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GroupDocs.Parser provides the functionality to extract tables from documents including Excel spreadsheets (XLS, XLSX), Word documents, PDFs, and other supported formats by the getTables(PageTableAreaOptions) method:
Iterable<PageTableArea> getTables(PageTableAreaOptions options);
This method returns a collection of PageTableArea object:
| Member | Description |
|---|---|
| getRectangle | The rectangular area that bounds text area. |
| getPage | The page information (page index and page size) |
| getRowCount | The total number of the table rows. |
| getColumnCount | The total number of the table columns. |
| getCell(int, int) | The table cell by row and column indexes. |
| getRowHeight(int) | The the row height. |
| getColumnWidth(int) | Returns the column width. |
getTables(PageTableAreaOptions) accepts PageTableAreaOption object that contains TemplateTableLayout object with table layout (see this article for more details).
GroupDocs.Parser supports extracting structured table data from Excel spreadsheets. This is especially useful for processing data-rich Excel files programmatically.
For spreadsheets, getTables() (or getTables(PageTableAreaOptions) without a table layout) returns the Excel tables defined in the workbook (ranges formatted as a table) - one PageTableArea per table. The page index of each table (getPage.getIndex()) is the index of the worksheet that contains it. Use getTables(int) to extract tables from a single worksheet. Plain cell ranges that are not formatted as tables are not returned; use worksheet cells extraction for them.
Here are the basic steps to extract tables from an Excel spreadsheet:
- Instantiate Parser object for the spreadsheet;
- Check if the document supports table extraction using isTables method;
- Call getTables() method and obtain collection of PageTableArea objects;
- Iterate through the collection and access table cells.
// Create an instance of Parser class
try (Parser parser = new Parser(Constants.SampleXlsx)) {
// Check if table extraction is supported
if (!parser.getFeatures().isTables()) {
System.out.println("Table extraction is not supported for this Excel file.");
return;
}
// Extract all tables from the Excel spreadsheet
Iterable<PageTableArea> tables = parser.getTables();
int tableIndex = 0;
for (PageTableArea table : tables) {
System.out.println(String.format("=== Table %d (worksheet %d) ===", ++tableIndex, table.getPage().getIndex()));
System.out.println(String.format("Rows: %d, Columns: %d", table.getRowCount(), table.getColumnCount()));
// Iterate over rows
for (int row = 0; row < table.getRowCount(); row++) {
// Iterate over columns
for (int column = 0; column < table.getColumnCount(); column++) {
// Get the table cell
PageTableAreaCell cell = table.getCell(row, column);
if (cell != null) {
// Print the cell text
System.out.print(cell.getText() + " | ");
}
}
System.out.println();
}
}
}
When you know the exact table structure (columns and rows positions), pass it as TemplateTableLayout in PageTableAreaOptions. Here are the steps to extract tables from the whole document:
- Instantiate Parser object for the initial document;
- Check if the document supports table extraction;
- Call getTables(PageTableAreaOptions) method and obtain collection of PageTableArea objects;
- Iterate through the collection and print table cells.
The following example shows how to extract tables from the whole document:
// Create an instance of Parser class
try (Parser parser = new Parser(Constants.SampleInvoicePagesPdf)) {
// Check if the document supports table extraction
if (!parser.getFeatures().isTables()) {
System.out.println("Document isn't supports tables extraction.");
return;
}
// Create the layout of tables
TemplateTableLayout layout = new TemplateTableLayout(
java.util.Arrays.asList(new Double[]{50.0, 95.0, 275.0, 415.0, 485.0, 545.0}),
java.util.Arrays.asList(new Double[]{325.0, 340.0, 365.0, 395.0}));
// Create the options for table extraction
PageTableAreaOptions options = new PageTableAreaOptions(layout);
// Extract tables from the document
Iterable<PageTableArea> tables = parser.getTables(options);
// Iterate over tables
for (PageTableArea t : tables) {
// Iterate over rows
for (int row = 0; row < t.getRowCount(); row++) {
// Iterate over columns
for (int column = 0; column < t.getColumnCount(); column++) {
// Get the table cell
PageTableAreaCell cell = t.getCell(row, column);
if (cell != null) {
// Print the table cell text
System.out.print(cell.getText());
System.out.print(" | ");
}
}
System.out.println();
}
System.out.println();
}
}
You may easily run the code above and see the feature in action in our GitHub examples:
Along with full featured Java library we provide simple, but powerful free Apps.
You are welcome to extract data from PDF, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, Emails and more with our free online Free Online Document Parser App.
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