</source>
</section>
<anchor id="CellComments"/>
- <section><title>Cell Comments - HSSF</title>
+ <section><title>Cell Comments - HSSF and XSSF (slight differences though)</title>
<p>
- In HSSF Excel, a comment is a kind of a text shape,
- so inserting a comment is very similar to placing a text box in a worksheet:
+ In HSSF Excel, cell comments were added to the file format as a bit of a
+ cludge. As such, comments are a kind of a text shape, so inserting a
+ comment is very similar to placing a text box in a worksheet.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In XSSF Excel, cell comments are more cleanly done. Each Sheet has a list
+ of its comments, and they can be added much like other cell properties.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Once you have created your comment, how you use it is very similar between
+ HSSF and XSSF. It is only the creation of a new comment where things
+ differ.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For HSSF, the process is:
</p>
<source>
HSSFWorkbook wb = new HSSFWorkbook();
HSSFSheet sheet = wb.createSheet("Cell comments in POI HSSF");
+ CreationHelper createHelper = wb.getCreationHelper();
// Create the drawing patriarch. This is the top level container for all shapes including cell comments.
HSSFPatriarch patr = sheet.createDrawingPatriarch();
- //create a cell in row 3
- HSSFCell cell1 = sheet.createRow(3).createCell((short)1);
+ // Create a cell in row 3
+ Cell cell1 = sheet.createRow(3).createCell((short)1);
cell1.setCellValue(new HSSFRichTextString("Hello, World"));
- //anchor defines size and position of the comment in worksheet
- HSSFComment comment1 = patr.createComment(new HSSFClientAnchor(0, 0, 0, 0, (short)4, 2, (short) 6, 5));
+ // Anchor defines size and position of the comment in worksheet
+ Comment comment1 = patr.createComment(new HSSFClientAnchor(0, 0, 0, 0, (short)4, 2, (short) 6, 5));
// set text in the comment
- comment1.setString(new HSSFRichTextString("We can set comments in POI"));
+ comment1.setString(createHelper.createRichTextString("We can set comments in POI"));
- //set comment author.
- //you can see it in the status bar when moving mouse over the commented cell
+ // set comment author.
+ // you can see it in the status bar when moving mouse over the commented cell
comment1.setAuthor("Apache Software Foundation");
- // The first way to assign comment to a cell is via HSSFCell.setCellComment method
+ // The first way to assign comment to a cell is via Cell.setCellComment method
cell1.setCellComment(comment1);
- //create another cell in row 6
- HSSFCell cell2 = sheet.createRow(6).createCell((short)1);
- cell2.setCellValue(36.6);
+ // Create another cell in row 6
+ Cell cell2 = sheet.createRow(6).createCell((short)1);
+ cell2.setCellValue(36.6);
+ // And a comment for it
HSSFComment comment2 = patr.createComment(new HSSFClientAnchor(0, 0, 0, 0, (short)4, 8, (short) 6, 11));
- //modify background color of the comment
+ // Modify background color of the comment
comment2.setFillColor(204, 236, 255);
HSSFRichTextString string = new HSSFRichTextString("Normal body temperature");
- //apply custom font to the text in the comment
+ // Apply custom font to the text in the comment
HSSFFont font = wb.createFont();
font.setFontName("Arial");
font.setFontHeightInPoints((short)10);
string.applyFont(font);
comment2.setString(string);
- //by default comments are hidden. This one is always visible.
+ // By default comments are hidden. This one is always visible.
comment2.setVisible(true);
comment2.setAuthor("Bill Gates");
+
/**
* The second way to assign comment to a cell is to implicitly specify its row and column.
* Note, it is possible to set row and column of a non-existing cell.
- * It works, the commnet is visible.
+ * It works, the comment is visible.
*/
comment2.setRow(6);
comment2.setColumn((short)1);
wb.write(out);
out.close();
</source>
- <p>
- Reading cell comments
- </p>
- <source>
- HSSFCell cell = sheet.get(3).getColumn((short)1);
- HSSFComment comment = cell.getCellComment();
- if (comment != null) {
- HSSFRichTextString str = comment.getString();
- String author = comment.getAuthor();
- }
- // alternatively you can retrieve cell comments by (row, column)
- comment = sheet.getCellComment(3, 1);
- </source>
- </section>
-
- <section><title>Cell Comments - XSSF</title>
<p>
- In XSSF Excel, a comment is still a kind of a text shape, but
- things are generally much simpler.
+ For XSSF, the simpler process is:
</p>
<source>
- Workbook wb = new XSSFWorkbook();
+ XSSFWorkbook wb = new XSSFWorkbook();
+ XSSFSheet sheet = wb.createSheet("Cell comments in POI XSSF");
CreationHelper createHelper = wb.getCreationHelper();
- Sheet sheet = wb.createSheet("Cell comments in POI XSSF");
-
- //create a cell in row 3
+ // Create a cell in row 3
Cell cell1 = sheet.createRow(3).createCell((short)1);
- cell1.setCellValue(createHelper.createRichTextString("Hello, World"));
+ cell1.setCellValue(new XSSFRichTextString("Hello, World"));
- //anchor defines size and position of the comment in worksheet
- Comment comment1 = createHelper.createComment();
-
- // set text in the comment
- comment1.setString(createHelper.createRichTextString(
- "We can set comments in POI"));
-
- //set comment author.
- //you can see it in the status bar when moving mouse over the commented cell
+ // Create a comment, and set the text and author
+ // (You can see the author in the status bar when moving mouse
+ // over the commented cell)
+ Comment comment1 = sheet.createComment();
+ comment1.setString(createHelper.createRichTextString("We can set comments in POI"));
comment1.setAuthor("Apache Software Foundation");
- // The first way to assign comment to a cell is via HSSFCell.setCellComment method
- cell1.setCellComment(comment1);
-
-
- //create another cell in row 6
- Cell cell2 = sheet.createRow(6).createCell((short)1);
- cell2.setCellValue(36.6);
-
-
- Comment comment2 = createHelper.createComment();
- //modify background color of the comment
- comment2.setFillColor(204, 236, 255);
-
- RichTextString string = createHelper.createRichTextString(
- "Normal body temperature");
-
- //apply custom font to the text in the comment
- Font font = wb.createFont();
- font.setFontName("Arial");
- font.setFontHeightInPoints((short)10);
- font.setBoldweight(Font.BOLDWEIGHT_BOLD);
- font.setColor(Color.RED.index);
- string.applyFont(font);
- comment2.setString(string);
- //by default comments are hidden. This one is always visible.
- comment2.setVisible(true);
+ // The first way to assign comment to a cell is via Cell.setCellComment method
+ cell1.setCellComment(comment1);
- comment2.setAuthor("Bill Gates");
- /**
- * The second way to assign comment to a cell is to implicitly specify its row and column.
- * Note, it is possible to set row and column of a non-existing cell.
- * It works, the commnet is visible.
- */
- comment2.setRow(6);
- comment2.setColumn((short)1);
+ // The other way is to set the row and column
+ // This could point to a cell that isn't defined, and the comment will
+ // will still show up all the same
+ Comment comment2 = sheet.createComment();
+ comment2.setString(createHelper.createRichTextString("Comment for missing cell"));
+ comment2.setAuthor("Apache POI");
+ comment2.setRow(11);
+ comment2.setColumn(1);
+ // Write out
FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("poi_comment.xls");
wb.write(out);
out.close();
projects / poi.git / commitdiff