Microsoft Excel is a program developed by Microsoft for Windows, Andriod, iOS, and macOS. It offers a different variety of features and allows users to manage, format, organize and calculate data in a spreadsheet system.
- It has all the necessary features available in all spreadsheets.
- A grid of cells is arranged in rows and columns to organize and manipulate data using arithmetic operations.
- It can display data in graphs, charts, histograms, and with a very limited three-dimensional graphical display.
In the programming world, Microsoft Excel is widely used to import/export data in different forms such as tables, charts, graphs, etc. There are a lot of libraries available which can read, write, convert and print spreadsheet files and the user can quickly add any of these libraries as per their requirements.
In this article, we will discuss the top 10 Excel libraries, or you can say the most useful libraries which are used in 20107
01 EPPlus By jankallman
EPPlus is a .NET library that creates advanced Excel spreadsheets without the need of interop. It reads and writes Excel files using the Office Open XML format (xlsx). EPPlus has no dependencies other than .NET.
When working with EPPlus you need something to keep in mind:
- Cell addresses, number formats and formulas are culture-insensitive, meaning things might look a little bit different when you write your code.
- This is the way OOXML is stored and is then translated to your culture when the workbook is opened in Excel.
For further details, you can visit https://github.com/JanKallman/EPPlus/
02 ExcelDataReader By shaoken
ExcelDataReader is a lightweight and fast library written in C# for reading Microsoft Excel files. The AsDataSet() extension method is a convenient helper for quickly getting the data, but is not always available or desirable to use. ExcelDataReader implements the System.Data.IDataReader and IDataRecord interfaces to navigate and retrieve data at a lower level.
An essential reader methods are as follows:
- Read(): reads a row from the current sheet.
- NextResult(): advances the cursor to the next sheet.
- GetFieldType(): returns the type of a value in the current row. Always one of the types supported by Excel: double, int, bool, DateTime, string, or null if there is no value.
- IsDBNull(): checks if a value in the current row is null.
- GetValue(): returns a value from the current row as an object, or null if there is no value.
- GetDouble(), GetInt32(), GetBoolean(), GetDateTime(), GetString(): return a value from the current row cast to their respective type.
For further details, you can visit https://github.com/ExcelDataReader/ExcelDataReader/
03 ClosedXML By igitur & Pyropace
ClosedXML makes it easier for developers to create Excel 2007+ (.xlsx, .xlsm, etc) files. It provides a nice object oriented way to manipulate the files (similar to VBA) without dealing with the hassles of XML Documents. It can be used by any .NET language like C# and VisualBasic.NET.
- The typical example is creating Excel reports on a web server.
- To use ClosedXML, you must reference the DocumentFormat.OpenXml.dll
- Just need to write a few lines of code as compared to OpenXML.
04 GemBox.Spreadsheet By GemBoxSoftware
GemBox.Spreadsheet is a .NET component that enables developers to read, write, convert and print spreadsheet files such as XLSX, XLS, ODS, CSV, HTML, PDF or XPS from their .NET applications using one simple API. GemBox.Spreadsheet requires only .NET Framework and is many times faster than Microsoft Excel automation.
- Requires only .NET Framework and much faster than Microsoft Excel automation.
- No dependency on Microsoft Excel.
- Simple and easy-to-use programming interface.
- High-quality rendering and printing.
For further details, you can visit https://www.gemboxsoftware.com/spreadsheet/overview/
05 Aspose.Cells By Aspose
- Aspose.Cells for .NET is a spreadsheet programming component that allows software developers to manipulate and convert spreadsheet files from within their own applications.
- A combination of APIs and GUI controls, Aspose.Cells for .NET speeds up Microsoft Excel programming and conversion.
06 LinqToExcel By paulyoder
- LinqToExcel is a .Net library that allows you to query Excel spreadsheets using the LINQ syntax.
- The default query expects the first row to be the header row containing column names that match the property names on the generic class being used. It also assumes the data to be in the worksheet named "Sheet1".
- To query a worksheet with a different name, pass the worksheet name in as an argument.
07 Spire.XLS By spirecomponent
Spire.XLS for .NET is a professional .NET Excel component to enable developers to generate, write, edit and save Excel files with C# and Visual Basic. It allows developers to convert Excel to other popular formats, such as PDF, XML, HTML, CSV, Image format, etc.
Spire.XLS supports developers to export data from the database to Excel or import data from Excel to data table. With Spire.XLS for .NET, developers can create any types of ASP.NET web responses and WinForms applications to operate Excel files.
For further details, you can visit https://www.e-iceblue.com/Introduce/excel-for-net-introduce.html
08 FreeSpire.XLS By spirecomponent
FreeSpire.XLS for .NET is a standalone Excel .NET library and does not depend on Microsoft Office Excel. It supports both for the old Excel 97-2003 format (.xls) and for the new Excel 2007 and Excel 2010 (.xlsx, .xlsm).
- Powerful & High-Quality Excel File Conversion
- Create Excel Report from Comprehensive Workbook Designer
- Easily Manipulate cells & Excel Calculation Engine at run time
- Provides a wide range of Charts such as Pie Chart, Bar Chart, Column Chart, Line Chart, Radar Chart and etc.
- Supports data transportation between database and Excel in C# VB.NET or ASP.NET.
09 NPOI By tonyqus
NPOI is the .NET version of POI Java project at http://poi.apache.org/. It is an open source project which can help you read/write xls, doc, ppt files. It has a comprehensive applications and you can use it to;
- Generate an Excel report without Microsoft Office suite installed on your server and more efficient than calling Microsoft Excel ActiveX at background;
- Extract text from Office documents to help you implement full-text indexing feature (most of the time this feature is used to create search engines).
- Extract images from Office documents
- Generate Excel sheets that contain formulas
10 SpreadsheetGear By SpreadsheetGear
SpreadsheetGear for .NET Standard enables developers for .NET Core, iOS, Android, Linux, macOS and UWP to easily take advantage of scalable Excel Reporting, comprehensive Excel compatible charting APIs, the fastest and most complete Excel consistent calculations and more using the same API enjoyed by thousands of Windows developers for more than a decade.
This library supports the Microsoft .NET Framework, ASP.NET Core, .NET Core, Universal Windows Platform, Xamarin.iOS, Xamarin.Android, Xamarin.Forms, Mono and any other platform which supports .NET Standard 0103
For further details, you can visit http://www.spreadsheetgear.com/nuget/spreadsheetgear/project/