Can I run an excel spreadsheet from Apache?

[Tarquin]

We have websites running under apache on Linux.
These websites need to accept data entry and then calculate and display results, this is currently done using a Linux app. Each website has a differently configured Linux app to produce the results.
The Linux app replicates a calculation defined in an excel spreadsheet (different spreadsheet for each website). The replication of the calc is becoming very tiresome and I would like to know of a mechanism that I could use which would allow me to do the following:

Take data entered on web page, pass it to relevant cells in excel and then take resulting contents of other cells and paste back on to web page.

 

[rycamor]

That sounds like a job better suited to a database and a small amount of server-side programming, using something like the PHP programming language (

http://www.php.net).

PHP is the most commonly used add-on to the Apache webserver these days, and it has methods for connecting to just about every kind of database software out there.

I'm sure with enough twists and turns you could eventually find a way for the webserver to "talk" directly to a spreadsheet, make calculations and update cells, but that is going to take a _lot_ more time than just to put the data in a database, and output the right web content via PHP programming. -------------------------------------------

Big Brother: "War is Peace" -- Big Business: "Trust is Suspicion"
(

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html)

 

[Tarquin]

Rycamore thanks for your response.

The Linux app we use is a RDBMS which in this situation holds some data for individuals and calculation parameters, which can change on a daily basis. The problem is that when the users log in to their website they have the option of running calculations and changing some of the parameters of the calcs at runtime.

The calculations are quite complex and hence the pain of recreating what has already been done (and is maintained by someone else) in Excel.

I'll have a look at PHP but it's new to me.

Thanks again for the pointer.

 

[mrregan]

hi,
this may be of some help

http://demo.softartisans.com/ExcelWriter/doc/intro/whatisexcelwriter.asp

 

[Tarquin]

Thanks

I think this is a step but it doesn't allow me to run the calc in excel.

This gets the variable data into the sheet but I then need to have a daemon running on a windows box to check if the spreadsheet has been modified and then run the calc if so.

I then need to get the result back to my web page.