Excel does not provide cell types the way that Spread does. Instead, Excel provides several cell formats. Excel supports cell-level data formatting by allowing format strings to be applied to cells.
There is not a simple one-to-one correspondence between Spread cell types and Excel cell formats. When Spread exports cells, Spread builds an Excel-like format string based on the cell type properties. That format string is then compared to Excel’s internal number formats. If there is a match, the format is exported as an index into Excel’s internal number format table. If, however, there is not a match, the format string is exported as a custom format.
The following table summarizes the formats that are exported when Spread exports to an Excel-formatted file and the restrictions that apply. There is a considerable amount of functionality in Spread that does not have an equivalent in Microsoft Excel and so is lost on export.
| Spread Cell Type | Excel Format | Remarks and Restrictions |
|---|---|---|
| ButtonCellType | General or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains the value from the button cell. AllowWrap is exported for the link button. |
| CheckBoxCellType | General or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains True or False. The check box control has no equivalent in Excel. |
| ComboBoxCellType | General or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains the value of the selected or default item from the combo box cell and the list. AllowWrap is exported. |
| CurrencyCellType | Currency or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains the numeric value in monetary format. |
| DateTimeCellType | Date or Time or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains the date and time value of the cell and the format as well. |
| DoubleCellType | Number or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains the value of the cell. |
| GeneralCellType | General or Custom format | Note that numeric values in edit cells are regarded as text. The text value in Excel does not work in formulas. For best results, place numeric values in Spread files in numeric cell types. |
| HyperlinkCellType | General or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains the string of the hyperlink. AllowWrap is exported. |
| ImageCellType | General or Custom format | This celltype is not exported. |
| IntegerCellType | Integer format | In Excel, the cell contains the value of the cell. |
| LabelCellType | Text or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains the text of the cell, and the AllowWrap setting is exported. |
| ListBoxCellType | General or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains the value of the selected item from the list box cell. |
| MultiColumnComboBoxCellType | General or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains the value stored in the data model. |
| PercentCellType | Percentage or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains the value of the cell. |
| RadioButtonList CellType | General or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains the value of the selected item from the radio button list cell. |
| RegExpCellType (Regular Expression) | General or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains the regular expression. |
| TagCloudCellType | General or Custom format | This celltype is not exported. |
| TextCellType | Text or Custom format | In Excel, the cell contains the text of the cell, and the AllowWrap setting is exported. |
The ASP.NET AJAX extender control cell types (Rating, etc.) are not intended to export to Excel. Support for these cell types does not include exporting to Excel.
For any color information that is part of the cell type, refer to Colors Exported.
Return to Excel-Formatted File Export overview.