Excel app for PPC

[yui79]

Hi,

I have a VBA GUI that is used to enter data into an Excel spread sheet. I would like to run this on a PPC (PPC2003), but macros/VBA are not supported in the scaled down PPC excel.

My question is:

Does anyone know how many of the excel functions are available when writing in .net for PPC? Most importantly, I need to be able to open a PPC excel file, navigate the spreadsheet, write to given cells, find cells containing specific text and save the file.

I have written in VB .net previously, am I best to stick to this and buy the appropriate software to write for PPC, or is there something free that will do the same thing?

Thanks for your help!

[petevick]

Hi,
Pocket Excel does not expose an interface, so cannot be programmed in this way. Your only way would be to use the pxl file structure, and try and do it that way (not easy).

I have attached the PXL file layout

Pete

[yui79]

Thanks Pete,

Well that is a pity.

Excuse my ignorance/stupidity, but given the reasonable computing power of the modern PPCs, why cant microsoft make a full blown (or near to it) version of excell available? It would make life a lot easier

Cheers
Yui

[Shaggy Hiker]

Heck, you don't get a full blown version of anything on the PPC, not even .NET.

I'm not sure how easy or difficult this would be, but I would try getting around your issues with a datagrid. After all, you can make a datagrid look pretty similar to a spreadsheet, and nothing is going to look all that much like a desktop system anyways. You could use this to enter data into cells, then move that database into a SQLCE database, then export it via XML to a desktop. I believe you can move XML into Excel, though I have never done it.

Entering data into a spreadsheet on a PDA is painful. I use a technique similar to what I describe above, except that when the user clicks on a cell, they are taken to a form specific for entering the data in that cell (or more than one cell at a time). This all stores in a DB, and I don't deal with Excel, but the same sort of technique might be worth exploring for your needs. That would give you all the functionality of the .NET CF, rather than just pocket Excel, which will be painful anyways.