XLS file-format

[Clouds®]

Ej,

Not really programming in Excel, so a little OT....

I'd like to create an Excel-file from within a little program I'm writing.
It has to export query-results to a file, readable for Excel.

Creating tsv or csv is not really an option, since I don't want to be
bothered with the import options when opening such files.

So now I need to know how xls-files are built, what info they contain etc.

Anyone got a hint where to find this info, if it is available at all?

Other suggestions are welcome too, workarounds are programmable too

TIA!

 

[Patrick Molloy]

saving as a CSV would not involve formats

However, you havent' said what language you are
programming in.

In VB6, VB.Net set a reference to the MS Excel Objects
Library. Having done so yuo can instantaite the
application, ad a workbook, popu;ate teh sheets etc and
save the workbook.

Without knowing what you're intending, its a tough
question. However, you can examine the object model in
the object browser.

Patrick Molloy
Microsoft Excel MVP

 

[Clouds®]

However, you havent' said what language you are
programming in.

Using Delphi 5...but the program is a plugin for a third-party app, and
hence subject to limitations...

Without knowing what you're intending, its a tough
question. However, you can examine the object model in
the object browser.

The third-party app queries a database and returns an array with the
results. This array should be saved in xls-format. I can have my plugin
iterate through all records and rows, and doing that should result in the
code to write the xls-file.

Already found some information on the format,
http://sc.openoffice.org/excelfileformat.pdf
Now looking in Delphi for built-in Excel-functions....I'm not a very
experienced programmer

 

[Tim Williams]

You could try writing out the data as an HTML table in plain text and saving
the file with an xls extension. Should be OK with xl97+.

You can use css formatting to tart it up.

Tim