DOC: Mention "StyleFrame" package in "DataFrame.to_excel()"

[buhtz]

Pandas version checks

• I have checked that the issue still exists on the latest versions of the docs on main here

Location of the documentation

https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/reference/api/pandas.DataFrame.to_excel.html

Documentation problem

It is not a "problem" but enhancement.

Suggested fix for documentation

Do suggest the StyleFrame package to be more flexibel with formating the excel output.

btw: I won't suggest to integrate StyleFrame into pandas. Formatting export outputs is not the job of pandas and I assume you agree with this. But is is an often mentioned "problem" in the internet community that the pandas excel output lacks of the possibility to formatting.

[datapythonista]

I'm not sure exactly what you're proposing. StyleFrame seems to be a package independent from pandas. You should open the issue in their repository if you want their package to be more flexible.

I'm personally find to add a note on our to_excel docstring about StyleFrame. You can also add it to the Ecosystem page in our website.

[buhtz]

Yes a note would be fine. That was what I mean.

[rhshadrach]

I'm not sure we want to be including third party libraries in the API docs unless it's necessary - it seems to be blurring the lines between ecosystem and API docs. +1 on adding to the ecosystem page.

[attack68]

The StyleFrame documentation does not make it clear to me the specific features, in particular the specific features beyond pandas.Styler own capabilities, which for example can already style:

• background colors,
• text colors,
• font styles,
• borders,
• number formats,

I think if we add a third party library to ecosystem, it would be worthwhile stating what it can do, extra, that pandas cannot.

[datapythonista]

Fully agree. My understanding is that pandas styler formats to display in html, and StyleFrame formats an exported Excel. I didn't check in detail, but agree that if we add it to the Ecosystem we need a description so users know what it is and when it can be useful to them.

[akshay-babbar]

Hi there, i am a user of pandas and want to contribute for the very first time. Can i take this issue?

[attack68]

the issue already has an open pull request. please find another issue to tackle.

[datapythonista]

From the discussion in #47533, it's unclear why pandas users would use StyleFrame, as the pandas Styler seems to provide the same functionality. We can surely be missing something, if someone knows in which cases StyleFrame should be preferred. please feel free to add a section about it in our Ecosystem page explaining it. But for the time being, closing this issue, as no action is expected.

[datapythonista]

Just realized that the original point here was to add the external StyleFrame class to to_excel, not to the Ecosystem page. While it doesn't seem a good idea to do that, looks like a good idea to add our pandas Styler to it. I created #48019 for it (I thought it was better to create a new issue better than reopen this).