Setting background colour of excel file using HSSFCellStyle

you should set foreground color not back ground
also set style as solid HSSFCellStyle.SOLID_FOREGROUND

style.setFillForegroundColor((short) HSSFCellStyle.YOUR_COLOR);

Many Thanks for your reply

If I wish light gray colour in the back ground of the cell with solid foreground

Can you please fix my cell code

HSSFCellStyle cellStyle= wb.createCellStyle();
        cellStyle.setFont(font);
        cellStyle.setFillBackgroundColor(HSSFColor.BLACK.index);
        cellStyle.setFillForegroundColor((short) HSSFCellStyle.YOUR_COLOR);

I am not able to find colour properties here like

        cellStyle.setFillForegroundColor((short) HSSFCellStyle.Grey); // NO grey colour

Many Thanks for your help

Thanks for your reply.

I have tried, but I cannot see any change in the background of the cell

I tried

HSSFCellStyle cellStyle= wb.createCellStyle();
        cellStyle.setFont(font);
        cellStyle.setFillForegroundColor((short) HSSFColor.TEAL.index);
        cellStyle.setFillBackgroundColor((short)HSSFColor.DARK_YELLOW.index);

Please see sample output attach file.

It doesn't work

Please guide

public void generateCustomerListExcel(ArrayList<Customer> arr, String strFileName, NewsletterBO newsletterBO)
            throws Exception
    {
        Collection client = new HashSet();
        
        HSSFWorkbook wb = new HSSFWorkbook();
        HSSFSheet sheet = wb.createSheet("Report");
        //create a style for the header cell
 
        HSSFCellStyle columnHeaderStyle = wb.createCellStyle();
        columnHeaderStyle.setFillBackgroundColor(
        HSSFColor.BLUE_GREY.index);
 
        /*HSSFFont font = wb.createFont();
        font.setColor(HSSFFont.COLOR_RED);
        columnHeaderStyle.setFont(font);
        */
 
        HSSFFont font = wb.createFont();
        //font.setColor(HSSFFont.COLOR_RED);
        font.setColor(HSSFColor.BLACK.index);
        font.setBoldweight(HSSFFont.BOLDWEIGHT_NORMAL);
 
        HSSFFont headerFont = wb.createFont();
        headerFont.setColor(HSSFColor.BLUE.index);
        headerFont.setBoldweight(HSSFFont.BOLDWEIGHT_BOLD);
 
        // Create the style
        HSSFCellStyle cellStyle= wb.createCellStyle();
        cellStyle.setFont(font);
        cellStyle.setFillForegroundColor((short) HSSFColor.TEAL.index);
        cellStyle.setFillBackgroundColor((short)HSSFColor.DARK_YELLOW.index);
        //
        //cellStyle.setFillForegroundColor((short) HSSFCellStyle.);
        //cellStyle.setFillForegroundColor((short) HSSFColor.GREY_80_PERCENT.index);
        //cellStyle.setFillBackgroundColor(HSSFColor.BLACK.index);
 
        HSSFCellStyle cellHeaderStyle= wb.createCellStyle();
        cellHeaderStyle.setFont(headerFont);
        cellHeaderStyle.setFillBackgroundColor(HSSFColor.AQUA.index);
 
 
        if(!arr.isEmpty())
        {
            Iterator<Customer> itr = arr.iterator();
 
            int rowNum =0;
 
            HSSFRow rowa = sheet.createRow(rowNum);
 
            HSSFCell cell0a=  rowa.createCell(0);
            cell0a.setCellValue("Title");
            cell0a.setCellStyle(cellHeaderStyle);
 
            HSSFCell cell1a=  rowa.createCell(1);
            cell1a.setCellValue("FirstName");
            cell1a.setCellStyle(cellHeaderStyle);
            //row.createCell(2).setCellValue(cust.FirstName);
 
            HSSFCell cell2a=  rowa.createCell(2);
            cell2a.setCellValue("LastName");
            cell2a.setCellStyle(cellHeaderStyle);
 
            HSSFCell cell3a=  rowa.createCell(3);
            cell3a.setCellValue("CompanyName");
            cell3a.setCellStyle(cellHeaderStyle);
 
            HSSFCell cell4a=  rowa.createCell(4);
            cell4a.setCellValue("EmailAddress");
            cell4a.setCellStyle(cellHeaderStyle);
 
               rowNum = 1;
            while(itr.hasNext())
            {
                Customer cust = (Customer)itr.next();
                client.add(new Customer(cust.Title, cust.FirstName, cust.LastName, cust.CompanyName, cust.EmailAddress));
 
                HSSFRow row = sheet.createRow(rowNum);
 
                HSSFCell cell1=  row.createCell(0);
                cell1.setCellValue(cust.Title);
                cell1.setCellStyle(cellStyle);
 
 
                HSSFCell cell2=  row.createCell(1);
                cell2.setCellValue(cust.FirstName);
                cell2.setCellStyle(cellStyle);
                //row.createCell(2).setCellValue(cust.FirstName);
 
                HSSFCell cell3=  row.createCell(2);
                cell3.setCellValue(cust.LastName);
                cell3.setCellStyle(cellStyle);
 
                HSSFCell cell4=  row.createCell(3);
                cell4.setCellValue(cust.CompanyName);
                cell4.setCellStyle(cellStyle);
 
                HSSFCell cell5=  row.createCell(4);
                cell5.setCellValue(cust.EmailAddress);
                cell5.setCellStyle(cellStyle);
 
                rowNum = rowNum+1;
            }
        }
 
        Map beans = new HashMap();
        beans.put("distributionlist", client);
 
        XLSTransformer transformer = new XLSTransformer();
        FileOutputStream fileOut = new FileOutputStream(newsletterBO.OutputAttachmentFolderPath+strFileName);
        //transformer.transformWorkbook(wb, beans);
        //wb.write(fileOut);
        wb.write(fileOut);
        fileOut.close();
    }

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Sample.xls

Many Thanks. It works great