How to insert a row between two rows in an existing excel with HSSF (Apache POI)

Somehow I manage to create new rows between two rows in an existing excel file. The problem is, some of the formatting were not include along the shifting of the rows.

One of this, is the row that are hide are not relatively go along during the shift. What I mean is(ex.), rows from 20 to 30 is hidden, but when a create new rows the formating still there. The hidden rows must also move during the insertion/creation of new rows, it should be 21 to 31.

Another thing is, the other object in the sheet that are not in the cell. Like the text box are not move along after the new row is created. Its like the position of these object are fixed. But I want it to move, the same thing as I insert a new row or paste row in excel. If there is a function of inserting a new row, please let me know.

This what I have right now, just a snippet from my code.

HSSFWorkbook wb = new HSSFWorkbook(template); //template is the source of file
HSSFSheet sheet = wb.getSheet("SAMPLE");
HSSFRow newRow;
HSSFCell cellData;

int createNewRowAt = 9; //Add the new row between row 9 and 10

sheet.shiftRows(createNewRowAt, sheet.getLastRowNum(), 1, true, false);
newRow = sheet.createRow(createNewRowAt);
newRow = sheet.getRow(createNewRowAt);

If copy and paste of rows is possible that would be big help. But I already ask it here and can't find a solution. So I decided to create a row as an interim solution. I'm done with it but having a problem like this.

Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks!

Helper function to copy rows shamelessly adapted from here

import org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel.*;
import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Cell;
import org.apache.poi.ss.util.CellRangeAddress;

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;

public class RowCopy {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
        HSSFWorkbook workbook = new HSSFWorkbook(new FileInputStream("c:/input.xls"));
        HSSFSheet sheet = workbook.getSheet("Sheet1");
        copyRow(workbook, sheet, 0, 1);
        FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("c:/output.xls");
        workbook.write(out);
        out.close();
    }

    private static void copyRow(HSSFWorkbook workbook, HSSFSheet worksheet, int sourceRowNum, int destinationRowNum) {
        // Get the source / new row
        HSSFRow newRow = worksheet.getRow(destinationRowNum);
        HSSFRow sourceRow = worksheet.getRow(sourceRowNum);

        // If the row exist in destination, push down all rows by 1 else create a new row
        if (newRow != null) {
            worksheet.shiftRows(destinationRowNum, worksheet.getLastRowNum(), 1);
        } else {
            newRow = worksheet.createRow(destinationRowNum);
        }

        // Loop through source columns to add to new row
        for (int i = 0; i < sourceRow.getLastCellNum(); i++) {
            // Grab a copy of the old/new cell
            HSSFCell oldCell = sourceRow.getCell(i);
            HSSFCell newCell = newRow.createCell(i);

            // If the old cell is null jump to next cell
            if (oldCell == null) {
                newCell = null;
                continue;
            }

            // Copy style from old cell and apply to new cell
            HSSFCellStyle newCellStyle = workbook.createCellStyle();
            newCellStyle.cloneStyleFrom(oldCell.getCellStyle());
            ;
            newCell.setCellStyle(newCellStyle);

            // If there is a cell comment, copy
            if (oldCell.getCellComment() != null) {
                newCell.setCellComment(oldCell.getCellComment());
            }

            // If there is a cell hyperlink, copy
            if (oldCell.getHyperlink() != null) {
                newCell.setHyperlink(oldCell.getHyperlink());
            }

            // Set the cell data type
            newCell.setCellType(oldCell.getCellType());

            // Set the cell data value
            switch (oldCell.getCellType()) {
                case Cell.CELL_TYPE_BLANK:
                    newCell.setCellValue(oldCell.getStringCellValue());
                    break;
                case Cell.CELL_TYPE_BOOLEAN:
                    newCell.setCellValue(oldCell.getBooleanCellValue());
                    break;
                case Cell.CELL_TYPE_ERROR:
                    newCell.setCellErrorValue(oldCell.getErrorCellValue());
                    break;
                case Cell.CELL_TYPE_FORMULA:
                    newCell.setCellFormula(oldCell.getCellFormula());
                    break;
                case Cell.CELL_TYPE_NUMERIC:
                    newCell.setCellValue(oldCell.getNumericCellValue());
                    break;
                case Cell.CELL_TYPE_STRING:
                    newCell.setCellValue(oldCell.getRichStringCellValue());
                    break;
            }
        }

        // If there are are any merged regions in the source row, copy to new row
        for (int i = 0; i < worksheet.getNumMergedRegions(); i++) {
            CellRangeAddress cellRangeAddress = worksheet.getMergedRegion(i);
            if (cellRangeAddress.getFirstRow() == sourceRow.getRowNum()) {
                CellRangeAddress newCellRangeAddress = new CellRangeAddress(newRow.getRowNum(),
                        (newRow.getRowNum() +
                                (cellRangeAddress.getLastRow() - cellRangeAddress.getFirstRow()
                                        )),
                        cellRangeAddress.getFirstColumn(),
                        cellRangeAddress.getLastColumn());
                worksheet.addMergedRegion(newCellRangeAddress);
            }
        }
    }
}

For people who are looking to insert a row between two rows in an existing excel with XSSF (Apache POI), there is already a method "copyRows" implemented in the XSSFSheet.

import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.CellCopyPolicy;
import org.apache.poi.xssf.usermodel.XSSFSheet;
import org.apache.poi.xssf.usermodel.XSSFWorkbook;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
    
public class App2 throws Exception{
    public static void main(String[] args){
        XSSFWorkbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook(new FileInputStream("input.xlsx"));
        XSSFSheet sheet = workbook.getSheet("Sheet1");
        sheet.copyRows(0, 2, 3, new CellCopyPolicy());
	    FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("output.xlsx");
	    workbook.write(out);
	    out.close();
    }
}

Referencing Qwerty's answer, you can avoid to inflate XL size by re-using cellStyle. And when the type is CELL_TYPE_BLANK, getStringCellValue returns "" instead of null.

private static void copyRow(Sheet worksheet, int sourceRowNum, int destinationRowNum) {
  // Get the source / new row
  Row newRow = worksheet.getRow(destinationRowNum);
  Row sourceRow = worksheet.getRow(sourceRowNum);

  // If the row exist in destination, push down all rows by 1 else create a new row
  if (newRow != null) {
    worksheet.shiftRows(destinationRowNum, worksheet.getLastRowNum(), 1);
  } else {
    newRow = worksheet.createRow(destinationRowNum);
  }

  // Loop through source columns to add to new row
  for (int i = 0; i < sourceRow.getLastCellNum(); i++) {
    // Grab a copy of the old/new cell
    Cell oldCell = sourceRow.getCell(i);
    Cell newCell = newRow.createCell(i);

    // If the old cell is null jump to next cell
    if (oldCell == null) {
      newCell = null;
      continue;
    }

    // Use old cell style
    newCell.setCellStyle(oldCell.getCellStyle());

    // If there is a cell comment, copy
    if (newCell.getCellComment() != null) {
      newCell.setCellComment(oldCell.getCellComment());
    }

    // If there is a cell hyperlink, copy
    if (oldCell.getHyperlink() != null) {
      newCell.setHyperlink(oldCell.getHyperlink());
    }

    // Set the cell data type
    newCell.setCellType(oldCell.getCellType());

    // Set the cell data value
    switch (oldCell.getCellType()) {
    case Cell.CELL_TYPE_BLANK:
      break;
    case Cell.CELL_TYPE_BOOLEAN:
      newCell.setCellValue(oldCell.getBooleanCellValue());
      break;
    case Cell.CELL_TYPE_ERROR:
      newCell.setCellErrorValue(oldCell.getErrorCellValue());
      break;
    case Cell.CELL_TYPE_FORMULA:
      newCell.setCellFormula(oldCell.getCellFormula());
      break;
    case Cell.CELL_TYPE_NUMERIC:
      newCell.setCellValue(oldCell.getNumericCellValue());
      break;
    case Cell.CELL_TYPE_STRING:
      newCell.setCellValue(oldCell.getRichStringCellValue());
      break;
    }
  }
}

Referencing Qwerty's answer, if the destRow isnot null, sheet.shiftRows() will change the destRow's reference to the next row; so we should always create a new row:

if (destRow != null) {
  sheet.shiftRows(destination, sheet.getLastRowNum(), 1);
}
destRow = sheet.createRow(destination);

I merged some of the other answers and comments in the following implementation, tested with Apache POI v3.9.

I have only one rownum parameter because I shift down the target row and copy it in the new empty row. Formulas are handled as expected, they are not copied verbatim, with one exception: references to cells that are above the copied line are not updated; the workaround is to replace these explicit references (if any) with references calculated using INDIRECT() as suggested by this post.

protected void copyRow(Sheet worksheet, int rowNum) {
    Row sourceRow = worksheet.getRow(rowNum);

    //Save the text of any formula before they are altered by row shifting
    String[] formulasArray = new String[sourceRow.getLastCellNum()];
    for (int i = 0; i < sourceRow.getLastCellNum(); i++) {
        if (sourceRow.getCell(i) != null && sourceRow.getCell(i).getCellType() == Cell.CELL_TYPE_FORMULA) 
        	formulasArray[i] = sourceRow.getCell(i).getCellFormula();
    }

    worksheet.shiftRows(rowNum, worksheet.getLastRowNum(), 1);
    Row newRow = sourceRow;  //Now sourceRow is the empty line, so let's rename it
    sourceRow = worksheet.getRow(rowNum + 1);  //Now the source row is at rowNum+1
    
    // Loop through source columns to add to new row
    for (int i = 0; i < sourceRow.getLastCellNum(); i++) {
        // Grab a copy of the old/new cell
        Cell oldCell = sourceRow.getCell(i);
        Cell newCell;
        
        // If the old cell is null jump to next cell
        if (oldCell == null) {
            continue;
        } else {
        	newCell = newRow.createCell(i);
        }

        // Copy style from old cell and apply to new cell
        CellStyle newCellStyle = worksheet.getWorkbook().createCellStyle();
        newCellStyle.cloneStyleFrom(oldCell.getCellStyle());
        newCell.setCellStyle(newCellStyle);

        // If there is a cell comment, copy
        if (oldCell.getCellComment() != null) {
            newCell.setCellComment(oldCell.getCellComment());
        }

        // If there is a cell hyperlink, copy
        if (oldCell.getHyperlink() != null) {
            newCell.setHyperlink(oldCell.getHyperlink());
        }

        // Set the cell data type
        newCell.setCellType(oldCell.getCellType());

        // Set the cell data value
        switch (oldCell.getCellType()) {
            case Cell.CELL_TYPE_BLANK:
                break;
            case Cell.CELL_TYPE_BOOLEAN:
                newCell.setCellValue(oldCell.getBooleanCellValue());
                break;
            case Cell.CELL_TYPE_ERROR:
                newCell.setCellErrorValue(oldCell.getErrorCellValue());
                break;
            case Cell.CELL_TYPE_FORMULA:
                newCell.setCellFormula(formulasArray[i]);
                break;
            case Cell.CELL_TYPE_NUMERIC:
                newCell.setCellValue(oldCell.getNumericCellValue());
                break;
            case Cell.CELL_TYPE_STRING:
                newCell.setCellValue(oldCell.getRichStringCellValue());
                break;
            default:   
                break; 
        }
    }

    // If there are any merged regions in the source row, copy to new row
    for (int i = 0; i < worksheet.getNumMergedRegions(); i++) {
        CellRangeAddress cellRangeAddress = worksheet.getMergedRegion(i);
        if (cellRangeAddress.getFirstRow() == sourceRow.getRowNum()) {
            CellRangeAddress newCellRangeAddress = new CellRangeAddress(newRow.getRowNum(),
                    (newRow.getRowNum() +
                            (cellRangeAddress.getLastRow() - cellRangeAddress.getFirstRow()
                                    )),
                    cellRangeAddress.getFirstColumn(),
                    cellRangeAddress.getLastColumn());
            worksheet.addMergedRegion(newCellRangeAddress);
        }
    }
}

I'm using this implementation in production code.

I've implemented this in Kotlin like this:

fun Sheet.buildRow ( rowNum:Int ) : Row {
    val templateRow = this.getRow( rowNum )
    this.shiftRows( rowNum+1, sheet.lastRowNum, 1 )
    val newRow = this.createRow( rowNum+1 )
    templateRow.cellIterator().forEach {
        newRow.createCell( it.columnIndex ).cellStyle = it.cellStyle
    }
    return templateRow
}

It doesn't copy the cell values, just the format. Should be applicable to Java as well.

As to formulas being "updated" in the new row, since all the copying occurs after the shift, the old row (now one index up from the new row) has already had its formula shifted, so copying it to the new row will make the new row reference the old rows cells. A solution would be to parse out the formulas BEFORE the shift, then apply those (a simple String array would do the job. I'm sure you can code that in a few lines).

At start of function:

ArrayList<String> fArray = new ArrayList<String>();
Row origRow = sheet.getRow(sourceRow);
for (int i = 0; i < origRow.getLastCellNum(); i++) {
    if (origRow.getCell(i) != null && origRow.getCell(i).getCellType() == Cell.CELL_TYPE_FORMULA) 
        fArray.add(origRow.getCell(i).getCellFormula());
    else fArray.add(null);
}

Then when applying the formula to a cell:

newCell.setCellFormula(fArray.get(i));

I came across the same issue recently. I had to insert new rows in a document with hidden rows and faced the same issues with you. After some search and some emails in apache poi list, it seems like a bug in shiftrows() when a document has hidden rows.