c# using excel file from embedded resource

Question

i'm writing a grading program for my girlfriend and i'm stuck trying to output the data to an excel file I embedded into the program. I have it writing to a blank excel file currently but would like to use a pre-made excel file and just export the data to the appropriate cells. I can't figure out how to tell the program to use the xls file in the resource folder instead of making a blank excel file. Here is the code for saving it so far. I'm using C# 2008 express edition.

Thanks

my rescource reference is: Properties.Resources.gradesheet

Excel.Application xlApp;
        Excel.Workbook xlWorkBook;            
        Excel.Worksheet xlWorkSheet;

        object misValue = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;


        xlApp = new Excel.ApplicationClass();
        xlWorkBook = xlApp.Workbooks.Add(misValue);

        xlWorkSheet = (Excel.Worksheet)xlWorkBook.Worksheets.get_Item(1);
        //add data to excel
        xlWorkSheet.Cells[1, 1] = firstName;
        xlWorkSheet.Cells[2, 1] = lastName;




        xlWorkBook.Close(true, misValue, misValue);
        xlApp.Quit();

        releaseObject(xlWorkSheet);
        releaseObject(xlWorkBook);
        releaseObject(xlApp);

Darien shannon · Answer 1 · 2014-11-07T20:54:43.640

This should help you out. (tested in .NET 4.5).

public void openExcelTemplateFromResources ()
{
    string tempPath = System.IO.Path.GetTempFileName(); 

    System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes(tempPath, Properties.Resources.excelResource);

    Excel.Application excelApplication = new Excel.Application();
    Excel._Workbook excelWorkbook;
    excelWorkbook = excelApplication.Workbooks.Open(tempPath)

    excelApplication.Visible = true; // at this point its up to the user to save the file
}

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 18 '12 at 22:30

2

You will need to take the excel file from your resources and save it off to a file. Then you can do an open on the workbook:

xlApp.Workbooks.Open(fileName);

answered Feb 18 '12 at 22:30

John Koerner

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thanks for the reply, so there is absolutely no way to tell the c# to use the excel file in my resource as a sort of template to use without first saving the file ? – Boundinashes6 Feb 18 '12 at 23:03
1

No, excel works on files, so it needs a base file to start with. Your only other option would be to programmatically create everything in the file using excel automation. Not difficult, but it is probably easier to just save the file to a temp location and work from there. – John Koerner Feb 18 '12 at 23:20

MadBoy · Answer 3 · 2012-02-19T00:48:25.213

As John Koerner says Excel works on files so you need your Excel file to be saved to file first.

However if you can work with .XLSX rather then .XLS you would be better of with EPPlus rather then Interop to create Excel files. It's easier and doesn't have all the problems that Interop does.

Based on this link depending on what you want to do with the Excel file, and how you're going to use it, the scenario differs a little. You can:

Pass the stream directly to an object that supports a stream as parameter. For example, Excel Package Plus supports reading an excel file directly from any stream and can load the object into memory. You can then manipulate the object and write it to a file calling the Save method, passing either a filestream or a filename.
Save the stream to a (temporary) file by creating a writable Filestream object with the correct target filename (using File.OpenWrite) and then calling yourManifestResourceStream.CopyTo(yourFileStream). You can then pass the filename to another process (such as Excel) and open it from the filesystem.

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:15

First you should get stream of your resource file using this function:

 public static Stream GetResourceFileStream(string fileName)
            {
                Assembly currentAssembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
                // Get all embedded resources
                string[] arrResources = currentAssembly.GetManifestResourceNames();

                foreach (string resourceName in arrResources)
                {
                    if (resourceName.Contains(fileName))
                    {
                        return currentAssembly.GetManifestResourceStream(resourceName);
                    }
                }

                return null;
            }

Then you can work with stream or you can save the stream to the file: How do I save a stream to a file.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered May 08 '13 at 05:28

0

You can create Excel template file (.xlt) and then open new .xls files based on that template. Regards, AB

answered May 08 '13 at 05:28

Alexander Bell

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c# using excel file from embedded resource

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