How to use Worksheet.Tab in the xlwings API way

In xlwings, the Tab property of a Worksheet object provides access to various formatting and display options related to the worksheet’s tab (the visible sheet name tab at the bottom of the Excel window). This property is part of the Api object, which allows you to interact with the native Excel object model. The Tab property itself returns an object that has several useful members for controlling the tab’s appearance, such as its color and visibility.

Functionality:
The primary function of the Tab property is to manage the visual aspects of the worksheet tab. You can use it to:

• Change the tab color to highlight important sheets.
• Make a tab invisible or visible, which can be useful for hiding intermediate calculation sheets.
• Check or set the current color state.

Syntax and Members:
The Tab property is accessed through the worksheet’s api object. The common pattern is:

ws.api.Tab

This returns an object that supports properties like:

• Color: Gets or sets the tab color. You can assign an RGB color using the RGB function from the xlwings.utils module or use Excel color constants.
• ColorIndex: An alternative way to set colors based on Excel’s color palette indices.
• Visible: Controls whether the tab is visible. Can be set to True, False, or xlSheetHidden/xlSheetVeryHidden constants for more control.

Code Examples:

1. Changing the Tab Color:
   This example sets the tab of the active sheet to a blue color.

import xlwings as xw
from xlwings.utils import rgb_to_int

app = xw.App(visible=True)
wb = app.books.active
ws = wb.sheets.active

# Set tab color using RGB values (Red, Green, Blue)
blue_color = rgb_to_int((0, 112, 192)) # A shade of blue
ws.api.Tab.Color = blue_color

# Alternatively, use a simple color index (e.g., 3 for Red)
# ws.api.Tab.ColorIndex = 3

2. Hiding and Unhiding a Worksheet Tab:
   This example demonstrates how to hide a specific sheet’s tab and then make it visible again.

import xlwings as xw

app = xw.App(visible=True)
wb = app.books.active

# Target a specific sheet by name
data_sheet = wb.sheets["Data"]

# Hide the tab (the sheet contents remain, but the tab is not shown)
data_sheet.api.Tab.Visible = False
# Or use the xlwings constant for clarity
# data_sheet.visible = 'hidden'

# ... some operations ...

# Make the tab visible again
data_sheet.api.Tab.Visible = True
# Using xlwings property is often simpler:
# data_sheet.visible = True

3. Checking the Current Tab Color:
   You can also read the current color property.

import xlwings as xw

app = xw.App(visible=True)
wb = app.books.active
ws = wb.sheets[0] # First sheet

current_color = ws.api.Tab.Color
print(f"The tab color's numeric value is: {current_color}")
# Note: This returns a Long integer representing the RGB color.