How to insert a date to an Open XML worksheet?

Question

I'm using Microsoft Open XML SDK 2 and I'm having a really hard time inserting a date into a cell. I can insert numbers without a problem by setting Cell.DataType = CellValues.Number, but when I do the same with a date (Cell.DataType = CellValues.Date) Excel 2010 crashes (2007 too).

I tried setting the Cell.Text value to many date formats as well as Excel's date/numeric format to no avail. I also tried to use styles, removing the type attribute, plus many other pizzas I threw at the wall…

Can anyone point me to an example inserting a date to a worksheet?

Answer 1

I used the code provided by Andrew J, but the DataType CellValues.Date produced a corrupted xlsx-file for me.

The DataType CellValues.Number worked fine for me (Don't forget to set NumberFormatId):

cell.DataType = new EnumValue<CellValues>(CellValues.Number);

My whole code:

DateTime valueDate = DateTime.Now;
string valueString = valueDate.ToOADate().ToString();
CellValue cellValue = new CellValue(valueString);

Cell cell = new Cell();
cell.DataType = new EnumValue<CellValues>(CellValues.Number);
cell.StyleIndex = yourStyle; //StyleIndex of CellFormat cfBaseDate -> See below
cell.Append(cellValue);

My CellFormat for this cell in the Stylesheet looks like:

CellFormat cfBaseDate = new CellFormat() { 
 ApplyNumberFormat = true,
 NumberFormatId = 14, //14 is a localized short Date (d/m/yyyy) -> See list below
 //Some further styling parameters
}; 

If you'd like to format your date another way, here is a list of all default Excel NumberFormatId's

ID  FORMAT CODE
0   General
1   0
2   0.00
3   #,##0
4   #,##0.00
9   0%
10  0.00%
11  0.00E+00
12  # ?/?
13  # ??/??
14  d/m/yyyy
15  d-mmm-yy
16  d-mmm
17  mmm-yy
18  h:mm tt
19  h:mm:ss tt
20  H:mm
21  H:mm:ss
22  m/d/yyyy H:mm
37  #,##0 ;(#,##0)
38  #,##0 ;[Red](#,##0)
39  #,##0.00;(#,##0.00)
40  #,##0.00;[Red](#,##0.00)
45  mm:ss
46  [h]:mm:ss
47  mmss.0
48  ##0.0E+0
49  @

Source of list: https://github.com/ClosedXML/ClosedXML/wiki/NumberFormatId-Lookup-Table

I know this list is from ClosedXML, but it's the same in OpenXML.

Answer 2

You have to convert DateTime to double using function ToOADate i.e.:

DateTime dtValue = DateTime.Now;
string strValue = dtValue.ToOADate().ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

then set it as CellValue

Cell cell;
cell.DataType = new EnumValue<CellValues>(CellValues.Date);
cell.CellValue = new CellValue(strValue);

Remember to format cell using DateTime formatting, otherwise you will see double value, not date.

Answer 3

The following worked for us:

c.CellValue = new CellValue(datetimeValue).ToOADate().ToString());
c.DataType = CellValues.Number;
c.StyleIndex = StyleDate;

Set the DataType to CellValues.Number and then be sure to format the cell with the appropriate style index from the CellFormats. In our case we build a stylesheet within the worksheet, and StyleDate is an index into the CellFormats in the stylesheet.

Answer 4

Use Shared String:

// assuming it's the first item in the shared string table
SharedStringItem sharedStringItem = new SharedStringItem();
Text text = new Text();
text.Text = DateTime.Today.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm");
sharedStringTable1.Append(sharedStringItem);

Then later in code:

// assuming it's the first item in the shared string table
var cell = new Cell {CellReference = "A1", DataType = CellValues.SharedString};
var cellValue = new CellValue("0");
cell.Append(cellValue);

Answer 5

a) Get compatibility with Excel 2007, Excel 2007 Viewer etc. b) DateTime before 1.1.1900 write as string.

DateTime dat = (DateTime)dr[dc.ColumnName];

//Not working with Excel 2007
//cell.DataType = CellValues.Date;
//cell.CellValue = new CellValue(dat.ToString("s"));

double diff = (dat - new DateTime(1899, 12, 30)).TotalSeconds / 86400.0;
if (diff > 1)
{
    cell.DataType = CellValues.Number;
    cell.CellValue = new CellValue(diff.ToString().Replace(",", "."));

    if (dat.TimeOfDay == new TimeSpan(0))
    {                                
        cell.StyleIndex = 2;   //Custom Style NumberFormatId = 14 ( d/m/yyyy)
    }
    else
    {
        cell.StyleIndex = 1;   //Custom Style NumberFormatId = 22 (m/d/yyyy H:mm)
    }
}
else
{
    cell.DataType = CellValues.String;
    cell.CellValue = new CellValue(dat.ToString());
}

Answer 6

There are 2 ways to store dates in OpenXml; by writing a number (using ToOADate) and setting the DataType to Number or by writing an ISO 8601 formatted date and setting the DataType to Date. Note that the default DataType is Number so if you go with the first option you don't have to set the DataType.

Whichever method you choose, you'll need to set the style as Excel displays both methods identically. The following code shows an example of writing a date using the Number format (with and without explicitly setting the DataType) and using the ISO 8601 format.

using (SpreadsheetDocument document = SpreadsheetDocument.Create(filename, SpreadsheetDocumentType.Workbook))
{
    //fluff to generate the workbook etc
    WorkbookPart workbookPart = document.AddWorkbookPart();
    workbookPart.Workbook = new Workbook();

    var worksheetPart = workbookPart.AddNewPart<WorksheetPart>();
    worksheetPart.Worksheet = new Worksheet();

    Sheets sheets = workbookPart.Workbook.AppendChild(new Sheets());

    Sheet sheet = new Sheet() { Id = workbookPart.GetIdOfPart(worksheetPart), SheetId = 1, Name = "Sheet" };
    sheets.Append(sheet);

    workbookPart.Workbook.Save();

    var sheetData = worksheetPart.Worksheet.AppendChild(new SheetData());

    //add the style
    Stylesheet styleSheet = new Stylesheet();

    CellFormat cf = new CellFormat();
    cf.NumberFormatId = 14;
    cf.ApplyNumberFormat = true;

    CellFormats cfs = new CellFormats();
    cfs.Append(cf);
    styleSheet.CellFormats = cfs;

    styleSheet.Borders = new Borders();
    styleSheet.Borders.Append(new Border());
    styleSheet.Fills = new Fills();
    styleSheet.Fills.Append(new Fill());
    styleSheet.Fonts = new Fonts();
    styleSheet.Fonts.Append(new Font());

    workbookPart.AddNewPart<WorkbookStylesPart>();
    workbookPart.WorkbookStylesPart.Stylesheet = styleSheet;

    CellStyles css = new CellStyles();
    CellStyle cs = new CellStyle();
    cs.FormatId = 0;
    cs.BuiltinId = 0;
    css.Append(cs);
    css.Count = UInt32Value.FromUInt32((uint)css.ChildElements.Count);
    styleSheet.Append(css);

    Row row = new Row();

    DateTime date = new DateTime(2017, 6, 24);

    /*** Date code here ***/
    //write an OADate with type of Number
    Cell cell1 = new Cell();
    cell1.CellReference = "A1";
    cell1.CellValue = new CellValue(date.ToOADate().ToString());
    cell1.DataType = new EnumValue<CellValues>(CellValues.Number);
    cell1.StyleIndex = 0;
    row.Append(cell1);

    //write an OADate with no type (defaults to Number)
    Cell cell2 = new Cell();
    cell2.CellReference = "B1";
    cell2.CellValue = new CellValue(date.ToOADate().ToString());
    cell1.StyleIndex = 0;
    row.Append(cell2);

    //write an ISO 8601 date with type of Date
    Cell cell3 = new Cell();
    cell3.CellReference = "C1";
    cell3.CellValue = new CellValue(date.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd"));
    cell3.DataType = new EnumValue<CellValues>(CellValues.Date);
    cell1.StyleIndex = 0;
    row.Append(cell3);

    sheetData.AppendChild(row);

    worksheetPart.Worksheet.Save();
}