Description

spreadsheet - A package for generating MS Excel compatable files on
any platform.

Current version: 0.2.8
Based on version .26 of John McNamara's Perl module Spreadsheet::WriteExcel.

Synopsis

require "spreadsheet/excel"
include Spreadsheet

workbook = Excel.new("test.xls")

# There are three ways to create a format
format = workbook.add_format(:color=>"blue",:bold=>1,:underline=>1)

format2 = Format.new(
   :color     => "green",
   :bold      => true,
   :underline => true
)
workbook.add_format(format2)

format3 = Format.new{ |f|
   f.color = "red"
   f.bold  = true
   f.underline = true
}
workbook.add_format(format3)

worksheet1 = workbook.add_worksheet
worksheet2 = workbook.add_worksheet("Numbers")
worksheet3 = workbook.add_worksheet("Text")

worksheet1.write(0,0,"Hello",format)
worksheet1.write(1,1,["Matz","Larry","Guido"])

worksheet2.write(1,3,8876,format2)
worksheet2.write_column(4,4,[1,2,3])

worksheet3.write(2,2,"World",format3)
worksheet3.write(3,3,[[1,2,3],[4,5,6],[7,8,9]])

worksheet1.format_row(1,25,format1)
worksheet2.format_column(0..2,30,format2)

workbook.close

Constants

VERSION
The current version number (a string).

Classes

Excel

Excel.new(filename)
Returns a workbook object. You may only have one workbook per file. A ".xls" extension for your filename is recommended but not enforced.

Workbook

Workbook#add_worksheet(sheet_name)
Adds a worksheet to the workbook object. You may optionally pass a sheet name. Otherwise, it will default to 'Sheet1', 'Sheet2', etc. Returns a Worksheet instance.
Workbook#add_format(attributes/format_object)

Adds a Format to the workbook. When included as part of the 'write' method, the cells specified are formatted appropriately. Returns a Format instance.

See the synopsis above for different ways to add formats.

Workbook#close
Closes the workbook (and the file). Be sure to do this.

Worksheet

Worksheet#write(row,column,value,format=nil)

Writes data to the cell you provide. If value is an Array, the write_row method is called internally.

If value is a multi-dimensional array, then each element of the array is written within its own row at the appropriate column. In other words, it's written to the spreadsheet in the same manner you would visualize it.

If a format is provided, the cells are each formatted appropriately.

Worksheet#write_row(row,column,Array,format=nil)

Writes a row of data starting at row and column in a left to right manner, with one array element per cell.

Any formatting will be applied to each cell.

Worksheet#write_column(row,column,Array,format=nil)

Writes a column of data starting at row and column in a top to bottom manner, with one array element per cell.

Any formatting will be applied to each cell.

Worksheet#format_row(int/range,height=nil,format=nil)

Applies formatting for an entire row or range of rows. In addition, you can specify the row height. If you wish to apply row-level formatting without modifying the height, simply pass nil as the second argument.

Note that this will override any previously defined cell formatting.

Worksheet#format_column(int/range,width=nil,format=nil)

Applies formatting for an entire row or range of columns. In addition, you can specify the column width. If you wish to apply column-level formatting without modifying the width, simply pass nil as the second argument.

Note that this will override any previously defined cell formatting.

Format

Format.new({attributes})
Creates a new Format object. See the Format documentation for details.

Notes

This is a port of John McNamara's Spreadsheet::WriteExcel Perl module,
version .26. There is no support for formulas yet.

Design Changes

The only somewhat major change was to make OLEWriter a subclass of File,
rather than store a filehandle as an attribute within the class.  This
seems to have worked out fine.

The set_row() and set_column() methods were renamed as format_row()
and format_column(), respectively.  All other methods are either
identical in name or very similar.

Other changes consisted mostly of minor code optimizations.  Occasionally
I was more terse than John was (for better or for worse).

Questions

Questions about MS Excel should be directed to Microsoft.
Questions about the MS Excel format should be directed to Microsoft.
Questions about why I use the hex values that I use should be directed to
John McNamara (jmcnamara at cpan dot org) or to Microsoft.

Future Plans

Add support for files > 7MB - need help
Add formulas - need help
RDoc documentation

Thanks

Many thanks go to John McNamara for his tireless dedication to a very useful
and popular module.  I also thank him for taking the time to answer some of
the questions I had for him while porting his code.

License

Ruby's

Copyright

© 2002-2004, Daniel J. Berger

All Rights Reserved. This module is free software. It may be used,
redistributed and/or modified under the same terms as Ruby itself.

Warranty

This package is provided "as is" and without any express or
implied warranties, including, without limitation, the implied
warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.

Author

Daniel J. Berger
djberg96 at yahoo dot com
rubyhacker1/imperator on IRC