Read formula cells by evaluating, not just the cached result#1120
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Reading a numeric formula cell returned 0 for files whose cached formula result was not stored (e.g. legacy .xls produced by tools that write the formula but leave the cached value at 0). POI does not recalculate on read: getNumericCellValue() returns the cached result, so the cell read as 0. The same content saved as .xlsx worked only because Excel had stored the computed cache. Resolve the value with a FormulaEvaluator for FORMULA cells, falling back to the cached value if evaluation is not supported by POI (NotImplementedException). evaluate() does not mutate the cell/cache, so it is safe on read. Applied to getNumber() (which also feeds getValue()) in the HSSF and XSSF ExcelCells of the gxoffice (ExcelDocument) API.
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iroqueta
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Jun 8, 2026
Reading a numeric formula cell returned 0 for files whose cached formula result was not stored (e.g. legacy .xls produced by tools that write the formula but leave the cached value at 0). POI does not recalculate on read: getNumericCellValue() returns the cached result, so the cell read as 0. The same content saved as .xlsx worked only because Excel had stored the computed cache. Resolve the value with a FormulaEvaluator for FORMULA cells, falling back to the cached value if evaluation is not supported by POI (NotImplementedException). evaluate() does not mutate the cell/cache, so it is safe on read. Applied to getNumber() (which also feeds getValue()) in the HSSF and XSSF ExcelCells of the gxoffice (ExcelDocument) API. (cherry picked from commit baa2633)
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Problem
Reading a numeric formula cell from an Excel file returned 0 when the file did not have the formula's cached result stored. This is common in legacy
.xlsfiles produced by tools/systems that write the formula but leave the cached value at0.POI does not recalculate formulas on read:
getNumericCellValue()returns the cached result, so the cell reads as0. The same logical content saved as.xlsxworked only because Excel had stored the computed cache.Evidence (real customer files, POI 5.4.1)
.xlscached.xlsxcached=D2=D3It is not an
.xls-vs-.xlsxformat issue: both behave the same when the cache is missing. Evaluating the formula returns the correct value for both.Change
For
FORMULAcells, resolve the numeric value with aFormulaEvaluator, falling back to the cached value when evaluation is not supported by POI (NotImplementedException).evaluate()does not mutate the cell or the cached value, so it is safe on read.Applied in
getNumber()(which also feedsgetValue()) of the HSSF and XSSFExcelCellsin thegxoffice(ExcelDocument) API:com/genexus/gxoffice/poi/hssf/ExcelCells.javacom/genexus/gxoffice/poi/xssf/ExcelCells.javaNotes