Excel Activities

Version: 1.0.0  ·  ID: zoan-packages-excel  ·  Author: Zoan Software

The Excel package reads and writes .xlsx files without having to have Microsoft Excel installed. It is one of the most used packages in automation: almost every office process goes through a spreadsheet — reading a list, filling out a template, consolidating data, generating a report.

Antes de empezar

There are two transversal concepts that should be understood once: the two work modes (fast vs session) and the three reading/writing levels (sheet, range, cell). We explain them here; The pages of each activity consider them known.

Concept 1: Fast Mode vs. session mode

Almost all activities accept one of two parameters to indicate which file to work on: path or session.

Quick mode (path)

You pass the file path directly to the activity. This opens, performs the operation, saves and closes automatically. Ideal for loose operation.

Read Excel Sheet   path = = asset("clientes.xlsx")   → output: tabla

Session mode (session) — for various operations

If you are going to do several operations on the same file, opening and closing it each time is slow. Instead, you open it once with Excel Open, get a session (ZoanExcelSession), and pass it to the other activities with session. In the end you close it with Excel Close (which saves).

Excel Open   path = = asset("reporte.xlsx")   → output: libro
Write Excel Sheet   session = = libro   sheet = "Datos"     data = = tabla
Write Excel Cell    session = = libro   sheet = "Resumen"   cell = "B2"   value = = total
Excel Close  session = = libro

Which one do I use?

• Single operation on the file → fast mode (path). Simpler.
• Several operations on the same file → session mode (session). More efficient, and all operations see each other before saving.

Excel Open also provides a body: activities inside it work on the workbook and, when finished, it is saved and closed automatically ? a convenient middle ground.

Concept 2: sheet, range or cell

You can read and write with three granularities, depending on what you need:

Nivel	Read	Escribir	Formato de datos
Sheet	Read Excel Sheet	Write Excel Sheet	DataTable (with headers) — the most convenient
Rango	Read Excel Range	Write Excel Range	List of lists (raw values)
Cell	Read Excel Cell	Write Excel Cell	A loose value

Start with the sheet

For most cases, Read Excel Sheet (which returns a DataTable with headers) is the most practical option: you loop through it with For Each, access cells with str(row["Columna"]), and dump it to another source without converting.

Cell and sheet notation

• Cells: A1 notation — A1, B3, AA10.
• Ranges: A1:D50 (from the top left cell to the bottom right).
• Sheets: by name ("Datos") or by 1-based index (1 = first sheet). By default, the first sheet.

Activities

Session (open, save, close)

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
Excel Open	excel-open	ZoanExcelSession	Open a workbook and return a session
Excel Save	excel-save	—	Save the session to disk (or another path)
Excel Close	excel-close	—	Save and log out

Read

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
Read Excel Sheet	excel-read-sheet	DataTable	Read a sheet to a DataTable
Read Excel Range	excel-read-range	List	Read a range as raw values
Read Excel Cell	excel-read-cell	object	Read a cell
Get Sheet Names	excel-get-sheet-names	List	Names of all sheets
Get Used Range	excel-get-used-range	Dictionary	Dimensions of the data area
Find Excel Cell	excel-find-cell	Dictionary	Find the first cell with a value

Write

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
Write Excel Sheet	excel-write-sheet	—	Write a DataTable to a sheet
Write Excel Range	excel-write-range	—	Write values from a cell
Write Excel Cell	excel-write-cell	—	Write a value in a cell
Append Excel Range	excel-append-range	—	Add rows below existing data
Append Excel Rows	excel-append-rows	—	Add rows from a DataTable to the end (header only if empty)
Clear Excel Range	excel-clear-range	—	Clears the contents of a range or sheet

A typical flow

Read a list, process it and write a report:

Read Excel Sheet   path = = asset("pedidos.xlsx")   sheet = "Pedidos"   → output: pedidos

For Each   items = = pedidos   itemVariable = fila
 └─ activities:
      ... procesar cada pedido ...

Write Excel Sheet   path = = "C:/salida/reporte.xlsx"   sheet = "Resultado"   data = = pedidos

Next steps

• Excel Open — start working with a file in session mode.
• Read Excel Sheet — the most common reading.
• Data types › DataTable — work with the read data.