I am trying to use Excel on the Intranet

[BLewisSSA]

I am trying to use an excel spreadsheet on the intranet to display important company information and it is running to slow. I thought about coding the information into a table but then it would be more difficult for a client to update. What is the best way to put this on the web with out it running slowly? I am going to put this on a couple of the other forums because I don't know the best place to put it. Brad Lewis

It is in moments of decision that our destiny is forged.

 

[Guest_imported]

Have you thought about using an ODBC connection to the spreadsheet and having it display in a dynamic web page?

 

[BLewisSSA]

No I didn't think about that. I haven't done a lot with ODBC. How would I go about doing that? Brad Lewis

It is in moments of decision that our destiny is forged.

 

[GUJUm0deL]

One way is to use coldfusion...
Just upload the file (pref. Access) and then create the .cfm file...
Its basicaly verry easy, the only trouble is convert the excell to access... I have not failed; I merely found 100,000 different ways of not succeding...

 

[gerrygerry]

There are several perl scripts available that will convert your excel sperad sheet to an html table on the fly. This is the best way to do it. -gerrygerry
Go To

http://quickfreewebsite.com!

 

[matc]

Gerrygerry is right and it would probably be good to look at that more time then any other method.. We use it where I work and it works like a dream.
All you have to do is select the updated cell you wish to publish and amend the pI code pointing to it.. very, very cool method..

 

[BLewisSSA]

I have just been notified of a new twist. The client is using FrontPage and doesn't have any web experience. Is there still a way to do it? Brad Lewis

It is in moments of decision that our destiny is forged.

 

[gerrygerry]

A good perl script should still be able to do it! -gerrygerry
Go To

http://quickfreewebsite.com!

 

[BLewisSSA]

I have passed along every tip I have received and every time I do management gives me one more little piece of information they forgot to mention. The entire thing is being put together by the client and they do not want us to have to do any coding. I don't think there is anything left that could help but I am pretty desperate. Do you have any other ideas? Brad Lewis

It is in moments of decision that our destiny is forged.

 

[Guest_imported]

What is the perl script?

 

[gerrygerry]

"What is a Perl script", or "where is the Perl script"?

A1: A powerful server-side interpreted language primarily used to develop dynamic web content and network administration.

A2: I dunno... I haven't seen any good free ones. You can get a module from CPAN though. -gerrygerry
Go To

http://quickfreewebsite.com!

 

[Guest_imported]

I never used perl, all I know is html, CSS, and some javascript (im trying to learn ASP). IS there anyway I can do this without knowing perl?

 

[gerrygerry]

I dunno much about ASP, but I'm sure that there is some sort of module or something to work with excel files. Perl is your best bet, but it'll be pretty complicated if you can do it at all.

Perhaps (i assume you're on a windows server) you could run a batch file to re-generate the html table from excel whenever someone requests the page? This would be a good way to do it. -gerrygerry
Go To

http://quickfreewebsite.com!

 

[Guest_imported]

I use windows, what do you mea batch file?

 

[gerrygerry]

a .bat file -> it automates command line interface stuff.

a vbscript file is also a probability.

neither of these are very quick, but they'd get the job done for you. how much traffic is there on your site? how frequently does this excel file get updated? -gerrygerry
Go To

http://quickfreewebsite.com!

 

[xso]

Hi BlewisSSA,

There is an easy way to do it provided you know a little bit about MS Macros. I know the trick because we use it where I work ;->

You can create a template (.htx) that will update a simple html page, with the table you want to use (from Excel). Within the <td>, you will not put any real figures but variables that will be used as placeholders for the values from the Excel sheet.

In Excel, you will create a Macro that will associate the value of a cell with one of the variables defined in the htx file. When you run the macro, the value will be replaced in the html page. Each time the spreadsheet is updated, you may run the macro and the html table will be updated.

I think that you will be able to find additional information on the microsoft web site. In case you don't and still wanna give it a try, please post again and I will send you some sample code on Monday (I don't have it at home).

I hope this helps a bit.

Cheers,

xso

 

[CliveC]

Excell has an option to save as HTML. Or am I missing something in your question?

 

[gerrygerry]

The idea is to automate it. -gerrygerry
Go To

http://quickfreewebsite.com!

 

[xso]

Hi CliveC,

You're right. You can save from Excel to html, in the same way you can from Word. But the html code that comes out from the process is, well, Microsoft personal view of html ;-> As I always do all my coding by hand, with HomeSite (I first begun with Notepad ;->), there is nothing I hate more than cleaning dirty code (even if you have the satisfaction to have reduced the file size by 40% ;->)... That's why we have implemented the htx solution I descibed above in the Office. I hope this clarifies my previous post.

Cheers,

xso

 

[CliveC]

Maybe I misunderstood the question but I think that BLewis is saying that the client is running the .xls directly in the browser and that it runs slowly. Perhaps he could clarify.