Formatting text and columns in Open XML Excel

I'm brand new to Open XML for Excel and am finding that I spend most of my time spinning my wheels with it (Has anyone else had this experience?)

I'm trying to convert some code that used to use interop Excel objects and will now use Open XML. I am running into some very serious roadblocks.

Most notably:
I can create a new Excel document with one sheet named "Sheet 1".I can populate it with data from a DataSet . What I need to do is:
1. Format the columns (width, data type, font)
2. Utilizing NumberingFormats in StyleSheets

Format the columns. I haven't found any examples of formatting existing columns, only adding new ones. If I add the new columns and save the document, it gets into a corrupted state)

Utilizing NumberingFormats.  I tried accessing the pre-defined formats (ID 0 - 49) without success.  I found an example where someone added custome ones starting at ID = 200.  I tried that and still it won't work.  The CellFormat is being utilized because the text alignment is being recognized but not the NumberFormat.

If anybody has a good (and I stress GOOD) tutorial on Open XML or can share their experiences with me, that would be greatly appreciated.

Code snippets:

1. Date NumberingFormat: private NumberingFormat dateFmt     = new NumberingFormat () { NumberFormatId = 200, FormatCode = "mmm dd, yyyy" };

2. Adding to StyleSheet:  stylesPart.Stylesheet.NumberingFormats.Append ( dateFmt );

3. Date formatting (index 9):
new CellFormat { Alignment = new Alignment () { Horizontal = HorizontalAlignmentValues.Right,  Vertical = VerticalAlignmentValues.Center },
FontId = 0, FillId = 0, BorderId = 0, NumberFormatId = 200, ApplyAlignment = true, ApplyNumberFormat = true },

4. numFmts via Productivity Tool:

namespace GeneratedCode
{
    public class GeneratedClass
    {
        // Creates an NumberingFormats instance and adds its children.
        public NumberingFormats GenerateNumberingFormats()
        {
            NumberingFormats numberingFormats1 = new NumberingFormats(){ Count = (UInt32Value)3U };
            NumberingFormat numberingFormat1 = new NumberingFormat(){ NumberFormatId = (UInt32Value)200U, FormatCode = "mmm dd, yyyy" };
            NumberingFormat numberingFormat2 = new NumberingFormat(){ NumberFormatId = (UInt32Value)201U, FormatCode = "$##,##0.00" };
            NumberingFormat numberingFormat3 = new NumberingFormat(){ NumberFormatId = (UInt32Value)202U, FormatCode = "##,##0" };

            numberingFormats1.Append(numberingFormat1);
            numberingFormats1.Append(numberingFormat2);
            numberingFormats1.Append(numberingFormat3);
            return numberingFormats1;
        }
    }
}

5. Generated code for the Date Format:

namespace GeneratedCode
{
    public class GeneratedClass
    {
        // Creates an NumberingFormat instance and adds its children.
        public NumberingFormat GenerateNumberingFormat()
        {
            NumberingFormat numberingFormat1 = new NumberingFormat(){ NumberFormatId = (UInt32Value)200U, FormatCode = "mmm dd, yyyy" };
            return numberingFormat1;
        }
    }
}

6. Getting the particular cell:

        private Cell CellInfo ( string headerColumn, int index, UInt32Value styleIndex )
            {
            Cell c          = new Cell () { StyleIndex = styleIndex };

            // Attempts at making the DataType property based on the styleIndex.

            //if ( styleIndex < 9 )
            //    c.DataType     = CellValues.InlineString;
            //else
            //    {
            //    if ( styleIndex == 9 )
            //        c.DataType = CellValues.Date;
            //    else
            //        c.DataType = CellValues.Number;
            //    }

            c.DataType      = CellValues.InlineString;
            c.CellReference = headerColumn + index;

            return c;
            }

Jerry Scannell