SpreadsheetGear for .NET 2007
For the latest FAQ's, how-to's, documentation, samples, support options and new versions please visit www.spreadsheetgear.com.
The following links provide an overview of SpreadsheetGear for .NET 2007:
- This introduction explains a few key concepts and provides links to more detailed information.
- Getting Started provides a brief walkthrough of SpreadsheetGear for .NET 2007 in a Windows Forms application.
- The SpreadsheetGear Assembly overview provides a brief summary of each namespace as well as a comparison of the SpreadsheetGear for .NET 2007 API to the Microsoft Excel(TM) API.
- The SpreadsheetGear Web site provides many ASP.NET Excel Reporting, Excel Charting, Excel to DataGrid and Excel Calculation samples.
- The SpreadsheetGear Explorer C# and Visual Basic solutions provide Windows Forms applications which demonstrate some of the most frequently used SpreadsheetGear for .NET 2007 features and API's.
Workbook Sets
SpreadsheetGear for .NET 2007 uses workbook sets to group one or more workbooks. Workbook sets may be created directly with GetWorkbookSet and used to create, read, modify, calculate and write Microsoft Excel(TM) workbooks without Excel. Typically, each workbook view creates its own workbook set automatically.
For external cell references to work between multiple workbooks, the workbooks must be loaded into the same workbook set.
Open existing workbooks with GetWorkbook, Open, OpenFromMemory or OpenFromStream.
Create new empty workbooks with GetWorkbook or Add.
Workbooks, Worksheets and Ranges
SpreadsheetGear for .NET 2007 workbooks consist of a set of worksheets, and sometimes chart sheets or other special sheets. Use the IRange interface to access and modify worksheet cells including values, formulas, number formats, fonts, borders, background colors, cell comments, data validation, conditional formats, hyperlinks and much more.
Save workbooks to a file, memory or stream with SaveAs, SaveToMemory or SaveToStream.
Remove workbooks from a workbook set with Close.
Shapes and Form Controls
SpreadsheetGear for .NET 2007 supports pictures, text objects, form controls and a number of autoshapes on a worksheet. Use the IShapes interface to access and modify these objects.
Workbook Views
SpreadsheetGear for .NET 2007 adds the WorkbookView Windows Forms Control which provides a fully functional spreadsheet control. The workbook view supports rich functionality including familiar keyboard and mouse selections, in-cell editing, a FormulaBar control, go to, find, replace, sort, cut, copy, paste, print, clear, undo, redo, pictures, cell comments, conditional formats, grouping and outlining, data validation, text objects, form controls, autoshapes, interruptible background calculation, real-time workbook updates, multiple workbooks, Display Reference, Workbook Designer, Workbook Explorer, Range Explorer and much more.
Background Calculation Requires GetLock and ReleaseLock
SpreadsheetGear for .NET 2007 includes interruptible background calculation which is enabled by default, making it responsive even when calculating large and complex models. SpreadsheetGear for .NET 2007 also supports applications which respond to real-time events by updating workbook sets from a background thread. However, supporting interruptible background calculation and changes in response to real-time events requires the use of GetLock and ReleaseLock anytime a workbook set will be accessed, to ensure that multiple threads are not accessing the workbook set at the same time.
It is important to note that background calculation will never be initiated unless GetLock and ReleaseLock are used. In applications which create their own workbook set, particularly in ASP.NET applications, it is typical for only one thread to access a workbook set, and background calculation may or may not be beneficial.
See GetLock and ReleaseLock for more information.
Easily Take Advantage of Dual-Core and Multiple-Core CPUs
By default, each workbook view has its own workbook set. With background calculation, each workbook view is able to do background calculation on its own background thread, automatically taking full advantage of Dual-Core and Multiple-Core CPUs. Similarly, real-time applications are able to update multiple workbook sets simultaneously, with SpreadsheetGear for .NET 2007 taking care of the Windows Forms requirement to use Control.BeginInvoke to update the workbook views on the thread which created them.