C# - How to add an Excel Worksheet programmatically - Office XP / 2003

Question

I am just starting to fiddle with Excel via C# to be able to automate the creation, and addition to an Excel file.

I can open the file and update its data and move through the existing worksheets. My problem is how can I add new sheets?

I tried:

Excel.Worksheet newWorksheet;
newWorksheet = (Excel.Worksheet)excelApp.ThisWorkbook.Worksheets.Add(
                Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing);

But I get below COM Exception and my googling has not given me any answer.

Exception from HRESULT: 0x800A03EC Source is: "Interop.Excel"

I am hoping someone maybe able to put me out of my misery.

Solution 1

You need to add a COM reference in your project to the "Microsoft Excel 11.0 Object Library" - or whatever version is appropriate.

This code works for me:

private void AddWorksheetToExcelWorkbook(string fullFilename,string worksheetName)
{
    Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application xlApp = null;
    Workbook xlWorkbook = null;
    Sheets xlSheets = null;
    Worksheet xlNewSheet = null;

    try {
        xlApp = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application();

        if (xlApp == null)
            return;

        // Uncomment the line below if you want to see what's happening in Excel
        // xlApp.Visible = true;

        xlWorkbook = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(fullFilename, 0, false, 5, "", "",
                false, XlPlatform.xlWindows, "",
                true, false, 0, true, false, false);

        xlSheets = xlWorkbook.Sheets as Sheets;

        // The first argument below inserts the new worksheet as the first one
        xlNewSheet = (Worksheet)xlSheets.Add(xlSheets[1], Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing);
        xlNewSheet.Name = worksheetName;

        xlWorkbook.Save();
        xlWorkbook.Close(Type.Missing,Type.Missing,Type.Missing);
        xlApp.Quit();
    }
    finally {
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(xlNewSheet);
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(xlSheets);
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(xlWorkbook);
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(xlApp);
        xlApp = null;
    }
}

Note that you want to be very careful about properly cleaning up and releasing your COM object references. Included in that StackOverflow question is a useful rule of thumb: "Never use 2 dots with COM objects". In your code; you're going to have real trouble with that. My demo code above does NOT properly clean up the Excel app, but it's a start!

Some other links that I found useful when looking into this question:

• Opening and Navigating Excel with C#
• How to: Use COM Interop to Create an Excel Spreadsheet (C# Programming Guide)
• How to: Add New Worksheets to Workbooks

According to MSDN

To use COM interop, you must have administrator or Power User security permissions.

Hope that helps.

Solution 2

Would like to thank you for some excellent replies. @AR., your a star and it works perfectly. I had noticed last night that the Excel.exe was not closing; so I did some research and found out about how to release the COM objects. Here is my final code:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Reflection;
using System.IO;
using Excel;

namespace testExcelconsoleApp
{
    class Program
    {
        private String fileLoc = @"C:\temp\test.xls";

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Program p = new Program();
            p.createExcel();
        }

        private void createExcel()
        {
            Excel.Application excelApp = null;
            Excel.Workbook workbook = null;
            Excel.Sheets sheets = null;
            Excel.Worksheet newSheet = null;

            try
            {
                FileInfo file = new FileInfo(fileLoc);
                if (file.Exists)
                {
                    excelApp = new Excel.Application();
                    workbook = excelApp.Workbooks.Open(fileLoc, 0, false, 5, "", "",
                                                        false, XlPlatform.xlWindows, "",
                                                        true, false, 0, true, false, false);

                    sheets = workbook.Sheets;

                    //check columns exist
                    foreach (Excel.Worksheet sheet in sheets)
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine(sheet.Name);
                        sheet.Select(Type.Missing);

                        System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(sheet);
                    }

                    newSheet = (Worksheet)sheets.Add(sheets[1], Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing);
                    newSheet.Name = "My New Sheet";
                    newSheet.Cells[1, 1] = "BOO!";

                    workbook.Save();
                    workbook.Close(null, null, null);
                    excelApp.Quit();
                }
            }
            finally
            {
                System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(newSheet);
                System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(sheets);
                System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(workbook);
                System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(excelApp);

                newSheet = null;
                sheets = null;
                workbook = null;
                excelApp = null;

                GC.Collect();
            }
        }
    }
}

Thank you for all your help.

Solution 3

Another "Up Tick" for AR..., but if you don't have to use interop I would avoid it altogether. This product is actually quite interesting: http://www.clearoffice.com/ and it provides a very intuitive, fully managed, api for manipulation excel files and seems to be free. (at least for the time being) SpreadSheetGear is also excellent but pricey.

my two cents.

Solution 4

Do not forget to include Reference to Microsoft Excel 12.0/11.0 object Library

using Excel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel;
// Include this Namespace

Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application xlApp = null;
Excel.Workbook xlWorkbook = null;
Excel.Sheets xlSheets = null;
Excel.Worksheet xlNewSheet = null;
string worksheetName ="Sheet_Name";
object readOnly1 = false;

object isVisible = true;

object missing = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;

try
{
    xlApp = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application();

    if (xlApp == null)
        return;

    // Uncomment the line below if you want to see what's happening in Excel
    // xlApp.Visible = true;

    xlWorkbook = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(@"C:\Book1.xls", missing, readOnly1, missing, missing, missing, missing, missing, missing, missing, missing, isVisible, missing, missing, missing);

    xlSheets = (Excel.Sheets)xlWorkbook.Sheets;

    // The first argument below inserts the new worksheet as the first one
    xlNewSheet = (Excel.Worksheet)xlSheets.Add(xlSheets[1], Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing);
    xlNewSheet.Name = worksheetName;

    xlWorkbook.Save();
    xlWorkbook.Close(Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing);
    xlApp.Quit();
}
finally
{
    System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(xlNewSheet);
    System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(xlSheets);
    System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(xlWorkbook);
    System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(xlApp);
    //xlApp = null;
}

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Comments

[Jon]

The exception is: Exception from HRESULT: 0x800A03EC Source is: "Interop.Excel" Thanks for all the help

[David Thielen]

I got a COMException on this on the Add() call if it is a XLSM file.