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Server-side Excel

I made one of the Hands on Lab on server-side Excel.

Basically, using webservices you can create an instance of an Excel document in the server, set a cell with a specific value, and get the value of another one (you can do more than this, but that's the idea). So, if you want your end users to modify the way some calculations are made, they just need to update an Excel document, and your application will use it. You can see it as a business rules engine, even if it's not exactly the same.

If it scales, it will rock. I'm not sure if in the server it's calling COM code or pure managed code, but knowing the reputation of the Office team, I'd bet that they are calling COM code.

They also have a Excel->HTML/Javascript renderer. You can see an Excel document in the browser, with a UI similar to the real Excel. It looks that you cannot edit cells (at least it wasn't mentioned in the Lab), but you can specify values for specific named ranges. If you have a list with filters, you can also apply the filters in the html page. I'm not sure if it pivots or does graphics.

 

2 Comments

  • Any ideas on how it handles concurrency? Two people editing the same Excel doc? The same cell? One person working on a doc and another editing it?

  • Scott,



    I guess they create a new excel doc instance for each connection. Is not that you modify the file but the document in memory, and you can have multiple copies opened.



    AvanCode,



    I guess you don't need to install Excel but just the 'server side' Excel.



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