VenEx wants to create an Interactive tool on WIX or any other no code web platform. We would like users to input 6 params on the website, connect the website to an Excel spreadsheet that does the calculation & displays graphs/output back on the website. Pls. Advise
The proper way to do this in Wix would be to use Velo, which requires a bit of coding. But, you won't need to use the spreadsheet because you can write the calculation logic into the site itself.
Related
I am trying to create a data entry "app" to collect daily readings across our site. Here are the three biggest constraints:
Software - ideally, we would use some software within the Microsoft 365 Suite, mainly because those are the only approved apps on site. It may be possible to use open source software, but that might raise some flags in terms of security. So my thoughts are to use either Excel or Access.
Cost - ideally, we do not want purchase any additional software licenses. I would try and create something with Power Apps, but we do not have the licensing for an Azure or SQL server to store the data. I could be missing something here though.
Mobile-Friendly - finally, it needs to work on an Android tablet. Currently, we collect readings using pen and paper. The whole idea of this is to move towards using a tablet.
The easiest approach would be to create an Excel spreadsheet, save it on OneDrive, and edit the spreadsheet. I don't love this option because we are collecting 100's of data points each day. This would end up with a very wide spreadsheet that will be cumbersome to navigate.
The other option I looked into was creating an Access database and accompanying form and storing it on SharePoint. However, it seems Microsoft has stopped supporting Access databases on SharePoint.
I have created data entry forms using VBA, similar to this, but these do not work on mobile.
Is it possible to create a data entry form in Excel that also works on the Android version of Excel? Are there other alternatives I am not thinking of?
I am engaged in just this kind of project also. I have written an app in PowerApps, built an Excel spreadsheet and stored it in OneDrive, and am running it (the app) on an iPad. The design differs somewhat from your description of directly presenting a spreadsheet to the user (which I think PowerApps could do) because I don't want users having direct access to the data.
Edit: You do not need Azure or SQL, unless you are storing tons of data. Excel can be a satisfactory data storage location for modest uses.
I found the learning curve for PowerApps to be quite steep, as it's a different paradigm than line-by-line coding.
I think this is a more user friendly way to collect data than trying to run an Excel form, and once you get it made and polished, you'll look like a pro :)
I am by no means an expert but if you need some tips I'll do what I can to help. It sounds like we are at similar developmental stages.
Is it possible to create a data entry form in Excel that also works on the Android version of Excel? Are there other alternatives I am not thinking of?
Microsoft Forms does the job when created from OneDrive on mobile browser. Side note: the form I just created and the response I submitted have now disappeared from my OneDrive.
I also saw some people using Power Automate to save responses from a form into an Excel file (every reponse).
I am trying to create a solution in SharePoint 365 (I am new in SharePoint). Below is what I am looking for:
1. A user logs in and opens a form which they fill details and forwards/submits to the supervisor for approval. There are about 20 fields to be filled
2. Once approved, a certificate, preferably in PDF, is generated based on the details entered by the user.
3. The 20 fields are made available for download in Excel whereby the 20 rows form 20 columns in the Excel.
I am not sure if SharePoint with designer or Infopath can accomplish this.
Hope you can assist me to know if this is possible and what extra tools I may need on top of SharePoint.
Your questions is very generic, it might be flagged by some moderator later. Anyway... for SharePoint Online (not SharePoint 365), you will need to write your solution using the SharePoint Framework (SPFx), to achieve this you will need to familiarize yourself with TypeScript, NPM, GULP, Yeoman Generator, React JS, and a to some degree of JavaScript.
The other possible way is to familiarize yourself with the Office 365 architecture, this options might be limited to fully achieve your goals but might be the best option if you are not a developer.
Basically you will need to create a "workflow", you can create using Flow (when a list item is submitted), inside the Flow you will read the fields submitted and send for user manager's approval (reading the property from user profile), and once the "workflow" is approved, you can capture the data, and send to Excel (you can even specify to which Excel flavor you want: Excel Online - Business, Excel Online - OneDrive, or simply Excel).
Once your Flow adds the information your target (Excel file), you add a new step in your Flow to use the "Adobe Sign" to use the create a certificate - you can use this step to get a document from an signed agreement or any other you find suitable there
You have the hard way by coding through SPFx or making your way through Flow (the easy way), it is now up to you, go with Flow, you will achieve this in probably a couple of hours.
Wanted some opinions on which method is a better practice. We have a sales report that MUST be generated in a very specific format (down to the row colors and fonts).
I already have written a macro which pulls from our database and populates the entire workbook in about 15 seconds. The question is how should it be populated?
1) Process server-side: Users initiate the request on the intranet page. ASP.NET opens the workbook template, executes the macro and serves back the final sheet.
2) Process locally: Users download the blank template, run from their desktops which automatically connect to the database.
I like the first one because I can enforce the template, timing, users, and security of the data. But is running Excel automation on an internet web server recommended? I like the second option, but I'm afraid of losing standardization as template sheets begin floating around the company.
As for server side:
I highly.. HIGHLY.. recommend checking out the OpenOffice/LibreOffice XML format for spread sheets.
You can use the localc binary in headless mode to convert the XML file to XLSX or what have you. I use it to create PDF files instead of using ReportLab.
Alternatively here are some other projects that attempt to write to Microsoft formats directly:
http://pypi.python.org/pypi/xlrd
http://pypi.python.org/pypi/xlwt
As for client side:
If you expect the user to be only using Excel and not any other spreadsheet software then go ahead and use an ODBC data source. ODBC will have to be configured per user unless you use some fun VBScript to pull the data from an HTTP server every time it is loaded. There is also the option of making an XLS spreadsheet that simply holds the data and including it into an XLS document as well which would be both a server and client XLS requirement.
Go for server side. Makes information simple to archive and share and will most likely be multi-platform as well.
If you like to use your first option, then you want to avoid using VBA on an installed instance of Excel on the server. This is extremely resource intensive and does not scale well. Instead, if you are writing ASP.NET code, then you should try using the Microsoft Office Interop functionality that is built into the .NET framework. It should possible to adapt your existing VBA code to run under ASP.NET with some changes, but you will have a much more reliable product in the end.
Example Code
However, as #whardier points out in his response, if this were for a large scale or public site, the suggestions he makes would be much more suitable and would scale much further.
I am trying every option to show List data on a web part and web user control, but I am not finding any code examples on this. What namespace should I import?
I am using WSS 3.0 and I will later upgrade to MOSS 2007. I am aware of the SmartPart project and I can use it in my environment.
Thank you very much for your help.
You should first look at the Data View Web Part (DVWP) to see if that will fit your needs. With some XLST/JavaScript you can get very creative with this.
Data View Web Part Basics
Otherwise you need to understand two things :-
Creating a Basic web part
This is for VS2010/SharePoint 2010 but you will find similar walkthroughs for other versions such as :-
http://www.codeguru.com/csharp/.net/net_asp/webforms/article.php/c12293/
http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/kmcgrath/Creating-a-Web-Part-for-SharePoint-by-Using-a-Designer/
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/sharepoint/Generic_Webparts.aspx
Accessing SharePoint List data
Then once you've got your basic web part you need to know how to use the object model to open a list and iterate through the items in a list to display the data in whatever funky way you want.
Accessing list items
I've inherited a large Excel spreadsheet that does some financial calculation magic using any number of simulation tables, and have been asked to write a web application as a front end. Now I could spend endless hours trying to figure out the sheet, or I could call the excel sheet from my web app. I seem to need the Office Primary Interop Assemblies, but do I also need to install office/excel on the web server? How can I handle multiple simultaneous requests to the same sheet? Is this approach even possible?
We have implement a project where we call several Excel spreadsheets from a web app.
We use Sharepoint Excel Services to do this. It has worked very well for us.
In our case our largest spreadsheet has over 300 input parameters, 1000 formuals and 50 results. This takes about 0.5 seconds, where most of that time is moving data in and out of excel services via a web service.
The main draw back in using Sharepoint Excel Services is the cost. However, in our case the saving in development time far out weighed the cost.
Excel is a desktop Application (and a very good one) and not designed for either multiple users or deployment in a web application. You might be able to cobble something together but you are likely to have to write a lot of code to manage the design features of a desktop app which are inadequacies in a web app.
You are better off trying to understand what the Excel workbook is doing and simulating it in code with the desired multi-user features in mind which must have been beneath the request for a web app. If you have access to the current users and/or author you should be able to document the requirement and you have the Excel workbook for you to test your algorithm against once you have understood it.
Best of luck.
Take a look at SpreadsheetGear. Ordinarily it is used to generate new spreadsheets, but it has a calculation engine for existing spreadsheets too. And unlike Excel, it was designed for a server environment.
Spreadsheet Gear
You can try SmartXLS for .net,it has a calculation engine for Excel workbook,it does not depend on Excel.
Not sure if this is appropriate to your task, but could you not import it into Google Spreadsheets to make it multi-user? If it is really complicated then I shouldn't think this will work, but might be worth a try.