Hi everyone -
I'm a "first-timer" here. Just thought I'd mention a very useful "XML
spreadsheet format" site that I've found. It has solved a problem that
I've had for ages. Here it is -
http://ewbi.blogs.com/develops/2006/01/roundtripping_s.html
Now, please "bear with me" as I explain (and eventually mention why
this may possibly be useful as a "tool" for OO.org ) -
What this guy (Eric) has been able to do is to create a "very simple
but easy to understand and useful" XML spreadsheet format. He has also
done the XSL stylesheets to convert that from his format to Excel and
back.
The "use case" behind this (i.e., my problem) is that at my work, we
have an Excel user who has a very complex "template" in Excel that he
uses. It consists of a file with a number of sheets, each of which has
many areas in which data is put for his calculations.
At present, we do the following -
a) Get the data for him using SAS (processing done on a big Unix box)
b) Save data (on that box) as an "xls" file (actually, a
tab-delimited file with an ".xls" extension).
c) Download that file to my PC.
d) Run a second SAS program locally (in Windows) to send the data into
his file using DDE.
The information at the above website will now allow us to do
everything remotely (in Unix). We will convert his template file to
Eric's new "Simple spreadsheet XML" format (that conversion is only
needed once, of course). We can then plonk the data directly into the
right places in the template. Then, Saxon can be used to do the
simpleXML -> Excel_XML conversion, and the file (complete with the
data) can be downloaded.
He can now simply open it in Excel. No local Windows-based processing
is required. All processing is done in Unix.
( Ok, he should be using OO.org, but that's another story ....
;-) )
( Ok, now for my "nice-idea-but-unlikely-to-happen" section :-)) )
This simpleXML format could be used as an (alternative) OO.org
format. It'd mean very small files, easily manipulated, and the "OO.org
simpleXML" <-> Excel conversion could be done using the above site's XSL
stylesheets. This is (of course) not as good as using OO.org's built-in
filters - it's just another way of doing things.
( End of "nice-idea-but-unlikely-to-happen" section )
The other possible option, given that this simpleXML format is unlikely
to be adopted, would be to create "simpleXML to OO.org" and "OO.org to
simpleXML" XSL stylesheets. That would of course mean a two step
process ( Excel <-> simpleXML <-> OO.org ) , but having a very
easily-understood, easily-manipulted intermediate format may possibly be
useful just as an extra tool-in-the-toolbox, as it were.
I'm aware that as a newcomer, I'm unlikely to have a lot of useful
stuff to offer yet. Anyway - just thought I'd mention this very useful
site, as it has been very useful (and interesting) to me. It may even
trigger other unrelated ideas .... Hoping you'll be gentle with your
comments ;-))
Bye for now -
- Andy
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