Is it possible to use EPPlus in dotnet core app running in a windows docker container?

Question

I have a dotnet core 2.1 web api that has an action that generates a .xlsx spreadsheet. It creates a FileStreamResult that the browser can then handle. The code to generate the spreadsheet is like so:

using (var excelFile = new ExcelPackage())
using (var worksheet = excelFile.Workbook.Worksheets.Add("Sheet 1"))
{
    ...
    //insert data into worksheet

    return new FileStreamResult(new MemoryStream(excelFile.GetAsByteArray()), "application/octet-stream") { FileDownloadName = "Report.xlsx" };
}

Hosting this in IIS works fine and will generate the spreadsheet. When I host the app in a windows docker container specifically the image: microsoft/dotnet:2.1-aspnetcore-runtime-nanoserver-sac2016 I get the following exception when trying to generate the report:

System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'Gdip' threw an exception. ---> System.DllNotFoundException: Unable to load DLL 'gdiplus.dll'

After a bit of research I realise gdiplus is not present in the nanoserver image.

Is it possible to use EPPlus to create a spreadsheet on a dotnet core app hosted in the nanoserver image? Or will I have to use another library to generate the xlsx? I'd like to use EPPlus if possible. I cannot use a linux container (for now anyway unfortunately)

Answer 1

I don't know if it will work, but try commenting out any of the methods from the library that uses System.Drawing.Common, such as AutoFitColumns(). That is what was causing it to break on my linux container.