Excel Rich Text Format Cell Text - Java POI Example Program

Rich Text Format Cell Contents - Introduction

In this tutorial, we will explain how to apply rich text formatting to cell data in Excel, in Java, using Apache POI library. Here is an example of a cell that is rich text formatted:

Rich Text Format Cell Content - HSSFRichTextString - Java POI Example

Here we have multiple styles applied to same cell. Excel allows this kind of styling possible, and Apache POI supports this through a class HSSFRichTextString. We will see how to create such RTF strings in this tutorial.

XLS - RTF - HSSFRichTextString - Java POI Example

The class which helps to get RTF is org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel.HSSFRichTextString. For the same text provided above, here is a Java program example that explains how to achieve RTF with Apache POI.

import java.io.*;
import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.*;
import org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel.*;
import org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel.HSSFHyperlink;
import org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel.HSSFRichTextString;
public class RichTextFormat {  
        public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
                /* Create Workbook and Worksheet */
                HSSFWorkbook my_workbook = new HSSFWorkbook();
                HSSFSheet my_sheet = my_workbook.createSheet("Rich Text Format Example");
                /* We define a rich Text String, that we split into three parts by using applyFont method */
                HSSFFont my_font_1=my_workbook.createFont();
                HSSFFont my_font_2=my_workbook.createFont();
                HSSFFont my_font_3=my_workbook.createFont();
                my_font_1.setColor(Font.COLOR_RED);
                my_font_2.setBoldweight(Font.BOLDWEIGHT_BOLD);
                my_font_3.setItalic(true);
                
                HSSFRichTextString my_rich_text_string = new HSSFRichTextString( "RichTextFormat" );
                my_rich_text_string.applyFont( 0, 4, my_font_1 );
                my_rich_text_string.applyFont( 5, 8, my_font_2);
                my_rich_text_string.applyFont( 8, 13, my_font_3 );
                
                /* Attach these links to cells */
                Row row = my_sheet.createRow(0);                
                Cell cell = row.createCell(0);
                cell.setCellValue(my_rich_text_string);         
                
                /* Write changes to the workbook */
                FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(new File("C:\\rich_text_format_example.xls"));
                my_workbook.write(out);
                out.close();
        }
}

Here, we attached multiple font objects to HSSFRichTextString class, and achieved a different RTF (first part with a color, second with a bold font and third with a italic font). An example output is shown below:

XLS - Rich Text Format - Java POI Example Program - Output

The same example can be extended to XLSX formats also. We will discuss that in the next part.

XLSX - Rich Text Format - Java POI Example Program

You use org.apache.poi.xssf.usermodel.XSSFRichTextString class to achieve rich text formatting for XLSX documents. Here is an example program that explains how to do this with XLSX files:

import java.io.*;
import org.apache.poi.xssf.usermodel.*; 
import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.*;
import org.apache.poi.xssf.usermodel.XSSFHyperlink;
import org.apache.poi.xssf.usermodel.XSSFCreationHelper;
public class RichTextFormatXLSX {  
        public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
                /* Create Workbook and Worksheet XLSX Format */
                XSSFWorkbook my_workbook = new XSSFWorkbook();
                XSSFSheet my_sheet = my_workbook.createSheet("RTF Example");
                /* We define a rich Text String, that we split into three parts by using applyFont method */
                XSSFFont my_font_1=my_workbook.createFont();
                XSSFFont my_font_2=my_workbook.createFont();
                XSSFFont my_font_3=my_workbook.createFont();
                my_font_1.setColor(Font.COLOR_RED);
                my_font_2.setBoldweight(Font.BOLDWEIGHT_BOLD);
                my_font_3.setItalic(true);
                
                XSSFRichTextString my_rich_text_string = new XSSFRichTextString( "RichTextFormat" );
                my_rich_text_string.applyFont( 0, 4, my_font_1 );
                my_rich_text_string.applyFont( 5, 8, my_font_2);
                my_rich_text_string.applyFont( 8, 13, my_font_3 );
                
                /* Attach these links to cells */
                Row row = my_sheet.createRow(0);                
                Cell cell = row.createCell(0);
                cell.setCellValue(my_rich_text_string); 
                
                /* Write changes to the workbook */
                FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(new File("C:\\RTF_Output.xlsx"));
                my_workbook.write(out);
                out.close();
        }
}

The code for XLSX is on the same lines as of XLS format. The above code produces the same output as discussed earlier. That completes a quick introduction to RTF in Excel, using Java and Apache POI. If you have any questions, you can post it in the comments section of this blog.