Paste from Excel to clipboard using XMLSpreadsheet

Question

I have data in an Excel spreadsheet with values like this: 31% and 69%

After parsing Clipboard I get value as .31 and .69. I am expecting to get 31 and 69 or 31% and 69%

I have a C# program that parses this data off the Clipboard.

const string ClipboardFormat = "XML Spreadsheet";
if (Clipboard.ContainsData(ClipboardFormat))

{

  object clipData = Clipboard.GetData(ClipboardFormat);
  MemoryStream ms = clipData as MemoryStream;
  XmlDocument xml = new XmlDocument();
  xml.Load(ms);

  XmlNodeList table = xml.GetElementsByTagName("Table");

  foreach (XmlNode row in table[0].ChildNodes)
  {
    foreach (XmlNode cell in row.ChildNodes)
    {

    GridView.SetRowCellValue(iRowIndex, GridView.Columns[iColIndex], cell.InnerText);
    iColIndex++;
    }
  iRowIndex++;
  }

cell.InnerText always gives me value as .31 and .69 where as I am expecting values 31 and 69 or 31% and 69%. I want to use "XML Spreadsheet" format as It helps me get right Date format [Feb-14 gives me 02/01/2014] which I am looking for.

Please suggest me how I can resolve this using "XML Spreadsheet" DataFormat.

Answer 1

As you should know, Excel stores percent data as a part of 1, so when you see "50%" in Excel cell, there is "0.50" really stored in the xls file. I can think of 3 options:

1. If you are using DevExpress Gridview (as I can see - you do), you can use following code to display data as a percent, instead of share of 1:

    //myPercentColumn - a column in which you want to put your percentile data... myPercentColumn.DisplayFormat.FormatType = FormatType.Numeric; myPercentColumn.DisplayFormat.FormatString = "p0"; 

2. Change Excel's cell format to "Text" - worst option, as you wouldn't be able to use that cell value in Excel formulas.

3. Parse value in your C# code, like multiplying value by 100 (or convert it to string after multiplying, and add "%").

Answer 2

If you have a cell containg the value "61%", then in fact, this is the VALUE 0.61 , but FORMATTED as percent .

Excel copies this to the clipboard as follows:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?mso-application progid="Excel.Sheet"?>
<Workbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
 xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
 xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel"
 xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
 xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
 <Styles>
  <Style ss:ID="Default" ss:Name="Normal">
   <Alignment ss:Vertical="Bottom"/>
   <Borders/>
   <Font ss:FontName="Calibri" x:Family="Swiss" ss:Size="11" ss:Color="#000000"/>
   <Interior/>
   <NumberFormat/>
   <Protection/>
  </Style>
  <Style ss:ID="s69">
   <NumberFormat ss:Format="0%"/>
  </Style>
 </Styles>
 <Worksheet ss:Name="Tabelle1">
  <Table ss:ExpandedColumnCount="1" ss:ExpandedRowCount="1"
   ss:DefaultColumnWidth="60" ss:DefaultRowHeight="14.5">
   <Row>
    <Cell ss:StyleID="s69"><Data ss:Type="Number">0.61</Data></Cell>
   </Row>
  </Table>
 </Worksheet>
</Workbook>

Unfortunately, you need to do some effort in order to extract the values properly. In the <CELL> tag, please note this Attribute:

ss:StyleID="s69"

And then look up into the <Styles> section, there you find this style and the <NUMBERFORMAT> tag:

<NumberFormat ss:Format="0%"/>

So in fact, "0% is the FORMAT which will be applied to the VALUE 0.61.

It is a little bit complicated to extract the format, but in fact, all the information is in the XML text.