Re: Excel generator

[Andrew C. Oliver]

Sven Kuenzler wrote:

> About the Source vs Generator issue: I found a post by Sylvain [1]. It 
> does not separate the Source and Generator concepts completely but the 
> bottom line seems to be
> - If you have a format with some "natural" xml respresentation, it's a 
> source (Like Excel->MS's Excel-XML?) 

Its not *that* natural.  There is an amount of parsing/etc that would 
have to happen.

>
> - If you have a binary format which needs to be parsed to XML, it's a 
> generator (Like XLS -> Gnumeric?)

makes sense.

>
>
> Sven
>
> [1] http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=xml-cocoon-dev&m=102576977207135&w=2
>
>  Andrew C. Oliver schrieb:
>
>> Explain, elaborate.
>>
>> 2 Why would you want to do it at the transformation point?
>>
>> Sven Kuenzler wrote:
>>
>>> Something that just came to me thinking of the dicussion about an 
>>> ExcelGenerator: What about implementing it as (Writeable)Source 
>>> instead? That way you could use it with SourceWritingTransformer and 
>>> friends, not only as pipeline starting point.
>>>
>>>  Sven
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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Re: Excel generator

[Sven Kuenzler]

About the Source vs Generator issue: I found a post by Sylvain [1]. It 
does not separate the Source and Generator concepts completely but the 
bottom line seems to be
- If you have a format with some "natural" xml respresentation, it's a 
source (Like Excel->MS's Excel-XML?)
- If you have a binary format which needs to be parsed to XML, it's a 
generator (Like XLS -> Gnumeric?)


Sven

[1] http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=xml-cocoon-dev&m=102576977207135&w=2

  Andrew C. Oliver schrieb:
> Explain, elaborate.
> 
> 2 Why would you want to do it at the transformation point?
> 
> Sven Kuenzler wrote:
> 
>> Something that just came to me thinking of the dicussion about an 
>> ExcelGenerator: What about implementing it as (Writeable)Source 
>> instead? That way you could use it with SourceWritingTransformer and 
>> friends, not only as pipeline starting point.
>>
>>  Sven
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -
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RE: Excel generator ("Vadim Autoresponder please read")

[Vadim Gritsenko]

> From: news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Sven Kuenzler
> 
> Andrew C. Oliver schrieb:
> 
>  >> The real use case I had in mind was the application where I used
the
>  >> Serializer out of Cocoon. This application produces an Excel sheet
>  >> which is sent out by Email. So it is not direct a response but a
"side
>  >> effect" to the request. In C2 this is called a "sink" (or will
be).

It's not yet decided will sink be or not.


>  > Okay I got that part...but it sounds kind of like an action to me.
> 
> Well, haven't thought of that (yet). My other idea was about the yet
to
> be  flow script system. Stefano gave an example save2disk() flow that
> would be able to save a resource defined by sitemap to disk (so
what?).
> This was in the vision department of his RT, however. So I don't
expect
> this soon to be possible.

Ditto.

 
>  >> If I wanted to port that app to Cocoon, I thought of using a
>  >> Transformer. Then again, probalby I would not really need a
>  >> WriteableSource for that. IIRC, there is a Transformer which could
>  >> take a Serializer to produce the Excel output.
>  >
>  > Okay so the issue is that you have *two* outputs of sort.  One is
to
>  > email, one is to the browser.  The Excel is to email and probably
HTML
>  > to the browser.
> 
> The other part really is a SOAP response. Which isn't possible with C2
> either.

SOAP is XML, so why "isn't possible"?


> Or at least not as easy as with Axis and friends.
> 
>  > In my mind this doesn't justify *breaking* the logical model of the
>  > sitemap.  It seems you need an Action that makes a seperate
internal
>  > request of sorts and emails the output.  So the action would make a
>  > request to a different pipeline and email that, where the user
response
>  > would be in HTML.

And with ServerPagesAction it's possible to reuse existing logicsheets.


>  > Does that not sound reasonable?  Any thoughts from you Vadim?

It is reasonable, and doable. But, OTOH, it's easier to do such sings
with "side-effect transformer", like SourceWritingTransformer, on top of
which  application was built, or XMLDBTransformer (which
can write to XML:DB), etc.

Also, see recent thread on cocoon-dev with links to all previous
discussions, including "cocoon symmetry":
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?t=10276748526&r=1&w=2

Final decision is not made yet.


Vadim

>  >> Sven



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Re: Excel generator ("Vadim Autoresponder please read")

[Sven Kuenzler]

Andrew C. Oliver schrieb:

 >> The real use case I had in mind was the application where I used the
 >> Serializer out of Cocoon. This application produces an Excel sheet
 >> which is sent out by Email. So it is not direct a response but a "side
 >> effect" to the request. In C2 this is called a "sink" (or will be).
 >

 > Okay I got that part...but it sounds kind of like an action to me.

Well, haven't thought of that (yet). My other idea was about the yet to 
be  flow script system. Stefano gave an example save2disk() flow that 
would be able to save a resource defined by sitemap to disk (so what?). 
This was in the vision department of his RT, however. So I don't expect 
this soon to be possible.

 >> If I wanted to port that app to Cocoon, I thought of using a
 >> Transformer. Then again, probalby I would not really need a
 >> WriteableSource for that. IIRC, there is a Transformer which could
 >> take a Serializer to produce the Excel output.
 >
 >
 > Okay so the issue is that you have *two* outputs of sort.  One is to
 > email, one is to the browser.  The Excel is to email and probably HTML
 > to the browser.

The other part really is a SOAP response. Which isn't possible with C2 
either. Or at least not as easy as with Axis and friends.

Sven

 > In my mind this doesn't justify *breaking* the logical model of the
 > sitemap.  It seems you need an Action that makes a seperate internal
 > request of sorts and emails the output.  So the action would make a
 > request to a different pipeline and email that, where the user response
 > would be in HTML.
 >
 > Does that not sound reasonable?  Any thoughts from you Vadim?
 >
 >>
 >> Sven
 >>
 >>
 >>
 >>




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Re: Excel generator ("Vadim Autoresponder please read")

[Andrew C. Oliver]

Sven Kuenzler wrote:

> Good question. ATM, I only could give artificial scenarios.
>
> The real use case I had in mind was the application where I used the 
> Serializer out of Cocoon. This application produces an Excel sheet 
> which is sent out by Email. So it is not direct a response but a "side 
> effect" to the request. In C2 this is called a "sink" (or will be).

Okay I got that part...but it sounds kind of like an action to me.

> If I wanted to port that app to Cocoon, I thought of using a 
> Transformer. Then again, probalby I would not really need a 
> WriteableSource for that. IIRC, there is a Transformer which could  
> take a Serializer to produce the Excel output.

Okay so the issue is that you have *two* outputs of sort.  One is to 
email, one is to the browser.  The Excel is to email and probably HTML 
to the browser.

In my mind this doesn't justify *breaking* the logical model of the 
sitemap.  It seems you need an Action that makes a seperate internal 
request of sorts and emails the output.  So the action would make a 
request to a different pipeline and email that, where the user response 
would be in HTML.

Does that not sound reasonable?  Any thoughts from you Vadim?

>
> Sven
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Andrew C. Oliver schrieb:
>
>> Explain, elaborate.
>>
>> 2 Why would you want to do it at the transformation point?
>>
>> Sven Kuenzler wrote:
>>
>>> Something that just came to me thinking of the dicussion about an 
>>> ExcelGenerator: What about implementing it as (Writeable)Source 
>>> instead? That way you could use it with SourceWritingTransformer and 
>>> friends, not only as pipeline starting point.
>>>
>>>  Sven
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -
>>> Please check that your question  has not already been answered in the
>>> FAQ before posting. 
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Re: Excel generator

[Sven Kuenzler]

Good question. ATM, I only could give artificial scenarios.

The real use case I had in mind was the application where I used the 
Serializer out of Cocoon. This application produces an Excel sheet which 
is sent out by Email. So it is not direct a response but a "side effect" 
to the request. In C2 this is called a "sink" (or will be). If I wanted 
to port that app to Cocoon, I thought of using a Transformer. Then 
again, probalby I would not really need a WriteableSource for that. 
IIRC, there is a Transformer which could  take a Serializer to produce 
the Excel output.

Sven






Andrew C. Oliver schrieb:
> Explain, elaborate.
> 
> 2 Why would you want to do it at the transformation point?
> 
> Sven Kuenzler wrote:
> 
>> Something that just came to me thinking of the dicussion about an 
>> ExcelGenerator: What about implementing it as (Writeable)Source 
>> instead? That way you could use it with SourceWritingTransformer and 
>> friends, not only as pipeline starting point.
>>
>>  Sven
>>
>>
>>
>>
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Re: Excel generator

[Andrew C. Oliver]

Explain, elaborate.

2 Why would you want to do it at the transformation point?

Sven Kuenzler wrote:

> Something that just came to me thinking of the dicussion about an 
> ExcelGenerator: What about implementing it as (Writeable)Source 
> instead? That way you could use it with SourceWritingTransformer and 
> friends, not only as pipeline starting point.
>
>  Sven
>
>
>
>
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Re: Excel generator

[Sven Kuenzler]

Something that just came to me thinking of the dicussion about an 
ExcelGenerator: What about implementing it as (Writeable)Source instead? 
That way you could use it with SourceWritingTransformer and friends, not 
only as pipeline starting point.

 Sven




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Re: Excel generator

[Andrew C. Oliver]

Ryan do note that the HSSFSerializer is already part of cocoon:

http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/userdocs/serializers/xls-serializer.html

-Andy

Ryan Hoegg wrote:

> Hi,
>
> You might check out the POI project (hunt around for the HSSF stuff). 
> They claim to be working on Generators and Serializers for Cocoon for 
> all the formats.
>
> http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/index.html
>
> Ryan
>
> Michael Wechner wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> Is there an Excel Generator, which creates from an Excel (xls) file
>> some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
>> documents into some useful XML?
>>
>> Thanks  a lot
>>
>> Michael
>>
>>
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Re: Excel generator

[Ryan Hoegg]

Hi,

You might check out the POI project (hunt around for the HSSF stuff). 
 They claim to be working on Generators and Serializers for Cocoon for 
all the formats.

http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/index.html

Ryan

Michael Wechner wrote:

> Hi
>
> Is there an Excel Generator, which creates from an Excel (xls) file
> some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
> documents into some useful XML?
>
> Thanks  a lot
>
> Michael
>
>
> -
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RE: Excel generator

[Coetmeur, Alain]

you may look at 
extenXLS  (without a D)

this is an XLS read and write library...
commercial but cheap.

not very smart but do most of what most need:

- read data in excel spreadsheet
(get some numbres, strings, and formula computed numeric values)
- write some data in a tempalete excel file
(make a spread sheet, and let your program change the values
and produce the result)

we have used it for some project when we receive by mail
gathered indicators computed by the spreadsheet,
from departments secretaries...
ther are some bugs with turnaround (fils must have some mimimum weight)...

we would have prefered POI but it was not supporting formula computed values
at this time...

the "template" mode of extenxls is a good idea with XML since
all you have to emit 

> -Message d'origine-
> De: Michael Wechner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Date: mardi 23 juillet 2002 06:37
> À: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Objet: Excel generator
> 
> 
> Hi
> 
> Is there an Excel Generator, which creates from an Excel (xls) file
> some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
> documents into some useful XML?

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Re: Excel generator

[Andrew C. Oliver]

Manos Batsis wrote:

>>From: Andrew C. Oliver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] 
>>
>>
>
>  
>
>>>Although I don't like dealing with M$ stuff, a nice idea is utilizing
>>>the office 2002 XML formats, specifically the one of Excel.
>>>  
>>>
>>Explain the advantage?  This is what I brought up, so far its 
>>unanimous 
>>the other direction.  Why would you prefer this over an XSLT 
>>page that 
>>accomplishes the same thing?
>>
>>
>
>I'm not sure we understand each other here.
>What I had in mind is removing the work needed to produce XML from Excel
>files and just use the XML output abilities of the application.
>One can use that XML directly with the Excel application or use XSLT to
>produce a web-based interface. 
>  
>
Okay.  So do that.  That doesn't have much to do with the HSSF 
Serializer/Generator does it?

>Not sure what the argument here is.
>
>Manos
>
>
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RE: Excel generator

[Manos Batsis]

> From: Andrew C. Oliver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] 

> >Although I don't like dealing with M$ stuff, a nice idea is utilizing
> >the office 2002 XML formats, specifically the one of Excel.
> 
> Explain the advantage?  This is what I brought up, so far its 
> unanimous 
> the other direction.  Why would you prefer this over an XSLT 
> page that 
> accomplishes the same thing?

I'm not sure we understand each other here.
What I had in mind is removing the work needed to produce XML from Excel
files and just use the XML output abilities of the application.
One can use that XML directly with the Excel application or use XSLT to
produce a web-based interface. 

Not sure what the argument here is.

Manos


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Re: Excel generator

[Andrew C. Oliver]

Manos Batsis wrote:

>  
>
>>From: Michael Wechner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] 
>>
>>
>
>  
>
>>Therefore I thought it would be nice if he is sending me his 
>>Excel and I 
>>generate an XML,
>>which I can modify , and then I serialize it back into Excel, 
>>such that 
>>he can work on it.
>>
>>
>
>Although I don't like dealing with M$ stuff, a nice idea is utilizing
>the office 2002 XML formats, specifically the one of Excel.
>
>Just my 0.02 or less.
>
>Manos
>  
>

Explain the advantage?  This is what I brought up, so far its unanimous 
the other direction.  Why would you prefer this over an XSLT page that 
accomplishes the same thing?

-Andy

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Re: [Morphos] Starting the code :-) (was Re: Excel generator)

[Andrew C. Oliver]

>
>> I would suggest a seperate mailing list for this, perhaps on krysalis 
>> in addition to the commons mailing list, as there is no way in hell 
>> I'm subscribing to the commons mailing list ever again because the 
>> volume is soo great that it would triple my current email volume 
>> and probably bring my ISPs flaky email server down anyhow!
>> Others probably feel similar.
>
>
> Andy, the discussion has been going on already on that list, so I 
> would really like to continue there.
> I promise that I will make the mails prepended with [Morphos], so you 
> can filter them. 


Dude, you don't understand.  I'm only getting like 50% of my emails, in 
part due to the amount of traffic I get.  I physically cannot subscribe 
to commons.  If I do that I'd pretty much never get any mail from 
anywhere else. The traffic on Commons is REDICULOUS.  There's no way we 
can split it?  I mean I just can't.

I tried to help my LUG get a SMTP server set up but they're all a bunch 
of Sysadmin types who are trying to set up a "REALLY COOL" SMTP server 
(still trying after 6 months) rather than a functional one in the near 
future!

I intend to set up my own SMTP server on my server, but it won't be in 
the near future.

Regardless, I know a couple other people (of your acquantenance) who 
might help out if the list were seperate.

Hell we created a list for cocoon-doc

>
>>  From there we can plan an approach for the generator. 
>
>
> This was exactly the proposed plan.

yes.

>
>> It would probably be faster too, my patches get applied too slow to 
>> work on it very efficiently here. (no offense)
>
>
> Yup, it's time :-)
>
> Who managed to make the serializer work out of Cocoon, can you please 
> send me the zip?
> I can thus checkin preliminary stuff in CVS.
>
> Thanks :-)
>




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Re: [Morphos] Starting the code :-) (was Re: Excel generator)

[Nicola Ken Barozzi]

Sven Kuenzler wrote:
> Nicola Ken Barozzi schrieb:
> 
> 
>>> I would suggest a seperate mailing list for this, perhaps on krysalis 
>>> in addition to the commons mailing list, as there is no way in hell 
>>> I'm subscribing to the commons mailing list ever again because the 
>>> volume is soo great that it would triple my current email volume 
>>> and probably bring my ISPs flaky email server down anyhow!
>>> Others probably feel similar.
>>
> 
> Andy, if you can/care to access a news server, check out www.gmane.org. 
>  They host many Apache MLs as newsgroups.

Hey, didn't know :-)

>> Who managed to make the serializer work out of Cocoon, can you please 
>> send me the zip?
>> I can thus checkin preliminary stuff in CVS.
> 
> 
> It's under http://www.tzi.de/~svenk/. It contains all jars involved so 
> I'd rather not send it by email.

Yup, good :-)

> I temporarily "repackaged" the code under morphos.* or so, I hope this 
> is not a problem for a scratchpad project.

Definately not. Thanks, I will commit it soon :-)

-- 
Nicola Ken Barozzi   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 - verba volant, scripta manent -
(discussions get forgotten, just code remains)
-


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RE: Excel generator

[Manos Batsis]

> From: Michael Wechner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] 

> Therefore I thought it would be nice if he is sending me his 
> Excel and I 
> generate an XML,
> which I can modify , and then I serialize it back into Excel, 
> such that 
> he can work on it.

Although I don't like dealing with M$ stuff, a nice idea is utilizing
the office 2002 XML formats, specifically the one of Excel.

Just my 0.02 or less.

Manos

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Re: [Morphos] Starting the code :-) (was Re: Excel generator)

[Sven Kuenzler]

Nicola Ken Barozzi schrieb:


>> I would suggest a seperate mailing list for this, perhaps on krysalis 
>> in addition to the commons mailing list, as there is no way in hell 
>> I'm subscribing to the commons mailing list ever again because the 
>> volume is soo great that it would triple my current email volume 
>> and probably bring my ISPs flaky email server down anyhow!
>> Others probably feel similar.

Andy, if you can/care to access a news server, check out www.gmane.org. 
  They host many Apache MLs as newsgroups.

> Who managed to make the serializer work out of Cocoon, can you please 
> send me the zip?
> I can thus checkin preliminary stuff in CVS.

It's under http://www.tzi.de/~svenk/. It contains all jars involved so 
I'd rather not send it by email.

I temporarily "repackaged" the code under morphos.* or so, I hope this 
is not a problem for a scratchpad project.

Sven




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[Morphos] Starting the code :-) (was Re: Excel generator)

[Nicola Ken Barozzi]

Andrew C. Oliver wrote:
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> but to be honest i dont know any better solution than gnumeric. and 
>>> at least
>>> the solution is symetrical gnumeric->excel->gnumeric.
>>
>> Yup. And XSLT files for easy conversion to the Excel format.
> 
> Okay thanks to all.  I'm convinced we made the right decision 
> originally.  I wasn't sure at the start, everytime I'd describe this 
> architecture I'd get "Why didn't you go with Excel XML format" -- but 
> its nice to know that not only are people using the serializer at this 
> point, but that they prefer the gnumeric format (as yucky as it is) for 
> various reasons.  Good to know it was the right decision.

With XML any decision is good, since XSLT can do wonders.
The important thing is that the decision (ie DTD) was taken and that we 
sticked to it.

> So Ken, while I don't want you to do it right now, because I think you 
> have too many potatos in your donkey cart (picture Ken pulling a donkey 
> cart with a bunch of potatos in it

and you have a very rough aproximation of my current load ;-)

>, what would it take to start moving 
> this to Morpohos?  It seems the majority of people using this at the 
> moment are using it outside of Cocoon.

Yup.

> I'll help (as soon as I move some potatos off my donkey cart) if I can, 
> but I don't have enough Avalon/non-cocoon-xml-serializer experience to 
> do this myself, nor do I have a clear picture of the plans for Morphos 
> interface-wise.

The interfaces have basically been decided some days ago on Commons-dev

> I would suggest a seperate mailing list for this, perhaps on krysalis in 
> addition to the commons mailing list, as there is no way in hell I'm 
> subscribing to the commons mailing list ever again because the volume is 
> soo great that it would triple my current email volume and probably 
> bring my ISPs flaky email server down anyhow!
> Others probably feel similar.

Andy, the discussion has been going on already on that list, so I would 
really like to continue there.
I promise that I will make the mails prepended with [Morphos], so you 
can filter them.

>  From there we can plan an approach for the generator. 

This was exactly the proposed plan.

> It would 
> probably be faster too, my patches get applied too slow to work on it 
> very efficiently here. (no offense)

Yup, it's time :-)

Who managed to make the serializer work out of Cocoon, can you please 
send me the zip?
I can thus checkin preliminary stuff in CVS.

Thanks :-)

-- 
Nicola Ken Barozzi   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 - verba volant, scripta manent -
(discussions get forgotten, just code remains)
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Re: Excel generator

[Andrew C. Oliver]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

>>Yeah in short:  Its a Cocoon Serializer.  While I appreciate this
>>feedback, I personally have no use cases for the Serializer outside of
>>Cocoon.
>>
>>
>??? you don't ;-)
>the use case is very simple: create a xls-file out of an gnumeric-file. ;-)
>don't see any cocoon stuff here. i guess that would be like m$ saying
>there is no use case for calculation outside excel.
>but ok. i guess i know what you mean.
>  
>
I mean currently, I don't personally have any uses for the serializer 
outside of Cocoon.  HA, I'll be writing that Excel calculation engine soon.

>  
>
>>This makes it impossible for me to support a non-cocoon version
>>of the Serializer.  It would take a motivated individual who knew what
>>to do in order to support such a project.  My continued personal
>>interest is in generating reports via Cocoon and the HSSF Serializer.
>>
>>
>i would like to do that, but since i realy dont have any clue about
>the inner workings of cocoon this seems almost impossible for me at the
>moment.
>  
>
Look at the StateTax2 sample.  under Welome->Legacy Formats.

>  
>
>>Cool!  Would you mind writing up a case study for POI?
>> http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/casestudies.html
>>
>>
>i'll see that i'll have time somewhere within the next
>3-4 weeks (granted that the custumer oks this).
>  
>
Cool!  Well tell them that I'll send them a T-Shirt (yourself as well) 
once we decide on a logo and I get the shirts printed.

>  
>
>>I'll look through what Sven did.  My only concern is whether you'll end
>>up with Cocoon anyhow as your project scales up.
>>
>>
>this might be the case indeed. but at the moment and for the foreseeable
>future (3-6 month) this wont happen and so the discussion is a moot one.
>  
>
humm..

>>Well one thing I don't recommend is generating the gnumeric format
>>directly once you know what you're
>>doing.  Meaning come up with an interim format.
>>
>>
>this isn't possible either cause the invoice-format is still very
>young and there are a lot of changes going on for the next several
>months. it is impractical to let those changes be made by programmers.
>the people from the billing-dept. should do them but i simply cannot
>force them to "programm" a bill in some xml-format. the maximum
>i can give them is linux-box with gnumeric installed on it (and even
>this is not so simple since this is a windowsshop).
>  
>
Wha?  Its not stored in the database?  You see with XSP/ESQL, you could 
query it from the database, output XML, transform it via your 
stylesheets and serialize it via HSSF Serializer.  

How are you currently getting them out in XML?

>on the otherhand transforming a given gnumeric-file into an stylesheet
>is realy no fun and very brittle to do.
>  
>
Look at the HSSF Serializer doc that explains what it actually cares about.

>  
>
>>makes it into a Gnumeric workbook.
>>
>>
>>
>>>but what i want to do later to is to create a pdf-file instead of an
>>>  
>>>
>excel-
>  
>
>>>file. i'll be using xsl-fo for that and i see some hard times coming to
>>>first create an xsl-fo file out of gnumeric.
>>>
>>>
>>>  
>>>
>>I don't think it has to be if you do as above.
>>
>>
>as said before the only practical solution is to get an allready formated
>gnumeric-file from the billing-dept.
>  
>
humm...

>  
>
>>You prefer this to the Excel xml format?
>>
>>
>havent had a look on xls-xml.
>
>ciao robertj
>
>
>Robert Kuzelj
>Gaissacherstrasse 7   email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>81371 Muenchentel:   0177/5302230
>
>the trinity of desirables of (software) architecture:
>Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustas (marcus vitruvius 20 BC)
>strength, utility, beauty
>
>
>
>
>-
>Please check that your question  has not already been answered in the
>FAQ before posting. 
>
>To unsubscribe, e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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>
>
>  
>




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Re: Excel generator

[robert_kuzelj]

> Yeah in short:  Its a Cocoon Serializer.  While I appreciate this
> feedback, I personally have no use cases for the Serializer outside of
> Cocoon.
??? you don't ;-)
the use case is very simple: create a xls-file out of an gnumeric-file. ;-)
don't see any cocoon stuff here. i guess that would be like m$ saying
there is no use case for calculation outside excel.
but ok. i guess i know what you mean.

>This makes it impossible for me to support a non-cocoon version
>of the Serializer.  It would take a motivated individual who knew what
>to do in order to support such a project.  My continued personal
>interest is in generating reports via Cocoon and the HSSF Serializer.
i would like to do that, but since i realy dont have any clue about
the inner workings of cocoon this seems almost impossible for me at the
moment.

> Cool!  Would you mind writing up a case study for POI?
>  http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/casestudies.html
i'll see that i'll have time somewhere within the next
3-4 weeks (granted that the custumer oks this).

> I'll look through what Sven did.  My only concern is whether you'll end
> up with Cocoon anyhow as your project scales up.
this might be the case indeed. but at the moment and for the foreseeable
future (3-6 month) this wont happen and so the discussion is a moot one.

> Well one thing I don't recommend is generating the gnumeric format
> directly once you know what you're
> doing.  Meaning come up with an interim format.
this isn't possible either cause the invoice-format is still very
young and there are a lot of changes going on for the next several
months. it is impractical to let those changes be made by programmers.
the people from the billing-dept. should do them but i simply cannot
force them to "programm" a bill in some xml-format. the maximum
i can give them is linux-box with gnumeric installed on it (and even
this is not so simple since this is a windowsshop).

on the otherhand transforming a given gnumeric-file into an stylesheet
is realy no fun and very brittle to do.

> makes it into a Gnumeric workbook.
>
> >but what i want to do later to is to create a pdf-file instead of an
excel-
> >file. i'll be using xsl-fo for that and i see some hard times coming to
> >first create an xsl-fo file out of gnumeric.
> >
> >
> I don't think it has to be if you do as above.
as said before the only practical solution is to get an allready formated
gnumeric-file from the billing-dept.

> You prefer this to the Excel xml format?
havent had a look on xls-xml.

ciao robertj


Robert Kuzelj
Gaissacherstrasse 7   email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
81371 Muenchentel:   0177/5302230

the trinity of desirables of (software) architecture:
Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustas (marcus vitruvius 20 BC)
strength, utility, beauty




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Re: Excel generator

[Andrew C. Oliver]

>
>
>>
>>
>> but to be honest i dont know any better solution than gnumeric. and 
>> at least
>> the solution is symetrical gnumeric->excel->gnumeric.
>
>
> Yup. And XSLT files for easy conversion to the Excel format.
>

Okay thanks to all.  I'm convinced we made the right decision 
originally.  I wasn't sure at the start, everytime I'd describe this 
architecture I'd get "Why didn't you go with Excel XML format" -- but 
its nice to know that not only are people using the serializer at this 
point, but that they prefer the gnumeric format (as yucky as it is) for 
various reasons.  Good to know it was the right decision.

So Ken, while I don't want you to do it right now, because I think you 
have too many potatos in your donkey cart (picture Ken pulling a donkey 
cart with a bunch of potatos in it), what would it take to start moving 
this to Morpohos?  It seems the majority of people using this at the 
moment are using it outside of Cocoon.

I'll help (as soon as I move some potatos off my donkey cart) if I can, 
but I don't have enough Avalon/non-cocoon-xml-serializer experience to 
do this myself, nor do I have a clear picture of the plans for Morphos 
interface-wise.

I would suggest a seperate mailing list for this, perhaps on krysalis in 
addition to the commons mailing list, as there is no way in hell I'm 
subscribing to the commons mailing list ever again because the volume is 
soo great that it would triple my current email volume and probably 
bring my ISPs flaky email server down anyhow!
Others probably feel similar.

 From there we can plan an approach for the generator.  It would 
probably be faster too, my patches get applied too slow to work on it 
very efficiently here. (no offense)

-Andy




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Re: Excel generator

[Andrew C. Oliver]

>
>
>>Well we do have some samples, but its been limited at the moment by kind
>>of a chicken and the egg scenario.  The serializer is there, the samples
>>are there but we can't more because we don't have any usage scenarios
>>except for mine (translation: lots of people are using POI but few
>>people are using the serializer).  But that may in itself be the reaons
>>that we don't.
>>
>>
>i guess the problem is another one (imho). at the moment the whole
>serializing stuff is to much tied to cocoon. this makes it virtually
>infeasable to use it simply out of the box with poi. i would have
>not made it run without the help of sven (so here once again thanks
>to sven). all those jars of one does not know which ones are necessary
>and which are not - not to mention the fact that when deploying all
>of them you surely increase the proballity of jar-hell (one of the
>biggest problems in large java-development-shops).
>
>another problem at the moment is, that concrete interface for the
>HSSFSerializer is way to complex. you have to create all this
>logging-stuff and readers and so on. well i'd say "no batteries included".
>
>something like:
>OutputStream os = (new HSSFSerializer()).convert(gnumeric_file_or_stream);
>would be much easier to use for newbies.
>

Yeah in short:  Its a Cocoon Serializer.  While I appreciate this 
feedback, I personally have no use cases for the Serializer outside of 
Cocoon.  This makes it impossible for me to support a non-cocoon version 
of the Serializer.  It would take a motivated individual who knew what 
to do in order to support such a project.  My continued personal 
interest is in generating reports via Cocoon and the HSSF Serializer.

>>Are you using the serializer?  For what?  how?
>>
>>...and then bug reports and requests could drive the development a bit
>>
>>
>more.
>we (that is my customer) are using it to create invoive-files which in
>a later stage will be converted to pdfs.
>we are still in early development so i cant say how well it will work out.
>but we will generate more than 300 invoices per week and the number is
>going to increase.
>  
>
Cool!  Would you mind writing up a case study for POI? 
 http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/casestudies.html

I'll look through what Sven did.  My only concern is whether you'll end 
up with Cocoon anyhow as your project scales up.

>>Well it actually kinda sucks and is probably hard to hand generate.  It
>>probably actually sucks more than
>>the Gnumeric format, but it more cleanly maps to the file format.
>>
>>
>hmm, i think the gnumeric-format is not so great, even thou i have to admit
>that there even worser ones.
>
>what is on the one hand realy nice is that the formating part is separeted
>from the content part but that is also the drawback. when changing the file
>by hand you almost surely f*ck the whole thing up. actually that is what
>i did on thursday of last week: destroying 1 1/2 days of work when trying
>to make a stylesheet out of a gnumeric-file.
>
>i settled now for a multistage-process. i'll fill in variables in the
>format of ant ( ${varname} ) in gnumeric -> replacing the variables
>by means of regex with '' and then
>merging the stylesheet and the date to a gnumeric-file and this one is
>being serialized.
>  
>
Well one thing I don't recommend is generating the gnumeric format 
directly once you know what you're
doing.  Meaning come up with an interim format.

XML-> YOUR XML -> Gnumeric
   XSLT  XSLT

The first XSLT converts your datafeed into an XML Invoice (your own tag 
langauge).  The second stylesheet generically applys styling to this and 
makes it into a Gnumeric workbook.

>but what i want to do later to is to create a pdf-file instead of an excel-
>file. i'll be using xsl-fo for that and i see some hard times coming to
>first create an xsl-fo file out of gnumeric.
>  
>
I don't think it has to be if you do as above.

>but to be honest i dont know any better solution than gnumeric. and at least
>the solution is symetrical gnumeric->excel->gnumeric.
>  
>
You prefer this to the Excel xml format?

-Andy

>ciao robertj
>
>Robert Kuzelj
>Gaissacherstrasse 7   email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>81371 Muenchentel:   0177/5302230
>
>the trinity of desirables of (software) architecture:
>Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustas (marcus vitruvius 20 BC)
>strength, utility, beauty
>
>
>
>-
>Please check that your question  has not already been answered in the
>FAQ before posting. 
>
>To unsubscribe, e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>For additional commands, e-mail:   <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
>  
>




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Re: Excel generator

[Nicola Ken Barozzi]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> hi oliver,
> 
> 
>>Well we do have some samples, but its been limited at the moment by kind
>>of a chicken and the egg scenario.  The serializer is there, the samples
>>are there but we can't more because we don't have any usage scenarios
>>except for mine (translation: lots of people are using POI but few
>>people are using the serializer).  But that may in itself be the reaons
>>that we don't.
> 
> i guess the problem is another one (imho). at the moment the whole
> serializing stuff is to much tied to cocoon. this makes it virtually
> infeasable to use it simply out of the box with poi. i would have
> not made it run without the help of sven (so here once again thanks
> to sven). all those jars of one does not know which ones are necessary
> and which are not - not to mention the fact that when deploying all
> of them you surely increase the proballity of jar-hell (one of the
> biggest problems in large java-development-shops).
> 
> another problem at the moment is, that concrete interface for the
> HSSFSerializer is way to complex. you have to create all this
> logging-stuff and readers and so on. well i'd say "no batteries included".
> 
> something like:
> OutputStream os = (new HSSFSerializer()).convert(gnumeric_file_or_stream);
> would be much easier to use for newbies.

This is in the works, as project Morphos in Commons scratchpad.
Someone has already a working standalone version of the serializer, and 
we will put it in Morphos.

Morpher myMorpher = MorpherFactory.getMorpher("hssf");
mymorpher.morph(gnumeric_file_or_stream, os);

>>Are you using the serializer?  For what?  how?
>>
>>...and then bug reports and requests could drive the development a bit
> 
> more.
> we (that is my customer) are using it to create invoive-files which in
> a later stage will be converted to pdfs.
> we are still in early development so i cant say how well it will work out.
> but we will generate more than 300 invoices per week and the number is
> going to increase.
> 
> 
>>Well it actually kinda sucks and is probably hard to hand generate.  It
>>probably actually sucks more than
>>the Gnumeric format, but it more cleanly maps to the file format.
> 
> hmm, i think the gnumeric-format is not so great, even thou i have to admit
> that there even worser ones.
> 
> what is on the one hand realy nice is that the formating part is separeted
> from the content part but that is also the drawback. when changing the file
> by hand you almost surely f*ck the whole thing up. actually that is what
> i did on thursday of last week: destroying 1 1/2 days of work when trying
> to make a stylesheet out of a gnumeric-file.
> 
> i settled now for a multistage-process. i'll fill in variables in the
> format of ant ( ${varname} ) in gnumeric -> replacing the variables
> by means of regex with '' and then
> merging the stylesheet and the date to a gnumeric-file and this one is
> being serialized.
> 
> but what i want to do later to is to create a pdf-file instead of an excel-
> file. i'll be using xsl-fo for that and i see some hard times coming to
> first create an xsl-fo file out of gnumeric.
> 
> but to be honest i dont know any better solution than gnumeric. and at least
> the solution is symetrical gnumeric->excel->gnumeric.

Yup. And XSLT files for easy conversion to the Excel format.



-- 
Nicola Ken Barozzi   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 - verba volant, scripta manent -
(discussions get forgotten, just code remains)
-


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Re: Excel generator

[Jens Lorenz]

- Original Message -
From: "Andrew C. Oliver" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 8:06 PM
Subject: Re: Excel generator


> Sorry if it sounds like I'm hounding on this issue, but its very
helpful.
>
> And you find the gnumeric format preferrable to striving for Excel 2000
> XML format compatibility?
> (with the understanding that If I did do the generator in Excel format
> I'd probably rewrite the serializer to that as well)
>
> -Andy
>


The rewrite of the serializer is enough of a reason, not to change the
format. (IMHO) Why change something, if it works, as long as there is
no strong reason ? (and Excel format compatibility is no strong reason
for me)

Gnumeric XML is powerful enough and well documented. The latter is the
most important for me. This pdf describing every single tag and
attribute is a huge help, when having to generate a spreadsheet
programmatically.



Jens

--

jens.lorenz at interface-projects dot de

interface:projects GmbH \\|//
Tolkewitzer Strasse 49  (o o)
01277 Dresden   oOOo~(_)~oOOo
Germany


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Re: Excel generator

[Jens Lorenz]

- Original Message - 
From: "Andrew C. Oliver" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 3:56 PM
Subject: Re: Excel generator


> But the more important part of my answer was "What do you want on your 
> generator, and
> what do you wish you had on your serializer  --  would you like fries 
> too?"  Meaning I need ideas!  
> I'm on the fence,  I want some input.
> 
> -Andy
> 


I think the gnumeric XML format is the way to go. Why bothering with
Excel XML format if it's going to change anyway (if it's just a
translation of the binary format, it is most likely to change). And
Excel still can read and write the old binary formats.
This way you could also use other serializers to produce OpenOffice.org
spreadsheets or any other spreadsheet application.

So, my wish would be a Gnumeric XML generator and serializer. Served
with backed potatoes and some garnish ... ;)



Jens

-- 

jens.lorenz at interface-projects dot de

interface:projects GmbH \\|//
Tolkewitzer Strasse 49  (o o)
01277 Dresden   oOOo~(_)~oOOo
Germany


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Re: Excel generator

[robert_kuzelj]

hi oliver,

> Well we do have some samples, but its been limited at the moment by kind
> of a chicken and the egg scenario.  The serializer is there, the samples
> are there but we can't more because we don't have any usage scenarios
> except for mine (translation: lots of people are using POI but few
> people are using the serializer).  But that may in itself be the reaons
> that we don't.
i guess the problem is another one (imho). at the moment the whole
serializing stuff is to much tied to cocoon. this makes it virtually
infeasable to use it simply out of the box with poi. i would have
not made it run without the help of sven (so here once again thanks
to sven). all those jars of one does not know which ones are necessary
and which are not - not to mention the fact that when deploying all
of them you surely increase the proballity of jar-hell (one of the
biggest problems in large java-development-shops).

another problem at the moment is, that concrete interface for the
HSSFSerializer is way to complex. you have to create all this
logging-stuff and readers and so on. well i'd say "no batteries included".

something like:
OutputStream os = (new HSSFSerializer()).convert(gnumeric_file_or_stream);
would be much easier to use for newbies.

> Are you using the serializer?  For what?  how?
>
> ...and then bug reports and requests could drive the development a bit
more.
we (that is my customer) are using it to create invoive-files which in
a later stage will be converted to pdfs.
we are still in early development so i cant say how well it will work out.
but we will generate more than 300 invoices per week and the number is
going to increase.

> Well it actually kinda sucks and is probably hard to hand generate.  It
> probably actually sucks more than
> the Gnumeric format, but it more cleanly maps to the file format.
hmm, i think the gnumeric-format is not so great, even thou i have to admit
that there even worser ones.

what is on the one hand realy nice is that the formating part is separeted
from the content part but that is also the drawback. when changing the file
by hand you almost surely f*ck the whole thing up. actually that is what
i did on thursday of last week: destroying 1 1/2 days of work when trying
to make a stylesheet out of a gnumeric-file.

i settled now for a multistage-process. i'll fill in variables in the
format of ant ( ${varname} ) in gnumeric -> replacing the variables
by means of regex with '' and then
merging the stylesheet and the date to a gnumeric-file and this one is
being serialized.

but what i want to do later to is to create a pdf-file instead of an excel-
file. i'll be using xsl-fo for that and i see some hard times coming to
first create an xsl-fo file out of gnumeric.

but to be honest i dont know any better solution than gnumeric. and at least
the solution is symetrical gnumeric->excel->gnumeric.

ciao robertj

Robert Kuzelj
Gaissacherstrasse 7   email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
81371 Muenchentel:   0177/5302230

the trinity of desirables of (software) architecture:
Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustas (marcus vitruvius 20 BC)
strength, utility, beauty



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Re: Excel generator

[Michael Wechner]

Andrew C. Oliver wrote:

> But the more important part of my answer was "What do you want on your 
> generator, and
> what do you wish you had on your serializer  --  would you like fries 
> too?"  Meaning I need ideas!  I'm on the fence,  I want some input. 


I have a friend, and unfortunately he doesn't know about XML and doens't 
want
to learn how to work with (maybe he shouldn't be my friend ;-), but he 
loves Excel.

I don't want to work with Excel (maybe I should't be his friend ;-) 
because I want to
use XML.

Well, that's how it is. BUT, we want to collaborate nevertheless!

Therefore I thought it would be nice if he is sending me his Excel and I 
generate an XML,
which I can modify , and then I serialize it back into Excel, such that 
he can work on it.

Thanks

Michael


>
>
> -Andy
>
> Sven Kuenzler wrote:
>
>>> Is there an Excel Generator, which creates *from* an Excel (xls) file
>>> some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
>>> documents into some useful XML?
>>
>>
>>
>> I think the previous responses missed the *from* (my emphasis) :-)
>> So, read Andy's answer on the dev list. In short: No, there is no 
>> HSSFGenerator (yet).
>>
>> Sven
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -
>> Please check that your question  has not already been answered in the
>> FAQ before posting. <http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/faq/index.html>
>>
>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> For additional commands, e-mail:   <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
> -
> Please check that your question  has not already been answered in the
> FAQ before posting. <http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/faq/index.html>
>
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Re: Excel generator

[Michael Wechner]

That would certainly be a possible work-around

Thanks a lot

Michael


Litrik De Roy wrote:

>FYI,
>
>This is how I integrate some Excel spreadsheets in a (fairly static) web
>site. The data (tennis results) is sent to me as an Excel spreadsheet. (This
>is is far from perfect but at least it is better than a table in an MS Word
>document. :-)
>
>1) The old way (Before Cocoon, data in Excel 97)
>
>Before Cocoon, I had all documents for the site as xml documents sitting on
>my harddisk. Using Xalan, I applied a stylesheet to convert everything into
>HTML. I saved the spreadsheet (made in Excel 97) to HTML and simply
>copy/pasted everything in the HTML documents that needed the information.
>The result was an HTML table that did not really look like the Excel
>spreadsheet but at least all the data was there and it did not have fixed
>sizes for cells, so everything resized nicely according to the browser
>window.
>
>2) The new way (Using Cocoon, data in Excel 2000)
>
>I still get data in Excel, but now in Excel 2000 instead of Excel 97. The
>problem is that the 'Save as HTML' of Excel 2000 is way too smart. It saves
>every bit of information about the layout of the sheet so it can be
>recreated when opened again in Excel. But it is a lot harder to get 'just'
>the data. My solution for this is to 'cinclude' the HTML version of the
>spreadsheet AFTER applying a stylesheet that removes some HTML/CSS
>information that defines the fixed size.
>
>The following XSLT snippet is all that is required to remove some of the
>unwanted HTML/CSS:
>
>  
>
>cellpadding="0" border="0" str="x:str">
>
>
>  
>
>The result is an HTML table that does resize nicely but still looks like the
>original Excel 2000 version. A static version is available at
>http://users.skynet.be/litrik/rolmite/en/gv_palmares.html
>
>PS: I did look at the POI project but figured out it would be overkill for
>the stuff I am trying to do.
>
>Just sharing my experience...
>
>Litrik De Roy
>www.litrik.com
>
>
>- Original Message -
>From: "Sven Kuenzler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Newsgroups: gmane.text.xml.cocoon.user
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 2:57 PM
>Subject: Re: Excel generator
>
>
>>>Is there an Excel Generator, which creates *from* an Excel (xls) file
>>>some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
>>>documents into some useful XML?
>>>
>>I think the previous responses missed the *from* (my emphasis) :-)
>>So, read Andy's answer on the dev list. In short: No, there is no
>>HSSFGenerator (yet).
>>
>>Sven
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>-
>>Please check that your question  has not already been answered in the
>>FAQ before posting. <http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/faq/index.html>
>>
>>To unsubscribe, e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>For additional commands, e-mail:   <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>-
>Please check that your question  has not already been answered in the
>FAQ before posting. <http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/faq/index.html>
>
>To unsubscribe, e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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RE: Excel generator

[Koen Pellegrims]

I agree, altough there is a catch... I was going to argument that Microsoft
is not known for keeping long-lasting compatibility between
document-formats, but when I think about it, Open Source projects tend to
evolve very quickly as well.
In this case, the best argument I can come up with PRO Gnumeric is that we
might have a say in the way it evolves... I think chances of us influencing
Redmond's XML-format are slim or worse ;-s

As long as the Gnumeric-format captures 90% of the user's needs, I think we
should opt for Gnumeric; unless there are some real shortcomings compared to
the Excel 2000 XML format. (I'm not that familiar with the Excel format to
answer that one...)

This is not a religious point, I *am* pursuadable...

Koen

> -Oorspronkelijk bericht-
> Van: news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]Namens Sven Kuenzler
> Verzonden: dinsdag 23 juli 2002 20:52
> Aan: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Onderwerp: Re: Excel generator
>
>
> I'd also prefer the Gnumeric format. That's because it's open source,
> it's used by other oss project(s) and there are people maintaining
> documentation for it. So, keeping this format would create some kind of
> open source synergy.
> Plus, it would not break apps which depend on the serializer already.
>
>   Sven
>
> Koen Pellegrims schrieb:
> > Personally, I think it makes most sense to use the Gnumeric
> format. Granted,
> > it is not the easiest format, but it allows you to express most
> anything you
> > have in your stylesheet.
> > I think that -at least in theory- the Generator, followed by
> the Serializer
> > should give you the same worksheet back...
> >
> > IMHO it makes more sense to get aquinted well with one format
> (Gnumeric),
> > rather than constantly swapping between two different formats.
> >
> > If we were to invent a new representation, it would probably
> come very close
> > to the Gnumeric format anyway...
> >
> > Koen.
> >
> >
> >>-Oorspronkelijk bericht-
> >>Van: Andrew C. Oliver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> >>Verzonden: dinsdag 23 juli 2002 19:18
> >>Aan: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Marc Johnson
> >>Onderwerp: Re: Excel generator
> >>
> >>
> >>Geoff Howard wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>Well, I'll make a stab at what I would think could be useful for
> >>
> >>a generator
> >>>from an excel file.  I can think of two logical directions
> >>people would want
> >>
> >>>to go.
> >>>
> >>>1) If you are serializing to some display format (html, pdf,
> >>
> >>etc) you'd want
> >>
> >>>to reproduce the data and formatting as it would appear viewed in, or
> >>>printed from excel.
> >>>
> >>
> >>You can of course do an approximation of this in any format via a
> >>stylesheet.  Granted it won't look *eactly* the same due to differences
> >>(HTML borders are vastly different from Excel's).
> >>
> >>
> >>>2) If you are using excel as a make-shift database, you would want to
> >>>preserve the data structure so that it can be transformed and
> acted on or
> >>>displayed.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>Yes.
> >>
> >>
> >>>I would assume that both of these uses could be accomplished by just
> >>>outputting the format that would have created the same style
> >>
> >>sheet to begin
> >>
> >>>with, except possibly for the option to output formula results
> instead of
> >>>the formulas.  Most users would assume the formats and behaviour
> >>
> >>to be close
> >>
> >>>to symetric - if start with an .xls file, run it through the
> >>
> >>generator and
> >>
> >>>serializer, I ought to wind up pretty close to where I started if not
> >>>exactly where I started.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>great.
> >>
> >>
> >>>Does that work for a discussion starter?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>Yes so the question I guess is assuming you can transform it via XSLT to
> >>whatever you like given the effort.  What format (XML tag format) makes
> >>most since?  Preserving the gnumeric compatibility?  A custom format
> >>that makes more sense?  Striving for Excel 2000 XML format
> >>compatibility?
> >>
> >>Currently the serializer shares the gnumeric tag language.
> >>
> >>-Andy

Re: Excel generator

[Litrik De Roy]

FYI,

This is how I integrate some Excel spreadsheets in a (fairly static) web
site. The data (tennis results) is sent to me as an Excel spreadsheet. (This
is is far from perfect but at least it is better than a table in an MS Word
document. :-)

1) The old way (Before Cocoon, data in Excel 97)

Before Cocoon, I had all documents for the site as xml documents sitting on
my harddisk. Using Xalan, I applied a stylesheet to convert everything into
HTML. I saved the spreadsheet (made in Excel 97) to HTML and simply
copy/pasted everything in the HTML documents that needed the information.
The result was an HTML table that did not really look like the Excel
spreadsheet but at least all the data was there and it did not have fixed
sizes for cells, so everything resized nicely according to the browser
window.

2) The new way (Using Cocoon, data in Excel 2000)

I still get data in Excel, but now in Excel 2000 instead of Excel 97. The
problem is that the 'Save as HTML' of Excel 2000 is way too smart. It saves
every bit of information about the layout of the sheet so it can be
recreated when opened again in Excel. But it is a lot harder to get 'just'
the data. My solution for this is to 'cinclude' the HTML version of the
spreadsheet AFTER applying a stylesheet that removes some HTML/CSS
information that defines the fixed size.

The following XSLT snippet is all that is required to remove some of the
unwanted HTML/CSS:

  




  

The result is an HTML table that does resize nicely but still looks like the
original Excel 2000 version. A static version is available at
http://users.skynet.be/litrik/rolmite/en/gv_palmares.html

PS: I did look at the POI project but figured out it would be overkill for
the stuff I am trying to do.

Just sharing my experience...

Litrik De Roy
www.litrik.com


- Original Message -
From: "Sven Kuenzler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Newsgroups: gmane.text.xml.cocoon.user
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 2:57 PM
Subject: Re: Excel generator


> > Is there an Excel Generator, which creates *from* an Excel (xls) file
> > some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
> > documents into some useful XML?
>
> I think the previous responses missed the *from* (my emphasis) :-)
> So, read Andy's answer on the dev list. In short: No, there is no
> HSSFGenerator (yet).
>
> Sven
>
>
>
>
> -
> Please check that your question  has not already been answered in the
> FAQ before posting. <http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/faq/index.html>
>
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> For additional commands, e-mail:   <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
>


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Re: Excel generator

[Andrew C. Oliver]

>
>
>Yes, and it may be good to provide a standard "out of the box" stylesheet
>that does this.
>  
>
Well we do have some samples, but its been limited at the moment by kind 
of a chicken and the egg scenario.  The serializer is there, the samples 
are there but we can't more because we don't have any usage scenarios 
except for mine (translation: lots of people are using POI but few 
people are using the serializer).  But that may in itself be the reaons 
that we don't.

Are you using the serializer?  For what?  how?  

...and then bug reports and requests could drive the development a bit more.

>  
>
>>Yes so the question I guess is assuming you can transform it 
>>via XSLT to 
>>whatever you like given the effort.  What format (XML tag 
>>format) makes 
>>most since?  Preserving the gnumeric compatibility?  A custom format 
>>that makes more sense?  Striving for Excel 2000 XML format 
>>compatibility?  
>>
>>Currently the serializer shares the gnumeric tag language.
>>
>>
>
>I haven't been able to find the current gnumeric tag language documented
>either at gnome.org, or at the poi site at jakarta.  If the new native Excel
>
http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/userdocs/serializers/xls-serializer.html
http://cvs.gnome.org/lxr/source/gnumeric/gnumeric.xsd
http://www.object-refinery.com/jworkbook/index.html
ftp://213.253.31.132/jworkbook/gnumeric-xml.pdf  (Just reappeared after 
being gone for awhile, I'll put this in the docs soon)

>format is great, that'd be worth considering, but I don't see much of a
>
Well it actually kinda sucks and is probably hard to hand generate.  It 
probably actually sucks more than
the Gnumeric format, but it more cleanly maps to the file format.

>reason that it would matter what the intermediate format is - you either
>want to go from an excel spreadsheet or to an excel spreadsheet (or both),
>but what it is in the middle doesn't matter much (except for those writing
>any transformation process in the middle).  The only vote for the new native
>excel xml would be that the total universe of people who will be familiar
>with it will likely vastly out number those familiar with gnumeric.
>  
>
Great feedback.  I appreciate it!

Thanks,

-Andy


>Geoff
>
>-
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>FAQ before posting. 
>
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>
>
>  
>




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Re: Excel generator

[Sven Kuenzler]

I'd also prefer the Gnumeric format. That's because it's open source, 
it's used by other oss project(s) and there are people maintaining 
documentation for it. So, keeping this format would create some kind of 
open source synergy.
Plus, it would not break apps which depend on the serializer already.

Sven

Koen Pellegrims schrieb:
> Personally, I think it makes most sense to use the Gnumeric format. Granted,
> it is not the easiest format, but it allows you to express most anything you
> have in your stylesheet.
> I think that -at least in theory- the Generator, followed by the Serializer
> should give you the same worksheet back...
> 
> IMHO it makes more sense to get aquinted well with one format (Gnumeric),
> rather than constantly swapping between two different formats.
> 
> If we were to invent a new representation, it would probably come very close
> to the Gnumeric format anyway...
> 
> Koen.
> 
> 
>>-Oorspronkelijk bericht-
>>Van: Andrew C. Oliver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>>Verzonden: dinsdag 23 juli 2002 19:18
>>Aan: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Marc Johnson
>>Onderwerp: Re: Excel generator
>>
>>
>>Geoff Howard wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Well, I'll make a stab at what I would think could be useful for
>>
>>a generator
>>>from an excel file.  I can think of two logical directions
>>people would want
>>
>>>to go.
>>>
>>>1) If you are serializing to some display format (html, pdf,
>>
>>etc) you'd want
>>
>>>to reproduce the data and formatting as it would appear viewed in, or
>>>printed from excel.
>>>
>>
>>You can of course do an approximation of this in any format via a
>>stylesheet.  Granted it won't look *eactly* the same due to differences
>>(HTML borders are vastly different from Excel's).
>>
>>
>>>2) If you are using excel as a make-shift database, you would want to
>>>preserve the data structure so that it can be transformed and acted on or
>>>displayed.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Yes.
>>
>>
>>>I would assume that both of these uses could be accomplished by just
>>>outputting the format that would have created the same style
>>
>>sheet to begin
>>
>>>with, except possibly for the option to output formula results instead of
>>>the formulas.  Most users would assume the formats and behaviour
>>
>>to be close
>>
>>>to symetric - if start with an .xls file, run it through the
>>
>>generator and
>>
>>>serializer, I ought to wind up pretty close to where I started if not
>>>exactly where I started.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>great.
>>
>>
>>>Does that work for a discussion starter?
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Yes so the question I guess is assuming you can transform it via XSLT to
>>whatever you like given the effort.  What format (XML tag format) makes
>>most since?  Preserving the gnumeric compatibility?  A custom format
>>that makes more sense?  Striving for Excel 2000 XML format
>>compatibility?
>>
>>Currently the serializer shares the gnumeric tag language.
>>
>>-Andy
>>
>>
>>>Geoff
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>-Original Message-
>>>>From: Andrew C. Oliver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>>>>Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 9:57 AM
>>>>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>>>Subject: Re: Excel generator
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>But the more important part of my answer was "What do you
>>>>want on your
>>>>generator, and
>>>>what do you wish you had on your serializer  --  would you like fries
>>>>too?"  Meaning I need ideas!
>>>>I'm on the fence,  I want some input.
>>>>
>>>>-Andy
>>>>
>>>>Sven Kuenzler wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>Is there an Excel Generator, which creates *from* an Excel
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>(xls) file
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
>>>>>>documents into some useful XML?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>I think the previous responses missed the *from* (my emphasis) :-)
>>>>>So, read Andy's answer on the dev list. In short: No, there is no
&g

Re: Excel generator

[Andrew C. Oliver]

Sorry if it sounds like I'm hounding on this issue, but its very helpful.

And you find the gnumeric format preferrable to striving for Excel 2000 
XML format compatibility?
(with the understanding that If I did do the generator in Excel format 
I'd probably rewrite the serializer to that as well)

-Andy


Koen Pellegrims wrote:

>Personally, I think it makes most sense to use the Gnumeric format. Granted,
>it is not the easiest format, but it allows you to express most anything you
>have in your stylesheet.
>I think that -at least in theory- the Generator, followed by the Serializer
>should give you the same worksheet back...
>
>IMHO it makes more sense to get aquinted well with one format (Gnumeric),
>rather than constantly swapping between two different formats.
>
>If we were to invent a new representation, it would probably come very close
>to the Gnumeric format anyway...
>
>Koen.
>
>  
>
>>-Oorspronkelijk bericht-
>>Van: Andrew C. Oliver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>>Verzonden: dinsdag 23 juli 2002 19:18
>>Aan: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Marc Johnson
>>Onderwerp: Re: Excel generator
>>
>>
>>Geoff Howard wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>Well, I'll make a stab at what I would think could be useful for
>>>  
>>>
>>a generator
>>>from an excel file.  I can think of two logical directions
>>people would want
>>
>>
>>>to go.
>>>
>>>1) If you are serializing to some display format (html, pdf,
>>>  
>>>
>>etc) you'd want
>>
>>
>>>to reproduce the data and formatting as it would appear viewed in, or
>>>printed from excel.
>>>
>>>  
>>>
>>You can of course do an approximation of this in any format via a
>>stylesheet.  Granted it won't look *eactly* the same due to differences
>>(HTML borders are vastly different from Excel's).
>>
>>
>>
>>>2) If you are using excel as a make-shift database, you would want to
>>>preserve the data structure so that it can be transformed and acted on or
>>>displayed.
>>>
>>>
>>>  
>>>
>>Yes.
>>
>>
>>
>>>I would assume that both of these uses could be accomplished by just
>>>outputting the format that would have created the same style
>>>  
>>>
>>sheet to begin
>>
>>
>>>with, except possibly for the option to output formula results instead of
>>>the formulas.  Most users would assume the formats and behaviour
>>>  
>>>
>>to be close
>>
>>
>>>to symetric - if start with an .xls file, run it through the
>>>  
>>>
>>generator and
>>
>>
>>>serializer, I ought to wind up pretty close to where I started if not
>>>exactly where I started.
>>>
>>>
>>>  
>>>
>>great.
>>
>>
>>
>>>Does that work for a discussion starter?
>>>
>>>
>>>  
>>>
>>Yes so the question I guess is assuming you can transform it via XSLT to
>>whatever you like given the effort.  What format (XML tag format) makes
>>most since?  Preserving the gnumeric compatibility?  A custom format
>>that makes more sense?  Striving for Excel 2000 XML format
>>compatibility?
>>
>>Currently the serializer shares the gnumeric tag language.
>>
>>-Andy
>>
>>
>>
>>>Geoff
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  
>>>
>>>>-Original Message-
>>>>From: Andrew C. Oliver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>>>>Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 9:57 AM
>>>>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>>>Subject: Re: Excel generator
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>But the more important part of my answer was "What do you
>>>>want on your
>>>>generator, and
>>>>what do you wish you had on your serializer  --  would you like fries
>>>>too?"  Meaning I need ideas!
>>>>I'm on the fence,  I want some input.
>>>>
>>>>-Andy
>>>>
>>>>Sven Kuenzler wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>Is there an Excel Generator, which creates *from* an Excel
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>(xls) file
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
&

RE: Excel generator

[Geoff Howard]

Andy,

> >1) If you are serializing to some display format (html, pdf, 
> etc) you'd want
> >to reproduce the data and formatting as it would appear viewed in, or
> >printed from excel.
> >
> You can of course do an approximation of this in any format via a 
> stylesheet.  Granted it won't look *eactly* the same due to 
> differences 
> (HTML borders are vastly different from Excel's).  

Yes, and it may be good to provide a standard "out of the box" stylesheet
that does this.

> Yes so the question I guess is assuming you can transform it 
> via XSLT to 
> whatever you like given the effort.  What format (XML tag 
> format) makes 
> most since?  Preserving the gnumeric compatibility?  A custom format 
> that makes more sense?  Striving for Excel 2000 XML format 
> compatibility?  
> 
> Currently the serializer shares the gnumeric tag language.

I haven't been able to find the current gnumeric tag language documented
either at gnome.org, or at the poi site at jakarta.  If the new native Excel
format is great, that'd be worth considering, but I don't see much of a
reason that it would matter what the intermediate format is - you either
want to go from an excel spreadsheet or to an excel spreadsheet (or both),
but what it is in the middle doesn't matter much (except for those writing
any transformation process in the middle).  The only vote for the new native
excel xml would be that the total universe of people who will be familiar
with it will likely vastly out number those familiar with gnumeric.

Geoff

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RE: Excel generator

[Koen Pellegrims]

Personally, I think it makes most sense to use the Gnumeric format. Granted,
it is not the easiest format, but it allows you to express most anything you
have in your stylesheet.
I think that -at least in theory- the Generator, followed by the Serializer
should give you the same worksheet back...

IMHO it makes more sense to get aquinted well with one format (Gnumeric),
rather than constantly swapping between two different formats.

If we were to invent a new representation, it would probably come very close
to the Gnumeric format anyway...

Koen.

> -Oorspronkelijk bericht-
> Van: Andrew C. Oliver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Verzonden: dinsdag 23 juli 2002 19:18
> Aan: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Marc Johnson
> Onderwerp: Re: Excel generator
>
>
> Geoff Howard wrote:
>
> >Well, I'll make a stab at what I would think could be useful for
> a generator
> >from an excel file.  I can think of two logical directions
> people would want
> >to go.
> >
> >1) If you are serializing to some display format (html, pdf,
> etc) you'd want
> >to reproduce the data and formatting as it would appear viewed in, or
> >printed from excel.
> >
> You can of course do an approximation of this in any format via a
> stylesheet.  Granted it won't look *eactly* the same due to differences
> (HTML borders are vastly different from Excel's).
>
> >2) If you are using excel as a make-shift database, you would want to
> >preserve the data structure so that it can be transformed and acted on or
> >displayed.
> >
> >
> Yes.
>
> >I would assume that both of these uses could be accomplished by just
> >outputting the format that would have created the same style
> sheet to begin
> >with, except possibly for the option to output formula results instead of
> >the formulas.  Most users would assume the formats and behaviour
> to be close
> >to symetric - if start with an .xls file, run it through the
> generator and
> >serializer, I ought to wind up pretty close to where I started if not
> >exactly where I started.
> >
> >
> great.
>
> >Does that work for a discussion starter?
> >
> >
> Yes so the question I guess is assuming you can transform it via XSLT to
> whatever you like given the effort.  What format (XML tag format) makes
> most since?  Preserving the gnumeric compatibility?  A custom format
> that makes more sense?  Striving for Excel 2000 XML format
> compatibility?
>
> Currently the serializer shares the gnumeric tag language.
>
> -Andy
>
> >Geoff
> >
> >
> >
> >>-Original Message-
> >>From: Andrew C. Oliver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> >>Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 9:57 AM
> >>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >>Subject: Re: Excel generator
> >>
> >>
> >>But the more important part of my answer was "What do you
> >>want on your
> >>generator, and
> >>what do you wish you had on your serializer  --  would you like fries
> >>too?"  Meaning I need ideas!
> >>I'm on the fence,  I want some input.
> >>
> >>-Andy
> >>
> >>Sven Kuenzler wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>>>Is there an Excel Generator, which creates *from* an Excel
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>(xls) file
> >>
> >>
> >>>>some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
> >>>>documents into some useful XML?
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>I think the previous responses missed the *from* (my emphasis) :-)
> >>>So, read Andy's answer on the dev list. In short: No, there is no
> >>>HSSFGenerator (yet).
> >>>
> >>>Sven
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>-
> >>
> >>
> >>>Please check that your question  has not already been
> >>>
> >>>
> >>answered in the
> >>
> >>
> >>>FAQ before posting.
> >>>
> >>>
> >><http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/faq/index.html>
> >>
> >>
> >>>To unsubscribe, e-mail:
> >>>
> >>>
> >><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >>
> >>
> >>>For additional commands, e-mail:
> >>>
> >>>
> >><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >>
> 

Re: Excel generator

[Andrew C. Oliver]

Geoff Howard wrote:

>Well, I'll make a stab at what I would think could be useful for a generator
>from an excel file.  I can think of two logical directions people would want
>to go.
>
>1) If you are serializing to some display format (html, pdf, etc) you'd want
>to reproduce the data and formatting as it would appear viewed in, or
>printed from excel.
>
You can of course do an approximation of this in any format via a 
stylesheet.  Granted it won't look *eactly* the same due to differences 
(HTML borders are vastly different from Excel's).  

>2) If you are using excel as a make-shift database, you would want to
>preserve the data structure so that it can be transformed and acted on or
>displayed.
>  
>
Yes.

>I would assume that both of these uses could be accomplished by just
>outputting the format that would have created the same style sheet to begin
>with, except possibly for the option to output formula results instead of
>the formulas.  Most users would assume the formats and behaviour to be close
>to symetric - if start with an .xls file, run it through the generator and
>serializer, I ought to wind up pretty close to where I started if not
>exactly where I started.
>  
>
great.

>Does that work for a discussion starter?
>  
>
Yes so the question I guess is assuming you can transform it via XSLT to 
whatever you like given the effort.  What format (XML tag format) makes 
most since?  Preserving the gnumeric compatibility?  A custom format 
that makes more sense?  Striving for Excel 2000 XML format compatibility?  

Currently the serializer shares the gnumeric tag language.

-Andy

>Geoff
>
>  
>
>>-Original Message-
>>From: Andrew C. Oliver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>>Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 9:57 AM
>>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>Subject: Re: Excel generator
>>
>>
>>But the more important part of my answer was "What do you 
>>want on your 
>>generator, and
>>what do you wish you had on your serializer  --  would you like fries 
>>too?"  Meaning I need ideas!  
>>I'm on the fence,  I want some input.
>>
>>-Andy
>>
>>Sven Kuenzler wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>>Is there an Excel Generator, which creates *from* an Excel 
>>>>
>>>>
>>(xls) file
>>
>>
>>>>some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
>>>>documents into some useful XML?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>I think the previous responses missed the *from* (my emphasis) :-)
>>>So, read Andy's answer on the dev list. In short: No, there is no 
>>>HSSFGenerator (yet).
>>>
>>>Sven
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  
>>>
>>-
>>
>>
>>>Please check that your question  has not already been 
>>>  
>>>
>>answered in the
>>
>>
>>>FAQ before posting. 
>>>  
>>>
>><http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/faq/index.html>
>>
>>
>>>To unsubscribe, e-mail: 
>>>  
>>>
>><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>
>>
>>>For additional commands, e-mail:   
>>>  
>>>
>><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>
>>
>>>  
>>>
>>
>>
>>-
>>Please check that your question  has not already been answered in the
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>>
>>
>
>-
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>
>  
>




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RE: Excel generator

[Geoff Howard]

Well, I'll make a stab at what I would think could be useful for a generator
from an excel file.  I can think of two logical directions people would want
to go.

1) If you are serializing to some display format (html, pdf, etc) you'd want
to reproduce the data and formatting as it would appear viewed in, or
printed from excel.
2) If you are using excel as a make-shift database, you would want to
preserve the data structure so that it can be transformed and acted on or
displayed.

I would assume that both of these uses could be accomplished by just
outputting the format that would have created the same style sheet to begin
with, except possibly for the option to output formula results instead of
the formulas.  Most users would assume the formats and behaviour to be close
to symetric - if start with an .xls file, run it through the generator and
serializer, I ought to wind up pretty close to where I started if not
exactly where I started.

Does that work for a discussion starter?

Geoff

> -Original Message-
> From: Andrew C. Oliver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 9:57 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Excel generator
> 
> 
> But the more important part of my answer was "What do you 
> want on your 
> generator, and
> what do you wish you had on your serializer  --  would you like fries 
> too?"  Meaning I need ideas!  
> I'm on the fence,  I want some input.
> 
> -Andy
> 
> Sven Kuenzler wrote:
> 
> >> Is there an Excel Generator, which creates *from* an Excel 
> (xls) file
> >> some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
> >> documents into some useful XML?
> >
> >
> > I think the previous responses missed the *from* (my emphasis) :-)
> > So, read Andy's answer on the dev list. In short: No, there is no 
> > HSSFGenerator (yet).
> >
> > Sven
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 
> -
> > Please check that your question  has not already been 
> answered in the
> > FAQ before posting. 
> <http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/faq/index.html>
> >
> > To unsubscribe, e-mail: 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > For additional commands, e-mail:   
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -
> Please check that your question  has not already been answered in the
> FAQ before posting. <http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/faq/index.html>
> 
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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> 

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Re: Excel generator

[Andrew C. Oliver]

But the more important part of my answer was "What do you want on your 
generator, and
what do you wish you had on your serializer  --  would you like fries 
too?"  Meaning I need ideas!  
I'm on the fence,  I want some input.

-Andy

Sven Kuenzler wrote:

>> Is there an Excel Generator, which creates *from* an Excel (xls) file
>> some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
>> documents into some useful XML?
>
>
> I think the previous responses missed the *from* (my emphasis) :-)
> So, read Andy's answer on the dev list. In short: No, there is no 
> HSSFGenerator (yet).
>
> Sven
>
>
>
>
> -
> Please check that your question  has not already been answered in the
> FAQ before posting. <http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/faq/index.html>
>
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> For additional commands, e-mail:   <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>




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Re: Excel generator

[Sven Kuenzler]

> Is there an Excel Generator, which creates *from* an Excel (xls) file
> some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
> documents into some useful XML?

I think the previous responses missed the *from* (my emphasis) :-)
So, read Andy's answer on the dev list. In short: No, there is no 
HSSFGenerator (yet).

Sven




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Re: Excel generator

[Andrew C. Oliver]

Nicola Ken Barozzi wrote:

>
> Geoff Howard wrote:
>
>> I didn't think there was, but the POI site 
>> (http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/)
>> claims that there is, so you may want to check more carefully in 
>> scratchpad.
>> I assume you know about  the transformers and serializers for Excel 
>> format
>> using the POI/HSSF work from Apache Jakarta.  Using their work, it 
>> should be
>> fairly easy to create a generator if one doesn't already exist in
>> scratchpad.
>
>
> It's already in the core, and is also already in 2.0.3, with examples.
>
Wait I'm confused. Here I was posting a long old response about why I 
haven't done a
generator, and he meant serializer.doh.



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Re: Excel generator

[Nicola Ken Barozzi]

Geoff Howard wrote:
> I didn't think there was, but the POI site (http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/)
> claims that there is, so you may want to check more carefully in scratchpad.
> I assume you know about  the transformers and serializers for Excel format
> using the POI/HSSF work from Apache Jakarta.  Using their work, it should be
> fairly easy to create a generator if one doesn't already exist in
> scratchpad.

It's already in the core, and is also already in 2.0.3, with examples.

-- 
Nicola Ken Barozzi   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 - verba volant, scripta manent -
(discussions get forgotten, just code remains)
-


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RE: Excel generator

[Geoff Howard]

I didn't think there was, but the POI site (http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/)
claims that there is, so you may want to check more carefully in scratchpad.
I assume you know about  the transformers and serializers for Excel format
using the POI/HSSF work from Apache Jakarta.  Using their work, it should be
fairly easy to create a generator if one doesn't already exist in
scratchpad.

Geoff Howard

-Original Message-
From: Michael Wechner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 12:37 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Excel generator


Hi

Is there an Excel Generator, which creates from an Excel (xls) file
some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
documents into some useful XML?

Thanks  a lot

Michael


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Excel generator

[Michael Wechner]

Hi

Is there an Excel Generator, which creates from an Excel (xls) file
some XML? Or what approach would you take to convert existing Excel
documents into some useful XML?

Thanks  a lot

Michael


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