Formatting Borders in Calc with Macros

By using Basic or Python programming languages it is possible to write macros that apply formats to ranges of cells in Calc.

Formatting Borders in Ranges of Cells

The code snippet below creates a Sub called FormatCellBorder that applies new border formats to a given range address in the current Calc sheet.


    Sub FormatCellBorder(cellAddress as String, newStyle as Byte, newWidth as Long, Optional newColor as Long)
        ' Creates the UNO struct that will store the new line format
        Dim lineFormat as New com.sun.star.table.BorderLine2
        lineFormat.LineStyle = newStyle
        lineFormat.LineWidth = newWidth
        If Not IsMissing(newColor) Then lineFormat.Color = newColor
        ' Gets the target cell
        Dim oCell as Object
        Set oCell = ThisComponent.CurrentController.ActiveSheet.getCellRangeByName(cellAddress)
        ' Applies the new format to all borders
        oCell.TopBorder = lineFormat
        oCell.RightBorder = lineFormat
        oCell.LeftBorder = lineFormat
        oCell.BottomBorder = lineFormat
    End Sub

The Sub described above takes in four arguments:

cellAddress is a string denoting the range to be formatted in the format "A1".
newStyle is an integer value that corresponds to the border line style (see Line Styles below).
newWidth is an integer value that defines the line width.
newColor is an integer value corresponding to a color defined using the RGB function.

To call FormatCellBorder create a new macro and pass the desired arguments, as shown below:


    Sub MyMacro
        ' Gives access to the line style constants
        Dim cStyle as Object
        Set cStyle = com.sun.star.table.BorderLineStyle
        ' Formats "B5" with solid blue borders
        FormatCellBorder("B5", cStyle.SOLID, 20, RGB(0, 0, 255))
        ' Formats all borders in the range "D2:F6" with red dotted borders
        FormatCellBorder("D2:F6", cStyle.DOTTED, 20, RGB(255, 0, 0))
    End Sub

It is possible to implement the same functionality in Python:


    from uno import createUnoStruct
    from scriptforge import CreateScriptService
    
    def formatCellBorder(cellAddress, newStyle, newWidth, newColor=0):
        # Defines the new line format
        line_format = createUnoStruct("com.sun.star.table.BorderLine2")
        line_format.LineStyle = newStyle
        line_format.LineWidth = newWidth
        line_format.Color = newColor
        # Scriptforge service to access cell ranges
        doc = CreateScriptService("Calc")
        cell = doc.XCellRange(cellAddress)
        cell.TopBorder = line_format
        cell.RightBorder = line_format
        cell.LeftBorder = line_format
        cell.BottomBorder = line_format

The code snippet below implements a macro named myMacro that calls formatCellBorder:


    from com.sun.star.table import BorderLineStyle as cStyle
    
    def myMacro():
        bas = CreateScriptService("Basic")
        formatCellBorder("B5", cStyle.SOLID, 20, bas.RGB(0, 0, 255))
        formatCellBorder("D2:F6", cStyle.DOTTED, 20, bas.RGB(255, 0, 0))

The Python code presented above uses the ScriptForge library that is available since LibreOffice 7.2.

Line Styles

Line styles are defined as integer constants. The table below lists the constants for the line styles available in Format - Cells - Borders:

Constant name	Integer value	Line style name
SOLID	0	Solid
DOTTED	1	Dotted
DASHED	2	Dashed
FINE_DASHED	14	Fine dashed
DOUBLE_THIN	15	Double thin
DASH_DOT	16	Dash dot
DASH_DOT_DOT	17	Dash dot dot

Refer to the BorderLineStyle Constant Reference in the LibreOffice API documentation to learn more about line style constants.

Formatting Borders Using TableBorder2

Range objects have a property named TableBorder2 that can be used to format range borders as it is done in the Format - Cells - Borders dialog in the Line Arrangement section.

In addition to top, bottom, left and right borders, TableBorder2 also defines vertical and horizontal borders. The macro below applies only the top and bottom borders to the range "B2:E5".


    Sub TableBorder2Example
        Dim cStyle as Object
        Set cStyle = com.sun.star.table.BorderLineStyle
        ' Defines the new line format
        Dim lineFormat as New com.sun.star.table.BorderLine2
        lineFormat.LineStyle = cStyle.SOLID
        lineFormat.LineWidth = 15
        lineFormat.Color = RGB(0, 0, 0)
        ' Struct that stores the new TableBorder2 definition
        Dim tableFormat as New com.sun.star.table.TableBorder2
        tableFormat.TopLine = lineFormat
        tableFormat.BottomLine = lineFormat
        tableFormat.IsTopLineValid = True
        tableFormat.IsBottomLineValid = True
        ' Applies the table format to the range "B2:E5"
        Dim oCell as Object
        oCell = ThisComponent.CurrentController.ActiveSheet.getCellRangeByName("B2:E5")
        oCell.TableBorder2 = tableFormat
    End Sub

The macro can be implemented in Python as follows:


    from com.sun.star.table import BorderLineStyle as cStyle
    from scriptforge import CreateScriptService
    
    def tableBorder2Example():
        bas = CreateScriptService("Basic")
        line_format = createUnoStruct("com.sun.star.table.BorderLine2")
        line_format.LineStyle = cStyle.SOLID
        line_format.LineWidth = 18
        line_format.Color = bas.RGB(0, 0, 0)
        table_format = createUnoStruct("com.sun.star.table.TableBorder2")
        table_format.TopLine = line_format
        table_format.BottomLine = line_format
        table_format.IsTopLineValid = True
        table_format.IsBottomLineValid = True
        doc = CreateScriptService("Calc")
        cell = doc.XCellRange("B2:E5")
        cell.TableBorder2 = table_format

Refer to the TableBorder2 Struct Reference in the LibreOffice API documentation to learn more about its attributes.

A biblioteca ScriptForge