Unknown numeric to String

[kevin Abel]

I'm using POI to fetch a cell from an Excel Sheet and that is working well.

I determine that the cell contains numeric data but I don't know how it is being represented.  It may be 884312314  OR 34.555 OR 74.23 OR 27.34E6

I need the result to be a String.

I'd like to show the scientific value as a string of numbers without the E.

I can throw away the decimal part but prefer not to round.

If it was always the same input format I could use a Java method or formatting to get to a String.  The trouble is that I wont know the starting format.

What can I do?

Thanks,

Kevin

[Tim Holloway]

You should be able to retrieve the cell metadata. That will tell you the data type and the Excel formatting options defined for that cell.

[kevin Abel]

Tim,
I appreciate your reply.
Is this the type of metadata that your are writing about?

if (currentCell.getCellTypeEnum() == CellType.NUMERIC) {
  //do something
}

Is there a way to get more specific details about the numeric type?

Thanks,

Kevin

[Dave Tolls]

Excel doesn't have different types of numeric, just different formats (which would be irrelevant to you if all you want is the value?).

So why don't you use POI to just read the number out using the getNumericCellValue method?
You can then format it as you like.

[Tim Holloway]

I think the numeric type internal data format is always double, even for integer cell values (int is equivalent to floating-point with an exponent value of 0).  You'd have to get the cell's data format to know the precise display formatting for the value.

[kevin Abel]

//This code comes from come from StackOverFlow.    

DataFormatter dataFormatter = new DataFormatter();
sPiece = dataFormatter.formatCellValue(currentCell);

it seems to work when I RUN the script. It is bringing back the numeric data as a string of number characters.

It crashes when I use the DEBUG mode and I don't know why.  I attached the error part in the Attachments.  

Thanks,

Kevin