Excel JavaScript API

This demo focuses on the Excel JavaScript API.

For reading and writing Excel spreadsheets, other demos cover a wide variety of use cases and deployments.

SheetJS is a JavaScript library for reading and writing data from spreadsheets.

Office 2016 introduced a JavaScript API for interacting with the application. It offers solutions for custom functions as well as task panes.

Excel currently does not provide support for working with Apple Numbers files and some legacy file formats. SheetJS fills the gap.

In the "Complete Demo", we'll create a new custom function SHEETJS.EXTERN() which tries to fetch an external spreadsheet and insert the data into the worksheet.

Tested Deployments

This demo was last tested on 2024 August 11 against Excel 365 (version 2407).

Excel Bugs

There was a binary data bug affecting fetch and Excel. It was resolved in version 2303. It is strongly encouraged to upgrade to the latest version of Excel 365 before running the demo.

Telemetry

The Office Add-in CLI collects telemetry by default. It can be disabled:

npx office-addin-usage-data off

The setting can be verified by running:

npx office-addin-usage-data list

Integration Details

The SheetJS NodeJS module can be imported from scripts in an Excel Custom Functions project.

The sheet_to_json helper function can generate arrays of arrays of values based on the worksheet data. Excel custom functions transparently treat arrays of arrays as Dynamic Arrays.

This example fetches a file using the fetch API, parses the binary data using the SheetJS read¹ method and returns data from the first worksheet.

flowchart LR
  url[(Remote\nFile)]
  ab[(File\nBytes)]
  subgraph SheetJS Structures
    wb(((SheetJS\nWorkbook)))
    ws((SheetJS\nWorksheet))
  end
  aoo[[Array of\nObjects]]
  xl>Excel\nWorksheet]
  url --> |fetch\narrayBuffer| ab
  ab --> |read\n\n| wb
  wb --> |wb.Sheets\nselect sheet| ws
  ws --> |sheet_to_json\n\n| aoo
  aoo --> |return\nExcel| xl
  linkStyle 1,2,3 color:blue,stroke:blue;

src\functions\functions.js

const XLSX = require("xlsx");

/**
 * Download file and write data
 * @customfunction
 * @param {string} url URL to fetch and parse
 * @returns {any[][]} Worksheet data
 */
export async function extern(url) {
  try {
    /* Fetch Data */
    const res = await fetch(url);

    /* Get Data */
    const ab = await res.arrayBuffer();

    /* Parse Data */
    const wb = XLSX.read(ab);

    /* Translate Data */
    const ws = wb.Sheets[wb.SheetNames[0]]; // get first worksheet
    const aoa = XLSX.utils.sheet_to_json(ws, { header: 1 }); // array of arrays

    /* Return Data */
    return aoa;
  } catch(e) { return [[e.message || e]]; } // pass error back to Excel
}

Complete Demo

0. Clear the functions cache. For the tested version of Excel:

• Open File Explorer
• Select the address bar and enter %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef
• Delete the CustomFunctions folder (if it exists) and empty Recycle Bin.

This will delete all custom functions associated with the user account!

To preserve the custom functions on the user account, rename the existing folder to CustomFunctionsBackup before testing and rename back to CustomFunctions after testing is finished.

1. Install NodeJS LTS.

2. After installing NodeJS, launch a new PowerShell window.

3. Disable telemetry:

npx office-addin-usage-data off

4. Install dependencies:

npm i -g yo bower generator-office

Creating a new Add-in

5. Run the generator:

npx yo office

The generator will ask a few questions:

• "Choose a project type": "Excel Custom Functions using a Shared Runtime"

• "Choose a script type": "JavaScript",

• "What do you want to name your add-in?": "SheetJSImport"

The generator will create the project and install dependencies.

6. Start the development process:

cd SheetJSImport
npm run build
npm start

If prompted to Allow localhost loopback for Microsoft Edge WebView, type N and press Enter.

If prompted to install "Developer CA for Microsoft Office Add-ins" certificate, select "Yes"

If Windows Firewall prompts to allow Node.js on private networks, select "Yes" A new terminal window running NodeJS will be created. Keep the window open.

A new Excel window with the loaded add-in will launch.

In some tests, the taskpane showed an error:

Script error.

Webview2 should be installed manually.

7. In manifest.xml , search for Functions.Namespace . There will be an XML element with name bt:String. Change the DefaultValue attribute to SHEETJS:

manifest.xml (change highlighted line)

      <bt:ShortStrings>
        <bt:String id="Functions.Namespace" DefaultValue="SHEETJS"/>
        <bt:String id="GetStarted.Title" DefaultValue="Get started with your sample add-in!" />

8. Close the Excel window and the terminal window. Do not save the XLSX file.

9. In the PowerShell window, start the development process again:

npm start

Integrating the SheetJS Library

10. Install the SheetJS library in the project

npm i --save https://cdn.sheetjs.com/xlsx-0.20.3/xlsx-0.20.3.tgz

11. Replace src\functions\functions.js with the following:

src\functions\functions.js

var XLSX = require("xlsx");

/**
 * Print SheetJS Library Version
 * @customfunction
 * @returns {string[][]} The SheetJS Library Version.
 */
export function version() {
  return [[XLSX.version]];
}

12. Close the terminal window and the Excel window. Do not save the Excel file.

13. In the PowerShell window, start the development process again:

npm start

14. In the new Excel window, enter the formula =SHEETJS.VERSION() in cell E1. You should see something similar to the following screenshot:

This indicates that the SheetJS library has been loaded.

Fetching Files from the Internet

15. Add the following code snippet to src\functions\functions.js and save:

src\functions\functions.js (add to end)

/**
 * Download file and write data
 * @customfunction
 * @param {string} url URL to fetch and parse
 * @returns {any[][]} Worksheet data
 */
export async function extern(url) {
  try {
    /* Fetch Data */
    const res = await fetch(url);

    /* Get Data */
    const ab = await res.arrayBuffer();

    /* Parse Data */
    var wb = XLSX.read(ab);

    /* get and return data */
    var ws = wb.Sheets[wb.SheetNames[0]]; // get first worksheet
    var aoa = XLSX.utils.sheet_to_json(ws, { header: 1 }); // get data as array of arrays
    return aoa;
  } catch(e) { return [[e.message || e]]; } // pass error back to Excel
}

16. Close the terminal window and the Excel window (do not save the Excel file).

17. In the PowerShell window, start the development process again:

npm start

18. Enter the text https://docs.sheetjs.com/pres.numbers in cell D1. Enter the formula =SHEETJS.EXTERN(D1) in cell D2 and press Enter.

Excel should pull in the data and generate a dynamic array. The worksheet should match the screenshot at the top of this page.

SheetJS Pro offers additional features that can be used in Excel Custom Functions and Add-ins.

Footnotes

1. See read in "Reading Files" ↩