Retrieve the values of cells in a spreadsheet document

This topic shows how to use the classes in the Open XML SDK for Office to programmatically retrieve the values of cells in a spreadsheet document. It contains an example GetCellValue method to illustrate this task.

GetCellValue Method

You can use the GetCellValue method to retrieve the value of a cell in a workbook. The method requires the following three parameters:

• A string that contains the name of the document to examine.

• A string that contains the name of the sheet to examine.

• A string that contains the cell address (such as A1, B12) from which to retrieve a value.

The method returns the value of the specified cell, if it could be found. The following code example shows the method signature.

C#

static string GetCellValue(string fileName, string sheetName, string addressName)

Visual Basic

Public Function GetCellValue(ByVal fileName As String, ByVal sheetName As String, ByVal addressName As String) As String

How the Code Works

The code starts by creating a variable to hold the return value, and initializes it to null.

C#

string? value = null;

Visual Basic

Dim value As String = Nothing

Accessing the Cell

Next, the code opens the document by using the Open method, indicating that the document should be open for read-only access (the final false parameter). Next, the code retrieves a reference to the workbook part by using the WorkbookPart property of the document.

C#

// Open the spreadsheet document for read-only access.
using (SpreadsheetDocument document = SpreadsheetDocument.Open(fileName, false))
{
    // Retrieve a reference to the workbook part.
    WorkbookPart? wbPart = document.WorkbookPart;

Visual Basic

' Open the spreadsheet document for read-only access.
Using document As SpreadsheetDocument = SpreadsheetDocument.Open(fileName, False)

    ' Retrieve a reference to the workbook part.
    Dim wbPart As WorkbookPart = document.WorkbookPart

To find the requested cell, the code must first retrieve a reference to the sheet, given its name. The code must search all the sheet-type descendants of the workbook part workbook element and examine the Name property of each sheet that it finds. Be aware that this search looks through the relations of the workbook, and does not actually find a worksheet part. It finds a reference to a Sheet, which contains information such as the name and Id of the sheet. The simplest way to do this is to use a LINQ query, as shown in the following code example.

C#

// Find the sheet with the supplied name, and then use that 
// Sheet object to retrieve a reference to the first worksheet.
Sheet? theSheet = wbPart?.Workbook.Descendants<Sheet>().Where(s => s.Name == sheetName).FirstOrDefault();

// Throw an exception if there is no sheet.
if (theSheet is null || theSheet.Id is null)
{
    throw new ArgumentException("sheetName");
}

Visual Basic

' Find the sheet with the supplied name, and then use that Sheet object
' to retrieve a reference to the appropriate worksheet.
Dim theSheet As Sheet = wbPart.Workbook.Descendants(Of Sheet)().
    Where(Function(s) s.Name = sheetName).FirstOrDefault()

' Throw an exception if there is no sheet.
If theSheet Is Nothing Then
    Throw New ArgumentException("sheetName")
End If

Be aware that the FirstOrDefault method returns either the first matching reference (a sheet, in this case) or a null reference if no match was found. The code checks for the null reference, and throws an exception if you passed in an invalid sheet name.Now that you have information about the sheet, the code must retrieve a reference to the corresponding worksheet part. The sheet information that you already retrieved provides an Id property, and given that Id property, the code can retrieve a reference to the corresponding WorksheetPart by calling the workbook part GetPartById method.

C#

// Retrieve a reference to the worksheet part.
WorksheetPart wsPart = (WorksheetPart)wbPart!.GetPartById(theSheet.Id!);

Visual Basic

Dim wsPart As WorksheetPart = CType(wbPart.GetPartById(theSheet.Id), WorksheetPart)

Just as when locating the named sheet, when locating the named cell, the code uses the Descendants method, searching for the first match in which the CellReference property equals the specified addressName parameter. After this method call, the variable named theCell will either contain a reference to the cell, or will contain a null reference.

C#

// Use its Worksheet property to get a reference to the cell 
// whose address matches the address you supplied.
Cell? theCell = wsPart.Worksheet?.Descendants<Cell>()?.Where(c => c.CellReference == addressName).FirstOrDefault();

Visual Basic

' Use its Worksheet property to get a reference to the cell 
' whose address matches the address you supplied.
Dim theCell As Cell = wsPart.Worksheet.Descendants(Of Cell).
    Where(Function(c) c.CellReference = addressName).FirstOrDefault

Retrieving the Value

At this point, the variable named theCell contains either a null reference, or a reference to the cell that you requested. If you examine the Open XML content (that is, theCell.OuterXml) for the cell, you will find XML such as the following.

    <x:c r="A1">
        <x:v>12.345000000000001</x:v>
    </x:c>

The InnerText property contains the content for the cell, and so the next block of code retrieves this value.

C#

// If the cell does not exist, return an empty string.
if (theCell is null || theCell.InnerText.Length < 0)
{
    return string.Empty;
}
value = theCell.InnerText;

Visual Basic

' If the cell does not exist, return an empty string.
If theCell IsNot Nothing Then
    value = theCell.InnerText

Now, the sample method must interpret the value. As it is, the code handles numeric and date, string, and Boolean values. You can extend the sample as necessary. The Cell type provides a DataType property that indicates the type of the data within the cell. The value of the DataType property is null for numeric and date types. It contains the value CellValues.SharedString for strings, and CellValues.Boolean for Boolean values. If the DataType property is null, the code returns the value of the cell (it is a numeric value). Otherwise, the code continues by branching based on the data type.

C#

// If the cell represents an integer number, you are done. 
// For dates, this code returns the serialized value that 
// represents the date. The code handles strings and 
// Booleans individually. For shared strings, the code 
// looks up the corresponding value in the shared string 
// table. For Booleans, the code converts the value into 
// the words TRUE or FALSE.
if (theCell.DataType is not null)
{
    if (theCell.DataType.Value == CellValues.SharedString)
    {

Visual Basic

' If the cell represents an numeric value, you are done. 
' For dates, this code returns the serialized value that 
' represents the date. The code handles strings and 
' Booleans individually. For shared strings, the code 
' looks up the corresponding value in the shared string 
' table. For Booleans, the code converts the value into 
' the words TRUE or FALSE.
If theCell.DataType IsNot Nothing Then
    Select Case theCell.DataType.Value

If the DataType property contains CellValues.SharedString, the code must retrieve a reference to the single SharedStringTablePart.

C#

// For shared strings, look up the value in the
// shared strings table.
var stringTable = wbPart.GetPartsOfType<SharedStringTablePart>().FirstOrDefault();

Visual Basic

' For shared strings, look up the value in the 
' shared strings table.
Dim stringTable = wbPart.GetPartsOfType(Of SharedStringTablePart).FirstOrDefault()

Next, if the string table exists (and if it does not, the workbook is damaged and the sample code returns the index into the string table instead of the string itself) the code returns the InnerText property of the element it finds at the specified index (first converting the value property to an integer).

C#

// If the shared string table is missing, something 
// is wrong. Return the index that is in
// the cell. Otherwise, look up the correct text in 
// the table.
if (stringTable is not null)
{
    value = stringTable.SharedStringTable.ElementAt(int.Parse(value)).InnerText;
}

Visual Basic

' If the shared string table is missing, something
' is wrong. Return the index that is in 
' the cell. Otherwise, look up the correct text in 
' the table.
If stringTable IsNot Nothing Then
    value = stringTable.SharedStringTable.
    ElementAt(Integer.Parse(value)).InnerText
End If

If the DataType property contains CellValues.Boolean, the code converts the 0 or 1 it finds in the cell value into the appropriate text string.

C#

switch (value)
{
    case "0":
        value = "FALSE";
        break;
    default:
        value = "TRUE";

Visual Basic

Case CellValues.Boolean
    Select Case value
        Case "0"
            value = "FALSE"
        Case Else
            value = "TRUE"
    End Select

Finally, the procedure returns the variable value, which contains the requested information.

Sample Code

The following is the complete GetCellValue code sample in C# and Visual Basic.

C#

using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Spreadsheet;
using System;
using System.Linq;

Console.WriteLine(GetCellValue(args[0], args[1], args[2]));
// Retrieve the value of a cell, given a file name, sheet name, 
// and address name.
static string GetCellValue(string fileName, string sheetName, string addressName)
{
    string? value = null;
    // Open the spreadsheet document for read-only access.
    using (SpreadsheetDocument document = SpreadsheetDocument.Open(fileName, false))
    {
        // Retrieve a reference to the workbook part.
        WorkbookPart? wbPart = document.WorkbookPart;
        // Find the sheet with the supplied name, and then use that 
        // Sheet object to retrieve a reference to the first worksheet.
        Sheet? theSheet = wbPart?.Workbook.Descendants<Sheet>().Where(s => s.Name == sheetName).FirstOrDefault();

        // Throw an exception if there is no sheet.
        if (theSheet is null || theSheet.Id is null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentException("sheetName");
        }
        // Retrieve a reference to the worksheet part.
        WorksheetPart wsPart = (WorksheetPart)wbPart!.GetPartById(theSheet.Id!);
        // Use its Worksheet property to get a reference to the cell 
        // whose address matches the address you supplied.
        Cell? theCell = wsPart.Worksheet?.Descendants<Cell>()?.Where(c => c.CellReference == addressName).FirstOrDefault();
        // If the cell does not exist, return an empty string.
        if (theCell is null || theCell.InnerText.Length < 0)
        {
            return string.Empty;
        }
        value = theCell.InnerText;
        // If the cell represents an integer number, you are done. 
        // For dates, this code returns the serialized value that 
        // represents the date. The code handles strings and 
        // Booleans individually. For shared strings, the code 
        // looks up the corresponding value in the shared string 
        // table. For Booleans, the code converts the value into 
        // the words TRUE or FALSE.
        if (theCell.DataType is not null)
        {
            if (theCell.DataType.Value == CellValues.SharedString)
            {
                // For shared strings, look up the value in the
                // shared strings table.
                var stringTable = wbPart.GetPartsOfType<SharedStringTablePart>().FirstOrDefault();
                // If the shared string table is missing, something 
                // is wrong. Return the index that is in
                // the cell. Otherwise, look up the correct text in 
                // the table.
                if (stringTable is not null)
                {
                    value = stringTable.SharedStringTable.ElementAt(int.Parse(value)).InnerText;
                }
            }
            else if (theCell.DataType.Value == CellValues.Boolean)
            {
                switch (value)
                {
                    case "0":
                        value = "FALSE";
                        break;
                    default:
                        value = "TRUE";
                        break;
                }
            }
        }
    }

    return value;
}

Visual Basic

Imports DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging
Imports DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Spreadsheet

Module Program
    Sub Main(args As String())
    End Sub


    Public Function GetCellValue(ByVal fileName As String, ByVal sheetName As String, ByVal addressName As String) As String
        Dim value As String = Nothing
        ' Open the spreadsheet document for read-only access.
        Using document As SpreadsheetDocument = SpreadsheetDocument.Open(fileName, False)

            ' Retrieve a reference to the workbook part.
            Dim wbPart As WorkbookPart = document.WorkbookPart
            ' Find the sheet with the supplied name, and then use that Sheet object
            ' to retrieve a reference to the appropriate worksheet.
            Dim theSheet As Sheet = wbPart.Workbook.Descendants(Of Sheet)().
                Where(Function(s) s.Name = sheetName).FirstOrDefault()

            ' Throw an exception if there is no sheet.
            If theSheet Is Nothing Then
                Throw New ArgumentException("sheetName")
            End If
            ' Retrieve a reference to the worksheet part.
            Dim wsPart As WorksheetPart = CType(wbPart.GetPartById(theSheet.Id), WorksheetPart)
            ' Use its Worksheet property to get a reference to the cell 
            ' whose address matches the address you supplied.
            Dim theCell As Cell = wsPart.Worksheet.Descendants(Of Cell).
                Where(Function(c) c.CellReference = addressName).FirstOrDefault
            ' If the cell does not exist, return an empty string.
            If theCell IsNot Nothing Then
                value = theCell.InnerText
                ' If the cell represents an numeric value, you are done. 
                ' For dates, this code returns the serialized value that 
                ' represents the date. The code handles strings and 
                ' Booleans individually. For shared strings, the code 
                ' looks up the corresponding value in the shared string 
                ' table. For Booleans, the code converts the value into 
                ' the words TRUE or FALSE.
                If theCell.DataType IsNot Nothing Then
                    Select Case theCell.DataType.Value
                        Case CellValues.SharedString
                            ' For shared strings, look up the value in the 
                            ' shared strings table.
                            Dim stringTable = wbPart.GetPartsOfType(Of SharedStringTablePart).FirstOrDefault()
                            ' If the shared string table is missing, something
                            ' is wrong. Return the index that is in 
                            ' the cell. Otherwise, look up the correct text in 
                            ' the table.
                            If stringTable IsNot Nothing Then
                                value = stringTable.SharedStringTable.
                                ElementAt(Integer.Parse(value)).InnerText
                            End If
                        Case CellValues.Boolean
                            Select Case value
                                Case "0"
                                    value = "FALSE"
                                Case Else
                                    value = "TRUE"
                            End Select
                    End Select
                End If
            End If
        End Using
        Return value
    End Function
End Module

See also

• Open XML SDK class library reference