Spread Windows Forms 17
Spread Windows Forms 17.0 Product Documentation / Developer's Guide / Cells / Adding a Comment to a Cell
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    Adding a Comment to a Cell
    In This Topic

    Spread for WinForms supports adding comments to cells in a worksheet. You can add a plain text comment or note by referring to the Adding a Note to a Cell topic.

    Additionally, you can enable the EnhancedShapeEngine property to add a string or RichText instances by using the IRange.AddComment method.

    You can modify the added comment by using the IRange.Comment property. For example, the image below shows a default comment as well as a customized comment. The customized comment is set to always be visible and has shape properties such as background color, shape border style, and border color.

    The following code shows how to set comments.

    C#
    Copy Code 
    // Get activesheet
GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IWorksheet TestActiveSheet = fpSpread1.AsWorkbook().ActiveSheet;
           
// Enable enhanced shape engine
fpSpread1.Features.EnhancedShapeEngine = true;
           
string username = "Admin" + ":";
           
// Initilize richtext object
GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.RichText richText = new GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.RichText(username + "\r\nThis is a rich text \r\nsupported comment");
// Setting style
GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Font font = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Font.Empty;
font.Bold = true;
GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Font font2 = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Font.Empty;
font2.Italic = true;
font2.Underline = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.UnderlineStyle.Double;
// Adding style to rich text
richText.Format(0, username.Length, font);
richText.Format(17, 9, font2);
// Adding a comment to cell
GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IComment comment = TestActiveSheet.Cells["B2"].AddComment(richText);
           
// Customizing comment style
TestActiveSheet.Cells["B2"].Comment.Visible = true; // Always show comment
TestActiveSheet.Cells["B2"].Comment.Shape.Fill.BackColor.ARGB = Color.Orange.ToArgb();  // Change comment background color
TestActiveSheet.Cells["B2"].Comment.Shape.Line.Style = GrapeCity.Drawing.LineStyle.ThickThin;   // Change border style
TestActiveSheet.Cells["B2"].Comment.Shape.Line.Weight = 5;  // Change border thickness
TestActiveSheet.Cells["B2"].Comment.Shape.Line.ForeColor.ARGB = Color.DeepSkyBlue.ToArgb(); // Change border color
    VB
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    'Get activesheet
Dim TestActiveSheet As GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IWorksheet = FpSpread1.AsWorkbook().ActiveSheet
       
'Enable enhanced shape engine
FpSpread1.Features.EnhancedShapeEngine = True
Dim username As String = "Admin" & ":"
'Initilize richtext object
Dim richText As GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.RichText = New GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.RichText(username & vbCrLf & "This is a rich text " & vbCrLf & "supported comment")
'Setting style
Dim font As GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Font = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Font.Empty
font.Bold = True
Dim font2 As GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Font = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Font.Empty
font2.Italic = True
font2.Underline = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.UnderlineStyle.Double
'Adding style to rich text
richText.Format(0, username.Length, font)
richText.Format(17, 9, font2)
'Adding a comment to cell
Dim comment As GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IComment = TestActiveSheet.Cells("B2").AddComment(richText)
'Customizing comment style
TestActiveSheet.Cells("B2").Comment.Visible = True  'Always show comment
TestActiveSheet.Cells("B2").Comment.Shape.Fill.BackColor.ARGB = Color.Orange.ToArgb()   'Change comment background color
TestActiveSheet.Cells("B2").Comment.Shape.Line.Style = GrapeCity.Drawing.LineStyle.ThickThin    'Change border style
TestActiveSheet.Cells("B2").Comment.Shape.Line.Weight = 5   'Change border thickness
TestActiveSheet.Cells("B2").Comment.Shape.Line.ForeColor.ARGB = Color.DeepSkyBlue.ToArgb()  'Change border color

    Threaded Comments

    Users can view threaded comments in the Spread UI. This helps in connecting several comments together and presenting a virtual conversation in the workbook.

    Using Code

    You can add threaded comments by using the IRange.AddCommentThreaded method.

    C#
    Copy Code 
    // Threaded comments
fpSpread1.LegacyBehaviors = LegacyBehaviors.None;
fpSpread1.Features.EnhancedShapeEngine = true;
fpSpread1.AsWorkbook().TestActiveSheet.Cells["C5"].AddCommentThreaded("Threaded comment supported").AddReply("First reply");
    VB
    Copy Code 
    ' Threaded comments
FpSpread1.LegacyBehaviors = LegacyBehaviors.None
FpSpread1.Features.EnhancedShapeEngine = True
FpSpread1.AsWorkbook().TestActiveSheet.Cells("C5").AddCommentThreaded("Threaded comment supported").AddReply("First reply")

    Gradient Fill Effects

    You can add gradient effects to emphasize the comments by applying fill-color and patterns.

     comment-gradient

    Using Code

    To add the gradient effects, use the Fill property of the IShapeBase interface, which gets an object of the IFillFormat interface for a specified shape that contains the fill formatting properties for shape.

    C#
    Copy Code 
    fpSpread1.Features.EnhancedShapeEngine = true;
IWorksheet TestActiveSheet = fpSpread1.AsWorkbook().ActiveSheet;
IShape shape;
shape = TestActiveSheet.Cells["A1"].AddComment("InsetPen = false").Shape;
TestActiveSheet.Cells["A1"].Comment.Visible = true;
shape.Fill.OneColorGradient(GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Drawing.GradientStyle.FromCenter, 1, 1);
shape.Fill.GradientStops.Delete(0);
shape.Fill.GradientStops.Delete(0);
shape.Fill.GradientStops.Delete(0);
shape.Fill.GradientStops.Insert(0xffff00, 0);
shape.Fill.GradientStops.Insert(0xffffff, 0.5);
shape.Fill.GradientStops.Insert(0x00ffff, 1);
shape.Fill.GradientStops[0].Color.SchemeColor = 23;
shape.Fill.PathShadeType = GrapeCity.Drawing.PathShadeType.Shape;
IShape aa = fpSpread1.AsWorkbook().ActiveSheet.Cells["A1"].Comment.Shape;
    VB
    Copy Code 
    FpSpread1.Features.EnhancedShapeEngine = True
IWorksheet TestActiveSheet = FpSpread1.AsWorkbook().ActiveSheet
Dim shape As IShape
shape = TestActiveSheet.Cells("A1").AddComment("InsetPen = false").Shape
TestActiveSheet.Cells("A1").Comment.Visible = True
shape.Fill.OneColorGradient(GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Drawing.GradientStyle.FromCenter, 1, 1)
shape.Fill.GradientStops.Delete(0)
shape.Fill.GradientStops.Delete(0)
shape.Fill.GradientStops.Delete(0)
shape.Fill.GradientStops.Insert(0xffff00, 0)
shape.Fill.GradientStops.Insert(0xffffff, 0.5)
shape.Fill.GradientStops.Insert(0x00ffff, 1)
shape.Fill.GradientStops(0).Color.SchemeColor = 23
shape.Fill.PathShadeType = GrapeCity.Drawing.PathShadeType.Shape
Dim aa As IShape =  FpSpread1.AsWorkbook().ActiveSheet.Cells("A1").Comment.Shape

    Using Runtime UI

    You can add or manipulate gradient fill effects at run time via the Fill Effects dialog. The Fill Effects dialog provides options like colors, variants, shading styles, patterns, and a sample preview to view the gradient effect.

    To invoke the dialog at runtime, select the comment on the sheet and use the keyboard shortcut keys combination Ctrl+1, or select the Format Comment option from the built-in context menu.

    In the Format Comments dialog, navigate to the Colors and Lines tab and select the Fill Effects option from the Color picker dropdown to view the Fill Effects dialog.

    For the keyboard shortcut to work, set the ExcelCompatibleKeyboardShortcuts property to true.

    You can also invoke the Fill Effects dialog at runtime using the FillEffects method of the BuiltInDialogs class. To learn more about this class, see Working with BuiltIn Dialogs.

    Using Spread Designer

    To view comments and add gradient effects to the block in the Spread Designer, follow the below mentioned steps:

    1. Set the EnhancedShapeEngine and ExcelCompatibleKeyboardShortcuts to true in the properties window. 
    2. Select the comment on which you want to add or modify the gradient effect. 
    3. Invoke the Format Comment dialog.
    4. Click the Fill Effects button from the Colors and Lines tab to open the Fill Effects dialog.

    Text Orientation

    Formatting text in the comments is helpful for customizing the appearance and readability of comments or notes in the worksheet, allowing you to visually display your annotations in a more appealing way. Usually, Spread allows you to orient the text horizontally or vertically. However, using the HorizontalRotatedFarEast property of TextOrientation enumeration, you can control the orientation and formatting of text within cell comments. This property allows you to stack text vertically.

    The implementation of this feature takes effect only if the EnhancedShapeEngine property is set to true.

    Using code

    The following example code shows how to change text orientation in cell comments.

    C#
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    // Add support paint stacked text direction for cell comment
fpSpread1.Features.EnhancedShapeEngine = true;
var activeSheet = fpSpread1.AsWorkbook().ActiveSheet;
var comment = activeSheet.Cells["A1"].AddComment("Vertical\n text");
comment.Shape.TextFrame.Orientation = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Drawing.TextOrientation.HorizontalRotatedFarEast;
comment.Shape.TextFrame.WordWrap = true;
comment.Shape.Height = 200;
comment.Visible = true;
var comment2 = activeSheet.Cells["C1"].AddComment("Vertical text in comment");
comment2.Shape.TextFrame.Orientation = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Drawing.TextOrientation.HorizontalRotatedFarEast;
comment2.Shape.TextFrame.WordWrap = true;
comment2.Shape.Height = 200;
comment2.Visible = true;
var comment3 = activeSheet.Cells["E1"].AddComment("abc");
comment3.Shape.TextFrame.Orientation = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Drawing.TextOrientation.HorizontalRotatedFarEast;
comment3.Shape.TextFrame.HorizontalAlignment = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.HorizontalAlignment.Justify;
comment3.Shape.TextFrame.VerticalAlignment = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.VerticalAlignment.Justify;
comment3.Shape.Height = 40;
comment3.Visible = true;
    VB
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    ' Add support paint stacked text direction for cell comment
FpSpread1.Features.EnhancedShapeEngine = True
Dim activeSheet = FpSpread1.AsWorkbook().ActiveSheet
    
Dim comment = activeSheet.Cells("A1").AddComment("Vertical" & vbLf & " text")
comment.Shape.TextFrame.Orientation = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Drawing.TextOrientation.HorizontalRotatedFarEast
comment.Shape.TextFrame.WordWrap = True
comment.Shape.Height = 200
comment.Visible = True
Dim comment2 = activeSheet.Cells("C1").AddComment("Vertical text in comment")
comment2.Shape.TextFrame.Orientation = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Drawing.TextOrientation.HorizontalRotatedFarEast
comment2.Shape.TextFrame.WordWrap = True
comment2.Shape.Height = 200
comment2.Visible = True
Dim comment3 = activeSheet.Cells("E1").AddComment("abc")
comment3.Shape.TextFrame.Orientation = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Drawing.TextOrientation.HorizontalRotatedFarEast
comment3.Shape.TextFrame.HorizontalAlignment = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.HorizontalAlignment.Justify
comment3.Shape.TextFrame.VerticalAlignment = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.VerticalAlignment.Justify
comment3.Shape.Height = 40
comment3.Visible = True

    At Runtime

    Using the Format Comment dialog, you can change the orientation of the comments you have added to cells. To invoke the dialog at runtime, perform the following steps:

    1. Run the code below to load a spread control with a comment.
      C#
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      fpSpread1.Features.EnhancedShapeEngine = true;
var activeSheet = fpSpread1.AsWorkbook().ActiveSheet;
var comment = activeSheet.Cells["A1"].AddComment("Vertical text");
comment.Shape.TextFrame.Orientation = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Drawing.TextOrientation.HorizontalRotatedFarEast;
comment.Visible = true;
      VB
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      FpSpread1.Features.EnhancedShapeEngine = True
Dim activeSheet = FpSpread1.AsWorkbook().ActiveSheet
Dim comment = activeSheet.Cells("A1").AddComment("Vertical text")
comment.Shape.TextFrame.Orientation = GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.Drawing.TextOrientation.HorizontalRotatedFarEast
comment.Visible = True

    2. Right-click on the comment to open up the Format Comment… context menu.
    3. Select the Alignment tab.
    4. Select the Orientation as per your choice and click OK.