How to customize column header text during Excel and PDF export in Flutter DataTable?

This article explains how to customize the column header when exporting a
Flutter DataGrid to an Excel or PDF document.

STEP 1: The DataGridToPdfConverter and DataGridToExcelConverter classes provide the functionality to customize the column header while exporting a DataGrid to an Excel or PDF document. This can be achieved by using the exportColumnHeader method according to your requirements. To modify the column name, you can access the actual column header text from the GridColumn.label property and assign it to the corresponding column header while exporting.

class CustomDataGridToPdfConverter extends DataGridToPdfConverter {
 @override
 void exportColumnHeader(SfDataGrid dataGrid, GridColumn column,
     String columnName, PdfGrid pdfGrid) {
   var label = columnName;
      // Based on the widget tree structure, you can access the value from the GridColumn.label property.
   //For example, if the label property of the GridColumn contains a Container widget, 
   //you need to locate the text widget within it and then retrieve the value stored in its data property
   if (column.label is Container) {
     label = ((column.label as Container).child as Text).data!;
   } else if (column.label is Text) {
     label = (column.label as Text).data!;
   } else if (column.label is Center) {
     label = ((column.label as Center).child as Text).data!;
   }
   super.exportColumnHeader(dataGrid, column, label, pdfGrid);
 }
}

class CustomDataGridToExcelConverter extends DataGridToExcelConverter {
 @override
 void exportColumnHeader(SfDataGrid dataGrid, GridColumn column,
     String columnName, Worksheet worksheet) {
   var label = columnName;
   if (column.label is Container) {
     label = ((column.label as Container).child as Text).data!;
   } else if (column.label is Text) {
     label = (column.label as Text).data!;
   } else if (column.label is Center) {
     label = ((column.label as Center).child as Text).data!;
   }
   super.exportColumnHeader(dataGrid, column, label, worksheet);
 }
}

STEP 2: The exportDataGridToExcel and exportDataGridToPDF methods are used to export SfDataGrid to Excel and PDF formats, respectively.

Future<void> exportDataGridToExcel() async {
 final Workbook workbook =
     key.currentState!.exportToExcelWorkbook(converter: excelConverter);
 final List<int> bytes = workbook.saveAsStream();

 await helper.saveAndLaunchFile(bytes, 'DataGrid.xlsx');
 workbook.dispose();
}

void exportDataGridToPDF() async {
 PdfDocument document = key.currentState!.exportToPdfDocument(
     fitAllColumnsInOnePage: true, converter: pdfConverter);
 final List<int> bytes = document.saveSync();
 await helper.saveAndLaunchFile(bytes, 'DataGrid.pdf');
 document.dispose();
}

View the GitHub sample here.

Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed learning about how to customize column header text during Excel and PDF export in Flutter DataTable (SfDataGrid).

You can refer to our Flutter DataGrid feature tour page to know about its other groundbreaking feature representations. You can also explore our Flutter DataGrid Grid documentation to understand how to present and manipulate data.

For current customers, you can check out our Flutter Controls from the License and Downloads page. If you are new to Syncfusion®, you can try our 30-day free trial to check out our Flutter DataGrid and other Flutter controls.

If you have any queries or require clarifications, please let us know in comments below. You can also contact us through our support forums, Direct-Trac, or feedback portal. We are always happy to assist you!