Display Excel As HTML Table In Python Flask (Simple Example)

Welcome to a tutorial on how to display an Excel file as an HTML table in Python Flask. So you want to read an Excel file and display it as an HTML table? Yes, it is actually not that difficult – Read on for the example!

ⓘ I have included a zip file with all the source code at the start of this tutorial, so you don’t have to copy-paste everything… Or if you just want to dive straight in.

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

QUICK NOTES

• Create a project folder, e.g. D:\xlstable, unzip the code inside this folder.
• Navigate to the project folder in the command line cd D:\xlstable, create a virtual environment to not mess up your other projects.
  • virtualenv venv
  • Windows – venv\scripts\activate
  • Mac/Linux – venv/bin/activate
• Get all the required packages – pip install openpyxl flask
• Launch python S2_server.py and access http://localhost.

If you spot a bug, feel free to comment below. I try to answer short questions too, but it is one person versus the entire world… If you need answers urgently, please check out my list of websites to get help with programming.

 

EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD

Click here to download all the example source code, I have released it under the MIT license, so feel free to build on top of it or use it in your own project.

 

 

 

STEP 1) DUMMY EXCEL

Jo Doe	jo@doe.com	465785
Joa Doe	joa@doe.com	123456
Job Doe	job@doe.com	234567
Joe Doe	joe@doe.com	345678
Jog Doe	jog@doe.com	578456
Joh Doe	joh@doe.com	378945
Joi Doe	joi@doe.com	456789
Jon Doe	jon@doe.com	987654
Jor Doe	jor@doe.com	754642
Joy Doe	joy@doe.com	124578

For a start, here is the Excel file that we will be working with. Nothing special here… Just a list of dummy users.

 

STEP 2) FLASK SERVER

# (A) INIT
# (A1) LOAD MODULES
from flask import Flask, render_template, request, make_response
from openpyxl import load_workbook
 
# (A2) FLASK SETTINGS + INIT
HOST_NAME = "localhost"
HOST_PORT = 80
app = Flask(__name__)
# app.debug = True
 
# (B) DEMO - READ EXCEL & GENERATE HTML TABLE
@app.route("/")
def index():
  # (B1) OPEN EXCEL FILE + WORKSHEET
  book = load_workbook("S1_dummy.xlsx")
  sheet = book.active
 
  # (B2) PASS INTO HTML TEMPLATE
  return render_template("S3_excel_table.html", sheet=sheet)
 
# (C) START
if __name__ == "__main__":
  app.run(HOST_NAME, HOST_PORT)

The Flask server script is super straightforward once you trace through it.

1. Load the required modules, and define the Flask settings; Python cannot read Excel files natively, and we will be using openpyxl. Link to the full documentation is in the extras section below if you want to follow up.
2. Serve the “Excel to HTML” demo page – Open S1_dummy.xlsx, select the required workbook and pass it into the HTML template.
3. Captain Obvious at your service. Start running the Flask server.

 

 

STEP 3) HTML TEMPLATE

<table id="demo">
  {% for row in range(1, sheet.max_row + 1) %}
  <tr>
    {% for col in range(1, sheet.max_column + 1): %}
    <td>{{ sheet.cell(row, col).value }}</td>
    {% endfor %}
  </tr>
  {% endfor %}
</table>

Don’t think this needs much explanation. We are just looping through the rows and columns of the Excel file to generate the HTML table.

 

 

 

THE FIRST ROW IS THE HEADER

<table id="demo">
  <!-- HEADER ROW -->
  <thead><tr>
    {% for col in range(1, sheet.max_column + 1): %}
    <th>{{ sheet.cell(1, col).value }}</th>
    {% endfor %}
  </tr></thead>
 
  <!-- DATA ROWS -->
  <tbody>
  {% for row in range(2, sheet.max_row + 1) %}
  <tr>
    {% for col in range(1, sheet.max_column + 1): %}
    <td>{{ sheet.cell(row, col).value }}</td>
    {% endfor %}
  </tr>
  {% endfor %}
  </tbody>
</table>

Just draw the header row separately in the HTML template.

 

READING MULTIPLE SPREADSHEETS

@app.route("/")
def index():
  # (B1) OPEN EXCEL FILES + WORKSHEETS
  sheets = []
  for n in range(2):
    book = load_workbook("sheet"+str(n)+".xlsx")
    sheets.append(book.active)
 
  # (B2) PASS INTO HTML TEMPLATE
  return render_template("S3_excel_table.html", sheets=sheets)

Instead of a single worksheet, pass an array of multiple worksheets into the HTML template.

{% for sheet in sheets %}
<table id="demo">
  {% for row in range(1, sheet.max_row + 1) %}
  <tr>
  ...

Loop through each worksheet, and draw the HTML table.

 

LINKS & REFERENCES

• Display CSV As Table In Javascript – Code Boxx
• Display CSV As Table In Python Flask – Code Boxx
• openpyxl – A Python library to read/write Excel
• How to Read Excel File In Python – Linuxhint