Still writing reports using costly tools?

**PerlOfWisdom** · 23 March 2006, 17:02

There's a free Perl module that makes excel workbooks (albeit not directly from XML). Runs on most operating systems - not just MS.

**Spacecadet** · 23 March 2006, 17:06

used to do that with oracle8i - set the MIME type on the HTML doc to Excel and if they're using IE then you can create an excel doc on the fly.

**DimPrawn** · 23 March 2006, 18:08

Yes I know you can poke out an HTML table, set the content type and get a plain vanilla Excel sheet of raw data sans formulas and any formatting.

This however, enables you to create complex Excel reports, pretty much the full Excel object model on the server, complete with any Excel formula, Pivot tables, formatting all on the fly with no need for Excel to be installed on ther server.

All for £0.00

The guy works on the ASP.NET dev team a MS.

**DimPrawn** · 23 March 2006, 22:52

Forget it.

**mcquiggd** · 23 March 2006, 23:36

And best of all theres an outfit that will outsource the work to the Pitcairn Islands for 2 underage bananas a year... every developer has 30 years .Net experience (throwing nets over their friends daughters, allegedly)...

Absolute bargain if you add up the total cost, and have no morals.

**PerlOfWisdom** · 24 March 2006, 09:34

Originally posted by DimPrawn

Yes I know you can poke out an HTML table, set the content type and get a plain vanilla Excel sheet of raw data sans formulas and any formatting.

This however, enables you to create complex Excel reports, pretty much the full Excel object model on the server, complete with any Excel formula, Pivot tables, formatting all on the fly with no need for Excel to be installed on ther server.

All for £0.00

The guy works on the ASP.NET dev team a MS.

The perl one does all that.

Originally, I set up a VB program to create about 1500 spreadsheets for the customers, with nice formatting and formulas, from an oracle database. This was OK, but it ran on the PC, and if you opened Excel up while it was running, it started pasting the data in the wrong workbook and destroyed what you were working on.
That put me off MS automation a bit.

**DimPrawn** · 24 March 2006, 10:40

I'm sure the Perl module is great, but just incase anyone is confused, this solution:

1. Does not use Excel in any way. Excel is not required on the server. You don't need to install anything on the server (apart from copying the single .NET assembly across). There is no automation involved, no COM, no nothing. Just 100% C# code to generate the Excel workbook (in XML format)

2. It enables the dynamic generation of Excel spreadsheets inc data, formatting, multiple sheets, formulas, pivots the lot.

3. It costs a whopping £0.00

Apart from that, it is of course Microsoft and so total tulipe as all you MS knockers will agree.

Anyway, it's obviously of no use to you guys, who instead have much better solutions at a much cheaper price.

**cojak** · 24 March 2006, 12:15

Ooohhh I could make use of this (and be considered a guru at the same time for knowing about it....

)

Ta, Dim!

Still writing reports using costly tools?