Proper data formatting is essential for accurate calculations, sorting, and analysis. In Excel, numbers are sometimes mistakenly stored as text, which prevents them from being used in mathematical calculations. On the other hand, certain values like ZIP codes, phone numbers, and product IDs should be stored as text to preserve leading zeros and ensure consistency. Knowing how to convert between text and numeric formats is essential for maintaining data integrity, preventing errors, and improving usability. In this article, you will learn how to convert text to numbers and numbers to text in Excel in React using Spire.XLS for JavaScript.
Install Spire.XLS for JavaScript
To get started with converting text to numbers and numbers to text in Excel in a React application, you can either download Spire.XLS for JavaScript from our website or install it via npm with the following command:
npm i spire.office
The downloaded product package has been integrated Spire.Doc for JavaScript，Spire.XLS for JavaScript，Spire.PDF for JavaScript，Spire.Presentation for JavaScript. To use the functionality of Spire.XLS for JavaScript, you need to copy the corresponding files (spire.xls.js, Spire.Xls.Wasm.zip, spire.common.js, Spire.Common.Wasm.zip, and _framework) to the project's "public" folder. At the same time, in order to ensure text rendering, the related font files can be added with custom paths. In the following example, the font addition path is: public\static\font.
For more details, refer to the documentation: How to Integrate Spire.XLS for JavaScript in a React Project
Convert Text to Numbers in Excel
With Spire.XLS for JavaScript, developers can format the text in individual cells or a range of cells as numbers using the CellRange.ConvertToNumber() method. The detailed steps are as follows.
- Create a Workbook object using the new wasmModule.Workbook() method.
- Load the Excel file using the Workbook.LoadFromFile() method.
- Get a specific worksheet using the Workbook.Worksheets.get(index) method.
- Get the desired cell or range of cells using the Worksheet.Range.get() method.
- Format the text in the cell or range of cells as numbers using the CellRange.ConvertToNumber() method.
- Save the resulting workbook using the Workbook.SaveToFile() method.
- JavaScript
import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
function App() {
const [wasmModule, setWasmModule] = useState(null);
// Load Spire.XLS
useEffect(() => {
(async () => {
try {
const publicUrl = process.env.PUBLIC_URL || '';
const spireModule = await import(/* webpackIgnore: true */ `${publicUrl}/spire.xls.js`);
const rawModule = spireModule.default || spireModule;
window.wasmModule = typeof rawModule === 'function'
? await rawModule({ locateFile: p => p.endsWith('.wasm') ? `${publicUrl}/${p}` : p })
: rawModule;
setWasmModule(window.wasmModule);
} catch (error) {
console.error('Failed to load spire.xls.js WASM module:', error);
}
})();
}, []);
// Function to convert text to numbers in an Excel worksheet
const ConvertTextToNumbers = async () => {
const wasmModule = window.wasmModule.spirexls;
if (wasmModule) {
// Load font into Virtual File System (VFS)
await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS('Arial.ttf', '/Library/Fonts/', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/static/font/`);
// Load input file into Virtual File System (VFS)
const inputFileName = 'sample.xlsx';
await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS(inputFileName, '', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/static/data/`);
// Create a new workbook
const workbook = new wasmModule.Workbook();
// Load the Excel file from the virtual file system
workbook.LoadFromFile(inputFileName);
// Get the first worksheet
let sheet = workbook.Worksheets.get(0);
// Get the desired cell range
let range = sheet.Range.get("D2:D6");
// Convert the text in the cell range as numbers
range.ConvertToNumber();
// Define the output file name
const outputFileName = "TextToNumbers_output.xlsx";
// Save the workbook to the specified path
workbook.SaveToFile({ fileName: outputFileName, version: wasmModule.ExcelVersion.Version2010 });
// Read the saved file and convert to Blob object
const modifiedFileArray = window.dotnetRuntime.Module.FS.readFile(outputFileName);
const modifiedFile = new Blob([modifiedFileArray], { type: 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet' });
// Create a URL for the Blob and initiate download
const url = URL.createObjectURL(modifiedFile);
const a = document.createElement('a');
a.href = url;
a.download = outputFileName;
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
document.body.removeChild(a);
URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
// Clean up resources used by the workbook
workbook.Dispose();
}
};
return (
<div style={{ textAlign: 'center', height: '300px' }}>
<h1>Convert Text to Numbers in Excel Using JavaScript in React</h1>
<button onClick={ConvertTextToNumbers} disabled={!wasmModule}>
Convert
</button>
</div>
);
}
export default App;
Run the code to launch the React app at localhost:3000. Once it's running, click on the "Convert" button to format text stored in specific cells of an Excel worksheet as numbers:
The screenshot below shows the input Excel worksheet and the output Excel worksheet:
Convert Numbers to Text in Excel
To convert numbers stored in specific cells or a range of cells as text, developers can use the CellRange.NumberFormat property. The detailed steps are as follows.
- Create a Workbook object using the new wasmModule.Workbook() method.
- Load the Excel file using the Workbook.LoadFromFile() method.
- Get a specific worksheet using the Workbook.Worksheets.get(index) method.
- Get the desired cell or range of cells using the Worksheet.Range.get() method.
- Format the numbers in the cell or range of cells as text by setting the CellRange.NumberFormat property to "@".
- Save the resulting workbook using the Workbook.SaveToFile() method.
- JavaScript
import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
function App() {
const [wasmModule, setWasmModule] = useState(null);
// Load Spire.XLS
useEffect(() => {
(async () => {
try {
const publicUrl = process.env.PUBLIC_URL || '';
const spireModule = await import(/* webpackIgnore: true */ `${publicUrl}/spire.xls.js`);
const rawModule = spireModule.default || spireModule;
window.wasmModule = typeof rawModule === 'function'
? await rawModule({ locateFile: p => p.endsWith('.wasm') ? `${publicUrl}/${p}` : p })
: rawModule;
setWasmModule(window.wasmModule);
} catch (error) {
console.error('Failed to load spire.xls.js WASM module:', error);
}
})();
}, []);
// Function to convert numbers to text in an Excel worksheet
const ConvertNumbersToText = async () => {
const wasmModule = window.wasmModule.spirexls;
if (wasmModule) {
// Load font into Virtual File System (VFS)
await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS('Arial.ttf', '/Library/Fonts/', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/static/font/`);
// Load input file into Virtual File System (VFS)
const inputFileName = 'sample.xlsx';
await window.spire.FetchFileToVFS(inputFileName, '', `${process.env.PUBLIC_URL}/static/data/`);
// Create a new workbook
const workbook = new wasmModule.Workbook();
// Load the Excel file from the virtual file system
workbook.LoadFromFile(inputFileName);
// Get the first worksheet
let sheet = workbook.Worksheets.get(0);
// Get the desired cell range
let range = sheet.Range.get("F2:F9");
// Convert the numbers in the cell range as text
range.NumberFormat = "@"
// Define the output file name
const outputFileName = "NumbersToText_output.xlsx";
// Save the workbook to the specified path
workbook.SaveToFile({ fileName: outputFileName, version: wasmModule.ExcelVersion.Version2010 });
// Read the saved file and convert to Blob object
const modifiedFileArray = window.dotnetRuntime.Module.FS.readFile(outputFileName);
const modifiedFile = new Blob([modifiedFileArray], { type: 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet' });
// Create a URL for the Blob and initiate download
const url = URL.createObjectURL(modifiedFile);
const a = document.createElement('a');
a.href = url;
a.download = outputFileName;
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
document.body.removeChild(a);
URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
// Clean up resources used by the workbook
workbook.Dispose();
}
};
return (
<div style={{ textAlign: 'center', height: '300px' }}>
<h1>Convert Numbers To Text in Excel Using JavaScript in React</h1>
<button onClick={ConvertNumbersToText} disabled={!wasmModule}>
Convert
</button>
</div>
);
}
export default App;
Get a Free License
To fully experience the capabilities of Spire.XLS for JavaScript without any evaluation limitations, you can request a free 30-day trial license.
