Where can I find an example Java code that uses jxl.jar to add date cell format to a new Excel file?

You can follow these suggestions and example to add date cell format to a new Excel file with jxl.jar:

Dates are handled similarly to numbers, taking in a format compatible with that used by the java.text.SimpleDateFormat class. In addition, several predefined date formats are specified in the jxl.write.DateFormat class.

As a brief example, the below code fragment illustrates placing the current date and time in cell A7 using a custom format:

// Get the current date and time from the Calendar object 
Date now = Calendar.getInstance().getTime(); 
DateFormat customDateFormat = new DateFormat ("dd MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss"); 
WritableCellFormat dateFormat = new WritableCellFormat (customDateFormat); 
DateTime dateCell = new DateTime(0, 6, now, dateFormat); 
sheet.addCell(dateCell); 

As with numbers, font information may be used to display the date text by using the overloaded constructors on WritableCellFormat.

Here is the complete source code of example program JxlAddDateFormat.java:

// Copyright (c) FYIcenter.com
import java.util.*; 
import jxl.write.*;
import jxl.write.Number;

// Example of adding formatting properties for Dates in a new Excel file
public class JxlAddDateFormat {
   public static void main(String [] args) throws Exception {
	  jxl.write.WritableWorkbook workbook 
	     = jxl.Workbook.createWorkbook(new java.io.File("output.xls"));
      jxl.write.WritableSheet sheet = workbook.createSheet("First Sheet", 0);

// Get the current date and time from the Calendar object 
Date now = Calendar.getInstance().getTime(); 
DateFormat customDateFormat = new DateFormat ("dd MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss"); 
WritableCellFormat dateFormat = new WritableCellFormat (customDateFormat); 
DateTime dateCellA7 = new DateTime(0, 6, now, dateFormat); 
sheet.addCell(dateCellA7); 
	  
// Create a cell format for Times 16, bold and italic 
WritableFont times16font = new WritableFont(WritableFont.TIMES, 16, WritableFont.BOLD, true); 
WritableCellFormat times16format = new WritableCellFormat (times16font); 

WritableCellFormat dateFormat16 = new WritableCellFormat (times16font, customDateFormat); 
DateTime dateCellA9 = new DateTime(0, 8, now, dateFormat16); 
sheet.addCell(dateCellA9);

      workbook.write(); 
      workbook.close();
   }
}

You can compile and run the above example in a command window as shown below:

C:\fyicenter>c:\local\jdk-1.8.0\bin\javac 
   -cp .;\fyicenter\jexcelapi\jxl.jar JxlAddDateFormat.java

C:\fyicenter>c:\local\jdk-1.8.0\bin\java 
   -cp .;\fyicenter\jexcelapi\jxl.jar JxlAddDateFormat

The output file, output.xls, is ready for Microsoft Excel to open.

⇒Java Source Code Example for jxl.jar

⇒⇒FAQ for Java Excel API jxl.jar