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Tutorial: Create an Excel task pane add-in

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In this tutorial, you'll create an Excel task pane add-in that:

  • Creates a table
  • Filters and sorts a table
  • Creates a chart
  • Freezes a table header
  • Protects a worksheet
  • Opens a dialog

Tip

If you've already completed the Build an Excel task pane add-in quick start using the Yeoman generator, and want to use that project as a starting point for this tutorial, go directly to the Create a table section to start this tutorial.

If you want a completed version of this tutorial, head over to the Office Add-ins samples repo on GitHub.

Prerequisites

  • Node.js (the latest LTS version). Visit the Node.js site to download and install the right version for your operating system.

  • The latest version of Yeoman and the Yeoman generator for Office Add-ins. To install these tools globally, run the following command via the command prompt.

    npm install -g yo generator-office

    Note

    Even if you've previously installed the Yeoman generator, we recommend you update your package to the latest version from npm.

  • Office connected to a Microsoft 365 subscription (including Office on the web).

    Note

    If you don't already have Office, you might qualify for a Microsoft 365 E5 developer subscription through the Microsoft 365 Developer Program; for details, see the FAQ. Alternatively, you can sign up for a 1-month free trial or purchase a Microsoft 365 plan.

Create your add-in project

Run the following command to create an add-in project using the Yeoman generator. A folder that contains the project will be added to the current directory.

yo office

Note

When you run the yo office command, you may receive prompts about the data collection policies of Yeoman and the Office Add-in CLI tools. Use the information that's provided to respond to the prompts as you see fit.

When prompted, provide the following information to create your add-in project.

  • Choose a project type: Office Add-in Task Pane project
  • Choose a script type: JavaScript
  • What do you want to name your add-in? My Office Add-in
  • Which Office client application would you like to support? Excel

The Yeoman Office Add-in generator command line interface.

After you complete the wizard, the generator creates the project and installs supporting Node components. You may need to manually run npm install in the root folder of your project if something fails during the initial setup.

Create a table

In this step of the tutorial, you'll programmatically test that your add-in supports the user's current version of Excel, add a table to a worksheet, populate the table with data, and format it.

Code the add-in

  1. Open the project in your code editor.

  2. Open the file ./src/taskpane/taskpane.html. This file contains the HTML markup for the task pane.

  3. Locate the <main> element and delete all lines that appear after the opening <main> tag and before the closing </main> tag.

  4. Add the following markup immediately after the opening <main> tag.

    <button class="ms-Button" id="create-table">Create Table</button><br/><br/>

  5. Open the file ./src/taskpane/taskpane.js. This file contains the Office JavaScript API code that facilitates interaction between the task pane and the Office client application.

  6. Remove all references to the run button and the run() function by doing the following:

    • Locate and delete the line document.getElementById("run").onclick = run;.

    • Locate and delete the entire run() function.

  7. Within the Office.onReady function call, locate the line if (info.host === Office.HostType.Excel) { and add the following code immediately after that line. Note:

    • This code adds an event handler for the create-table button.
    • The createTable function is wrapped in a call to tryCatch (both functions will be added next step). This allows any errors generated by the Office JavaScript layer to be handled separate from your service code.
    // Assign event handlers and other initialization logic.
document.getElementById("create-table").onclick = () => tryCatch(createTable);

  8. Add the following functions to the end of the file. Note:

    • Your Excel.js business logic will be added to the function that is passed to Excel.run. This logic does not execute immediately. Instead, it is added to a queue of pending commands.

    • The context.sync method sends all queued commands to Excel for execution.

    • The tryCatch function will be used by all the functions interacting with the workbook from the task pane. Catching Office JavaScript errors in this fashion is a convenient way to generically handle any uncaught errors.

    Note

    The following code uses ES6 JavaScript, which isn't compatible with older versions of Office that use the Trident (Internet Explorer 11) browser engine. For information on how to support those platforms in production, see Support older Microsoft webviews and Office versions. You might qualify for a Microsoft 365 E5 developer subscription, which has the latest Office applications, to use for development through the Microsoft 365 Developer Program; for details, see the FAQ. Alternatively, you can sign up for a 1-month free trial or purchase a Microsoft 365 plan.

    async function createTable() {
    await Excel.run(async (context) => {

        // TODO1: Queue table creation logic here.

        // TODO2: Queue commands to populate the table with data.

        // TODO3: Queue commands to format the table.

        await context.sync();
    });
}

/** Default helper for invoking an action and handling errors. */
async function tryCatch(callback) {
    try {
        await callback();
    } catch (error) {
        // Note: In a production add-in, you'd want to notify the user through your add-in's UI.
        console.error(error);
    }
}

  9. Within the createTable() function, replace TODO1 with the following code. Note:

    • The code creates a table by using the add method of a worksheet's table collection, which always exists even if it is empty. This is the standard way that Excel.js objects are created. There are no class constructor APIs, and you never use a new operator to create an Excel object. Instead, you add to a parent collection object.

    • The first parameter of the add method is the range of only the top row of the table, not the entire range the table will ultimately use. This is because when the add-in populates the data rows (in the next step), it will add new rows to the table instead of writing values to the cells of existing rows. This is a common pattern, because the number of rows a table will have is often unknown when the table is created.

    • Table names must be unique across the entire workbook, not just the worksheet.

    const currentWorksheet = context.workbook.worksheets.getActiveWorksheet();
const expensesTable = currentWorksheet.tables.add("A1:D1", true /*hasHeaders*/);
expensesTable.name = "ExpensesTable";

  10. Within the createTable() function, replace TODO2 with the following code. Note:

    • The cell values of a range are set with an array of arrays.

    • New rows are created in a table by calling the add method of the table's row collection. You can add multiple rows in a single call of add by including multiple cell value arrays in the parent array that is passed as the second parameter.

    expensesTable.getHeaderRowRange().values =
    [["Date", "Merchant", "Category", "Amount"]];

expensesTable.rows.add(null /*add at the end*/, [
    ["1/1/2017", "The Phone Company", "Communications", "120"],
    ["1/2/2017", "Northwind Electric Cars", "Transportation", "142.33"],
    ["1/5/2017", "Best For You Organics Company", "Groceries", "27.9"],
    ["1/10/2017", "Coho Vineyard", "Restaurant", "33"],
    ["1/11/2017", "Bellows College", "Education", "350.1"],
    ["1/15/2017", "Trey Research", "Other", "135"],
    ["1/15/2017", "Best For You Organics Company", "Groceries", "97.88"]
]);

  11. Within the createTable() function, replace TODO3 with the following code. Note:

    • The code gets a reference to the Amount column by passing its zero-based index to the getItemAt method of the table's column collection.

      Note

      Excel.js collection objects, such as TableCollection, WorksheetCollection, and TableColumnCollection have an items property that is an array of the child object types, such as Table or Worksheet or TableColumn; but a *Collection object is not itself an array.

    • The code then formats the range of the Amount column as Euros to the second decimal. Learn more about the Excel number format syntax in the article Number format codes/

    • Finally, it ensures that the width of the columns and height of the rows is big enough to fit the longest (or tallest) data item. Notice that the code must get Range objects to format. TableColumn and TableRow objects do not have format properties.

    expensesTable.columns.getItemAt(3).getRange().numberFormat = [['\u20AC#,##0.00']];
expensesTable.getRange().format.autofitColumns();
expensesTable.getRange().format.autofitRows();

  12. Verify that you've saved all of the changes you've made to the project.

Test the add-in

  1. Complete the following steps to start the local web server and sideload your add-in.

    Note

    • Office Add-ins should use HTTPS, not HTTP, even while you're developing. If you're prompted to install a certificate after you run one of the following commands, accept the prompt to install the certificate that the Yeoman generator provides. You may also have to run your command prompt or terminal as an administrator for the changes to be made.

    • If this is your first time developing an Office Add-in on your machine, you may be prompted in the command line to grant Microsoft Edge WebView a loopback exemption ("Allow localhost loopback for Microsoft Edge WebView?"). When prompted, enter Y to allow the exemption. Note that you'll need administrator privileges to allow the exemption. Once allowed, you shouldn't be prompted for an exemption when you sideload Office Add-ins in the future (unless you remove the exemption from your machine). To learn more, see "We can't open this add-in from localhost" when loading an Office Add-in or using Fiddler.

      The prompt in the command line to allow Microsoft Edge WebView a loopback exemption.

    Tip

    If you're testing your add-in on Mac, run the following command in the root directory of your project before proceeding. When you run this command, the local web server starts.

    npm run dev-server

    • To test your add-in in Excel, run the following command in the root directory of your project. This starts the local web server (if it's not already running) and opens Excel with your add-in loaded.

      npm start

    • To test your add-in in Excel on the web, run the following command in the root directory of your project. When you run this command, the local web server starts. Replace "{url}" with the URL of an Excel document on your OneDrive or a SharePoint library to which you have permissions.

      Note

      If you are developing on a Mac, enclose the {url} in single quotation marks. Do not do this on Windows.

      npm run start:web -- --document {url}

      The following are examples.

      • npm run start:web -- --document https://contoso.sharepoint.com/:t:/g/EZGxP7ksiE5DuxvY638G798BpuhwluxCMfF1WZQj3VYhYQ?e=F4QM1R
      • npm run start:web -- --document https://1drv.ms/x/s!jkcH7spkM4EGgcZUgqthk4IK3NOypVw?e=Z6G1qp
      • npm run start:web -- --document https://contoso-my.sharepoint-df.com/:t:/p/user/EQda453DNTpFnl1bFPhOVR0BwlrzetbXvnaRYii2lDr_oQ?e=RSccmNP

      If your add-in doesn't sideload in the document, manually sideload it by following the instructions in Manually sideload add-ins to Office on the web.

  2. In Excel, choose the Home tab, and then choose the Show Taskpane button on the ribbon to open the add-in task pane.

    The Excel Home menu, with the Show Taskpane button highlighted.

  3. In the task pane, choose the Create Table button.

    Excel displaying an add-in task pane with a Create Table button, and a table in the worksheet populated with Date, Merchant, Category, and Amount data.

  4. When you want to stop the local web server and uninstall the add-in, follow the applicable instructions:

    • To stop the server, run the following command. If you used npm start, the following command also uninstalls the add-in.

      npm stop

    • If you manually sideloaded the add-in, see Remove a sideloaded add-in.

Filter and sort a table

In this step of the tutorial, you'll filter and sort the table that you created previously.

Filter the table

  1. Open the file ./src/taskpane/taskpane.html.

  2. Locate the <button> element for the create-table button, and add the following markup after that line.

    <button class="ms-Button" id="filter-table">Filter Table</button><br/><br/>

  3. Open the file ./src/taskpane/taskpane.js.

  4. Within the Office.onReady function call, locate the line that assigns a click handler to the create-table button, and add the following code after that line.

    document.getElementById("filter-table").onclick = () => tryCatch(filterTable);

  5. Add the following function to the end of the file.

    async function filterTable() {
    await Excel.run(async (context) => {

        // TODO1: Queue commands to filter out all expense categories except
        //        Groceries and Education.

        await context.sync();
    });
}

  6. Within the filterTable() function, replace TODO1 with the following code. Note:

    • The code first gets a reference to the column that needs filtering by passing the column name to the getItem method, instead of passing its index to the getItemAt method as the createTable method does. Since users can move table columns, the column at a given index might change after the table is created. Hence, it is safer to use the column name to get a reference to the column. We used getItemAt safely in the preceding tutorial, because we used it in the very same method that creates the table, so there is no chance that a user has moved the column.

    • The applyValuesFilter method is one of several filtering methods on the Filter object.

    const currentWorksheet = context.workbook.worksheets.getActiveWorksheet();
const expensesTable = currentWorksheet.tables.getItem('ExpensesTable');
const categoryFilter = expensesTable.columns.getItem('Category').filter;
categoryFilter.applyValuesFilter(['Education', 'Groceries']);

Sort the table

  1. Open the file ./src/taskpane/taskpane.html.

  2. Locate the <button> element for the filter-table button, and add the following markup after that line.

    <button class="ms-Button" id="sort-table">Sort Table</button><br/><br/>

  3. Open the file ./src/taskpane/taskpane.js.

  4. Within the Office.onReady function call, locate the line that assigns a click handler to the filter-table button, and add the following code after that line.

    document.getElementById("sort-table").onclick = () => tryCatch(sortTable);

  5. Add the following function to the end of the file.

    async function sortTable() {
    await Excel.run(async (context) => {

        // TODO1: Queue commands to sort the table by Merchant name.

        await context.sync();
    });
}

  6. Within the sortTable() function, replace TODO1 with the following code. Note:

    • The code creates an array of SortField objects, which has just one member since the add-in only sorts on the Merchant column.

    • The key property of a SortField object is the zero-based index of the column used for sorting. The rows of the table are sorted based on the values in the referenced column.

    • The sort member of a Table is a TableSort object, not a method. The SortFields are passed to the TableSort object's apply method.

    const currentWorksheet = context.workbook.worksheets.getActiveWorksheet();
const expensesTable = currentWorksheet.tables.getItem('ExpensesTable');
const sortFields = [
    {
        key: 1,            // Merchant column
        ascending: false,
    }
];

expensesTable.sort.apply(sortFields);

  7. Verify that you've saved all of the changes you've made to the project.

Test the add-in

  1. If the local web server is already running and your add-in is already loaded in Excel, proceed to step 2. Otherwise, start the local web server and sideload your add-in:

    • To test your add-in in Excel, run the following command in the root directory of your project. This starts the local web server (if it's not already running) and opens Excel with your add-in loaded.

      npm start

    • To test your add-in in Excel on the web, run the following command in the root directory of your project. When you run this command, the local web server starts. Replace "{url}" with the URL of an Excel document on your OneDrive or a SharePoint library to which you have permissions.

      Note

      If you are developing on a Mac, enclose the {url} in single quotation marks. Do not do this on Windows.

      npm run start:web -- --document {url}

      The following are examples.

      • npm run start:web -- --document https://contoso.sharepoint.com/:t:/g/EZGxP7ksiE5DuxvY638G798BpuhwluxCMfF1WZQj3VYhYQ?e=F4QM1R
      • npm run start:web -- --document https://1drv.ms/x/s!jkcH7spkM4EGgcZUgqthk4IK3NOypVw?e=Z6G1qp
      • npm run start:web -- --document https://contoso-my.sharepoint-df.com/:t:/p/user/EQda453DNTpFnl1bFPhOVR0BwlrzetbXvnaRYii2lDr_oQ?e=RSccmNP

      If your add-in doesn't sideload in the document, manually sideload it by following the instructions in Manually sideload add-ins to Office on the web.

  2. If the add-in task pane isn't already open in Excel, go to the Home tab and choose the Show Taskpane button on the ribbon to open it.

  3. If the table you added previously in this tutorial is not present in the open worksheet, choose the Create Table button in the task pane.

  4. Choose the Filter Table button and the Sort Table button, in either order.

    Excel with Filter Table and Sort Table buttons visible in the add-in task pane.

Create a chart

In this step of the tutorial, you'll create a chart using data from the table that you created previously, and then format the chart.

Chart a chart using table data

  1. Open the file ./src/taskpane/taskpane.html.

  2. Locate the <button> element for the sort-table button, and add the following markup after that line.

    <button class="ms-Button" id="create-chart">Create Chart</button><br/><br/>

  3. Open the file ./src/taskpane/taskpane.js.

  4. Within the Office.onReady function call, locate the line that assigns a click handler to the sort-table button, and add the following code after that line.

    document.getElementById("create-chart").onclick = () => tryCatch(createChart);

  5. Add the following function to the end of the file.

    async function createChart() {
    await Excel.run(async (context) => {

        // TODO1: Queue commands to get the range of data to be charted.

        // TODO2: Queue command to create the chart and define its type.

        // TODO3: Queue commands to position and format the chart.

        await context.sync();
    });
}

  6. Within the createChart() function, replace TODO1 with the following code. Note that in order to exclude the header row, the code uses the Table.getDataBodyRange method to get the range of data you want to chart instead of the getRange method.

    const currentWorksheet = context.workbook.worksheets.getActiveWorksheet();
const expensesTable = currentWorksheet.tables.getItem('ExpensesTable');
const dataRange = expensesTable.getDataBodyRange();

  7. Within the createChart() function, replace TODO2 with the following code. Note the following parameters.

    • The first parameter to the add method specifies the type of chart. There are several dozen types.

    • The second parameter specifies the range of data to include in the chart.

    • The third parameter determines whether a series of data points from the table should be charted row-wise or column-wise. The option auto tells Excel to decide the best method.

    const chart = currentWorksheet.charts.add('ColumnClustered', dataRange, 'Auto');

  8. Within the createChart() function, replace TODO3 with the following code. Most of this code is self-explanatory. Note:

    • The parameters to the setPosition method specify the upper left and lower right cells of the worksheet area that should contain the chart. Excel can adjust things like line width to make the chart look good in the space it has been given.

    • A "series" is a set of data points from a column of the table. Since there is only one non-string column in the table, Excel infers that the column is the only column of data points to chart. It interprets the other columns as chart labels. So there will be just one series in the chart and it will have index 0. This is the one to label with "Value in €".

    chart.setPosition("A15", "F30");
chart.title.text = "Expenses";
chart.legend.position = "Right";
chart.legend.format.fill.setSolidColor("white");
chart.dataLabels.format.font.size = 15;
chart.dataLabels.format.font.color = "black";
chart.series.getItemAt(0).name = 'Value in \u20AC';

  9. Verify that you've saved all of the changes you've made to the project.

Test the add-in

  1. If the local web server is already running and your add-in is already loaded in Excel, proceed to step 2. Otherwise, start the local web server and sideload your add-in:

    • To test your add-in in Excel, run the following command in the root directory of your project. This starts the local web server (if it's not already running) and opens Excel with your add-in loaded.

      npm start

    • To test your add-in in Excel on the web, run the following command in the root directory of your project. When you run this command, the local web server starts. Replace "{url}" with the URL of an Excel document on your OneDrive or a SharePoint library to which you have permissions.

      Note

      If you are developing on a Mac, enclose the {url} in single quotation marks. Do not do this on Windows.

      npm run start:web -- --document {url}

      The following are examples.

      • npm run start:web -- --document https://contoso.sharepoint.com/:t:/g/EZGxP7ksiE5DuxvY638G798BpuhwluxCMfF1WZQj3VYhYQ?e=F4QM1R
      • npm run start:web -- --document https://1drv.ms/x/s!jkcH7spkM4EGgcZUgqthk4IK3NOypVw?e=Z6G1qp
      • npm run start:web -- --document https://contoso-my.sharepoint-df.com/:t:/p/user/EQda453DNTpFnl1bFPhOVR0BwlrzetbXvnaRYii2lDr_oQ?e=RSccmNP

      If your add-in doesn't sideload in the document, manually sideload it by following the instructions in Manually sideload add-ins to Office on the web.

  2. If the add-in task pane isn't already open in Excel, go to the Home tab and choose the Show Taskpane button on the ribbon to open it.

  3. If the table you added previously in this tutorial is not present in the open worksheet, choose the Create Table button, and then the Filter Table button and the Sort Table button, in either order.

  4. Choose the Create Chart button. A chart is created and only the data from the rows that have been filtered are included. The labels on the data points across the bottom are in the sort order of the chart; that is, merchant names in reverse alphabetical order.

    Excel with a Create Chart button visible in the add-in task pane, and a chart in the worksheet displaying grocery and education expense data.

Freeze a table header

When a table is long enough that a user must scroll to see some rows, the header row can scroll out of sight. In this step of the tutorial, you'll freeze the header row of the table that you created previously, so that it remains visible even as the user scrolls down the worksheet.

Freeze the table's header row

  1. Open the file ./src/taskpane/taskpane.html.

  2. Locate the <button> element for the create-chart button, and add the following markup after that line.

    <button class="ms-Button" id="freeze-header">Freeze Header</button><br/><br/>

  3. Open the file ./src/taskpane/taskpane.js.

  4. Within the Office.onReady function call, locate the line that assigns a click handler to the create-chart button, and add the following code after that line.

    document.getElementById("freeze-header").onclick = () => tryCatch(freezeHeader);

  5. Add the following function to the end of the file.

    async function freezeHeader() {
    await Excel.run(async (context) => {

        // TODO1: Queue commands to keep the header visible when the user scrolls.

        await context.sync();
    });
}

  6. Within the freezeHeader() function, replace TODO1 with the following code. Note:

    • The Worksheet.freezePanes collection is a set of panes in the worksheet that are pinned, or frozen, in place when the worksheet is scrolled.

    • The freezeRows method takes as a parameter the number of rows, from the top, that are to be pinned in place. We pass 1 to pin the first row in place.

    const currentWorksheet = context.workbook.worksheets.getActiveWorksheet();
currentWorksheet.freezePanes.freezeRows(1);

  7. Verify that you've saved all of the changes you've made to the project.

Test the add-in

  1. If the local web server is already running and your add-in is already loaded in Excel, proceed to step 2. Otherwise, start the local web server and sideload your add-in:

    • To test your add-in in Excel, run the following command in the root directory of your project. This starts the local web server (if it's not already running) and opens Excel with your add-in loaded.

      npm start

    • To test your add-in in Excel on the web, run the following command in the root directory of your project. When you run this command, the local web server starts. Replace "{url}" with the URL of an Excel document on your OneDrive or a SharePoint library to which you have permissions.

      Note

      If you are developing on a Mac, enclose the {url} in single quotation marks. Do not do this on Windows.

      npm run start:web -- --document {url}

      The following are examples.

      • npm run start:web -- --document https://contoso.sharepoint.com/:t:/g/EZGxP7ksiE5DuxvY638G798BpuhwluxCMfF1WZQj3VYhYQ?e=F4QM1R
      • npm run start:web -- --document https://1drv.ms/x/s!jkcH7spkM4EGgcZUgqthk4IK3NOypVw?e=Z6G1qp
      • npm run start:web -- --document https://contoso-my.sharepoint-df.com/:t:/p/user/EQda453DNTpFnl1bFPhOVR0BwlrzetbXvnaRYii2lDr_oQ?e=RSccmNP

      If your add-in doesn't sideload in the document, manually sideload it by following the instructions in Manually sideload add-ins to Office on the web.

  2. If the add-in task pane isn't already open in Excel, go to the Home tab and choose the Show Taskpane button on the ribbon to open it.

  3. If the table you added previously in this tutorial is present in the worksheet, delete it.

  4. In the task pane, choose the Create Table button.

  5. In the task pane, choose the Freeze Header button.

  6. Scroll down the worksheet far enough to see that the table header remains visible at the top even when the higher rows scroll out of sight.

    An Excel worksheet with a frozen table header.

Protect a worksheet

In this step of the tutorial, you'll add a button to the ribbon that toggles worksheet protection on and off.

Configure the manifest to add a second ribbon button

  1. Open the manifest file ./manifest.xml.

  2. Locate the <Control> element. This element defines the Show Taskpane button on the Home ribbon you have been using to launch the add-in. We're going to add a second button to the same group on the Home ribbon. In between the closing </Control> tag and the closing </Group> tag, add the following markup.

    <Control xsi:type="Button" id="<!--TODO1: Unique (in manifest) name for button -->">
    <Label resid="<!--TODO2: Button label -->" />
    <Supertip>
        <Title resid="<!-- TODO3: Button tool tip title -->" />
        <Description resid="<!-- TODO4: Button tool tip description -->" />
    </Supertip>
    <Icon>
        <bt:Image size="16" resid="Icon.16x16"/>
        <bt:Image size="32" resid="Icon.32x32"/>
        <bt:Image size="80" resid="Icon.80x80"/>
    </Icon>
    <Action xsi:type="<!-- TODO5: Specify the type of action-->">
        <!-- TODO6: Identify the function.-->
    </Action>
</Control>

  3. Within the XML you just added to the manifest file, replace TODO1 with a string that gives the button an ID that is unique within this manifest file. Since our button is going to toggle protection of the worksheet on and off, use "ToggleProtection". When you are done, the opening tag for the Control element should look like this:

    <Control xsi:type="Button" id="ToggleProtection">

  4. The next three TODOs set resource IDs, or resids. A resource is a string (with a maximum length of 32 characters), and you'll create these three strings in a later step. For now, you need to give IDs to the resources. The button label should read "Toggle Protection", but the ID of this string should be "ProtectionButtonLabel", so the Label element should look like this:

    <Label resid="ProtectionButtonLabel" />

  5. The SuperTip element defines the tool tip for the button. The tool tip title should be the same as the button label, so we use the very same resource ID: "ProtectionButtonLabel". The tool tip description will be "Click to turn protection of the worksheet on and off". But the resid should be "ProtectionButtonToolTip". So, when you are done, the SuperTip element should look like this:

    <Supertip>
    <Title resid="ProtectionButtonLabel" />
    <Description resid="ProtectionButtonToolTip" />
</Supertip>

    Note

    In a production add-in, you would not want to use the same icon for two different buttons; but to simplify this tutorial, we'll do that. So the Icon markup in our new Control is just a copy of the Icon element from the existing Control.

  6. The Action element inside the original Control element has its type set to ShowTaskpane, but our new button isn't going to open a task pane; it's going to run a custom function that you create in a later step. So, replace TODO5 with ExecuteFunction, which is the action type for buttons that trigger custom functions. The opening tag for the Action element should look like this:

    <Action xsi:type="ExecuteFunction">

  7. The original Action element has child elements that specify a task pane ID and a URL of the page that should be opened in the task pane. But an Action element of the ExecuteFunction type has a single child element that names the function that the control executes. You'll create that function in a later step, and it will be called toggleProtection. So, replace TODO6 with the following markup.

    <FunctionName>toggleProtection</FunctionName>

    The entire Control markup should now look like the following:

    <Control xsi:type="Button" id="ToggleProtection">
    <Label resid="ProtectionButtonLabel" />
    <Supertip>
        <Title resid="ProtectionButtonLabel" />
        <Description resid="ProtectionButtonToolTip" />
    </Supertip>
    <Icon>
        <bt:Image size="16" resid="Icon.16x16"/>
        <bt:Image size="32" resid="Icon.32x32"/>
        <bt:Image size="80" resid="Icon.80x80"/>
    </Icon>
    <Action xsi:type="ExecuteFunction">
       <FunctionName>toggleProtection</FunctionName>
    </Action>
</Control>

  8. Scroll down to the Resources section of the manifest.

  9. Add the following markup as a child of the bt:ShortStrings element.

    <bt:String id="ProtectionButtonLabel" DefaultValue="Toggle Worksheet Protection" />

  10. Add the following markup as a child of the bt:LongStrings element.

    <bt:String id="ProtectionButtonToolTip" DefaultValue="Click to protect or unprotect the current worksheet." />

  11. Save the file.

Create the function that protects the sheet

  1. Open the file .\commands\commands.js.

  2. Add the following function immediately after the action function. Note that we specify an args parameter to the function and the very last line of the function calls args.completed. This is a requirement for all add-in commands of type ExecuteFunction. It signals the Office client application that the function has finished and the UI can become responsive again.

    async function toggleProtection(args) {
    try {
        await Excel.run(async (context) => {

            // TODO1: Queue commands to reverse the protection status of the current worksheet.

            await context.sync();
        });
    } catch (error) {
        // Note: In a production add-in, you'd want to notify the user through your add-in's UI.
        console.error(error);
    }

    args.completed();
}

  3. Add the following line immediately after the function to register it.

    Office.actions.associate("toggleProtection", toggleProtection);

  4. Within the toggleProtection function, replace TODO1 with the following code. This code uses the worksheet object's protection property in a standard toggle pattern. The TODO2 will be explained in the next section.

    const sheet = context.workbook.worksheets.getActiveWorksheet();

// TODO2: Queue command to load the sheet's "protection.protected" property from
//        the document and re-synchronize the document and task pane.

if (sheet.protection.protected) {
    sheet.protection.unprotect();
} else {
    sheet.protection.protect();
}

Add code to fetch document properties into the task pane's script objects

In each function that you've created in this tutorial until now, you queued commands to write to the Office document. Each function ended with a call to the context.sync() method, which sends the queued commands to the document to be executed. However, the code you added in the last step calls the sheet.protection.protected property. This is a significant difference from the earlier functions you wrote, because the sheet object is only a proxy object that exists in your task pane's script. The proxy object doesn't know the actual protection state of the document, so its protection.protected property can't have a real value. To avoid an exception error, you must first fetch the protection status from the document and use it set the value of sheet.protection.protected. This fetching process has three steps.

  1. Queue a command to load (that is; fetch) the properties that your code needs to read.

  2. Call the context object's sync method to send the queued command to the document for execution and return the requested information.

  3. Because the sync method is asynchronous, ensure that it has completed before your code calls the properties that were fetched.

These steps must be completed whenever your code needs to read information from the Office document.

  1. Within the toggleProtection function, replace TODO2 with the following code. Note:

    • Every Excel object has a load method. You specify the properties of the object that you want to read in the parameter as a string of comma-delimited names. In this case, the property you need to read is a subproperty of the protection property. You reference the subproperty almost exactly as you would anywhere else in your code, with the exception that you use a forward slash ('/') character instead of a "." character.

    • To ensure that the toggle logic, which reads sheet.protection.protected, doesn't run until after the sync is complete and the sheet.protection.protected has been assigned the correct value that is fetched from the document, it must come after the await operator ensures sync has completed.

    sheet.load('protection/protected');
await context.sync();

    When you are done, the entire function should look like the following:

    async function toggleProtection(args) {
    try {
        await Excel.run(async (context) => {
            const sheet = context.workbook.worksheets.getActiveWorksheet();

            sheet.load('protection/protected');
            await context.sync();

            if (sheet.protection.protected) {
                sheet.protection.unprotect();
            } else {
                sheet.protection.protect();
            }

            await context.sync();
        });
    } catch (error) {
        // Note: In a production add-in, you'd want to notify the user through your add-in's UI.
        console.error(error);
    }

    args.completed();
}

  2. Verify that you've saved all of the changes you've made to the project.

Test the add-in

  1. Close all Office applications, including Excel (or close the browser tab if you're using Excel on the web).

  2. Clear the Office cache. This is necessary to completely clear the old version of the add-in from the client application. Instructions for this process are in the article Clear the Office cache.

  3. If the local web server is already running, stop it by entering the following command in the command prompt. This should close the node command window.

    npm stop

  4. Because your manifest file has been updated, you must sideload your add-in again, using the updated manifest file. Start the local web server and sideload your add-in.

    • To test your add-in in Excel, run the following command in the root directory of your project. This starts the local web server (if it's not already running) and opens Excel with your add-in loaded.

      npm start

    • To test your add-in in Excel on the web, run the following command in the root directory of your project. When you run this command, the local web server starts. Replace "{url}" with the URL of an Excel document on your OneDrive or a SharePoint library to which you have permissions.

      Note

      If you are developing on a Mac, enclose the {url} in single quotation marks. Do not do this on Windows.

      npm run start:web -- --document {url}

      The following are examples.

      • npm run start:web -- --document https://contoso.sharepoint.com/:t:/g/EZGxP7ksiE5DuxvY638G798BpuhwluxCMfF1WZQj3VYhYQ?e=F4QM1R
      • npm run start:web -- --document https://1drv.ms/x/s!jkcH7spkM4EGgcZUgqthk4IK3NOypVw?e=Z6G1qp
      • npm run start:web -- --document https://contoso-my.sharepoint-df.com/:t:/p/user/EQda453DNTpFnl1bFPhOVR0BwlrzetbXvnaRYii2lDr_oQ?e=RSccmNP

      If your add-in doesn't sideload in the document, manually sideload it by following the instructions in Manually sideload add-ins to Office on the web.

  5. On the Home tab in Excel, choose the Toggle Worksheet Protection button. Note that most of the controls on the ribbon are disabled (and visually grayed-out) as seen in the following screenshot.

    The Excel ribbon with the Toggle Worksheet Protection button highlighted and enabled. Most other buttons appear gray and disabled.

  6. Select a cell and try to edit its content. Excel displays an error message indicating that the worksheet is protected.

  7. Choose the Toggle Worksheet Protection button again, and the controls are reenabled, and you can change cell values again.

Open a dialog

In this final step of the tutorial, you'll open a dialog in your add-in, pass a message from the dialog process to the task pane process, and close the dialog. Office Add-in dialogs are nonmodal: a user can continue to interact with both the document in the Office application and with the host page in the task pane.

Create the dialog page

  1. In the ./src folder that's located at the root of the project, create a new folder named dialogs.

  2. In the ./src/dialogs folder, create new file named popup.html.

  3. Add the following markup to popup.html. Note:

    • The page has an <input> field where the user will enter their name, and a button that will send this name to the task pane where it will display.

    • The markup loads a script named popup.js that you will create in a later step.

    • It also loads the Office.js library because it will be used in popup.js.

    <!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head lang="en">
        <title>Dialog for My Office Add-in</title>
        <meta charset="UTF-8">
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

        <!-- For more information on Fluent UI, visit https://developer.microsoft.com/fluentui. -->
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://res-1.cdn.office.net/files/fabric-cdn-prod_20230815.002/office-ui-fabric-core/11.0.0/css/fabric.min.css"/>

        <script type="text/javascript" src="https://appsforoffice.microsoft.com/lib/1.1/hosted/office.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="popup.js"></script>

    </head>
    <body style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;align-items:center;justify-content:center">
        <p class="ms-font-xl">ENTER YOUR NAME</p>
        <input id="name-box" type="text"/><br/><br/>
        <button id="ok-button" class="ms-Button">OK</button>
    </body>
</html>

  4. In the ./src/dialogs folder, create new file named popup.js.

  5. Add the following code to popup.js. Note the following about this code.

    • Every page that calls APIs in the Office.js library must first ensure that the library is fully initialized. The best way to do that is to call the Office.onReady() function. The call of Office.onReady() must run before any calls to Office.js; hence the assignment is in a script file that is loaded by the page, as it is in this case.
    Office.onReady((info) => {
    // TODO1: Assign handler to the OK button.
});

// TODO2: Create the OK button handler.

  6. Replace TODO1 with the following code. You'll create the sendStringToParentPage function in the next step.

    document.getElementById("ok-button").onclick = () => tryCatch(sendStringToParentPage);

  7. Replace TODO2 with the following code. The messageParent method passes its parameter to the parent page, in this case, the page in the task pane. The parameter must be a string, which includes anything that can be serialized as a string, such as XML or JSON, or any type that can be cast to a string. This also adds the same tryCatch method used in taskpane.js for error handling.

    function sendStringToParentPage() {
    const userName = document.getElementById("name-box").value;
    Office.context.ui.messageParent(userName);
}

/** Default helper for invoking an action and handling errors. */
async function tryCatch(callback) {
    try {
        await callback();
    } catch (error) {
        // Note: In a production add-in, you'd want to notify the user through your add-in's UI.
        console.error(error);
    }
}

Note

The popup.html file, and the popup.js file that it loads, run in an entirely separate browser runtime process from the add-in's task pane. If popup.js was transpiled into the same bundle.js file as the app.js file, then the add-in would have to load two copies of the bundle.js file, which defeats the purpose of bundling. Therefore, this add-in does not transpile the popup.js file at all.

Update webpack config settings

Open the file webpack.config.js in the root directory of the project and complete the following steps.

  1. Locate the entry object within the config object and add a new entry for popup.

    popup: "./src/dialogs/popup.js"

    After you've done this, the new entry object will look like this.

    entry: {
  polyfill: "@babel/polyfill",
  taskpane: "./src/taskpane/taskpane.js",
  commands: "./src/commands/commands.js",
  popup: "./src/dialogs/popup.js"
},

  2. Locate the plugins array within the config object and add the following object to the end of that array.

    new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
  filename: "popup.html",
  template: "./src/dialogs/popup.html",
  chunks: ["polyfill", "popup"]
})

    After you've done this, the new plugins array will look like this.

    plugins: [
  new CleanWebpackPlugin(),
  new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
    filename: "taskpane.html",
    template: "./src/taskpane/taskpane.html",
    chunks: ['polyfill', 'taskpane']
  }),
  new CopyWebpackPlugin([
  {
    to: "taskpane.css",
    from: "./src/taskpane/taskpane.css"
  }
  ]),
  new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
    filename: "commands.html",
    template: "./src/commands/commands.html",
    chunks: ["polyfill", "commands"]
  }),
  new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
    filename: "popup.html",
    template: "./src/dialogs/popup.html",
    chunks: ["polyfill", "popup"]
  })
],

  3. If the local web server is running, stop it by entering the following command in the command prompt. This should close the node command window.

    npm stop

  4. Run the following command to rebuild the project.

    npm run build

Open the dialog from the task pane

  1. Open the file ./src/taskpane/taskpane.html.

  2. Locate the <button> element for the freeze-header button, and add the following markup after that line.

    <button class="ms-Button" id="open-dialog">Open Dialog</button><br/><br/>

  3. The dialog will prompt the user to enter a name and pass the user's name to the task pane. The task pane will display it in a label. Immediately after the button that you just added, add the following markup.

    <label id="user-name"></label><br/><br/>

  4. Open the file ./src/taskpane/taskpane.js.

  5. Within the Office.onReady function call, locate the line that assigns a click handler to the freeze-header button, and add the following code after that line. You'll create the openDialog method in a later step.

    document.getElementById("open-dialog").onclick = openDialog;

  6. Add the following declaration to the end of the file. This variable is used to hold an object in the parent page's execution context that acts as an intermediator to the dialog page's execution context.

    let dialog = null;

  7. Add the following function to the end of the file (after the declaration of dialog). The important thing to notice about this code is what is not there: there is no call of Excel.run. This is because the API to open a dialog is shared among all Office applications, so it is part of the Office JavaScript Common API, not the Excel-specific API.

    function openDialog() {
    // TODO1: Call the Office Common API that opens a dialog.
}

  8. Replace TODO1 with the following code. Note:

    • The displayDialogAsync method opens a dialog in the center of the screen.

    • The first parameter is the URL of the page to open.

    • The second parameter passes options. height and width are percentages of the size of the Office application's window.

    Office.context.ui.displayDialogAsync(
    'https://localhost:3000/popup.html',
    {height: 45, width: 55},

    // TODO2: Add callback parameter.
);

Process the message from the dialog and close the dialog

  1. Within the openDialog function in the file ./src/taskpane/taskpane.js, replace TODO2 with the following code. Note:

    • The callback is executed immediately after the dialog successfully opens and before the user has taken any action in the dialog.

    • The result.value is the object that acts as an intermediary between the execution contexts of the parent and dialog pages.

    • The processMessage function will be created in a later step. This handler will process any values that are sent from the dialog page with calls of the messageParent function.

    function (result) {
    dialog = result.value;
    dialog.addEventHandler(Office.EventType.DialogMessageReceived, processMessage);
}

  2. Add the following function after the openDialog function.

    function processMessage(arg) {
    document.getElementById("user-name").innerHTML = arg.message;
    dialog.close();
}

  3. Verify that you've saved all of the changes you've made to the project.

Test the add-in

  1. If the local web server is already running and your add-in is already loaded in Excel, proceed to step 2. Otherwise, start the local web server and sideload your add-in:

    • To test your add-in in Excel, run the following command in the root directory of your project. This starts the local web server (if it's not already running) and opens Excel with your add-in loaded.

      npm start

    • To test your add-in in Excel on the web, run the following command in the root directory of your project. When you run this command, the local web server starts. Replace "{url}" with the URL of an Excel document on your OneDrive or a SharePoint library to which you have permissions.

      Note

      If you are developing on a Mac, enclose the {url} in single quotation marks. Do not do this on Windows.

      npm run start:web -- --document {url}

      The following are examples.

      • npm run start:web -- --document https://contoso.sharepoint.com/:t:/g/EZGxP7ksiE5DuxvY638G798BpuhwluxCMfF1WZQj3VYhYQ?e=F4QM1R
      • npm run start:web -- --document https://1drv.ms/x/s!jkcH7spkM4EGgcZUgqthk4IK3NOypVw?e=Z6G1qp
      • npm run start:web -- --document https://contoso-my.sharepoint-df.com/:t:/p/user/EQda453DNTpFnl1bFPhOVR0BwlrzetbXvnaRYii2lDr_oQ?e=RSccmNP

      If your add-in doesn't sideload in the document, manually sideload it by following the instructions in Manually sideload add-ins to Office on the web.

  2. If the add-in task pane isn't already open in Excel, go to the Home tab and choose the Show Taskpane button on the ribbon to open it.

  3. Choose the Open Dialog button in the task pane.

  4. While the dialog is open, drag it and resize it. Note that you can interact with the worksheet and press other buttons on the task pane, but you cannot launch a second dialog from the same task pane page.

  5. In the dialog, enter a name and choose the OK button. The name appears on the task pane and the dialog closes.

  6. Optionally, in the ./src/taskpane/taskpane.js file, comment out the line dialog.close(); in the processMessage function. Then repeat the steps of this section. The dialog stays open and you can change the name. You can close it manually by pressing the X button in the upper right corner.

    Excel with an Open Dialog button visible in the add-in task pane and a dialog box displayed over the worksheet.

Next steps

In this tutorial, you've created an Excel task pane add-in that interacts with tables, charts, worksheets, and dialogs in an Excel workbook. To learn more about building Excel add-ins, continue to the following article.

Excel add-ins overview

Code samples

See also