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Use the Excel Export API to Format Cell Values that are Above or Below the Average

  • 5 minutes to read

The following example demonstrates how to apply “Above or Below Average” conditional formatting rule to a range of cells.

  1. Create new XlConditionalFormatting instance that contains formatting rules and settings.
  2. Specify the range to which the formatting is going to be applied. To do that, add the target range to the object’s ranges collection, accessible through the XlConditionalFormatting.Ranges property.
  3. Create new XlCondFmtRuleAboveAverage object, representing the new formatting rule.
  4. Set the object’s XlCondFmtRuleAboveAverage.Condition property to the corresponding XlCondFmtAverageCondition enumeration value to specify the formatting condition.
  5. Specify the formatting parameters to the cells, conforming to the condition.

    • To use one of the built-in cell styles, set the Formatting property to the corresponding XlCellFormatting enumeration value.
    • To apply a custom cell background color, set the XlFormatting.Fill property or use one of the static XlFill methods as a Formatting property value. The XlFormatting.Font property allows you to set the desired font parameters (color, size, etc.)
  6. Add the newly created rule to the corresponding collection contained in the XlConditionalFormatting object by calling the Add method.
  7. To activate the created conditional formatting rule, add the object created in step 1 to the to the worksheet collection of conditional formatting rules. The collection can be accessed through the IXlSheet.ConditionalFormattings property.

View Example

// Create an instance of the XlConditionalFormatting class.
XlConditionalFormatting formatting = new XlConditionalFormatting();

// Specify the cell range to which
// the conditional formatting rule should be applied (A1:A11).
formatting.Ranges.Add(XlCellRange.FromLTRB(0, 0, 0, 10));

// Create the rule highlighting values
// that are above the average in the cell range.
XlCondFmtRuleAboveAverage rule = new XlCondFmtRuleAboveAverage();
rule.Condition = XlCondFmtAverageCondition.Above;

// Specify formatting settings to be applied to cells
// if the condition is true.
rule.Formatting = XlCellFormatting.Good;
formatting.Rules.Add(rule);

// Add the specified format options
// to the worksheet collection of conditional formats.
sheet.ConditionalFormattings.Add(formatting);

// Create an instance of the XlConditionalFormatting class.
formatting = new XlConditionalFormatting();

// Specify the cell range to which
// the conditional formatting rule should be applied (B1:B11).
formatting.Ranges.Add(XlCellRange.FromLTRB(1, 0, 1, 10));

// Create the rule highlighting values
// that are above or equal to the average value in the cell range.
rule = new XlCondFmtRuleAboveAverage();
rule.Condition = XlCondFmtAverageCondition.AboveOrEqual;

// Specify formatting settings to be applied to cells
// if the condition is true.
rule.Formatting = XlCellFormatting.Good;
formatting.Rules.Add(rule);

// Add the specified format options
// to the worksheet collection of conditional formats.
sheet.ConditionalFormattings.Add(formatting);

// Create an instance of the XlConditionalFormatting class.
formatting = new XlConditionalFormatting();

// Specify the cell range to which
// the conditional formatting rule should be applied (C1:C11).
formatting.Ranges.Add(XlCellRange.FromLTRB(2, 0, 2, 10));

// Create the rule highlighting values
// that are below the average in the cell range.
rule = new XlCondFmtRuleAboveAverage();
rule.Condition = XlCondFmtAverageCondition.Below;

// Specify formatting settings to be applied to cells
// if the condition is true.
rule.Formatting = XlCellFormatting.Bad;
formatting.Rules.Add(rule);

// Add the specified format options
// to the worksheet collection of conditional formats.
sheet.ConditionalFormattings.Add(formatting);

// Create an instance of the XlConditionalFormatting class.
formatting = new XlConditionalFormatting();

// Specify the cell range to which
// the conditional formatting rule should be applied (D1:D11).
formatting.Ranges.Add(XlCellRange.FromLTRB(3, 0, 3, 10));

// Create the rule highlighting values
// that are below or equal to the average value in the cell range.
rule = new XlCondFmtRuleAboveAverage();
rule.Condition = XlCondFmtAverageCondition.BelowOrEqual;

// Specify formatting settings to be applied to cells
// if the condition is true.
rule.Formatting = XlCellFormatting.Bad;
formatting.Rules.Add(rule);

// Add the specified format options
// to the worksheet collection of conditional formats.
sheet.ConditionalFormattings.Add(formatting);

As a result, the cells with values less or equal to 6 are be formatted using the “Bad” cell style, and cells with values that are above 6 are formatted using the “Good” cell style.

XLExport_Examples - ConditionalFormatting_AboveBelowAverage