Use this reference to locate classic XLS automation and the expanded XLSX facade, covering workbook, worksheet, range, formatting, image, page setup, hyperlink, name, chart, table, validation, filter, view-state and export APIs
Classic XLS and expanded XLSX API, guide and Pascal example topics are all available directly in the web help
Nine differentiators, the supporting evidence and the audiences HotXLS is built for — all on one page: no Excel/Office/COM dependency, pure native Pascal, six formats, a formula engine, AES-NI encryption, streaming and thread-safe I/O
Read the core selling pointsStart with the dedicated lxHandleX facade for Excel 2007+ workbooks, worksheet collections, styles, shared strings, defined names and OOXML save/open workflows
Use XLSX ranges, formulas, whole-range or merge-across merged cells, loaded-cell scan/write helpers, text find/replace, hyperlinks, comments, images, tables, charts, conditional formatting, data validation, frozen panes and auto-filter criteria
TXLSXWorksheet classLoad .ods workbooks through Open or OpenODS, save ODS output with SaveAsODS, tune exports with TODSExportOptions, and round-trip styles, images, charts, validations, conditional formats, print setup and sheet structure
Combine calculated sources with genuine multi-area references via defined names, LET and scalar CHOOSE, broadcasting across row, column and area selectors
INDEX area selection and reference identityCapture a supported Classic XLS or XLSX rectangle on Windows into an immutable snapshot, then produce native PDF, SVG and PNG output on Linux with FPC, explicit fonts and bounded resources
Capture and Linux renderer APIsAdd Data Bar, colour Scale, and Icon Set rules on both BIFF8 and XLSX with shared spec classes, DXF Style overrides for font/fill/weight, theme colour round-trip, formula-based threshold round-trip, per-stop icon overrides, icon threshold include/exclude control, and cfRule priority pinning
TCondFormat referenceProgrammatically build chart tabs into a .xls workbook with Sheets.AddChartSheet — column, bar, line and pie chart kinds, with title, axis titles and series bound to A1-range references
Attach Excel ListObject tables to a range via AddTable, opt in to compact shared-formula output, or generate Excel-compatible password-protected .xls files via the EncryptionPassword property. Workbook sharing and revision-protection metadata authored by Excel, including FILESHARING, FILESHARING2, PROT4REV, and PROT4REVPASS, is preserved across classic XLS open/save cycles. Workbook view and extension globals such as HIDEOBJ, zero-length TEMPLATE, TABID and BOOKEXT are preserved as well. Excel Custom View blocks (USERSVIEWBEGIN / USERSVIEWEND) are preserved in workbook globals and worksheet substreams too
Address cell fill, font, and per-edge border colours through the 12 Office theme slots with optional tint via SetThemeColor, or write exact RGB through the XFExt $087D rich-colour side record so Excel 2007+ reopens with the literal colour while Excel 97-2003 still sees the indexed palette approximation. Drawings (shapes, chart fills) follow through the XlsApplyThemeColorToDrawing / XlsGetDrawingThemeColor helper pair with same-process round-trip, whilst expert shape code can inspect or edit raw OfficeArt FOPT PIDs through TXLSShape.OfficeArtOptions
Per-sheet tab colours round-trip through the BIFF8 SheetExt ($0862) record via TXLSWorksheet.TabColor, header / footer background images survive load and save through the HFPicture ($0866) record family, and even / first page text authored by Excel survives through the BIFF8 HeaderFooter ($089C) record
Add, find, replace, size, and remove typed images in all odd, even, and first-page header and footer positions whilst keeping comment drawings and image relationships independent
Header and footer image classesShared-string per-character font / colour runs and Far-East phonetic annotations (furigana) survive load and save: the parser preserves rgRun and rgExtRst trailing blocks per unique string, and the writer emits them again when the record fits one BIFF chunk
Employ automatic spill arrays, typed modern errors, checked conversion reports, explicit template formats and provider-driven query refresh, all with clear format boundaries
Calculation and conversion fidelityCreate, open, style, automate, and export Excel 2007+ .xlsx workbooks through the dedicated OOXML API surface
Create, open, save, protect, calculate and export Excel workbooks through the main workbook interface, including saved-by metadata, file-sharing metadata preservation and pivot cache inspection
IXLSWorkbook interfaceCreate typed classic XLS pivot tables, inspect Excel-authored pivot workbooks, preserve raw pivot records, and configure field axes, subtotals, page filters, and data-field number formats
Classic XLS pivot table APIPreserve FILESHARING, FILESHARING2, PROT4REV, PROT4REVPASS, HIDEOBJ, zero-length TEMPLATE, TABID, BOOKEXT, USERSVIEWBEGIN, USERSVIEWEND, and saved-by metadata when classic XLS workbooks pass through HotXLS
Manage sheets, ranges, page breaks, display settings, shapes, formulas and sheet-level output, including range-based shape clean-up through TXLSShapes.DeleteInRange, loaded-cell scanning through TXLSWorksheet.ForEachCell, callback-based range writing through TXLSWorksheet.WriteCells, one-call filter setup through TXLSWorksheet.ApplyAutoFilter and filter criteria inspection through AutoFilterColumns
Read and write values, formulas, rows, columns, borders, alignment, merging, grouping, formatting and selected-range HTML fragments
IXLSRange interfaceReview the ThemeColor, TintAndShade and classic XLS palette-based formatting decision
Classic XLS colour modelExport DBGrid content to Excel with header, detail, grouping, formatting and event hooks
TGridToXLS componentExport datasets to workbooks with field selection, worksheet naming, group styling and save helpers
TDataToXLS componentExport DevExpress TcxGridDBTableView data with workbook targeting, grouped output, formatting controls and export events once the optional cxGrid unit has been added to a project
Open sample workflows covering purchase orders, grouped exports, images and common workbook automation
Example topicsReview the HTML version history for HotXLS classic XLS, expanded XLSX, export, compatibility and documentation updates in multiple languages
Open release notes