qax-os/excelize · error

data validation range exceeds limit

Error message

data validation range exceeds limit

What it means

ErrDataValidationRange is returned by Excelize when a data validation formula value is a float64 whose absolute value exceeds math.MaxFloat32. Data validation ranges in Excel are constrained to 32-bit float precision, so out-of-range values like math.MaxFloat64 would be silently corrupted or rejected by Excel. The library throws it from SetRange (datavalidation.go:174) to surface this early instead of writing an invalid XLSX.

Source

Thrown at errors.go:52

	ErrChartTitle = errors.New("cannot set both 'Formula' and 'Paragraph' for chart title")
	// ErrColumnNumber defined the error message on receive an invalid column
	// number.
	ErrColumnNumber = fmt.Errorf("the column number must be greater than or equal to %d and less than or equal to %d", MinColumns, MaxColumns)
	// ErrColumnWidth defined the error message on receive an invalid column
	// width.
	ErrColumnWidth = fmt.Errorf("the width of the column must be less than or equal to %d characters", MaxColumnWidth)
	// ErrCoordinates defined the error message on invalid coordinates tuples
	// length.
	ErrCoordinates = errors.New("coordinates length must be 4")
	// ErrCustomNumFmt defined the error message on receive the empty custom
	// number format.
	ErrCustomNumFmt = errors.New("custom number format can not be empty")
	// ErrDataValidationFormulaLength defined the error message for receiving a
	// data validation formula length that exceeds the limit.
	ErrDataValidationFormulaLength = fmt.Errorf("data validation must be 0-%d characters", MaxFieldLength)
	// ErrDataValidationRange defined the error message on set decimal range
	// exceeds limit.
	ErrDataValidationRange = errors.New("data validation range exceeds limit")
	// ErrDefinedNameDuplicate defined the error message on the same name
	// already exists on the scope.
	ErrDefinedNameDuplicate = errors.New("the same name already exists on the scope")
	// ErrDefinedNameScope defined the error message on not found defined name
	// in the given scope.
	ErrDefinedNameScope = errors.New("no defined name on the scope")
	// ErrExistsSheet defined the error message on given sheet already exists.
	ErrExistsSheet = errors.New("the same name sheet already exists")
	// ErrExistsTableName defined the error message on given table already
	// exists.
	ErrExistsTableName = errors.New("the same name table already exists")
	// ErrFillType defined the error message on receive an invalid fill type.
	ErrFillType = errors.New("fill type value must be one of 'gradient' or 'pattern'")
	// ErrFillGradientColor defined the error message on receive an invalid fill
	// color for 'gradient' type.
	ErrFillGradientColor = errors.New("fill color value must be an array of two colors for 'gradient' type")
	// ErrFillGradientShading defined the error message on receive an invalid
	// fill shading for 'gradient' type.

View on GitHub (pinned to f2483381fb)

Solutions

1. Clamp the validation bounds to math.MaxFloat32 (or smaller, e.g. whole-number limit 2147483647) before calling SetRange.
2. Use operator-based validations (GreaterThanOrEqual with a sentinel like 0) instead of extreme min/max bounds to express 'unbounded'.
3. Convert 64-bit inputs from config/DB to float32 first and handle overflow at your application's boundary.

Example fix

// before
dv.SetRange(-math.MaxFloat64, math.MaxFloat64, DataValidationTypeDecimal, DataValidationOperatorBetween)
// after
limit := float64(math.MaxFloat32)
dv.SetRange(-limit, limit, DataValidationTypeDecimal, DataValidationOperatorBetween)

func inRange(v float64) bool { return !math.IsInf(v, 0) && !math.IsNaN(v) && math.Abs(v) <= math.MaxFloat32 }
// before calling: if !inRange(min) || !inRange(max) { clamp or skip SetRange }

func safeValidationBound(v float64) (float64, bool) {
	if math.Abs(v) > math.MaxFloat32 {
		return 0, false
	}
	return v, true
}

err := dv.SetRange(min, max, excelize.DataValidationTypeDecimal, excelize.DataValidationOperatorBetween)
if errors.Is(err, excelize.ErrDataValidationRange) {
	// clamp bounds to math.MaxFloat32 and retry
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling DataValidation.SetRange with a DataValidationTypeDecimal or DataValidationTypeWhole range whose float64 min or max has absolute value > math.MaxFloat32, e.g. SetRange(-math.MaxFloat64, math.MaxFloat32, DataValidationTypeWhole, DataValidationOperatorGreaterThan) or passing math.MaxFloat64 / math.SmallestNonzeroFloat64 extremes as bounds.

Common situations: Developers compute validation bounds from untyped config values or database numerics that are 64-bit floats; using Go's math.MaxFloat64/SmallestNonzeroFloat64 as 'no limit' sentinels when Excel's effective range is only ±3.4e38 (and integers up to ~2.1e9 for whole-number validations).

Related errors

• the same name already exists on the scope
• no defined name on the scope
• the same name sheet already exists
• the same name table already exists
• fill type value must be one of 'gradient' or 'pattern'

AI-assisted analysis of qax-os/excelize@f2483381fb (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2a5fc8cf32196b79. Report an issue: GitHub.