How to use Worksheets.Visible in the xlwings API way

The Visible property of the Worksheets object in Excel, accessible through the xlwings API, controls the visibility of worksheets within a workbook. This property is essential for managing the user interface of an Excel file programmatically, allowing you to hide or show specific sheets based on application logic, user roles, or data processing stages. For instance, you might hide raw data sheets to present only summary or analysis sheets to end-users, or temporarily hide sheets during complex calculations to improve performance and reduce visual clutter.

In xlwings, the Visible property is accessed through a Sheet object, which is typically obtained from the sheets collection of a Book object. The property accepts and returns a string value that determines the sheet’s visibility state.

Syntax:
sheet.visible = value
current_visibility = sheet.visible

Here, sheet refers to an xlwings Sheet object. The value is a string that can be one of the following:

Value	Description
"visible"	Makes the worksheet fully visible (the default state).
"hidden"	Hides the worksheet, but it remains accessible via the “Unhide” dialog in Excel.
"very_hidden"	Hides the worksheet so that it does not appear in the “Unhide” dialog. It can only be made visible again programmatically.

The "very_hidden" state is particularly useful for protecting sensitive data or internal calculation sheets from being easily accessed by users interacting with the Excel interface.

Code Examples:

1. Hiding a Specific Worksheet:

import xlwings as xw
# Connect to an existing workbook
wb = xw.Book("report.xlsx")
# Access the sheet named "RawData"
raw_data_sheet = wb.sheets["RawData"]
# Hide the sheet
raw_data_sheet.visible = "hidden"
# Save the changes
wb.save()

2. Making a Worksheet Very Hidden:

import xlwings as xw
wb = xw.Book()
# Create a new sheet for internal calculations
calc_sheet = wb.sheets.add("InternalCalcs")
# Hide it completely from the user interface
calc_sheet.visible = "very_hidden"

3. Checking and Changing Visibility Based on Condition:

import xlwings as xw
wb = xw.Book("dashboard.xlsx")
summary_sheet = wb.sheets["Summary"]
# Check current visibility
if summary_sheet.visible == "hidden":
    print("The Summary sheet is currently hidden.")
    # Make it visible for presentation
    summary_sheet.visible = "visible"

4. Iterating Through All Worksheets to Hide/Show Multiple Sheets:

import xlwings as xw
wb = xw.Book()
# Hide all sheets except the first one
for index, sheet in enumerate(wb.sheets):
    if index > 0: # Skip the first sheet (index 0)
        sheet.visible = "hidden"
# To show all sheets again
for sheet in wb.sheets:
    sheet.visible = "visible"