How to: Specify Document Properties
- 3 minutes to read
The document properties are metadata associated and stored with a workbook. To specify the standard document properties (such as DocumentProperties.Title, DocumentProperties.Author, DocumentProperties.Subject, DocumentProperties.Description etc.), use the IWorkbook.DocumentProperties property, which provides access to the DocumentProperties object, containing basic information about a workbook. Note that some of these properties are updated automatically when a document is created (DocumentProperties.Author, DocumentProperties.Created), last modified and saved (DocumentProperties.LastModifiedBy, DocumentProperties.Modified), or printed (DocumentProperties.Printed).
You can also create your own custom document properties by using the DocumentProperties.Custom property.
Built-In Properties
The example below demonstrates how to specify the standard document properties for a workbook using the DocumentProperties property of a workbook accessible using the SpreadsheetControl.Document property.
' Set the built-in document properties.
workbook.DocumentProperties.Title = "Spreadsheet API: document properties example"
workbook.DocumentProperties.Description = "How to manage document properties using the Spreadsheet API"
workbook.DocumentProperties.Keywords = "Spreadsheet, API, properties, OLEProps"
workbook.DocumentProperties.Company = "Developer Express Inc."
' Display the specified built-in properties in a worksheet.
worksheet("B3").Value = "Title"
worksheet("C3").Value = workbook.DocumentProperties.Title
worksheet("B4").Value = "Description"
worksheet("C4").Value = workbook.DocumentProperties.Description
worksheet("B5").Value = "Keywords"
worksheet("C5").Value = workbook.DocumentProperties.Keywords
worksheet("B6").Value = "Company"
worksheet("C6").Value = workbook.DocumentProperties.Company
Custom Properties
This example below demonstrates how to define the custom document properties for a workbook. Use the DocumentProperties.Custom property to get access to a storage of all user-defined properties specified in a document. To set an individual custom property with the specified name, use the DocumentCustomProperties.Item property.
' Set the custom document properties.
workbook.DocumentProperties.Custom("Checked by") = "Nancy Davolio"
workbook.DocumentProperties.Custom("Revision") = 3
workbook.DocumentProperties.Custom("Completed") = True
workbook.DocumentProperties.Custom("Published") = Date.Now
' Display the specified custom properties in a worksheet.
Dim customPropertiesNames As IEnumerable(Of String) = workbook.DocumentProperties.Custom.Names
Dim rowIndex As Integer = 2
For Each propertyName As String In customPropertiesNames
worksheet(rowIndex, 1).Value = propertyName
worksheet(rowIndex, 2).Value = workbook.DocumentProperties.Custom(propertyName)
If worksheet(rowIndex, 2).Value.IsDateTime Then
worksheet(rowIndex, 2).NumberFormat = "[$-409]m/d/yyyy h:mm AM/PM"
End If
rowIndex += 1
Next propertyName
Use the DocumentCustomProperties.LinkToContent property to associate the desired custom property with the cell or cell range content, as show on the code snippet below.
'Define a name to the cell to be linked to the custom property
workbook.DefinedNames.Add("checked_by", "D6")
'Link the custom property to the named cell
workbook.DocumentProperties.Custom.LinkToContent("Checked by", "checked_by")
To remove all the custom document properties from a workbook, use the DocumentCustomProperties.Clear method.
' Remove all custom document properties.
workbook.DocumentProperties.Custom.Clear()