How to: Create or Modify a Style

• Aug 30, 2019
• 4 minutes to read

Create Your Own Custom Style

• Create a New Style

  1. Add a new style to the Workbook.Styles collection by calling the StyleCollection.Add method with the style name passed as a parameter.

  2. Use properties of the newly created Style object to set the required format characteristics.

  Note

  A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/spreadsheet-document-server-api-e4339

  FormattingActions.cs

  // Add a new style under the "My Style" name to the Styles collection of the workbook.
  Style myStyle = workbook.Styles.Add("My Style");
  
  // Specify formatting characteristics for the style.
  myStyle.BeginUpdate();
  try {
      // Set the font color to Blue.
      myStyle.Font.Color = Color.Blue;
  
      // Set the font size to 12.
      myStyle.Font.Size = 12;
  
      // Set the horizontal alignment to Center.
      myStyle.Alignment.Horizontal = SpreadsheetHorizontalAlignment.Center;
  
      // Set the background.
      myStyle.Fill.BackgroundColor = Color.LightBlue;
      myStyle.Fill.PatternType = PatternType.LightGray;
      myStyle.Fill.PatternColor = Color.Yellow;
  } 
  finally {
      myStyle.EndUpdate();
  }
  

  FormattingActions.vb

  ' Add a new style under the "My Style" name to the Styles collection of the workbook.
  Dim myStyle As Style = workbook.Styles.Add("My Style")
  
  ' Specify formatting characteristics for the style.
  myStyle.BeginUpdate()
  Try
      ' Set the font color to Blue.
      myStyle.Font.Color = Color.Blue
  
      ' Set the font size to 12.
      myStyle.Font.Size = 12
  
      ' Set the horizontal alignment to Center.
      myStyle.Alignment.Horizontal = SpreadsheetHorizontalAlignment.Center
  
      ' Set the background.
      myStyle.Fill.BackgroundColor = Color.LightBlue
      myStyle.Fill.PatternType = PatternType.LightGray
      myStyle.Fill.PatternColor = Color.Yellow
  Finally
      myStyle.EndUpdate()
  End Try
  

• Create a New Style Based on a Built-In Style

  1. Add a new style to the Workbook.Styles collection by calling the StyleCollection.Add method with the style name passed as a parameter.

  2. To copy all format settings from a Microsoft® Excel® built-in style to the newly created style, use the Style.CopyFrom method with the built-in style id (a BuiltInStyleId enumeration member) passed as a parameter.

  3. Use properties of the newly created Style object to change the required format settings of the style.

  Note

  A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/spreadsheet-document-server-api-e4339

  FormattingActions.cs

  // Add a new style under the "My Good Style" name to the Styles collection.
  Style myGoodStyle = workbook.Styles.Add("My Good Style");
  
  // Copy all format settings from the built-in Good style.
  myGoodStyle.CopyFrom(BuiltInStyleId.Good);
  
  // Modify the required formatting characteristics if needed.
  // ...
  

  FormattingActions.vb

  ' Add a new style under the "My Good Style" name to the Styles collection.
  Dim myGoodStyle As Style = workbook.Styles.Add("My Good Style")
  
  ' Copy all format settings from the built-in Good style.
  myGoodStyle.CopyFrom(BuiltInStyleId.Good)
  
  ' Modify the required formatting characteristics if needed.
  ' ...
  

Modify an Existing Style

1. Access a style to be modified. To do this, get the corresponding Style object from the Workbook.Styles collection by the style name or index.
2. Use the style’s Formatting.BeginUpdate and Formatting.EndUpdate paired methods to modify the required format attributes of the style.

Note

A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/spreadsheet-document-server-api-e4339

FormattingActions.cs

// Access the style to be modified.
Style customStyle = workbook.Styles["Custom Style"];

// Change the required formatting characteristics of the style.
customStyle.BeginUpdate();
try {
    customStyle.Fill.BackgroundColor = Color.Gold;
    // ...
} finally {
    customStyle.EndUpdate();
}

FormattingActions.vb

' Access the style to be modified.
Dim customStyle As Style = workbook.Styles("Custom Style")

' Change the required formatting characteristics of the style.
customStyle.BeginUpdate()
Try
    customStyle.Fill.BackgroundColor = Color.Gold
    ' ...
Finally
    customStyle.EndUpdate()
End Try

You can also modify a style by accessing it directly from the cell or cell range to which this style is applied. To do this, use the Range.Style property. Style modifications will automatically be applied to all other cells that use this style.

C#

// Modify the style applied to the "F10" cell.
workbook.Worksheets[0].Cells["F10"].Style.Fill.BackgroundColor = Color.SeaShell;

// Modify the style applied to the "K8:M11" cell range.
workbook.Worksheets[0].Range.Parse("K8:M11").Style.Font.Color = Color.Red;

VB.NET

' Modify the style applied to the "F10" cell.
workbook.Worksheets(0).Cells("F10").Style.Fill.BackgroundColor = Color.HotPink

' Modify the style applied to the "K8:M11" cell range.
workbook.Worksheets(0).Range.Parse("K8:M11").Style.Font.Color = Color.Red