Encapsulating EasyExcel for Simplified Import/Export in Spring Boot Applications

To avoid repetitive and inconsistent Excel handling across multiple project teams, the author creates a unified component that encapsulates EasyExcel, making calls simple and standardized.

Environment preparation

Development stack: Spring Boot, MyBatis‑Plus, and a MySQL database. The article includes the DDL for a sample test table with fields num , sex , name , and born_date .

Usage steps

Inject ExcelService into the controller.

Annotate entity fields with EasyExcel annotations ( @ExcelProperty ) and Swagger @Schema for documentation.

Implement import and export endpoints using excelService.importExcel and excelService.exportExcel .

Full controller code is provided, showing @PostMapping("/importExcel") and @PostMapping("/exportExcel") methods that delegate to the service.

Encapsulation process

Core idea: provide minimal‑dependency interfaces for import and export.

The ExcelService interface defines overloaded methods for exporting (default, with type conversion, with template) and importing (with optional conversion and consumer handling). The implementation DefaultExcelServiceImpl uses EasyExcel to write streams, set response headers, and handle converters such as LocalDateTimeConverter .

Utility class ExcelUtils offers static methods for writing Excel files, exporting with templates, excluding columns, and reading data via listeners. It also includes error handling that resets the HTTP response on failure.

The listener ExcelListener extends AnalysisEventListener , collects parsed rows into a list, logs each row, and provides the collected data to the caller.

Encountered issues and solutions

Date format mismatch when exporting via template – solved by creating a custom DateConverter that handles blank strings and delegates to the default conversion.

Version compatibility – ensure POI and ooxml versions match to avoid runtime errors.

LocalDateTime conversion – a dedicated LocalDateTimeConverter converts between LocalDateTime and formatted strings for both import and export.

Legacy problem

The current EasyExcel version (3.3.2) only supports .xls when exporting with a template; .xlsx is not yet supported.

References include the official EasyExcel documentation and a link to the original Juejin post.