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How to insert barcode images into a Microsoft Excel worksheet using C# or VB.NET and Barcode Professional for .NET

Technologies used
  • Neodynamic Barcode Professional 2.5 for .NET Windows Forms or greater
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 1.x or greater
  • Microsoft Visual Studio .NET or greater
  • Microsoft Office Primary Interop Assemblies (PIA)
Due to its flexible design, Barcode Professional allows you to easily insert barcode images into a Microsoft Excel Worksheet using .NET technology.
In the following sample we're going to generate a simple .NET Windows Forms application that will allow you to insert a barcode image into a predefined Excel worksheet.
Follow these steps:
  • Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Forms Application.
  • Open the default Form at design time and design it as is shown in the following figure
    BarcodeBindingNavigator - Microsoft Visual Studio
  • In order to manipulate Excel documents from .NET, we're going to use the Microsoft Office Primary Interop Assemblies (PIA) provided by Microsoft. PIA is available for Microsoft Office XP and Office 2003. You can get them from the following locations:
    Office XP PIA
    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c41bd61e-3060-4f71-a6b4-01feba508e52&DisplayLang=en
    Office 2003 PIA
    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=3c9a983a-ac14-4125-8ba0-d36d67e0f4ad&DisplayLang=en
    Please, download the correct PIA and install it on your box.
    NOTE:
    For older versions of Office, please read the following papers at Microsoft website about interoperation between Microsoft .NET managed code and Microsoft Office applications.
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/archive/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/odc_of2003_bk/html/officeinteroperabilitych2_part1.asp
  • With your Windows Forms project opened, add a reference to Microsoft Excel [Version] Object Library as is shown in the following figure:
    Add Reference
    And add a reference to Barcode Professional as is shown in the following figure. IMPORTANT: Please, select the correct version of Barcode Professional depending on what version of the .NET Framework you're using.
    Add Reference
  • In this case we're going to use a fictitious Invoice worksheet that you'll find at the end of this guide available for download.
    The barcode image will be inserted at B9 cell as you can see in the following figure:
    Microsoft Excel - INVOICE.xls
    IMPORTANT: The cell location is very important because we'll reference it in code.
  • In the Windows Forms project, add the following method in the form's code behind file:
    Visual Basic .NET
    Private Sub AddBarcodeIntoExcel()
    'Create barcode professional instance
    Dim bc As New Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.BarcodeProfessional
    'Set some barcode symbology
    bc.Symbology = Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.Symbology.Code128
    'Set value to encode
    bc.Code = Me.TextBox1.Text
    bc.Text = ""

    'Create barcode image
    Dim ms As New System.IO.MemoryStream(bc.GetBarcodeImage(System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png))
    Dim barcodeImage As Bitmap = CType(Image.FromStream(ms), Bitmap)

    'Create an Excel App
    Dim excelApp As New Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application()
    excelApp.Visible = False

    'The Excel doc paths
    Dim oMissing As Object = System.Reflection.Missing.Value
    Dim destFile As String = "C:\INVOICE_WITH_BARCODE.xls"
    Dim excelFile As String = "C:\INVOICE.xls"

    'Open the worksheet file
    Dim excelBook As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Workbook
    excelBook = excelApp.Workbooks.Open(excelFile)
    Dim excelSheet As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet
    excelSheet = CType(excelBook.Sheets.Item(1), Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet)

    'Find the predefined barcode cell into the worksheet
    Dim barcodeCell As Object = "B9"
    Dim range As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Range
    range = excelSheet.Range(barcodeCell)

    'Copy the barcode image into Clipboard
    Clipboard.SetDataObject(barcodeImage)

    'Paste the barcode image
    range.Select()
    excelSheet.Paste()
    'Save a copy with barcode
    excelSheet.SaveAs(destFile)

    'Quit
    excelApp.Quit()

    System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(excelApp)
    ms.Close()
    barcodeImage.Dispose()

    MessageBox.Show("Barcode inserted!")
    End Sub
    Visual C# .NET
    private void AddBarcodeIntoExcel()
    {
    //Create barcode professional instance
    Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.BarcodeProfessional bc = new Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.BarcodeProfessional();
    //Set some barcode symbology
    bc.Symbology = Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.Symbology.Code128;
    //Set value to encode
    bc.Code = this.textBox1.Text;
    bc.Text = "";
    //Create barcode image
    System.IO.MemoryStream ms = new System.IO.MemoryStream(bc.GetBarcodeImage(System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png));
    Bitmap barcodeImage = (Bitmap)Image.FromStream(ms);

    //Create an Excel App
    Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.ApplicationClass excelApp = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.ApplicationClass();
    excelApp.Visible = false;

    //Interop params
    object oMissing = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;

    //The Excel doc paths
    string excelFile = @"C:\INVOICE.xls";
    string destFile = @"C:\INVOICE_WITH_BARCODE.xls";

    //Open the worksheet file
    Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Workbook excelBook = excelApp.Workbooks.Open(excelFile, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing);
    Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet excelSheet = (Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet)excelBook.Sheets.get_Item(1);

    //Find the predefined barcode cell into the worksheet
    object barcodeCell = "B9";
    Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Range range = excelSheet.get_Range(barcodeCell,barcodeCell);

    //Copy the barcode image into Clipboard
    Clipboard.SetDataObject(barcodeImage);

    //Paste the barcode image
    range.Select();
    excelSheet.Paste(oMissing, oMissing);

    //Save a copy with barcode
    excelSheet.SaveAs(destFile, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing, oMissing);

    //Quit
    excelApp.Quit();
    System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(excelApp);

    ms.Close();
    barcodeImage.Dispose();

    MessageBox.Show("Barcode inserted!");
    }
  • Add the following code for button's Click events
    Visual Basic .NET
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    If Me.TextBox1.Text.Length > 0 Then
    Me.AddBarcodeIntoExcel()
    End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
    System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("C:\INVOICE_WITH_BARCODE.xls")
    End Sub
    Visual C# .NET
    private void button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
    {
    if (this.TextBox1.Text.Length > 0)
    this.AddBarcodeIntoExcel();
    }

    private void button2_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
    {
    System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(@"C:\INVOICE_WITH_BARCODE.xls");
    }

  • That's it. Run your project, type some value to encode and click Insert button. The barcode image will appear into the Excel worksheet!
    Inserting barcode into Microsoft Excel
    Microsoft Excel - INVOICE_WITH_BARCODE.xls
Sample Files Download
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