Create Excel Column Chart in Java

In Excel documents, column chart is one of the most intuitive way to display data, and it makes the comparison between data is clear at a glance. In this article, I will share how to create Excel column chart ( including Stacked Column Chart and Clustered Column Chart) by using Free Spire.XLS for Java.

See also previous articles of how to create:
◆ Pie Chart/Doughnut Chart
◆ Scatter Chart

Installation
Method 1: Download the Free Spire.XLS for Java and unzip it. Then add the Spire.Xls.jar file to your project as dependency.

Method 2: You can also add the jar dependency to maven project by adding the following configurations to the pom.xml.

<repositories>
        <repository>
            <id>com.e-iceblue</id>
            <name>e-iceblue</name>
            <url>http://repo.e-iceblue.com/nexus/content/groups/public/</url>
        </repository>
</repositories>
<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>e-iceblue</groupId>
        <artifactId>spire.xls.free</artifactId>
        <version>3.9.1</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

【Example 1】Generate Stacked Column Chart:

import com.spire.xls.*;
import com.spire.xls.charts.*;
import java.awt.*;

public class ColumnChart{
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        executeStackedColumn(true);
    }
    private static void executeStackedColumn(boolean is3D)
    {
        //Create a Workbook
        Workbook workbook = new Workbook();

        //Get the first sheet and set its name
        Worksheet sheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);
        sheet.setName("StackedColumn");

        //Set chart data
        createChartData(sheet);

        //Add a chart
        Chart chart = sheet.getCharts().add();

        //Set region of chart data
        chart.setDataRange(sheet.getCellRange("A1:C5"));
        chart.setSeriesDataFromRange(false);

        //Set position of chart
        chart.setLeftColumn(1);
        chart.setTopRow(6);
        chart.setRightColumn(11);
        chart.setBottomRow(29);

        if (is3D)
        {
            chart.setChartType(ExcelChartType.Column3DStacked);
        }
        else
        {
            chart.setChartType(ExcelChartType.ColumnStacked);
        }

        //Chart title
        chart.setChartTitle("Sales market by country");
        chart.getChartTitleArea().isBold(true);
        chart.getChartTitleArea().setSize(12);

        //Chart Axis
        chart.getPrimaryCategoryAxis().setTitle("Country");
        chart.getPrimaryCategoryAxis().getFont().isBold(true);
        chart.getPrimaryCategoryAxis().getTitleArea().isBold(true);

        chart.getPrimaryValueAxis().setTitle("Sales ($)");
        chart.getPrimaryValueAxis().hasMajorGridLines(false);
        chart.getPrimaryValueAxis().setMinValue(1000);
        chart.getPrimaryValueAxis().getTitleArea().isBold(true);
        chart.getPrimaryValueAxis().getTitleArea().setTextRotationAngle(90);

        ChartSeries series = chart.getSeries();
        for (int i = 0;i < series.size();i++)
        {
            ChartSerie cs = series.get(i);
            cs.getFormat().getOptions().isVaryColor(true);
            cs.getDataPoints().getDefaultDataPoint().getDataLabels().hasValue(true);
        }

        //Chart legend
        chart.getLegend().setPosition(LegendPositionType.Top);

        //Save the result file
        workbook.saveToFile("StackedColumn.xlsx",ExcelVersion.Version2010);

    }

    private static void createChartData(Worksheet sheet)
    {
        //Set value of specified cell
        sheet.getCellRange("A1").setValue("Country");
        sheet.getCellRange("A2").setValue("Cuba");
        sheet.getCellRange("A3").setValue("Mexico");
        sheet.getCellRange("A4").setValue("France");
        sheet.getCellRange("A5").setValue("German");

        sheet.getCellRange("B1").setValue("Jun");
        sheet.getCellRange("B2").setNumberValue(6000);
        sheet.getCellRange("B3").setNumberValue(8000);
        sheet.getCellRange("B4").setNumberValue(9000);
        sheet.getCellRange("B5").setNumberValue(8500);

        sheet.getCellRange("C1").setValue("Aug");
        sheet.getCellRange("C2").setNumberValue(3000);
        sheet.getCellRange("C3").setNumberValue(2000);
        sheet.getCellRange("C4").setNumberValue(2300);
        sheet.getCellRange("C5").setNumberValue(4200);

        //Set cell style
        sheet.getCellRange("A1:C1").setRowHeight(15);
        sheet.getCellRange("A1:C1").getCellStyle().setColor(Color.darkGray);
        sheet.getCellRange("A1:C1").getCellStyle().getExcelFont().setColor(Color.white);
        sheet.getCellRange("A1:C1").getCellStyle().setVerticalAlignment(VerticalAlignType.Center);
        sheet.getCellRange("A1:C1").getCellStyle().setHorizontalAlignment(HorizontalAlignType.Center);
        sheet.getCellRange("B2:C5").getCellStyle().setNumberFormat("\"$\"#,##0");
    }
}

Output:

【Example 2】Generate Clustered Column Chart:

import com.spire.xls.*;
import com.spire.xls.charts.*;
import java.awt.*;

public class ColumnChart {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        executeClusteredColumn(true);
    }
    private static void executeClusteredColumn(boolean is3D)
    {
        //Create a Workbook
        Workbook workbook = new Workbook();

        //Get the first sheet and set its name
        Worksheet sheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);
        sheet.setName("ClusteredColumn");

        //Set chart data
        createChartData(sheet);

        //Add a chart
        Chart chart = sheet.getCharts().add();

        //Set region of chart data
        chart.setDataRange(sheet.getCellRange("A1:C5"));
        chart.setSeriesDataFromRange(false);

        //Set position of chart
        chart.setLeftColumn(1);
        chart.setTopRow(6);
        chart.setRightColumn(11);
        chart.setBottomRow(29);

        if (is3D)
        {
            chart.setChartType(ExcelChartType.Column3DClustered);
        }
        else
        {
            chart.setChartType(ExcelChartType.ColumnClustered);
        }

        //Chart title
        chart.setChartTitle("Sales market by country");
        chart.getChartTitleArea().isBold(true);
        chart.getChartTitleArea().setSize(12);

        //Chart Axis
        chart.getPrimaryCategoryAxis().setTitle("Country");
        chart.getPrimaryCategoryAxis().getFont().isBold(true);
        chart.getPrimaryCategoryAxis().getTitleArea().isBold(true);

        chart.getPrimaryValueAxis().setTitle("Sales ($)");
        chart.getPrimaryValueAxis().hasMajorGridLines(false);
        chart.getPrimaryValueAxis().setMinValue(1000);
        chart.getPrimaryValueAxis().getTitleArea().isBold(true);
        chart.getPrimaryValueAxis().getTitleArea().setTextRotationAngle(90);

        ChartSeries series = chart.getSeries();
        for (int i = 0;i < series.size();i++)
        {
            ChartSerie cs = series.get(i);
            cs.getFormat().getOptions().isVaryColor(true);
            cs.getDataPoints().getDefaultDataPoint().getDataLabels().hasValue(true);
        }

        //Chart legend
        chart.getLegend().setPosition(LegendPositionType.Top);

        //Save the result file
        workbook.saveToFile("ClusteredColumn.xlsx",ExcelVersion.Version2010);

    }

    private static void createChartData(Worksheet sheet)
    {
        //Set value of specified cell
        sheet.getCellRange("A1").setValue("Country");
        sheet.getCellRange("A2").setValue("Cuba");
        sheet.getCellRange("A3").setValue("Mexico");
        sheet.getCellRange("A4").setValue("France");
        sheet.getCellRange("A5").setValue("German");

        sheet.getCellRange("B1").setValue("Jun");
        sheet.getCellRange("B2").setNumberValue(6000);
        sheet.getCellRange("B3").setNumberValue(8000);
        sheet.getCellRange("B4").setNumberValue(9000);
        sheet.getCellRange("B5").setNumberValue(8500);

        sheet.getCellRange("C1").setValue("Aug");
        sheet.getCellRange("C2").setNumberValue(3000);
        sheet.getCellRange("C3").setNumberValue(2000);
        sheet.getCellRange("C4").setNumberValue(2300);
        sheet.getCellRange("C5").setNumberValue(4200);

        //Set cell style
        sheet.getCellRange("A1:C1").setRowHeight(15);
        sheet.getCellRange("A1:C1").getCellStyle().setColor(Color.darkGray);
        sheet.getCellRange("A1:C1").getCellStyle().getExcelFont().setColor(Color.white);
        sheet.getCellRange("A1:C1").getCellStyle().setVerticalAlignment(VerticalAlignType.Center);
        sheet.getCellRange("A1:C1").getCellStyle().setHorizontalAlignment(HorizontalAlignType.Center);
        sheet.getCellRange("B2:C5").getCellStyle().setNumberFormat("\"$\"#,##0");
    }
}

Output: