A VS Code extension for editing Excel files (.xlsx / .xlsm) as a spreadsheet directly inside the editor.
Designed primarily for creating and editing test data for Java-based DBRider / DBUnit workflows.
Features
Cell Editing
Double-click any cell to enter edit mode. Press Enter to commit, Escape to cancel, or Tab / Shift+Tab to move to the next/previous cell.
Header Editing
Double-click a header cell to rename the column name inline.
Multi-sheet Support
Click the sheet tabs at the bottom of the editor to switch between sheets.
Row & Column Operations
Use the toolbar buttons to add or delete rows and columns.
To duplicate a selected row, press Ctrl+D — the row is inserted immediately below.
Sorting
Click a column header to sort rows in ascending order. Click again to toggle to descending order.
Search / Filter
Type in the search box on the toolbar to filter rows in real time. The status bar shows how many rows match.
Pagination
Rows are displayed in pages (default: 200 rows per page). Use the ◀ Prev / Next ▶ buttons to navigate.
The page size can be changed in Settings.
Sheet Management
| Operation | How to perform |
|---|---|
| Create sheet from rows | Select rows → right-click → "Create sheet from selected rows" |
| Rename sheet | Double-click the tab, or right-click → "Rename sheet..." — edit inline, press Enter to confirm or Escape to cancel |
| Delete sheet | Right-click the tab → "Delete sheet" (confirmation dialog shown; cannot delete if only one sheet remains) |
| Reorder sheets | Drag and drop a tab to a new position, or right-click → "← Move left" / "Move right →" |
Sheet order is reflected in the saved Excel file.
CSV Support
| Operation | How to perform |
|---|---|
| Open CSV directly | Open any .csv file — a table icon appears in the editor title bar; click it to open the file in Simple Excel Editor |
| Import CSV as a new sheet | Click "Add CSV" on the toolbar → select a file |
| Export all sheets to CSV | Click "Export CSV" on the toolbar → choose an output folder. A table-ordering.txt is generated automatically. If any {sheet}.csv already exists in the folder, the export is cancelled before writing. |
table-ordering.txt
Create a plain text file named table-ordering.txt where each line is a relative path to a CSV file.
Opening this file in VS Code loads all the listed CSV files as individual sheets in a single multi-sheet view.
Lines starting with # are treated as comments and ignored.
Row Grouping
Rows can be grouped using a column whose header is blank (an empty column name).
Enter a value in the format [GroupName] (e.g. [Happy path]) in that column to mark the row as a group header.
- Click the ▶ Grouped toggle in that row to expand or collapse all rows belonging to that group.
- Each group is highlighted with a distinct background color.
- Use the Group filter dropdown in the toolbar to show only a specific group.
- When adding a new row, the group column value is automatically copied from the selected row.
Enable or disable this feature with simpleExcelEditor.enableRowGrouping in Settings.
Cross-Sheet FK Navigation
When a single cell is selected, the toolbar automatically shows a "→ Navigate in [SheetName]" button if another sheet has a column with the same name.
Clicking the button switches to that sheet and highlights all rows where the column value matches the selected cell.
If multiple sheets have a matching column, a dropdown button appears instead.
Selecting any new cell clears the highlight.
NULL / EMPTY String Distinction
The editor explicitly distinguishes between SQL NULL and an empty string — a key requirement for DBRider / DBUnit datasets.
| Type | Display | Default marker | Keyboard shortcut |
|---|---|---|---|
| NULL | Red background + NULL label |
[null] |
Alt+N |
| Empty string | Teal background + EMPTY label |
[empty] |
Alt+E |
| Blank cell | (blank) | "" |
— |
The marker strings are configurable via simpleExcelEditor.nullMarkers / simpleExcelEditor.emptyMarkers.
Date Validation
Columns whose name contains date, day, _on, or _at are treated as date columns.
Any cell that does not match the ISO format (yyyy-MM-dd or yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss) is highlighted with a light-red background as a warning.
Column Statistics
Click a column header (or any cell in a column) to select the column.
The status bar at the bottom shows:
column_name: 10 rows | NULL: 2 | Empty: 1 | Unique: 7
Language Support
The UI language can be controlled via the simpleExcelEditor.language setting:
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
"auto" (default) |
Follows the VS Code display language |
"en" |
Always English |
"ja" |
Always Japanese |
Changes take effect the next time a file is opened in the editor.
New Excel File
Open the Command Palette and run "Simple Excel Editor: New Excel File" (Japanese: "新規 Excel ファイルを作成").
A save dialog appears — choose a folder and filename (.xlsx). An empty workbook with one sheet (Sheet1) is created and immediately opened in the editor.
Settings
Click the ⚙ button on the right end of the toolbar, or open the Command Palette and run "Simple Excel Editor: Open Settings".
Requirements
For users (installing from VS Code Marketplace)
- Visual Studio Code 1.80 or later
No Java, no Node.js, no additional runtime required. Excel I/O is handled by ExcelJS (MIT), which is bundled inside the extension.
Note:
.xls(Excel 97–2003 binary format) is not supported. Please use.xlsxor.xlsm.
For developers (building from source)
- Node.js (v20 or later)
Development Setup
npm install
Open this folder in VS Code and press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host.
# Type-check + bundle (extension host + webview)
npm run compile
# Watch mode (use alongside F5)
npm run watch
# Run unit tests
npm test
# Package as .vsix
npm run package
Settings
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
simpleExcelEditor.nullMarkers |
["[null]"] |
Strings to treat as SQL NULL |
simpleExcelEditor.emptyMarkers |
["[empty]"] |
Strings to treat as empty string |
simpleExcelEditor.pageSize |
200 |
Number of rows per page |
simpleExcelEditor.hasHeader |
true |
Treat the first row as a header |
simpleExcelEditor.enableRowGrouping |
true |
Enable the row grouping feature |
Keyboard Shortcuts
Navigation (outside edit mode)
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Arrow keys |
Move selection one cell in any direction |
Shift+Arrow |
Extend cell range selection |
Home / End |
Jump to first / last column in the current row |
PageUp / PageDown |
Move one page up / down |
Ctrl+Home |
Jump to first cell (row 1, column 1) |
Ctrl+End |
Jump to last cell (last row, last column) |
Editing
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Alt+N |
Insert NULL marker into selected cell(s) |
Alt+E |
Insert empty-string marker into selected cell(s) |
Ctrl+D |
Duplicate selected row below |
Ctrl+S |
Save |
Escape |
Cancel edit / clear selection |
Tab / Shift+Tab |
Move to next / previous cell while editing |
Enter |
Commit edit |
Project Structure
simple-excel-editor/
├── src/
│ ├── extension.ts # Entry point
│ ├── ExcelEditorProvider.ts # Custom editor provider
│ ├── ExcelDocument.ts # Document model
│ ├── CsvUtils.ts # CSV parse / serialize
│ ├── excel/
│ │ ├── IExcelIO.ts # Excel I/O interface
│ │ └── ExcelJsIO.ts # ExcelJS implementation
│ └── test/
│ └── CsvUtils.test.ts # Unit tests (Mocha + ts-node)
├── media/
│ ├── editor.js # Webview UI (bundled by esbuild)
│ └── editor.css # Styles (VS Code theme variables)
├── tsconfig.json
├── tsconfig.build.json
└── tsconfig.test.json
License
MIT