheet, IronXL is capable of producing calculations.
• IronXL supports numerous data types for Excel columns, including text, integers, dates, currencies, formulas, and percentages.
• IronXL can handle multiple values in the form of dates, currencies, percentages, text, numbers, formulas, and more Excel column data types.

Creating a .NET Core 6 Project

The next sections of this article will show you how simple it is to create/read an Excel file with the IronXL library.

Step 1: Launching a new endeavor to create Excel files.

After starting Visual Studio, select "New Project" from the "File" menu.

In the resulting dialogue box, select the "Console App" .NET Project templates, then click "Next."

New Project

Once the new project's location has been entered in the Location field, you may enter any project name you choose for the Project. Click the Next button to proceed.

Project Configuration

A .NET Framework can be selected using the Framework drop-down option. Here, we're using .NET 6.0, the long-term supported version. Then press Create.

Framework Selection

Get the IronXL library, which is required for the following solution. To do this, enter the following command into the NuGet Package Manager Console:

Install-Package IronXL.Excel

IronXL Installation

Another option is to use the NuGet Package Manager to search for the package "IronXL". Then, select the desired package to download from the list of all NuGet packages related to IronXL.

NuGet Package Manager

Create Excel Using IronXL

With IronXL, you will be able to create new Excel files with just a few lines of code! IronXL can be used to create files in the XLS (an older Excel format) and XLSX (a more current format) as shown in the code samples below.

using IronXL;

public class IronXLExample
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Create a new workbook
        WorkBook workbook = WorkBook.Create();

        // Create a new worksheet named "Sheet1"
        WorkSheet worksheet = workbook.CreateWorkSheet("Sheet1");

        // Set the value of cell A1
        worksheet["A1"].Value = "test";

        // Save the workbook to a file
        workbook.SaveAs("sample1.xlsx");
    }
}

using IronXL;

public class IronXLExample
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Create a new workbook
        WorkBook workbook = WorkBook.Create();

        // Create a new worksheet named "Sheet1"
        WorkSheet worksheet = workbook.CreateWorkSheet("Sheet1");

        // Set the value of cell A1
        worksheet["A1"].Value = "test";

        // Save the workbook to a file
        workbook.SaveAs("sample1.xlsx");
    }
}

Imports IronXL

Public Class IronXLExample
	Public Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
		' Create a new workbook
		Dim workbook As WorkBook = WorkBook.Create()

		' Create a new worksheet named "Sheet1"
		Dim worksheet As WorkSheet = workbook.CreateWorkSheet("Sheet1")

		' Set the value of cell A1
		worksheet("A1").Value = "test"

		' Save the workbook to a file
		workbook.SaveAs("sample1.xlsx")
	End Sub
End Class

The code above demonstrates the use of the IronXL package to create a new Excel workbook and worksheet. The WorkBook.Create() method is used to create a new workbook, and then the CreateWorkSheet("Sheet1") function creates a worksheet tab with the specified name. Changes are saved in a specified location using the SaveAs method.

Excel Output

To learn more about creating Excel files, check this tutorial to create one in .NET.

Read Data From Excel and Export to an Excel File

Exporting data to the XLSX or XLS formats requires only a few lines of code. Below is an example of source code that can be used to export data from an Excel file into a simple tabular format:

using IronXL;

public class ExcelReadExportExample
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Load an existing Excel file
        var workbook = WorkBook.LoadExcel("Demo file.xlsx");

        // Get a worksheet from the workbook
        WorkSheet workSheet = workbook.GetWorkSheet("Sheet1");

        // Read the value of cell A1
        string addressVal = workSheet["A1"].ToString();
        Console.WriteLine(addressVal);

        // Modify the value of cell A2
        workSheet["A2"].Value = "test";

        // Save the workbook in multiple formats
        workbook.SaveAs("export.xlsx");
        // Or save as XLS
        workbook.SaveAs("export.xls");
        // Or save the specific worksheet as an XLS file
        workbook.WorkSheets[0].SaveAs("export.xls");
    }
}

using IronXL;

public class ExcelReadExportExample
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Load an existing Excel file
        var workbook = WorkBook.LoadExcel("Demo file.xlsx");

        // Get a worksheet from the workbook
        WorkSheet workSheet = workbook.GetWorkSheet("Sheet1");

        // Read the value of cell A1
        string addressVal = workSheet["A1"].ToString();
        Console.WriteLine(addressVal);

        // Modify the value of cell A2
        workSheet["A2"].Value = "test";

        // Save the workbook in multiple formats
        workbook.SaveAs("export.xlsx");
        // Or save as XLS
        workbook.SaveAs("export.xls");
        // Or save the specific worksheet as an XLS file
        workbook.WorkSheets[0].SaveAs("export.xls");
    }
}

Imports IronXL

Public Class ExcelReadExportExample
	Public Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
		' Load an existing Excel file
		Dim workbook = WorkBook.LoadExcel("Demo file.xlsx")

		' Get a worksheet from the workbook
		Dim workSheet As WorkSheet = workbook.GetWorkSheet("Sheet1")

		' Read the value of cell A1
		Dim addressVal As String = workSheet("A1").ToString()
		Console.WriteLine(addressVal)

		' Modify the value of cell A2
		workSheet("A2").Value = "test"

		' Save the workbook in multiple formats
		workbook.SaveAs("export.xlsx")
		' Or save as XLS
		workbook.SaveAs("export.xls")
		' Or save the specific worksheet as an XLS file
		workbook.WorkSheets(0).SaveAs("export.xls")
	End Sub
End Class

In the preceding example, an existing Excel file is loaded using the LoadExcel method, which takes the file name and path as an argument. The file is then imported into the WorkBook object. Worksheets are loaded using the GetWorkSheet function by specifying the sheet name. The value of a cell can be read by specifying its address. The code also demonstrates modifying a worksheet value and saving the workbook in different file formats using the SaveAs method.

Console Output

A worksheet can also be referenced either by name or index value to export data from an Excel spreadsheet to a separate file. For more details, visit another tutorial to learn more about exporting Excel files.

Conclusion

From creating new files to carrying out precise calculations, IronXL has you covered for all your Excel projects. Today, we took a closer look at how IronXL can be utilized to create, read, and export Excel files, and saw how with just a few lines of code you can have full control over these processes.

For every programmable activity about Microsoft Excel documents, IronXL offers a comprehensive solution. It is possible to perform formula calculations, sort strings or numbers, cut and add data, search and replace, merge and unmerge cells, visualize data, and save files. With it, you can also set cell data types and validate spreadsheet data. The ability to read and write CSV files enables interaction with Excel data.

IronXL costs $749 upon launch, but customers can opt to pay a one-year membership fee for improvements and product support. IronXL levies an additional security fee that permits unrestricted redistribution. Visit this licensing page to learn more about the specifics of the pricing.