title: How to write formatted numbers as numbers in JExcel (jxl)
body: <p>I am using Java Spring and jxl to create Excel workbook on server side. The data that needs to be shown in Excel consists of already formatted numbers. I am using </p>
  
  <pre><code>WritableCellFormat wcf = new WritableCellFormat();
  wcf.setAlignment(Alignment.RIGHT);
  ....
  ....
  sheet.addCell(new Label(j, i + 1, xxx, wcf));
  //where xxx is a string which is a number already formatted
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In the downloaded excel file, all these numbers are stored as text and so Excel can't use formulas on them, it gives a warning as 'Number stored as Text' and I have to do 'Convert to Number'. </p>
  
  <p>In jxl, can we pass strings and tell to interpret them as numbers? All the numbers I have are valid numbers formatted differently using $, %, thousands separators. I don't want to convert them to valid numbers and give them formatting again while exporting to excel.</p>
  
  <p>Please help. Thank you.</p>