How to: Add ListObject Controls to Worksheets

Article
02/04/2013

You can add ListObject controls to a Microsoft Office Excel worksheet at design time and at run time in document-level projects.

Applies to: The information in this topic applies to document-level projects and application-level projects for Excel 2007 and Excel 2010. For more information, see Features Available by Office Application and Project Type.

You can also add ListObject controls at run time in application-level add-in projects.

This topic describes the following tasks:

Adding ListObject controls at design time
Adding ListObject controls at run time in a document-level project
Adding ListObject controls at run time in an application-level project

For more information about ListObject controls, see ListObject Control.

Adding ListObject Controls at Design Time

There are several ways to add ListObject controls to a worksheet in a document-level project at design time: From within Excel, from the Visual Studio Toolbox, and from the Data Sources window.

Note

Your computer might show different names or locations for some of the Visual Studio user interface elements in the following instructions. The Visual Studio edition that you have and the settings that you use determine these elements. For more information, see Visual Studio Settings.

To use the Ribbon in Excel

On the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click Table.
Select the cell or cells you want to include in the list and click OK.

To use the Toolbox

From the Excel Controls tab of the Toolbox, drag a ListObject to the worksheet.

The Add ListObject Control dialog box appears.
Select the cell or cells you want to include in the list and click OK.

If you do not want to keep the default name, you can change the name in the Properties window.

To use the Data Sources window

Open the Data Sources window and create a data source for your project. For more information, see How to: Connect to Data in a Database.
Drag a table from the Data Sources window to your worksheet.

A data-bound ListObject control is added to the worksheet. For more information, see Data Binding and Windows Forms.

Adding ListObject Controls at Run Time in a Document-Level Project

You can add the ListObject control dynamically at run time. This enables you to create the host controls in response to events. Dynamically created list objects are not persisted in the worksheet as host controls when the worksheet is closed. For more information, see Adding Controls to Office Documents at Run Time.

To add a ListObject control to a worksheet programmatically

In the Startup event handler of Sheet1, insert the following code to add a ListObject control to cells A1 through A4.

Dim employeeData As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Excel.ListObject
employeeData = Me.Controls.AddListObject(Me.Range("$A$1:$D$4"), "employees")

Microsoft.Office.Tools.Excel.ListObject employeeData;
employeeData = this.Controls.AddListObject(this.get_Range("$A$1:$D$4", missing), "employees");

Adding ListObject Controls at Run Time in an Application-Level Project

You can add a ListObject control programmatically to any open worksheet in an application-level project. Dynamically created list objects are not persisted in the worksheet as host controls when the worksheet is saved and then closed. For more information, see Extending Word Documents and Excel Workbooks in Application-Level Add-ins at Run Time.

To add a ListObject control to a worksheet programmatically

The following code generates a worksheet host item that is based on the open worksheet, and then adds a ListObject control to cells A1 through A4.

Private Sub AddListObject()
    Dim NativeWorksheet As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet =
        Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets(1)

    ' Use the following line of code in projects that target the .NET Framework 4.
    Dim worksheet As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Excel.Worksheet =
        Globals.Factory.GetVstoObject(NativeWorksheet)

    ' In projects that target the .NET Framework 3.5, use the following line of code.
    ' Dim worksheet = CType(Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets(1),  _
    '    Excel.Worksheet).GetVstoObject()

    Dim list1 As Microsoft.Office.Tools.Excel.ListObject
    Dim cell As Excel.Range = worksheet.Range("$A$1:$D$4")
    list1 = worksheet.Controls.AddListObject(cell, "MyListObject")
End Sub

private void AddListObject()
{
    // Use the following line of code in projects that target the .NET Framework 4.
    Worksheet worksheet = Globals.Factory.GetVstoObject(
        Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets[1]);

    // In projects that target the .NET Framework 3.5, use the following line of code.
    // Worksheet worksheet = 
    //     ((Excel.Worksheet)Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets[1]).GetVstoObject();

    Microsoft.Office.Tools.Excel.ListObject list1;
    Excel.Range cell = worksheet.Range["$A$1:$D$4", missing];
    list1 = worksheet.Controls.AddListObject(cell, "list1");
}

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How to: Add ListObject Controls to Worksheets

Adding ListObject Controls at Design Time

To use the Ribbon in Excel

To use the Toolbox

To use the Data Sources window

Adding ListObject Controls at Run Time in a Document-Level Project

To add a ListObject control to a worksheet programmatically

Adding ListObject Controls at Run Time in an Application-Level Project

To add a ListObject control to a worksheet programmatically

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