How to UnProtect Sheet using OpenXML code? - openxml

Question

I have created one Sheet, which i could protect using OpenXml code.
But now there is requirement to read this excel file.
I am getting all the values as NULL because it is protected.
( I haven't placed any password yet in the code to protect the sheet, there is only one sheet in the excel file.)
I have got below code from my Search to unprotect the worksheet.
workSheet.RemoveAllChildren<SheetProtection>();
But, this is not working. I am still getting the null values while reading this protected sheet.
using (SpreadsheetDocument spreadSheetDocument = SpreadsheetDocument.Open(FilePath, false))
{
WorkbookPart workbookPart = spreadSheetDocument.WorkbookPart;
IEnumerable<Sheet> sheets = spreadSheetDocument.WorkbookPart.Workbook.GetFirstChild<Sheets>().Elements<Sheet>();
//if ((sheets.Count() != 2) && (sheets.First().Name.Value != "StudentNomination") && (sheets.Last().Name.Value != "Sheet2"))
//{
// throw new Exception("Please Upload the correct Nomination file, for example you can download the Nomination Template file first.!!");
//}
string relationshipId = sheets.First().Id.Value;
WorksheetPart worksheetPart = (WorksheetPart)spreadSheetDocument.WorkbookPart.GetPartById(relationshipId);
Worksheet workSheet = worksheetPart.Worksheet;
workSheet.RemoveAllChildren<SheetProtection>();
SheetData sheetData = workSheet.GetFirstChild<SheetData>();
IEnumerable<Row> rows = sheetData.Descendants<Row>();
Can anyone Please help me on this?

Answer 1

Your code for removing protection is correct. But before that you have to open the Excel file in Edit Mode. The second argument in SpreadSheetDocument.Open should be set to true.
Also Regardless of protection, you should be able to read a cell's value. See the below code. In order to test this you would have to create a excel file and fill the cells A1,B1 and C1 with numbers.
using System.Linq;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Spreadsheet;
class Test
{
static void Main()
{
string filePath = #"E:\test.xlsx";
using (SpreadsheetDocument spreadSheetDocument = SpreadsheetDocument.Open(filePath, true))
{
WorkbookPart workbookPart = spreadSheetDocument.WorkbookPart;
IEnumerable<Sheet> sheets = spreadSheetDocument.WorkbookPart.Workbook.GetFirstChild<Sheets>().Elements<Sheet>();
string relationshipId = sheets.First().Id.Value;
WorksheetPart worksheetPart = (WorksheetPart)spreadSheetDocument.WorkbookPart.GetPartById(relationshipId);
Worksheet workSheet = worksheetPart.Worksheet;
var dataBeforeProtection = workSheet.Descendants<Row>().First().Descendants<Cell>().First().CellValue.InnerText;
workSheet.RemoveAllChildren<SheetProtection>();
var dataAfterProtection = workSheet.Descendants<Row>().First().Descendants<Cell>().First().CellValue.InnerText;
workSheet.Save();
}
}
}