Can I format data that is to be written in CSV file using java.

Question

Hello All!

I written a code to write data into a csv file, but It will write data into csv without formatting. I want to bold some specific text.Is is possible to write csv file with formatted data in java.

Thank You!

Answer 1

CSV is a plain text file format, you can not use any text effect.

Answer 2

Not that I am aware of, CSV is a plain text format. If you are creating a csv, so that you can open it up in Excel, then I would suggest taking a look at the MS Excel XML format.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_XML_formats#Excel_XML_Spreadsheet_example

An example would be as follows (taken from the wikipedia link, and this makes some text BOLD)

   <?xml version="1.0"?>
<?mso-application progid="Excel.Sheet"?>
<Workbook
   xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
   xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
   xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel"
   xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
   xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"&gt;
  <DocumentProperties xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office">
    <Author>Darl McBride</Author>
    <LastAuthor>Bill Gates</LastAuthor>
    <Created>2007-03-15T23:04:04Z</Created>
    <Company>SCO Group, Inc.</Company>
    <Version>11.8036</Version>
  </DocumentProperties>
  <ExcelWorkbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel">
    <WindowHeight>6795</WindowHeight>
    <WindowWidth>8460</WindowWidth>
    <WindowTopX>120</WindowTopX>
    <WindowTopY>15</WindowTopY>
    <ProtectStructure>False</ProtectStructure>
    <ProtectWindows>False</ProtectWindows>
  </ExcelWorkbook>
  <Styles>
    <Style ss:ID="Default" ss:Name="Normal">
      <Alignment ss:Vertical="Bottom" />
      <Borders />
      <Font />
      <Interior />
      <NumberFormat />
      <Protection />
    </Style>
    <Style ss:ID="s21">
      <Font x:Family="Swiss" ss:Bold="1" />
    </Style>
  </Styles>
  <Worksheet ss:Name="Sheet1">
    <Table ss:ExpandedColumnCount="2" ss:ExpandedRowCount="5"
       x:FullColumns="1" x:FullRows="1">
      <Row>
        <Cell>
          <Data ss:Type="String">Text in cell A1</Data>
        </Cell>
      </Row>
      <Row>
        <Cell ss:StyleID="s21">
          <Data ss:Type="String">Bold text in A2</Data>
        </Cell>
      </Row>
      <Row ss:Index="4">
        <Cell ss:Index="2">
          <Data ss:Type="Number">43</Data>
        </Cell>
      </Row>
      <Row>
        <Cell ss:Index="2" ss:Formula="=R[-1]C/2">
          <Data ss:Type="Number">21.5</Data>
        </Cell>
      </Row>
    </Table>
    <WorksheetOptions xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel">
      <Print>
        <ValidPrinterInfo />
        <HorizontalResolution>600</HorizontalResolution>
        <VerticalResolution>600</VerticalResolution>
      </Print>
      <Selected />
      <Panes>
        <Pane>
          <Number>3</Number>
          <ActiveRow>5</ActiveRow>
          <ActiveCol>1</ActiveCol>
        </Pane>
      </Panes>
      <ProtectObjects>False</ProtectObjects>
      <ProtectScenarios>False</ProtectScenarios>
    </WorksheetOptions>
  </Worksheet>
</Workbook

Answer 3

CSV is just a plain text format, so you can't do any formatting.

If you want formatting, consider using an Excel library such as Apache POI or Jasper Reports. (Of course, then you end up with an excel file rather than a CSV, so depending on your situation that may or may not be appropriate)

As a side note, there are some strange nuances to writing CSV (such as making sure quotes, commas etc are properly escaped). There's a nice lightweight library I've used called Open CSV that might make your life easier if you choose to just stick with plain old CSV.

Answer 4

I plain old regular CSV no. But there is no reason why you could not encode your data before writing it out... for example the HTML tags for bold is <b></b>. This would signal to you exactly which portions of the text are bold and being a from a well know standard is still human readable too. The main drawback is you have to parse your data after you read it :(

Something else to consider, since you are writing the data out why not write it out as comma separated values in RTF or some other format that does support bold etc? Normally CSV is plain text but there is no reason why you couldn't write it out another way. Just remember to read it back in the same format...