Quick Start

This quick start guide will help you create a simple WPF application, install NuGet packages, and add Spread WPF controls to your Visual Studio project. You can get started with Spread for WPF with NuGet packages in .NET Framework and .NET Core editions by following the steps mentioned in the section below.

.NET Framework

To create a simple WPF application (.NET Framework) in Visual Studio, complete the following steps:

Open Microsoft Visual Studio and click Create a new project.
In the Create a new project dialog, choose WPF App (.NET Framework), and click Next.
In the Configure your new project dialog, enter the name and location for your project and click Create.
This is an optional step as you can use the default project name and location if you want.
Open the Solution Explorer panel, right-click on the project and select Manage NuGet Packages to add the .NET references to the project.
In the NuGet Package Manager dialog, select nuget.org as the Package source.
Browse and install the Mescius.Spread.Wpf NuGet package into your solution.

Once installed, all the available assembly files will be added under References.
Right-click on Properties and select Add > New Item...
From the Add new item dialog, add a text file and name it as Licenses.licx.

Add the license string for Spread as follows:

GrapeCity.Wpf.SpreadSheet.GcSpreadSheet, GrapeCity.Wpf.SpreadSheet

Open the XAML view, i.e. MainWindow.xaml file.

Add the following code to declare the XML namespace for integrating the spreadsheet component into a XAML application. The URL provided in the namespace declaration refers to an XML schema that defines the controls of the spreadsheet component.

xmlns:gss="http://schemas.grapecity.com/windows/spreadsheet/2020"

Create Window_Loaded event and assign names to the GcSpreadSheet and GcFormulaBar controls in the XAML code.

The XAML markup should look like the following:

<Window x:Class="YourApplicationName.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
        xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
        xmlns:gss="http://schemas.grapecity.com/windows/spreadsheet/2020"
        mc:Ignorable="d"
        Title="MainWindow" Height="450" Width="800" Loaded="Window_Loaded">
<Grid>
    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="30"/>
            <RowDefinition/>
            <RowDefinition Height="350"/>
            <RowDefinition/>
    </Grid.RowDefinitions>
    <gss:GcFormulaBar x:Name="formulaBar1" Grid.Row="0" ShowEditingButtons="True" Expandable="True"  AssociatedSpread="{x:Reference Name=spreadSheet1}"/>
    <gss:GcSpreadSheet x:Name="spreadSheet1" Grid.Row="1" Margin="0,0,0,149" Grid.RowSpan="2"  />
</Grid>
</Window>

Switch to the code view. (MainWindow.xaml.cs for C# or MainWindow.xaml.vb for Visual Basic)

Under the Window_Loaded event handler, add the following example codes to start the basic operations with the controls.

private void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    // Create an instance of GcSpreadSheet workbook.
    GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IWorkbook workbook = spreadSheet1.Workbook;
    // Get the default worksheet.
    GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IWorksheet worksheet = spreadSheet1.Workbook.ActiveSheet;
    // Add data to the cells.
    worksheet.Cells[0, 0].Value = "Welcome to Spread for WPF";    
    // Save the workbook.
    workbook.SaveAs("SavedWorkbook.xlsx", GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IO.FileFormat.OpenXMLWorkbook);
}

Private Sub Window_Loaded(sender As Object, e As RoutedEventArgs)
    ' Create an instance of GcSpreadSheet workbook.
    Dim workbook As GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IWorkbook = spreadSheet1.Workbook
    ' Get the default worksheet.
    Dim worksheet As GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IWorksheet = spreadSheet1.Workbook.ActiveSheet
    ' Add data to the cells.
    worksheet.Cells[0, 0].Value = "Welcome to Spread for WPF"
    ' Save the workbook.
    workbook.SaveAs("SavedWorkbook.xlsx", GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IO.FileFormat.OpenXMLWorkbook)
End Sub

Build the project and run to view the controls in your application.

.NET Core

To create a simple WPF application (.NET Core) in Visual Studio, complete the following steps:

Open Microsoft Visual Studio and click Create a new project.
In the Create a new project dialog, select WPF Application, and then click Next.
In the Configure your new project dialog, enter the name and location for your project and click Next.
This is an optional step as you can use the default project name and location if you want.
In the Additional information dialog, select the framework version from the dropdown and click Create.
Open the Solution Explorer panel, right-click on Dependencies and select Manage NuGet Packages.. to add the .NET references to the project.
In the NuGet Package Manager, select nuget.org as the Package source.
Search for Mescius.Spread.Wpf and click Install to install the NuGet package into your solution.
Once installed, the package will be added under Packages.

Open the XAML view, i.e. MainWindow.xaml file.

xmlns:gss="http://schemas.grapecity.com/windows/spreadsheet/2020"

Create Window_Loaded event and assign names to the GcSpreadSheet and GcFormulaBar controls in the XAML code.

The XAML markup should look like the following:

<Window
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
        xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
        xmlns:gss="http://schemas.grapecity.com/windows/spreadsheet/2020"
        x:Class="YourApplicationName.MainWindow"
        mc:Ignorable="d"
        Title="MainWindow" Height="450" Width="800" Loaded="Window_Loaded" >
    <Grid>
       <Grid.RowDefinitions>
             <RowDefinition Height="30"/>
             <RowDefinition/>
             <RowDefinition Height="350"/>
             <RowDefinition/>
       </Grid.RowDefinitions>
     <gss:GcFormulaBar x:Name="formulaBar1" Grid.Row="0" ShowEditingButtons="True" Expandable="True"  AssociatedSpread="{x:Reference Name=spreadSheet1}"/>
     <gss:GcSpreadSheet x:Name="spreadSheet1" Grid.Row="1" Margin="0,0,0,149" Grid.RowSpan="2"  />
    </Grid>
</Window>

Switch to the code view. (MainWindow.xaml.cs for C# or MainWindow.xaml.vb for Visual Basic)

Under the Window_Loaded event handler, add the following example codes to start the basic operations with the controls.

private void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    // Create an instance of GcSpreadSheet workbook.
    GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IWorkbook workbook = spreadSheet1.Workbook;
    // Get the default worksheet.
    GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IWorksheet worksheet = spreadSheet1.Workbook.ActiveSheet;
    // Add data to the cells.
    worksheet.Cells[0, 0].Value = "Welcome to Spread for WPF";    
    // Save the workbook.
    workbook.SaveAs("SavedWorkbook.xlsx", GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IO.FileFormat.OpenXMLWorkbook);
}

Private Sub Window_Loaded(sender As Object, e As RoutedEventArgs)
    ' Create an instance of GcSpreadSheet workbook.
    Dim workbook As GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IWorkbook = spreadSheet1.Workbook
    ' Get the default worksheet.
    Dim worksheet As GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IWorksheet = spreadSheet1.Workbook.ActiveSheet
    ' Add data to the cells.
    worksheet.Cells[0, 0].Value = "Welcome to Spread for WPF"
    ' Save the workbook.
    workbook.SaveAs("SavedWorkbook.xlsx", GrapeCity.Spreadsheet.IO.FileFormat.OpenXMLWorkbook)
End Sub

Build the project and run to view GcSpreadSheet and GcFormulaBar controls in your application.

The output will look like as below.

Spread for WPF Quick Start shows the resulting workbook grid with a Welcome to Spread for WPF value in Sheet1.

type=note
Note: You can also install Spread for WPF using the Spread Studio package from the official website and then create a WPF application. For more information, refer to Add Components to Toolbox.