Using ExcelDataReader to read Excel data starting from a particular cell

Question

I am using ExcelDataReader to read data from my Excel workbook in C#.
But structure of my Excel sheet is such that data to be read can start from any particular cell and not necessarily A1 .

Can any one Please suggest a way on how this can be achieved using ExcelDataReader ?

Answer 1

If you are using ExcelDataReader 3+ you will find that there isn't any method for AsDataSet() for your reader object, You need to also install another package for ExcelDataReader.DataSet , then you can use the AsDataSet() method.
Also there is not a property for IsFirstRowAsColumnNames instead you need to set it inside of ExcelDataSetConfiguration .

Example:

using (var stream = File.Open(originalFileName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
{
    IExcelDataReader reader;

    // Create Reader - old until 3.4+
    ////var file = new FileInfo(originalFileName);
    ////if (file.Extension.Equals(".xls"))
    ////    reader = ExcelDataReader.ExcelReaderFactory.CreateBinaryReader(stream);
    ////else if (file.Extension.Equals(".xlsx"))
    ////    reader = ExcelDataReader.ExcelReaderFactory.CreateOpenXmlReader(stream);
    ////else
    ////    throw new Exception("Invalid FileName");
    // Or in 3.4+ you can only call this:
    reader = ExcelDataReader.ExcelReaderFactory.CreateReader(stream)

    //// reader.IsFirstRowAsColumnNames
    var conf = new ExcelDataSetConfiguration
    {
        ConfigureDataTable = _ => new ExcelDataTableConfiguration
        {
            UseHeaderRow = true 
        }
    };

    var dataSet = reader.AsDataSet(conf);

    // Now you can get data from each sheet by its index or its "name"
    var dataTable = dataSet.Tables[0];

    //...
}

---

You can find row number and column number of a cell reference like this:

var cellStr = "AB2"; // var cellStr = "A1";
var match = Regex.Match(cellStr, @"(?<col>[A-Z]+)(?<row>\d+)");
var colStr = match.Groups["col"].ToString();
var col = colStr.Select((t, i) => (colStr[i] - 64) * Math.Pow(26, colStr.Length - i - 1)).Sum();
var row = int.Parse(match.Groups["row"].ToString());

Now you can use some loops to read data from that cell like this:

for (var i = row; i < dataTable.Rows.Count; i++)
{
    for (var j = col; j < dataTable.Columns.Count; j++)
    {
        var data = dataTable.Rows[i][j];
    }
}

---

Update:

You can filter rows and columns of your Excel sheet at read time with this config:

var i = 0;
var conf = new ExcelDataSetConfiguration
{
    UseColumnDataType = true,
    ConfigureDataTable = _ => new ExcelDataTableConfiguration
    {
        FilterRow = rowReader => fromRow <= ++i - 1,
        FilterColumn = (rowReader, colIndex) => fromCol <= colIndex,
        UseHeaderRow = true
    }
};

Answer 2

To be more clear, I will begin at the beginning.

I will rely on the sample code found in https://github.com/ExcelDataReader/ExcelDataReader , but with some modifications to avoid inconveniences.

The following code detects the file format, either xls or xlsx.

FileStream stream = File.Open(filePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
IExcelDataReader excelReader;

//1. Reading Excel file
if (Path.GetExtension(filePath).ToUpper() == ".XLS")
{
    //1.1 Reading from a binary Excel file ('97-2003 format; *.xls)
    excelReader = ExcelReaderFactory.CreateBinaryReader(stream);
}
else
{
    //1.2 Reading from a OpenXml Excel file (2007 format; *.xlsx)
    excelReader = ExcelReaderFactory.CreateOpenXmlReader(stream);
}

//2. DataSet - The result of each spreadsheet will be created in the result.Tables
DataSet result = excelReader.AsDataSet();

//3. DataSet - Create column names from first row
excelReader.IsFirstRowAsColumnNames = false;

Now we can access the file contents in a more convenient way. I use DataTable for this. The following is an example to access a specific cell, and print its value in the console:

DataTable dt = result.Tables[0];
Console.WriteLine(dt.Rows[rowPosition][columnPosition]);

If you do not want to do a DataTable, you can do the same as follows:

Console.WriteLine(result.Tables[0].Rows[rowPosition][columnPosition]);

It is important not try to read beyond the limits of the table, for this you can see the number of rows and columns as follows:

Console.WriteLine(result.Tables[0].Rows.Count);
Console.WriteLine(result.Tables[0].Columns.Count);

Finally, when you're done, you should close the reader and free resources:

//5. Free resources (IExcelDataReader is IDisposable)
excelReader.Close();

I hope you find it useful.

(I understand that the question is old, but I make this contribution to enhance the knowledge base, because there is little material about particular implementations of this library).

Answer 3

For ExcelDataReader v3.6.0 and above. I struggled a bit to iterate over the Rows. So here's a little more to the above code. Hope it helps for few atleast.

using (var stream = System.IO.File.Open(copyPath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
                    {

                        IExcelDataReader excelDataReader = ExcelDataReader.ExcelReaderFactory.CreateReader(stream);

                        var conf = new ExcelDataSetConfiguration()
                        {
                            ConfigureDataTable = a => new ExcelDataTableConfiguration
                            {
                                UseHeaderRow = true
                            }
                        };

                        DataSet dataSet = excelDataReader.AsDataSet(conf);
                        //DataTable dataTable = dataSet.Tables["Sheet1"];
                        DataRowCollection row = dataSet.Tables["Sheet1"].Rows;
                        //DataColumnCollection col = dataSet.Tables["Sheet1"].Columns;

                        List<object> rowDataList = null;
                        List<object> allRowsList = new List<object>();
                        foreach (DataRow item in row)
                        {
                            rowDataList = item.ItemArray.ToList(); //list of each rows
                            allRowsList.Add(rowDataList); //adding the above list of each row to another list
                        }

                    }

Answer 4

I found this useful to read from a specific column and row:

FileStream stream = File.Open(@"C:\Users\Desktop\ExcelDataReader.xlsx", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
IExcelDataReader excelReader = ExcelReaderFactory.CreateOpenXmlReader(stream);
DataSet result = excelReader.AsDataSet();
excelReader.IsFirstRowAsColumnNames = true;         
DataTable dt = result.Tables[0];
string text = dt.Rows[1][0].ToString();

Answer 5

One way to do it :

FileStream stream = File.Open(@"c:\working\test.xls", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);

IExcelDataReader excelReader = ExcelReaderFactory.CreateBinaryReader(stream);

excelReader.IsFirstRowAsColumnNames = true;

DataSet result = excelReader.AsDataSet();

The result.Tables contains the sheets and the result.tables[0].Rows contains the cell rows.

Answer 6

Very easy with ExcelReaderFactory 3.1 and up:

using (var openFileDialog1 = new OpenFileDialog { Filter = "Excel Workbook|*.xls;*.xlsx;*.xlsm", ValidateNames = true })
{
    if (openFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
    {
        var fs = File.Open(openFileDialog1.FileName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
        var reader = ExcelReaderFactory.CreateBinaryReader(fs);
        var dataSet = reader.AsDataSet(new ExcelDataSetConfiguration
        {
            ConfigureDataTable = _ => new ExcelDataTableConfiguration
            {
                UseHeaderRow = true // Use first row is ColumnName here :D
            }
        });
        if (dataSet.Tables.Count > 0)
        {
            var dtData = dataSet.Tables[0];
            // Do Something
        }
    }
}

Answer 7

public static DataTable ConvertExcelToDataTable(string filePath, bool isXlsx = false)
{
    System.Text.Encoding.RegisterProvider(System.Text.CodePagesEncodingProvider.Instance);
    //open file and returns as Stream
        using (var stream = File.Open(filePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
        {
                using (var reader = ExcelReaderFactory.CreateReader(stream))
                {

                    var conf = new ExcelDataSetConfiguration
                    {
                        ConfigureDataTable = _ => new ExcelDataTableConfiguration
                        {
                            UseHeaderRow = true
                        }
                    };

                    var dataSet = reader.AsDataSet(conf);

                    // Now you can get data from each sheet by its index or its "name"
                    var dataTable = dataSet.Tables[0];

                    Console.WriteLine("Total no of rows  " + dataTable.Rows.Count);
                    Console.WriteLine("Total no of Columns  " + dataTable.Columns.Count);

                    return dataTable;

                }

        }
   
}

Answer 8

You could use the .NET library to do the same thing which i believe is more straightforward.

string ConnectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0; data source={path of your excel file}; Extended Properties=Excel 12.0;";

        OleDbConnection objConn = null;
        System.Data.DataTable dt = null;
        //Create connection object by using the preceding connection string.
        objConn = new OleDbConnection(connString);
        objConn.Open();
        //Get the data table containg the schema guid.
        dt = objConn.GetOleDbSchemaTable(OleDbSchemaGuid.Tables, null);
        string sql = string.Format("select * from [{0}$]", sheetName);
        var adapter = new System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter(sql, ConnectionString);
        var ds = new System.Data.DataSet();
        string tableName = sheetName;
        adapter.Fill(ds, tableName);
        System.Data.DataTable data = ds.Tables[tableName];

After you have your data in the datatable you can access them as you would normally do with a DataTable class.