Make column or cells readonly with EPPlus

Question

Is there a way to make a column or group of cells locked or read only using EPPlus? I've tried the code below both separate and together however neither seems to have the desired effect. Either the entire worksheet is locked (if I include the IsProtected statement) or nothing at all.

        ws.Protection.IsProtected = true;
        ws.Column(10).Style.Locked = true;

EDIT

Here is entire block of code from my controller

        FileInfo newFile = new FileInfo("C:\\Users\\" + User.Identity.Name + "\\Desktop" + @"\\ZipCodes.xlsx");

        ExcelPackage pck = new ExcelPackage(newFile);

        var ws = pck.Workbook.Worksheets.Add("Query_" + DateTime.Now.ToString());

        //Headers
        ws.Cells["A1"].Value = "ChannelCode";
        ws.Cells["B1"].Value = "DrmTerrDesc";
        ws.Cells["C1"].Value = "IndDistrnId";
        ws.Cells["D1"].Value = "StateCode";
        ws.Cells["E1"].Value = "ZipCode";
        ws.Cells["F1"].Value = "EndDate";
        ws.Cells["G1"].Value = "EffectiveDate";
        ws.Cells["H1"].Value = "LastUpdateId";
        ws.Cells["J1"].Value = "ErrorCodes";
        ws.Cells["K1"].Value = "Status";
        ws.Cells["I1"].Value = "Id";

        //Content
        int i = 2;
        foreach (var zip in results)
        {
            ws.Cells["A" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.ChannelCode;
            ws.Cells["B" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.DrmTerrDesc;
            ws.Cells["C" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.IndDistrnId;
            ws.Cells["D" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.StateCode;
            ws.Cells["E" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.ZipCode;
            ws.Cells["F" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.EndDate.ToShortDateString();
            ws.Cells["G" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.EffectiveDate.ToShortDateString();
            ws.Cells["H" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.LastUpdateId;
            ws.Cells["J" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.ErrorCodes;
            ws.Cells["K" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.Status;
            ws.Cells["I" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.Id;

            i++;
        }

        //ws.Protection.IsProtected = true;
        ws.Column(10).Style.Locked = true;

        return new ExcelResult
            {
                FileName = "ZipCodes.xlsx",
                Package = pck
            };

ExcelResult

public class ExcelResult : ActionResult
{
    public string FileName { get; set; }
    public ExcelPackage Package { get; set; }

    public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
    {
        context.HttpContext.Response.Buffer = true;
        context.HttpContext.Response.Clear();
        context.HttpContext.Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=" + FileName);
        context.HttpContext.Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
        context.HttpContext.Response.BinaryWrite(Package.GetAsByteArray());
    }
}

Second Edit

I attempted to make the worksheet protected by setting the IsProtected value to true, then set the Locked property to false for every column except the last one. Not only was the spreadsheet not in read-only mode but I could edit the data in every column.

I did notice, however that I cannot resize the actual columns themselves, so maybe this is what I'm doing. I'd like to lock each cell in the column, however, so no new data can be entered.

        for (int a = 1; a < 10; a++)
        {
            ws.Column(a).Style.Locked = false;
        }
        ws.Protection.IsProtected = true;

Answer 1

EPPlus may be defaulting to all cells being locked, in which case you need to set the Locked attribute to false for the other columns, then set IsProtected to true.

Answer 2

I am adding two WorkSheets and need to protect all columns except the one on third index.

This worked for me :)

worksheet2.Cells["A1"].LoadFromDataTable(dt_Data, true); //------load data from datatable
worksheet2.Protection.IsProtected = true; //--------Protect whole sheet
worksheet2.Column(3).Style.Locked = false; //-------Unlock 3rd column

Answer 3

Just thought I'd post the solution in case it helps anyone else. I had to set the entire worksheet to protected but set the Locked attribute to false for each non-Id field.

        //Content
        int i = 2;
        foreach (var zip in results)
        {
            //Set cell values
            ws.Cells["A" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.ChannelCode;
            ws.Cells["B" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.DrmTerrDesc;
            ws.Cells["C" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.IndDistrnId;
            ws.Cells["D" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.StateCode;
            ws.Cells["E" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.ZipCode;
            ws.Cells["F" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.EndDate.ToShortDateString();
            ws.Cells["G" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.EffectiveDate.ToShortDateString();
            ws.Cells["H" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.LastUpdateId;
            ws.Cells["I" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.ErrorCodes;
            ws.Cells["J" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.Status;
            ws.Cells["K" + i.ToString()].Value = zip.Id;

            //Unlock non-Id fields
            ws.Cells["A" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["B" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["C" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["D" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["E" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["F" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["G" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["H" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["I" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["J" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;

            i++;
        }

        //Since we have to make the whole sheet protected and unlock each cell 
        //to allow for editing this loop is necessary
        for (int a = 65000 - i; i < 65000; i++)
        {
            //Unlock non-Id fields
            ws.Cells["A" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["B" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["C" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["D" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["E" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["F" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["G" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["H" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["I" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;
            ws.Cells["J" + i.ToString()].Style.Locked = false;                
        }

        //Set worksheet protection attributes
        ws.Protection.AllowInsertRows = true;
        ws.Protection.AllowSort = true;
        ws.Protection.AllowSelectUnlockedCells = true;
        ws.Protection.AllowAutoFilter = true;
        ws.Protection.AllowInsertRows = true;
        ws.Protection.IsProtected = true;

Answer 4

So I was referring this question and this is how I do the locking.

worksheet.Protection.IsProtected = true;
//I'm creating a template for users to fill in data.These headers
//will come from database tables later on.
//So tableHeaders is an array of strings
for (int i = 1; i <= tableHeaders.Length; i++)
            {
                worksheet.Column(i).Style.Locked = false;
            }
//And then lock the first row.
worksheet.Row(1).Style.Locked = true;
//Additionally don't allow user to change sheet names
excelPackage.Workbook.Protection.LockStructure = true;

Answer 5

lock the entire sheet first and then unlock the cells which u want to unlock.

workSheet.Protection.IsProtected = true;

workSheet.Cells[2, 3, pocDeatils.CityMaster.Rows.Count + 1, 4].Style.Locked = false;

for more detail refer below link: https://epplus.codeplex.com/SourceControl/latest#SampleApp/Sample6.cs

Answer 6

ws.Column(10).Style.Locked = true;

should do it. please check the rest of your code for errors :)

Answer 7

1. In order to lock certain columns or group of cells, you need to first know which columns you need to be editable. Add those comma separated in 'new ExcelAddress()' which is a second parameter [Comma separation is useful when the columns editable are not in the same order]

For eg : I want to lock only columns M ws.ProtectedRanges.Add("editable", new ExcelAddress("A3:A25,L3:L25,N3:N25"));

2. Then the second part is to protect the whole worksheet ws.Protection.IsProtected = true;