How to read and write excel file

Question

Try the Apache POI HSSF. Here's an example on how to read an excel file:

try {
    POIFSFileSystem fs = new POIFSFileSystem(new FileInputStream(file));
    HSSFWorkbook wb = new HSSFWorkbook(fs);
    HSSFSheet sheet = wb.getSheetAt(0);
    HSSFRow row;
    HSSFCell cell;

    int rows; // No of rows
    rows = sheet.getPhysicalNumberOfRows();

    int cols = 0; // No of columns
    int tmp = 0;

    // This trick ensures that we get the data properly even if it doesn't start from first few rows
    for(int i = 0; i < 10 || i < rows; i++) {
        row = sheet.getRow(i);
        if(row != null) {
            tmp = sheet.getRow(i).getPhysicalNumberOfCells();
            if(tmp > cols) cols = tmp;
        }
    }

    for(int r = 0; r < rows; r++) {
        row = sheet.getRow(r);
        if(row != null) {
            for(int c = 0; c < cols; c++) {
                cell = row.getCell((short)c);
                if(cell != null) {
                    // Your code here
                }
            }
        }
    }
} catch(Exception ioe) {
    ioe.printStackTrace();
}

On the documentation page you also have examples of how to write to excel files.

Apache POI can do this for you. Specifically the HSSF module. The quick guide is most useful. Here's how to do what you want - specifically create a sheet and write it out.

Workbook wb = new HSSFWorkbook();
//Workbook wb = new XSSFWorkbook();
CreationHelper createHelper = wb.getCreationHelper();
Sheet sheet = wb.createSheet("new sheet");

// Create a row and put some cells in it. Rows are 0 based.
Row row = sheet.createRow((short)0);
// Create a cell and put a value in it.
Cell cell = row.createCell(0);
cell.setCellValue(1);

// Or do it on one line.
row.createCell(1).setCellValue(1.2);
row.createCell(2).setCellValue(
createHelper.createRichTextString("This is a string"));
row.createCell(3).setCellValue(true);

// Write the output to a file
FileOutputStream fileOut = new FileOutputStream("workbook.xls");
wb.write(fileOut);
fileOut.close();

First add all these jar files in your project class path:

1. poi-scratchpad-3.7-20101029
2. poi-3.2-FINAL-20081019
3. poi-3.7-20101029
4. poi-examples-3.7-20101029
5. poi-ooxml-3.7-20101029
6. poi-ooxml-schemas-3.7-20101029
7. xmlbeans-2.3.0
8. dom4j-1.6.1

Code for writing in a excel file:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    //Blank workbook
    XSSFWorkbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook();

    //Create a blank sheet
    XSSFSheet sheet = workbook.createSheet("Employee Data");

    //This data needs to be written (Object[])
    Map<String, Object[]> data = new TreeMap<String, Object[]>();
    data.put("1", new Object[]{"ID", "NAME", "LASTNAME"});
    data.put("2", new Object[]{1, "Amit", "Shukla"});
    data.put("3", new Object[]{2, "Lokesh", "Gupta"});
    data.put("4", new Object[]{3, "John", "Adwards"});
    data.put("5", new Object[]{4, "Brian", "Schultz"});

    //Iterate over data and write to sheet
    Set<String> keyset = data.keySet();

    int rownum = 0;
    for (String key : keyset) 
    {
        //create a row of excelsheet
        Row row = sheet.createRow(rownum++);

        //get object array of prerticuler key
        Object[] objArr = data.get(key);

        int cellnum = 0;

        for (Object obj : objArr) 
        {
            Cell cell = row.createCell(cellnum++);
            if (obj instanceof String) 
            {
                cell.setCellValue((String) obj);
            }
            else if (obj instanceof Integer) 
            {
                cell.setCellValue((Integer) obj);
            }
        }
    }
    try 
    {
        //Write the workbook in file system
        FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(new File("C:\\Documents and Settings\\admin\\Desktop\\imp data\\howtodoinjava_demo.xlsx"));
        workbook.write(out);
        out.close();
        System.out.println("howtodoinjava_demo.xlsx written successfully on disk.");
    } 
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Code for reading from excel file

/*
* To change this template, choose Tools | Templates
* and open the template in the editor.
*/

public static void main(String[] args) {
    try {
        FileInputStream file = new FileInputStream(new File("C:\\Documents and Settings\\admin\\Desktop\\imp data\\howtodoinjava_demo.xlsx"));

        //Create Workbook instance holding reference to .xlsx file
        XSSFWorkbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook(file);

        //Get first/desired sheet from the workbook
        XSSFSheet sheet = workbook.getSheetAt(0);

        //Iterate through each rows one by one
        Iterator<Row> rowIterator = sheet.iterator();
        while (rowIterator.hasNext())
        {
            Row row = rowIterator.next();
            //For each row, iterate through all the columns
            Iterator<Cell> cellIterator = row.cellIterator();

            while (cellIterator.hasNext()) 
            {
                Cell cell = cellIterator.next();
                //Check the cell type and format accordingly
                switch (cell.getCellType()) 
                {
                    case Cell.CELL_TYPE_NUMERIC:
                        System.out.print(cell.getNumericCellValue() + "\t");
                        break;
                    case Cell.CELL_TYPE_STRING:
                        System.out.print(cell.getStringCellValue() + "\t");
                        break;
                }
            }
            System.out.println("");
        }
        file.close();
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

You can also consider JExcelApi. I find it better designed than POI. There's a tutorial here.

There is a new easy and very cool tool (10x to Kfir): xcelite

Write:

public class User { 

  @Column (name="Firstname")
  private String firstName;

  @Column (name="Lastname")
  private String lastName;

  @Column
  private long id; 

  @Column
  private Date birthDate; 
}

Xcelite xcelite = new Xcelite();    
XceliteSheet sheet = xcelite.createSheet("users");
SheetWriter<User> writer = sheet.getBeanWriter(User.class);
List<User> users = new ArrayList<User>();
// ...fill up users
writer.write(users); 
xcelite.write(new File("users_doc.xlsx"));

Read:

Xcelite xcelite = new Xcelite(new File("users_doc.xlsx"));
XceliteSheet sheet = xcelite.getSheet("users");
SheetReader<User> reader = sheet.getBeanReader(User.class);
Collection<User> users = reader.read();