Package org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel

Interface Cell

All Known Implementing Classes:
CellBase, HSSFCell, SXSSFCell, XSSFCell
public interface Cell
High level representation of a cell in a row of a spreadsheet.

Cells can be numeric, formula-based or string-based (text). The cell type specifies this. String cells cannot conatin numbers and numeric cells cannot contain strings (at least according to our model). Client apps should do the conversions themselves. Formula cells have the formula string, as well as the formula result, which can be numeric or string.

Cells should have their number (0 based) before being added to a row.

  • Method Details

    • getColumnIndex

      int getColumnIndex()
      Returns column index of this cell
      Returns:
      zero-based column index of a column in a sheet.

    • getRowIndex

      int getRowIndex()
      Returns row index of a row in the sheet that contains this cell
      Returns:
      zero-based row index of a row in the sheet that contains this cell

    • getSheet

      Sheet getSheet()
      Returns the sheet this cell belongs to
      Returns:
      the sheet this cell belongs to

    • getRow

      Row getRow()
      Returns the Row this cell belongs to
      Returns:
      the Row that owns this cell

    • setCellType

      @Deprecated @Removal(version="5.0") void setCellType(CellType cellType)
      Deprecated.
      This method is deprecated and will be removed in POI 5.0. Use explicit setCellFormula(String), setCellValue(...) or setBlank() to get the desired result.
      Set the cells type (blank, numeric, boolean, error or string).

      If the cell currently contains a value, the value will be converted to match the new type, if possible. Formatting is generally lost in the process however.

      Conversion rules:

      to NUMERIC: numeric value is left as is. True converts to 1.0, false converts to 0. otherwise, the value is set to 0. Formula is removed.

      If what you want to do is get a String value for your numeric cell, stop! This is not the way to do it. Instead, for fetching the string value of a numeric or boolean or date cell, use DataFormatter instead.

      If cell is a member of an array formula group containing more than 1 cell, an IllegalStateException is thrown. If the array formula group contains only this cell, it is removed.

      Passing CellType.FORMULA is illegal and will result in an IllegalArgumentException.

      Throws:
      IllegalArgumentException - if the specified cell type is invalid (null, _NONE or FORMULA)
      IllegalStateException - if the current value cannot be converted to the new type or if the cell is a part of an array formula group containing other cells

    • setBlank

      void setBlank()
      Removes formula and value from the cell, and sets its type to CellType.BLANK. Preserves comments and hyperlinks. While setCellType(CellType) exists, is an alias for setCellType(CellType.BLANK).

    • getCellType

      CellType getCellType()
      Return the cell type.
      Returns:
      the cell type

    • getCachedFormulaResultType

      CellType getCachedFormulaResultType()
      Only valid for formula cells
      Returns:
      one of (CellType.NUMERIC, CellType.STRING, CellType.BOOLEAN, CellType.ERROR) depending on the cached value of the formula

    • setCellValue

      void setCellValue(double value)
      Set a numeric value for the cell.
      Parameters:
      value - the numeric value to set this cell to. For formulas, we'll set the precalculated value, for numerics we'll set its value. For other types, we will change the cell to a numeric cell and set its value.

    • setCellValue

      void setCellValue(Date value)

      Converts the supplied date to its equivalent Excel numeric value and sets that into the cell.

      Note - There is actually no 'DATE' cell type in Excel. In many cases (when entering date values), Excel automatically adjusts the cell style to some date format, creating the illusion that the cell data type is now something besides CellType.NUMERIC. POI does not attempt to replicate this behaviour. To make a numeric cell display as a date, use setCellStyle(CellStyle) etc.

      Parameters:
      value - the numeric value to set this cell to. For formulas, we'll set the precalculated value, for numerics we'll set its value. For other types, we will change the cell to a numerics cell and set its value.

    • setCellValue

      void setCellValue(LocalDateTime value)

      Converts the supplied date to its equivalent Excel numeric value and sets that into the cell.

      Note - There is actually no 'DATE' cell type in Excel. In many cases (when entering date values), Excel automatically adjusts the cell style to some date format, creating the illusion that the cell data type is now something besides CellType.NUMERIC. POI does not attempt to replicate this behaviour. To make a numeric cell display as a date, use setCellStyle(CellStyle) etc.

      Parameters:
      value - the numeric value to set this cell to. For formulas, we'll set the precalculated value, for numerics we'll set its value. For other types, we will change the cell to a numerics cell and set its value.

    • setCellValue

      default void setCellValue(LocalDate value)

      Converts the supplied date to its equivalent Excel numeric value and sets that into the cell.

      Note - There is actually no 'DATE' cell type in Excel. In many cases (when entering date values), Excel automatically adjusts the cell style to some date format, creating the illusion that the cell data type is now something besides CellType.NUMERIC. POI does not attempt to replicate this behaviour. To make a numeric cell display as a date, use setCellStyle(CellStyle) etc.

      Parameters:
      value - the numeric value to set this cell to. For formulas, we'll set the precalculated value, for numerics we'll set its value. For other types, we will change the cell to a numerics cell and set its value.

    • setCellValue

      void setCellValue(Calendar value)

      Set a date value for the cell. Excel treats dates as numeric so you will need to format the cell as a date.

      This will set the cell value based on the Calendar's timezone. As Excel does not support timezones this means that both 20:00+03:00 and 20:00-03:00 will be reported as the same value (20:00) even that there are 6 hours difference between the two times. This difference can be preserved by using setCellValue(value.getTime()) which will automatically shift the times to the default timezone.

      Parameters:
      value - the date value to set this cell to. For formulas, we'll set the precalculated value, for numerics we'll set its value. For other types, we will change the cell to a numeric cell and set its value.

    • setCellValue

      void setCellValue(RichTextString value)
      Set a rich string value for the cell.
      Parameters:
      value - value to set the cell to. For formulas, we'll set the formula string, for String cells we'll set its value. For other types, we will change the cell to a string cell and set its value. If value is null then we will change the cell to a Blank cell.

    • setCellValue

      void setCellValue(String value)
      Set a string value for the cell.
      Parameters:
      value - value to set the cell to. For formulas, we'll set the formula string, for String cells we'll set its value. For other types, we will change the cell to a string cell and set its value. If value is null then we will change the cell to a Blank cell.

    • setCellFormula

      void setCellFormula(String formula) throws FormulaParseException, IllegalStateException
      Sets formula for this cell.

      If formula is not null, sets or updates the formula. If formula is null, removes the formula. Or use removeFormula() to remove the formula.

      Note, this method only sets the formula string and does not calculate the formula value. To set the precalculated value use setCellValue(double).

      If the cell was blank, sets value to 0. Otherwise, preserves the value as precalculated.

      In XSSF implementation, there is a XSSFWorkbook.setCellFormulaValidation(boolean) setting that can validate (but also in some cases, reformat) the formula.

      Parameters:
      formula - the formula to set, e.g. "SUM(C4:E4)". If the argument is null then the current formula is removed.
      Throws:
      IllegalStateException - if this cell is a part of an array formula group containing other cells
      FormulaParseException - if the formula has incorrect syntax or is otherwise invalid
      See Also:

    • removeFormula

      void removeFormula() throws IllegalStateException
      Removes formula, if any. If cell was blank, leaves it as is. If it is a part of an array formula group, blanks the cell. If has a regular formula, removes the formula preserving the "cached" value.
      Throws:
      IllegalStateException - if cell is a part of an array formula group containing other cells

    • getCellFormula

      String getCellFormula()
      Return a formula for the cell, for example, SUM(C4:E4)
      Returns:
      a formula for the cell
      Throws:
      IllegalStateException - if the cell type returned by getCellType() is not CellType.FORMULA

    • getNumericCellValue

      double getNumericCellValue()
      Get the value of the cell as a number.

      For strings we throw an exception. For blank cells we return a 0. For formulas or error cells we return the precalculated value;

      Returns:
      the value of the cell as a number
      Throws:
      IllegalStateException - if the cell type returned by getCellType() is CellType.STRING
      NumberFormatException - if the cell value isn't a parsable double.
      See Also:

    • getDateCellValue

      Date getDateCellValue()
      Get the value of the cell as a date.

      For strings we throw an exception. For blank cells we return a null.

      Returns:
      the value of the cell as a date
      Throws:
      IllegalStateException - if the cell type returned by getCellType() is CellType.STRING
      NumberFormatException - if the cell value isn't a parsable double.
      See Also:

    • getLocalDateTimeCellValue

      LocalDateTime getLocalDateTimeCellValue()
      Get the value of the cell as a LocalDateTime.

      For strings we throw an exception. For blank cells we return a null.

      Returns:
      the value of the cell as a LocalDateTime
      Throws:
      IllegalStateException - if the cell type returned by getCellType() is CellType.STRING
      NumberFormatException - if the cell value isn't a parsable double.
      See Also:

    • getRichStringCellValue

      RichTextString getRichStringCellValue()
      Get the value of the cell as a XSSFRichTextString

      For numeric cells we throw an exception. For blank cells we return an empty string. For formula cells we return the pre-calculated value if a string, otherwise an exception.

      Returns:
      the value of the cell as a XSSFRichTextString

    • getStringCellValue

      String getStringCellValue()
      Get the value of the cell as a string

      For numeric cells we throw an exception. For blank cells we return an empty string. For formulaCells that are not string Formulas, we throw an exception.

      Returns:
      the value of the cell as a string

    • setCellValue

      void setCellValue(boolean value)
      Set a boolean value for the cell
      Parameters:
      value - the boolean value to set this cell to. For formulas, we'll set the precalculated value, for booleans we'll set its value. For other types, we will change the cell to a boolean cell and set its value.

    • setCellErrorValue

      void setCellErrorValue(byte value)
      Set a error value for the cell
      Parameters:
      value - the error value to set this cell to. For formulas, we'll set the precalculated value , for errors we'll set its value. For other types, we will change the cell to an error cell and set its value.
      See Also:

    • getBooleanCellValue

      boolean getBooleanCellValue()
      Get the value of the cell as a boolean.

      For strings, numbers, and errors, we throw an exception. For blank cells we return a false.

      Returns:
      the value of the cell as a boolean
      Throws:
      IllegalStateException - if the cell type returned by getCellType() is not CellType.BOOLEAN, CellType.BLANK or CellType.FORMULA

    • getErrorCellValue

      byte getErrorCellValue()
      Get the value of the cell as an error code.

      For strings, numbers, and booleans, we throw an exception. For blank cells we return a 0.

      Returns:
      the value of the cell as an error code
      Throws:
      IllegalStateException - if the cell type returned by getCellType() isn't CellType.ERROR
      See Also:

    • setCellStyle

      void setCellStyle(CellStyle style)

      Set the style for the cell. The style should be an CellStyle created/retrieved from the Workbook.

      To change the style of a cell without affecting other cells that use the same style, use CellUtil.setCellStyleProperties(Cell, Map)

      Parameters:
      style - reference contained in the workbook. If the value is null then the style information is removed causing the cell to used the default workbook style.
      See Also:

    • getCellStyle

      CellStyle getCellStyle()
      Return the cell's style.
      Returns:
      the cell's style. Always not-null. Default cell style has zero index and can be obtained as workbook.getCellStyleAt(0)
      See Also:

    • setAsActiveCell

      void setAsActiveCell()
      Sets this cell as the active cell for the worksheet

    • getAddress

      CellAddress getAddress()
      Gets the address of this cell
      Returns:
      A1 style address of this cell
      Since:
      3.14beta1

    • setCellComment

      void setCellComment(Comment comment)
      Assign a comment to this cell
      Parameters:
      comment - comment associated with this cell

    • getCellComment

      Comment getCellComment()
      Returns comment associated with this cell
      Returns:
      comment associated with this cell or null if not found

    • removeCellComment

      void removeCellComment()
      Removes the comment for this cell, if there is one.

    • getHyperlink

      Hyperlink getHyperlink()
      Returns:
      hyperlink associated with this cell or null if not found

    • setHyperlink

      void setHyperlink(Hyperlink link)
      Assign a hyperlink to this cell
      Parameters:
      link - hyperlink associated with this cell

    • removeHyperlink

      void removeHyperlink()
      Removes the hyperlink for this cell, if there is one.

    • getArrayFormulaRange

      CellRangeAddress getArrayFormulaRange()
      Only valid for array formula cells
      Returns:
      range of the array formula group that the cell belongs to.

    • isPartOfArrayFormulaGroup

      boolean isPartOfArrayFormulaGroup()
      Returns:
      true if this cell is part of group of cells having a common array formula.