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Fredrik

2007-Jan-17 17:24 UTC

Excel sheet generation

Hi,

Does anyone know of a package that will help with generation of
spreadsheets? (xls files, not csv)

Thanks,
Fredrik


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Jodi Showers

2007-Jan-17 17:40 UTC

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Re: Excel sheet generation

Fredrick, I understand there are 2 routes you can take.

1. write to an open format - this likely depends on the version of  
Office you want to support.
2. Write a native office document using the win32 gem win32ole.

I used the second option to generate word documents.

Do a google search for win32ole and ruby - you''ll find a few examples  
that should get you started.

Cheers,
Jodi
General Partner
The nNovation Group inc.
www.nnovation.ca/blog
On 17-Jan-07, at 12:24 PM, Fredrik wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Does anyone know of a package that will help with generation of
> spreadsheets? (xls files, not csv)
>
> Thanks,
> Fredrik
>
>
> >

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Matt Richards

2007-Jan-17 17:43 UTC

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Re: Excel sheet generation

Fredrik wrote:> Hi,
> 
> Does anyone know of a package that will help with generation of
> spreadsheets? (xls files, not csv)
> 
> Thanks,
> Fredrik
Hi,

I think you can use XHTML Templates and serve them with a .xls file 
extension and application header.  I''ve done this with word docs and 
works a treat.

For Example (With Word):

1. Create a "template" document in microsoft word with place holders
for
dynamic data
2. Save as Microsoft HTML
3. Use this document to develop a template.
3. Serve up as a Word Document with a .doc extension.

I assume you can this with Excel too.

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Michael Guterl

2007-Jan-17 18:07 UTC

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Re: Excel sheet generation

On 1/17/07, Jodi Showers <jodi-BOB1p6JRLoAV+D8aMU/kSg@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
>
> Fredrick, I understand there are 2 routes you can take.
>
> 1. write to an open format - this likely depends on the version of
> Office you want to support.
> 2. Write a native office document using the win32 gem win32ole.
>
> I used the second option to generate word documents.
>
> Do a google search for win32ole and ruby - you''ll find a few
examples
> that should get you started.

The Ruby-POI bindings are another option.  I''ve never used these
myself,
however, it seems like a great cross-platform solution.

http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/poi-ruby.html
> Cheers,
> Jodi
> General Partner
> The nNovation Group inc.
> www.nnovation.ca/blog
> On 17-Jan-07, at 12:24 PM, Fredrik wrote:
>
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Does anyone know of a package that will help with generation of
> > spreadsheets? (xls files, not csv)
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Fredrik
> >
> >
> > >
>
>
> >
>
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Chris Gernon

2007-Jan-17 19:18 UTC

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Re: Excel sheet generation

I currently use spreadsheet/excel 
(http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/spreadsheet/) and it''s been working 
quite well for me. It ends up looking like this:

class SpreadsheetController < ApplicationController

  require ''spreadsheet/excel''
  include Spreadsheet

  def item_list
    file_path = "tmp/file.xls" # this should actually be a Tempfile 
object
    workbook = Excel.new(file_path)
    worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet
    format_text = workbook.add_format(:font => ''Verdana'')
    format_header = workbook.add_format(:font => ''Verdana'',
:bold =>
true, :bg_color => 22, :top => 1, :bottom => 1, :left => 1, :right
=> 1)

    # Set column widths
    worksheet.format_column(0, 12, format_text)
    worksheet.format_column(1, 15, format_text)

    #Output column headings
    worksheet.write(0, 0, ''Item Code'', format_header)
    worksheet.write(0, 1, ''Item Name'', format_header)

    #Output actual data
    items = Item.find(:all)
    items.each_with_index do |item, i|
      worksheet.write(i + 1, 0, item.code, format_text)
      worksheet.write(i + 1, 1, item.name, format_text)
    end

    workbook.close

    send_file file_path, :filename => ''Item List.xls'',
:type =>
''application/vnd.ms-excel''
  end

end

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Fredrik

2007-Jan-17 19:26 UTC

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Re: Excel sheet generation

Thanks guys, that was a bunch of options, some of which I had no idea
you could do. That definately solves my problem. :)

-Fredrik


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Fredrik

2007-Jan-22 19:37 UTC

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Re: Excel sheet generation

I had some time to do some testing and the spreadsheet writer was very
familiar from php :) and worked great (current implementation).

I did try out the win32ole, but I could not get it to work. Got some
file missing error. After browsing around it seemed like you have to
have office installed, since it was talking about people installing it
with wine, etc under linux. Is this the case? I did try it under
windows.

The POI extensions seemed ok too, but I could not see what they offer
beyond the excel writer gem for my needs (for now download data, modify
and upload it back)

I am looking for something to read excel files too, and from what I
saw, it''s planned for in the POI extensions, but don''t think
it is
implemented yet.

Please let me know if you get a chance about the POI and win32ole
assumptions I made if they are correct or not.

Thanks,
Fredrik


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Chris Gernon

2007-Jan-22 20:25 UTC

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Re: Excel sheet generation

Fredrik wrote:> I am looking for something to read excel files too, and from what I
> saw, it''s planned for in the POI extensions, but don''t
think it is
> implemented yet.
Although I haven''t had any need for it within any Rails applications, I
have used ParseExcel to do this in a few stand-alone ruby scripts, and 
it''s worked well for me. It should work equally well in a Rails app. 
Check it out!

http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/parseexcel/

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ashleymg-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org

2007-Jan-22 20:35 UTC

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Re: Excel sheet generation

I know this is a little late and it''s not a package, but this might
help someone searching down the road: Excel 2003 supports XML formats:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/xml/default.mspx

There''s even a blog:
http://blogs.msdn.com/brian_jones/archive/2005/06/27/433152.aspx
>From what I could gather, it it *needs* excel 2003.
On Jan 17, 12:24 pm, "Fredrik"
<fredrik.thures...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:> Hi,
>
> Does anyone know of a package that will help with generation of
> spreadsheets? (xls files, not csv)
> 
> Thanks,
> Fredrik

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Wes Gamble

2007-Jan-22 21:24 UTC

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Re: Excel sheet generation

Yet another way to do it, probably more comfortable if you come from a 
Java background.

Use Rjb (Ruby - Java bridge), and use the Java Excel API 
(http://www.andykhan.com/jexcelapi/).

Here''s some code to read an Excel file:
require ''rjb''

require_gem ''rjb'', ''>= 1.0.2''
...

#Returns a Java jxl.Workbook object which may then be used natively. 
But don''t forget that it''s a Java object!
  def ESimplyUtil.parse_excel(filename)
    Rjb::load("#{RAILS_ROOT}/lib/jxl.jar",
[''-Xmx512M''])

    file_class = Rjb::import(''java.io.File'')
    workbook_class = Rjb::import(''jxl.Workbook'')
    workbook = workbook_class.getWorkbook(file_class.new(filename))
  end

Writing is similarly straightforward.  In my app. I ended up writing CSV 
using FasterCSV, but I did test out writing with JExcelAPI and it worked 
fine.

Wes


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Fredrik

2007-Jan-22 22:20 UTC

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Re: Excel sheet generation

Gosh, I''m gonna have to work overtime now to check all these things
out.

I think Chris'' suggestion about the parse excel would be a nice
complement to the excel writer I''m currently using. This is nothing
overly complicated I''m trying to do.

I have written some java code, but that was a long time ago. Not
familiar with much of it.

Thanks again guys. Hopefully all your answers will help someone else
too.

Fredrik


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Wes Gamble

2007-Jan-22 22:41 UTC

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Re: Excel sheet generation

Believe me, Fredrik, I didn''t go with the Java code on the first try.

There was something about parseexcel that was missing for me that forced 
me in that direction.

I would recommend parseexcel first, the Java thing is a "just in
case."

Wes


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Berger, Daniel

2007-Jan-22 22:46 UTC

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Re: Excel sheet generation

> -----Original Message-----
> From: rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org 
> [mailto:rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org] On Behalf
Of
> ashleymg-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org
> Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 1:36 PM
> To: Ruby on Rails: Talk
> Subject: [Rails] Re: Excel sheet generation
> 
> 
> 
> I know this is a little late and it''s not a package, but this 
> might help someone searching down the road: Excel 2003 
> supports XML formats: http://www.microsoft.com/office/xml/default.mspx
> 
> There''s even a blog: 
> http://blogs.msdn.com/brian_jones/archive/2005/06/27/433152.aspx
This is the route I would go for a next-gen version of the spreadsheet
package if I had to do over again. We''ve got XML generating libraries
in
pure Ruby (Jim Weirich has one out there, can''t think of the name atm),
or a wrapper around a C lib would work. From there it''s just a matter
of
working out the interface, which you could probably keep very similar
(if not identical) to the current implementation.

This would solve several problems with the current implementation:

* Formula support
* Solves 7mb limit (afaik)
* Human readable
* Greater compatibility with other clients
* MUCH easier to debug and maintain. Looking for bugs in packed binary
strings SUCKS.

Feel free to pass this on to Hannes on the RubyForge project page.  Or
better yet, join the project and start working on the implementation.  I
still have admin rights on the project as well, so if you''re serious
about creating an XML based implementation, you can contact me offlist
as well:  djberg96 at nospam at gmail dot com

http://rubyforge.org/projects/spreadsheet/

Regards,

Dan


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