Working with Spreadsheet Management

This guide walks through the day-to-day operations of building and modifying spreadsheets: creating workbooks, writing cell values, adding formulas, building tables, and exporting to CSV.

Create a Workbook and Write Cells

NewWorkbook() returns a workbook with one worksheet already present. Write values with Cells().Set(ref, value):

wb := cells_foss.NewWorkbook()
ws := wb.Worksheets[0]

ws.Cells().Set("A1", "Item")
ws.Cells().Set("B1", "Category")
ws.Cells().Set("C1", "Price")
ws.Cells().Set("A2", "Widget A")
ws.Cells().Set("B2", "Gadgets")
ws.Cells().Set("C2", 12.99)

wb.Save("outputfiles/inventory.xlsx")

Read Cells Back

Cells().Get(ref) returns the *Cell for a reference along with an error if the reference is invalid:

wb := cells_foss.NewWorkbook()
ws := wb.Worksheets[0]
ws.Cells().Set("C2", 12.99)

cell, err := ws.Cells().Get("C2")
if err != nil {
	fmt.Printf("Error: %v\n", err)
	return
}
fmt.Printf("C2 = %v\n", cell.Value)

Use Cells().All() to enumerate every populated cell in the collection when you need to iterate over the whole sheet.

Add a Formula

Cell.SetFormula stores a formula string on a cell. Create the cell first with Set, then attach the formula — the formula is evaluated by Excel or LibreOffice on open, not by the library:

wb := cells_foss.NewWorkbook()
ws := wb.Worksheets[0]

ws.Cells().Set("D2", nil)
cell, _ := ws.Cells().Get("D2")
cell.SetFormula("C2*2")

Build a Table Over the Data

Once your data range is populated, Worksheet.AddTable turns it into a structured, named table:

wb := cells_foss.NewWorkbook()
ws := wb.Worksheets[0]
ws.Cells().Set("A1", "Item")
ws.Cells().Set("A2", "Widget A")

tbl := ws.AddTable("A1:C2")
tbl.HasHeaderRow = true
tbl.StyleName = "TableStyleMedium6"
fmt.Printf("Created table %q covering %s\n", tbl.Name, tbl.Range)

Export to CSV

Workbook.ExportToCSV writes a given worksheet index to a CSV file with the delimiter of your choice:

wb := cells_foss.NewWorkbook()

if err := wb.ExportToCSV(0, "outputfiles/inventory.csv", ','); err != nil {
	fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Error exporting: %v\n", err)
	os.Exit(1)
}

The reverse direction, Workbook.ImportFromCSV(path, sheetName, delimiter), reads a CSV file into a named worksheet.

Remove a Cell

Cells().Remove(ref) clears a cell’s value:

wb := cells_foss.NewWorkbook()
ws := wb.Worksheets[0]
ws.Cells().Set("A2", "Widget A")

if err := ws.Cells().Remove("A2"); err != nil {
	fmt.Printf("Error removing cell: %v\n", err)
}

Tips and Best Practices

Create a cell with Set before calling SetFormula on it — SetFormula operates on an existing *Cell, not a bare reference string.
When exporting a workbook that has multiple worksheets, ExportToCSV’s sheet index parameter determines which worksheet is exported — index 0 is the first worksheet.
Use Cells().All() for read-heavy iteration over a whole sheet rather than calling Get in a loop over every possible reference.

Common Issues

Issue	Cause	Fix
`SetFormula` has no effect	Called on a cell reference that was never created with `Set` first	Call `ws.Cells().Set(ref, nil)` to create the cell, then `Get` it and call `SetFormula`
CSV export is empty or wrong sheet	Wrong worksheet index passed to `ExportToCSV`	Confirm the index matches the intended worksheet’s position in `Workbook.Worksheets`
`Get` returns an error	The cell reference does not exist in the collection	Confirm the reference was previously set with `Set`, or handle the “not found” case explicitly

FAQ

Does `Cells().Remove` delete the whole row or column?

No — it clears a single cell’s value at the given reference.

Can I build a table over a range that already has a formula column?

Yes — AddTable operates on the cell range as written; formulas in the range are preserved.

API Reference Summary

Class / Method	Description
`Workbook.NewWorkbook`	Create a new workbook with one worksheet
`Cells.Set` / `Get` / `Remove` / `All`	Write, read, remove, and enumerate cells
`Cell.SetFormula` / `GetFormula`	Attach and read a formula string
`Worksheet.AddTable`	Build a structured table over a cell range
`Workbook.ExportToCSV` / `ImportFromCSV`	Convert between XLSX and CSV

Working with Spreadsheet Management