How can I only get visible cells in an Excel spreadsheet using OpenXML?

Question

I am pulling data from cells in an Excel spreadsheet using OpenXML in C#. I only want to pull data if the cell is visible on the spreadsheet. I can get all the cells with the code below:

var cells = part.Worksheet.Descendants<Cell>;

I can then use the "CellReference.Value" property to figure out what column the cell belongs to.

The code below will give me the visible columns on the spreadsheet.

var visible_columns = part.Worksheet.Descendants<Column>().Where(a => a.Hidden == null || a.Hidden.Value == false);

I am now stuck trying to programmatically associate the cell object with its column object. From what I can tell there is no property on the column object to get it's name. Ideally I would get the column name from the "CellReference.Value" property on the cell object using a regular expression. Once I had that I could use it to get the associated column object, which I could then use to check the Hidden property.

I also looked at the "Parent" property of the cell object, but this gives me the a Row object which doesn't solve my issue. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks

Answer 1

Here is how you can read cells that are not inside the hidden rows or columns:

static void Main()
{
    using (var spreadsheetDocument = SpreadsheetDocument.Open("input.xlsx", false))
    {
        var workbookPart = spreadsheetDocument.WorkbookPart;
        var worksheetPart = workbookPart.WorksheetParts.First();
        var worksheet = worksheetPart.Worksheet;

        var columns = worksheet.Elements<Columns>().First();

        // Get names of the hidden columns.
        var hiddenColumnNames = new HashSet<string>();
        foreach (var column in columns.Elements<Column>().Where(c=> c.Hidden != null && c.Hidden.Value))
            for (uint min = column.Min, max = column.Max; min <= max; min++)
                hiddenColumnNames.Add(GetColumnName(min));

        var sheetData = worksheet.Elements<SheetData>().First();
        foreach (var row in sheetData.Elements<Row>())
        {
            // Skip cells that are in hidden row.
            if (row.Hidden != null && row.Hidden.Value)
                continue;

            foreach (var cell in row.Elements<Cell>())
            {
                // Skip cell that is in hidden column.
                var columnName = cell.CellReference.Value.Replace(row.RowIndex.ToString(), "");
                if (hiddenColumnNames.Contains(columnName))
                    continue;

                // TODO: read visible cell ...
            }
        }
    }
}

static string GetColumnName(uint columnNumber)
{
    string columnName = "";

    while (columnNumber > 0)
    {
        uint modulo = (columnNumber - 1) % 26;
        columnName = Convert.ToChar(65 + modulo).ToString() + columnName;
        columnNumber = (uint)((columnNumber - modulo) / 26);
    }

    return columnName;
}