Visual Basic/VB, Reports Created in MS Excel

Reports Created in MS Excel

Author	Message
LR #1 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel Hello All, We're just looking into options for creating report output for our application. We've used Crystal before and found limitations, so have taken to writing reports direclty into MS Excel, (add in DLL, and create sheet and data via direct code) and it appears to be working just fine so far. I was just curious if anyone else has taken this approach and if it's worked well for them. Thanks & all the best, LR
Sun, 13 May 2012 10:54:36 GMT

bart.smissa.. #2 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel Quote: > Hello All, > ? We're just looking into options for creating report output for our > application. ?We've used Crystal before and found limitations, so have taken > to writing reports direclty into MS Excel, (add in DLL, and create sheet and > data via direct code) and it appears to be working just fine so far. ?I was > just curious if anyone else has taken this approach and if it's worked well > for them. > Thanks & all the best, > ? LR Yes, works very well. Not using BIFF though. Are you? RBS
Sun, 13 May 2012 17:09:41 GMT

Ed. #3 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel Hello, Not sure what BIFF is to tell you the truth. We're simply referencing the DLL and using it's classes/functions/methods to create sheets with vb code, very much like when doing it within Excel with VBA. Thanks - L Quote: > Hello All, > We're just looking into options for creating report output for our > application. We've used Crystal before and found limitations, so have > taken > to writing reports direclty into MS Excel, (add in DLL, and create sheet > and > data via direct code) and it appears to be working just fine so far. I was > just curious if anyone else has taken this approach and if it's worked > well > for them. > Thanks & all the best, > LR Yes, works very well. Not using BIFF though. Are you? RBS
Sun, 13 May 2012 17:29:52 GMT

bart.smissa.. #4 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel Quote: > Hello, > ?Not sure what BIFF is to tell you the truth. ?We're simply referencing the > DLL and using it's classes/functions/methods to create sheets with vb code, > very much like when doing it within Excel with VBA. > Thanks - L > > Hello All, > > We're just looking into options for creating report output for our > > application. We've used Crystal before and found limitations, so have > > taken > > to writing reports direclty into MS Excel, (add in DLL, and create sheet > > and > > data via direct code) and it appears to be working just fine so far. I was > > just curious if anyone else has taken this approach and if it's worked > > well > > for them. > > Thanks & all the best, > > LR > Yes, works very well. > Not using BIFF though. Are you? > RBS OK, works well for you, works well for me. RBS
Sun, 13 May 2012 17:48:26 GMT

Jeff Johnso #5 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel Quote: > Not sure what BIFF is to tell you the truth. For reference, it's an older Excel format. It doesn't support nearly as many options as today's Excel formats do.
Sun, 13 May 2012 22:58:23 GMT

RB Smissaer #6 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel With BIFF I meant to say writing an Excel workbook directly with the native Excel file format, rather than via COM automation. The current format is I think BIFF8 or BIFF9. I thought the OP might be doing that as he mentioned the word: directly. He is not doing this, so all this doesn't apply. RBS Quote: >> Not sure what BIFF is to tell you the truth. > For reference, it's an older Excel format. It doesn't support nearly as > many options as today's Excel formats do.
Sun, 13 May 2012 23:37:08 GMT

Ralp #7 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel Quote: > With BIFF I meant to say writing an Excel workbook directly with the native > Excel file format, > rather than via COM automation. The current format is I think BIFF8 or > BIFF9. > I thought the OP might be doing that as he mentioned the word: directly. > He is not doing this, so all this doesn't apply. And if the OP is thinking of this as an option he should be made aware that writing raw BIFF from scratch is like kicking a dead whale down the beach with your bare feet. There are various libraries available and the OP can write his own to make the process easier, but by the time he is done he will have wasted enough dollars and manhours to have bought the most expensive report generator out there. <g> -ralph
Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:37 GMT

Ralp #8 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel Quote: > Hello All, > We're just looking into options for creating report output for our > application. We've used Crystal before and found limitations, so have taken > to writing reports direclty into MS Excel, (add in DLL, and create sheet and > data via direct code) and it appears to be working just fine so far. I was > just curious if anyone else has taken this approach and if it's worked well > for them. It is interesting to see to "limitations" applied to Crystal Reports. Crystal has evolved into an awesome full-featured bloated product, unless of course the "limitations" apply to it being an awesome full-featured bloated product. <g> The key to looking for an alternative report generator - beyond the obvious support for the presenation format you need - is the intermediate, or report definition language/s it supports. On the long haul employees will spend an inordinate amount of time fooling around with a RDL. Supporting multiple RDLs gets expensive, so try to limit all that training and trial 'n error to one or two. Report generators are pricey so look for a product that can meet the needs of your enterprise as a whole. If your end-users are Office users, then sticking to Office solutions makes a great deal of sense. In fact, through the years I've seen a ton of stand-alone business applications that ultimately fed their output to Office apps, that could have been more easily developed, managed, and maintained, if 'written' in Office in the first place - using macros and Addins. -ralph [idle thoughts while on holiday]
Sun, 13 May 2012 23:49:49 GMT

Jeff Johnso #9 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel Quote: > With BIFF I meant to say writing an Excel workbook directly with the > native Excel file format, > rather than via COM automation. The current format is I think BIFF8 or > BIFF9. > I thought the OP might be doing that as he mentioned the word: directly. > He is not doing this, so all this doesn't apply. I can't imagine how anyone could write this "directly" since as far as I knew the format wasn't documented (other than the old version I mentioned). The various flavors of XML are documented, though.
Mon, 14 May 2012 00:05:52 GMT

RB Smissaer #10 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel I did think it was unlikely the OP was doing that, but thought it was worth to make sure. There are some .dll's around that allow this, but I don't think any free ones that do this well. RBS Quote: >> With BIFF I meant to say writing an Excel workbook directly with the >> native Excel file format, >> rather than via COM automation. The current format is I think BIFF8 or >> BIFF9. >> I thought the OP might be doing that as he mentioned the word: directly. >> He is not doing this, so all this doesn't apply. > I can't imagine how anyone could write this "directly" since as far as I > knew the format wasn't documented (other than the old version I > mentioned). The various flavors of XML are documented, though.
Mon, 14 May 2012 00:16:59 GMT

Ralp #11 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel Quote: > > With BIFF I meant to say writing an Excel workbook directly with the > > native Excel file format, > > rather than via COM automation. The current format is I think BIFF8 or > > BIFF9. > > I thought the OP might be doing that as he mentioned the word: directly. > > He is not doing this, so all this doesn't apply. > I can't imagine how anyone could write this "directly" since as far as I > knew the format wasn't documented (other than the old version I mentioned). > The various flavors of XML are documented, though. BIFF3 IIRC was the last 'formally' documented with examples, but that URL appears to be missing now. Following versions are not documented, but not necessarily unknown. You can write a BIFF3 file containing data and simple formats, tweak it to look like BIFF5, and it can be read by all later versions of Excel. But why on earth anyone would feel the need to do that, compared to creating a DIFF, CVS, or XML file is pure insanity. (I'm associated with a programmer who did just that to satisfy the whim of a pointed-haired boss. He did it, but the pay wasn't nearly enough.) -ralph
Mon, 14 May 2012 00:33:55 GMT

RB Smissaer #12 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel Quote: > But why on earth anyone would feel the need to do that, compared to > creating a DIFF, > CVS, or XML file is pure insanity. Not completely. Writing directly to the file is fast. As you say, the trouble is there is no easy way to do it. RBS Not Quote: >> > With BIFF I meant to say writing an Excel workbook directly with the >> > native Excel file format, >> > rather than via COM automation. The current format is I think BIFF8 or >> > BIFF9. >> > I thought the OP might be doing that as he mentioned the word: >> > directly. >> > He is not doing this, so all this doesn't apply. >> I can't imagine how anyone could write this "directly" since as far as I >> knew the format wasn't documented (other than the old version I > mentioned). >> The various flavors of XML are documented, though. > BIFF3 IIRC was the last 'formally' documented with examples, but that URL > appears to be missing now. Following versions are not documented, but not > necessarily unknown. > You can write a BIFF3 file containing data and simple formats, tweak it to > look like BIFF5, and it can be read by all later versions of Excel. But > why > on earth anyone would feel the need to do that, compared to creating a > DIFF, > CVS, or XML file is pure insanity. > (I'm associated with a programmer who did just that to satisfy the whim of > a > pointed-haired boss. He did it, but the pay wasn't nearly enough.) > -ralph
Mon, 14 May 2012 00:51:21 GMT

Ralp #13 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel Quote: > > But why on earth anyone would feel the need to do that, compared to > > creating a DIFF, > > CVS, or XML file is pure insanity. > Not completely. Writing directly to the file is fast. > As you say, the trouble is there is no easy way to do it. 'Speed' is a consideration. A search for 'speed' is exactly why I ... ahhh, this friend of mine, got roped into such a project in the first place. When all was said and done we beat automation and dom by factors of three and four times faster. The advantage was less when compared to an Office solution, but still quicker. The speed advantage only started to pay off when importing massive amounts of data. The final solution in this particular case was to simply limit the amount of data needed at one time. <g> But we got off course a bit. The poor OP is only interested in confirmation that using Excel as a report generator is "OK". Surprising there has not been a VSTO suggestion yet. <g> -ralph
Mon, 14 May 2012 01:23:25 GMT

Peter #14 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel Quote: >> With BIFF I meant to say writing an Excel workbook directly with the >> native Excel file format, >> rather than via COM automation. The current format is I think BIFF8 or >> BIFF9. >> I thought the OP might be doing that as he mentioned the word: directly. >> He is not doing this, so all this doesn't apply. > I can't imagine how anyone could write this "directly" since as far as I > knew the format wasn't documented (other than the old version I > mentioned). The various flavors of XML are documented, though. BIFF, Excel Binary File Format (normally BIFF8) has been pretty well documented for a long time by OpenOffice.org, search "excelfileformat.pdf". But last year MS finally 'outed' and fully documented all of Office, start here - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc313118.aspx The Excel [MS-XLS].pdf is over 1000 pages and covers all of 97-2007. FWIW there's also [MS-OVBA].pdf, all about VBA. Main reasons people make use of BIFF are speed (create from scratch, read/write Excel files), and as an alternative for the need to have Excel installed. There are some VB6 projects out there but commercially most use other languages. Regards, Peter T
Mon, 14 May 2012 06:45:50 GMT

Peter #15 / 21	Reports Created in MS Excel Quote: > BIFF, Excel Binary File Format (normally BIFF8) has been pretty well > documented for a long time by OpenOffice.org, search > "excelfileformat.pdf". But last year MS finally 'outed' and fully > documented all of Office, start here - > http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc313118.aspx > The Excel [MS-XLS].pdf is over 1000 pages and covers all of 97-2007. FWIW > there's also [MS-OVBA].pdf, all about VBA. Another one, "provided under the Microsoft Open Specification Promise" Excel97-2007BinaryFileFormat(xls)Specification.pdf Peter T
Mon, 14 May 2012 06:56:25 GMT

Page 1 of 2

[ 21 post ]

Go to page: [1] [2]