Protection
- 3 minutes to read
The ASPxSpreadsheet control supports workbook protection functionality to prevent users from modifying workbooks, worksheets, and specific ranges. In a protected workbook, worksheets cannot be added, deleted or renamed by users. Also, users are prohibited from moving worksheets within the workbook. A protected worksheet does not allow a user to change cell values or modify the worksheet in other ways. Also, different sheets can have different levels of protection. For example, a range in a protected worksheet can be unlocked for specific users, but other users may be prompted for a password when they try to edit the range.
Workbook Protection
You can protect a workbook to lock its structure or freeze/unfreeze windows. For this purpose, use the IWorkbook.Protect method. To unprotect a worksheet, use the IWorkbook.Unprotect method.
Worksheet Protection
You can protect a worksheet to lock the cells so that end-users can only perform a specific (restricted) set of actions.
By default, all cells in the worksheet have the Protection.Locked attribute set to true. When protection is applied to the worksheet, these cells become read-only. Cells with the Protection.Locked attribute set to false are not protected when worksheet protection is applied, so that the end-users can edit their contents.
To apply worksheet protection, use the Worksheet.Protect method. You can provide an optional password parameter to prompt the end-user for a password to unprotect a worksheet. To unprotect a worksheet, use the Worksheet.Unprotect method.
By default (when you pass the WorksheetProtectionPermissions.Default parameter to the Protect method), a protected worksheet is locked so that the user is only able to select cells.
Note
The Select locked cells and Select unlocked cells options (the WorksheetProtectionPermissions.SelectLockedCells and the WorksheetProtectionPermissions.SelectUnlockedCells parameters) do not affect the SpreadsheetControl behavior. The cells are always selectable.
Limitations:
The following options of the WorksheetProtectionPermissions enumeration are not currently supported:
- WorksheetProtectionPermissions.PivotTables
- WorksheetProtectionPermissions.Objects
- WorksheetProtectionPermissions.Scenarios
The ‘Defining User-Specific Permissions for Ranges in a Protected Worksheet’ feature is not currently supported. So, the use of the following API will not be in effect:
- Worksheet.ProtectedRanges
- EditRangePermission
- ProtectedRange.CreateSecurityDescriptor
- ProtectedRange.SecurityDescriptor
- ProtectedRange.SetPassword
Example (Worksheet Protection)
using DevExpress.Spreadsheet;
public partial class CellProtection : Page {
protected const string password = "123";
protected IWorkbook Document {
get { return ASPxSpreadsheet1.Document; }
}
protected Worksheet ActiveSheet {
get { return Document.Worksheets.ActiveWorksheet; }
}
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
if(!Page.IsPostBack) {
PrepareSpreadsheetDocument();
}
}
protected void PrepareSpreadsheetDocument() {
Document.BeginUpdate();
if(ActiveSheet.IsProtected)
ActiveSheet.Unprotect(password);
UnlockCellRange();
WorksheetProtectionPermissions selectedPermissions = WorksheetProtectionPermissions.Default;
//Allows end-users to insert hyperlinks
selectedPermissions |= WorksheetProtectionPermissions.InsertHyperlinks;
//Allows end-users to format cells
selectedPermissions |= WorksheetProtectionPermissions.FormatCells;
ActiveSheet.Protect(password, selectedPermissions);
Document.EndUpdate();
Document.History.Clear();
}
protected void UnlockCellRange() {
Range unlockedRange = ActiveSheet["E9:K18"];
unlockedRange.Borders.SetOutsideBorders(Color.Black, BorderLineStyle.Thin);
unlockedRange.Protection.Locked = false;
Range titleRange = ActiveSheet["E8:K8"];
titleRange.Merge();
titleRange.Borders.SetOutsideBorders(Color.Black, BorderLineStyle.Thin);
titleRange.SetValue("Not protected cells below");
titleRange.Alignment.Horizontal = SpreadsheetHorizontalAlignment.Center;
titleRange.FillColor = Color.Tomato;
}
}