David wrote: > Getting info into MS-Excel has always been an issue - careful > use of the XML in U2 and MS-Excel may hold the key... > Mmmm, worthy of an article...
Karen wrote: > Have you tried importing the column as "text"? > Sometimes that works & sometimes it doesn't. Excel is a very > peculiar animal indeed. Folks, this is exactly why I created NebulaXLite. This new product allows developers to create real spreadsheets for Excel, Google, and OpenOffice, with full formatting, and without bothering with XML in Excel or U2 at all. NebulaXLite handles all of the XML complexities, so now getting info into MS-Excel is no longer the issue it has always been. Let's start by pulling CSV off the table. Ask your users what they do with the CSV files you give them, and how much time they spend formatting them afterward. If your users are just using the data to import into other sheets for pivot tables and charts, etc, then stick to the CSV files, they're easy and that's the proper solution for data-only requirements. If not, I invite you to download NebulaXLite and just look at the documentation and samples without even using it. Just know what's possible. NebulaXLite is completely free for non-production use and only $200 for an end-user server. How tough is that? To respond to the questions about zip codes: All you need to do is use Excel formatting with the code "00000". You can also treat the data as a string using a single quote. CSV may have a problem with this but NebulaXLite doesn't because you can format numeric data as being text. Excel does provide a friendly warning in the form of a cell comment when it finds a number that is being treated like text. The user can simply select 'Ignore Warning' to eliminate this. The next build of NebulaXLite will have a small enhancement to avoid the warning when the developer does this. I hope that helps to clarify that what used to be difficult is no longer difficult. It pains me to see so many people still going through these issues with CSV when it's no longer necessary, and still talking about how difficult this can all be. Kind regards, Tony Gravagno Nebula Research and Development remove.pleaseNebula-RnD.com/products/xlite.htm remove.pleaseNebula-RnD.com/forum TG@ we.really.don't.like.spamNebula-RnD.com ------- u2-users mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe please visit http://listserver.u2ug.org/
