Kendo UI: Manipulating grid columns during export to excel and pdf - excel

Question

I have a Kendo grid that uses Export-to-excel and Export-to-pdf.
One particular column consists of data with padded zeros (so that column sorting works). Then, this column uses a template to display the data without the padded zeros (a business requirement). This is perfect for the grid.
Now, the export functions do not export the template, they export the underlying data (this is documented in the Known Limitations). So my exports show the data with padded-zeros. But... I need to show the data without padded zeros. So I have been looking for a workaround.
Workaround attempt A)
I created two columns padded and non-padded. The idea was this:
Column i/ Data = padded; Grid view = non-padded; do not export.
Column ii/ Data = non-padded; Grid view = hidden; export.
However, this doesn't work for two reasons.
Column i/ columns: exportable: { pdf: false, excel: false } doesn't actually seem to work(!!!)
Column ii/ This isn't legal anyway. If you hide the data in the grid you can't export it anyway.
Workaround attempt B)
In the excelExport() function I did this:
excelExport: function (e) {
for (var j = 0; j < e.data.length; j++) {
e.data[j].padded_column = e.data[j].non-padded_column;
}
},
In the console this appears to work fine, that is I replace the value of the padded column with the data of the non-padded column. However, it makes no difference to what appears on the spreadsheet. My guess is that this is because the spreadsheet has already been generated before excelExport() modifies the data.
So, I need a new approach. Can anybody help?
ADDITIONAL INFO
For further reference, here is the code for the column:
columns: [{
field: 'sys_id_sorted',
title: 'File ref',
hidden: false,
template: function (dataItem) {
var ctyClass = '';
switch (dataItem.cty_id) {
case '1':
ctyClass = 'CHAP';
break;
case '2':
ctyClass = 'EU-PILOT';
break;
case '3':
ctyClass = 'NIF';
break;
case '4':
ctyClass = 'OTHER';
break;
default:
ctyClass = 'default';
break;
}
return '<div class="label label-' + ctyClass + ' origin">' + dataItem.sys_id + '</div>';
}
},
'sys_id_sorted' is the field that has padded zeros.
'dataItem.sys_id' is the field with no padded zeros.

Answer 1

In the excelExport event you have access to the workbook, thus, you could modify it as follows:
var sheet = e.workbook.sheets[0];
for (var i = 1; i < sheet.rows.length; i++) {
var row = sheet.rows[i];
row.cells[0].value = row.cells[0].value.replace(/^0+/, '')
}
You can test the same in the following sample:
https://dojo.telerik.com/ADIfarOp

Answer 2

Kudos to Georgi Yankov for pointing me in the right direction. The solution is to manipulate the values found in e.workbook, not e.data. Here is my (simplified for brevity) solution. The four vars inside the loop are simply manipulating the string to create my non-padded version. 'row.cells[0].value' is the original zero-padded string. The data-replacement happens on the last line:
excelExport: function (e) {
var sheet = e.workbook.sheets[0];
for (var k = 1; k < sheet.rows.length; k++) {
var row = sheet.rows[k];
var sys_id_sorted = row.cells[0].value;
var caseNum = sys_id_sorted.substring(9);
var caseNumTrimmed = caseNum.replace(/^0+/, '');
row.cells[0].value = sys_id_sorted.substring(0,9) + caseNumTrimmed;
}
},