The Worksheet Class (Page Setup)

Page set-up methods affect the way that a worksheet looks when it is printed. They control features such as paper size, orientation, page headers and margins.

These methods are really just standard worksheet <worksheet> methods. They are documented separately for the sake of clarity.

worksheet:set_landscape()

This method is used to set the orientation of a worksheet's printed page to landscape:

 worksheet:set_landscape()

worksheet:set_portrait()

This method is used to set the orientation of a worksheet's printed page to portrait. The default worksheet orientation is portrait, so you won't generally need to call this method:

 worksheet:set_portrait()

worksheet:set_page_view()

This method is used to display the worksheet in "Page View/Layout" mode:

 worksheet:set_page_view()

worksheet:set_paper()

This method is used to set the paper format for the printed output of a worksheet: The following paper styles are available:

Note, it is likely that not all of these paper types will be available to the end user since it will depend on the paper formats that the user's printer supports. Therefore, it is best to stick to standard paper types:

 worksheet:set_paper(1) -- US Letter
 worksheet:set_paper(9) -- A4

If you do not specify a paper type the worksheet will print using the printer's default paper style.

worksheet:center_horizontally()

Center the worksheet data horizontally between the margins on the printed page:

 worksheet:center_horizontally()

worksheet:center_vertically()

Center the worksheet data vertically between the margins on the printed page:

 worksheet:center_vertically()

worksheet:set_margins()

The set_margins() method is used to set the margins of the worksheet when it is printed. The units are in inches. All parameters are optional and have default values corresponding to the default Excel values.

worksheet:set_header()

Headers and footers are generated using a string which is a combination of plain text and control characters.

The available control character are:

Text in headers and footers can be justified (aligned) to the left, center and right by prefixing the text with the control characters &L, &C and &R.

For example (with ASCII art representation of the results):

 worksheet:set_header("&LHello")

     ---------------------------------------------------------------
    |                                                               |
    | Hello                                                         |
    |                                                               |


 $worksheet->set_header("&CHello");

     ---------------------------------------------------------------
    |                                                               |
    |                          Hello                                |
    |                                                               |


 $worksheet->set_header("&RHello");

     ---------------------------------------------------------------
    |                                                               |
    |                                                         Hello |
    |                                                               |

For simple text, if you do not specify any justification the text will be centred. However, you must prefix the text with &C if you specify a font name or any other formatting:

 worksheet:set_header("Hello")

     ---------------------------------------------------------------
    |                                                               |
    |                          Hello                                |
    |                                                               |

You can have text in each of the justification regions:

 worksheet:set_header("&LCiao&CBello&RCielo")

     ---------------------------------------------------------------
    |                                                               |
    | Ciao                     Bello                          Cielo |
    |                                                               |

The information control characters act as variables that Excel will update as the workbook or worksheet changes. Times and dates are in the users default format:

 worksheet:set_header("&CPage &P of &N")

     ---------------------------------------------------------------
    |                                                               |
    |                        Page 1 of 6                            |
    |                                                               |

 worksheet:set_header("&CUpdated at &T")

     ---------------------------------------------------------------
    |                                                               |
    |                    Updated at 12:30 PM                        |
    |                                                               |

You can specify the font size of a section of the text by prefixing it with the control character &n where n is the font size:

 worksheet1:set_header("&C&30Hello Big")
 worksheet2:set_header("&C&10Hello Small")

You can specify the font of a section of the text by prefixing it with the control sequence &"font,style" where fontname is a font name such as "Courier New" or "Times New Roman" and style is one of the standard Windows font descriptions: "Regular", "Italic", "Bold" or "Bold Italic":

 worksheet1:set_header('&C&"Courier New,Italic"Hello')
 worksheet2:set_header('&C&"Courier New,Bold Italic"Hello')
 worksheet3:set_header('&C&"Times New Roman,Regular"Hello')

It is possible to combine all of these features together to create sophisticated headers and footers. As an aid to setting up complicated headers and footers you can record a page set-up as a macro in Excel and look at the format strings that VBA produces. Remember however that VBA uses two double quotes "" to indicate a single double quote. For the last example above the equivalent VBA code looks like this:

 .LeftHeader = ""
 .CenterHeader = "&""Times New Roman,Regular""Hello"
 .RightHeader = ""

To include a single literal ampersand & in a header or footer you should use a double ampersand &&:

 worksheet1:set_header("&CCuriouser && Curiouser - Attorneys at Law")

As stated above the margin parameter is optional. As with the other margins the value should be in inches. The default header and footer margin is 0.3 inch. The header and footer margin size can be set as follows:

 worksheet:set_header("&CHello", 0.75)

The header and footer margins are independent of the top and bottom margins.

Note, the header or footer string must be less than 255 characters. Strings longer than this will not be written and an exception will be thrown.

See also ex_headers_footers.

worksheet:set_footer()

The syntax of the set_footer() method is the same as set_header.

worksheet:repeat_rows()

For large Excel documents it is often desirable to have the first row or rows of the worksheet print out at the top of each page.

This can be achieved by using the repeat_rows() method. The parameters first_row and last_row are zero based. The last_row parameter is optional if you only wish to specify one row:

 worksheet1:repeat_rows(0)    -- Repeat the first row.
 worksheet2:repeat_rows(0, 1) -- Repeat the first two rows.

worksheet:repeat_columns()

For large Excel documents it is often desirable to have the first column or columns of the worksheet print out at the left hand side of each page.

This can be achieved by using the repeat_columns() method. The parameters first_column and last_column are zero based. The last_column parameter is optional if you only wish to specify one column. You can also specify the columns using A1 column notation, see cell_notation for more details.:

 worksheet1.repeat_columns(0)     -- Repeat the first column.
 worksheet2.repeat_columns(0, 1)  -- Repeat the first two columns.
 worksheet3.repeat_columns("A:A") -- Repeat the first column.
 worksheet4.repeat_columns("A:B") -- Repeat the first two columns.

worksheet:hide_gridlines()

This method is used to hide the gridlines on the screen and printed page. Gridlines are the lines that divide the cells on a worksheet. Screen and printed gridlines are turned on by default in an Excel worksheet.

If you have defined your own cell borders you may wish to hide the default gridlines:

 worksheet:hide_gridlines()

The following values of option are valid:

1. Don't hide gridlines.
2. Hide printed gridlines only.
3. Hide screen and printed gridlines.

If you don't supply an argument the default option is 1, i.e. only the printed gridlines are hidden.

worksheet:print_row_col_headers()

When you print a worksheet from Excel you get the data selected in the print area. By default the Excel row and column headers (the row numbers on the left and the column letters at the top) aren't printed.

The print_row_col_headers() method sets the printer option to print these headers:

 worksheet:print_row_col_headers()

worksheet:print_area()

This method is used to specify the area of the worksheet that will be printed.

All four parameters must be specified. You can also use A1 notation, see cell_notation:

 worksheet1.print_area("A1:H20")    -- Cells A1 to H20.
 worksheet2.print_area(0, 0, 19, 7) -- The same as above.
 worksheet3.print_area("A:H")       -- Columns A to H if rows have data.

worksheet:print_across()

The print_across method is used to change the default print direction. This is referred to by Excel as the sheet "page order":

 worksheet:print_across()

The default page order is shown below for a worksheet that extends over 4 pages. The order is called "down then across":

 [1] [3]
 [2] [4]

However, by using the print_across method the print order will be changed to "across then down":

 [1] [2]
 [3] [4]

worksheet:fit_to_pages()

The fit_to_pages() method is used to fit the printed area to a specific number of pages both vertically and horizontally. If the printed area exceeds the specified number of pages it will be scaled down to fit. This ensures that the printed area will always appear on the specified number of pages even if the page size or margins change:

 worksheet1.fit_to_pages(1, 1) -- Fit to 1x1 pages.
 worksheet2.fit_to_pages(2, 1) -- Fit to 2x1 pages.
 worksheet3.fit_to_pages(1, 2) -- Fit to 1x2 pages.

The print area can be defined using the print_area() method as described above.

A common requirement is to fit the printed output to n pages wide but have the height be as long as necessary. To achieve this set the height to zero:

 worksheet1.fit_to_pages(1, 0) -- 1 page wide and as long as necessary.

worksheet:set_start_page()

The set_start_page() method is used to set the number of the starting page when the worksheet is printed out:

 -- Start print from page 2.
 worksheet:set_start_page(2)

worksheet:set_print_scale()

Set the scale factor of the printed page. Scale factors in the range 10 <= $scale <= 400 are valid:

 worksheet1:set_print_scale(50)
 worksheet2:set_print_scale(75)
 worksheet3:set_print_scale(300)
 worksheet4:set_print_scale(400)

The default scale factor is 100. Note, set_print_scale() does not affect the scale of the visible page in Excel. For that you should use set_zoom().

Note also that although it is valid to use both fit_to_pages() and set_print_scale() on the same worksheet Excel only allows one of these options to be active at a time. The last method call made will set the active option.

worksheet:set_h_pagebreaks()

The set_h_pagebreaks() method adds horizontal page breaks to a worksheet. A page break causes all the data that follows it to be printed on the next page. Horizontal page breaks act between rows.

The set_h_pagebreaks() method takes a table of one or more page breaks:

 worksheet1:set_v_pagebreaks({20})
 worksheet2:set_v_pagebreaks({20, 40, 60, 80, 100})

To create a page break between rows 20 and 21 you must specify the break at row 21. However in zero index notation this is actually row 20. So you can pretend for a small while that you are using 1 index notation:

 worksheet:set_h_pagebreaks({20}) -- Break between row 20 and 21.

There is a silent limitation of 1023 horizontal page breaks per worksheet in line with an Excel internal limitation.

worksheet:set_v_pagebreaks()

The set_v_pagebreaks() method is the same as the above set_h_pagebreaks() method except it adds page breaks between columns.

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