[Zope-CMF] xls File Writer!

[Ibrahim Mubarak]

Hi,

I am looking for a product that can help me write excel spreed sheets (xls, and I fear that the
files can't be XML, or any other format :( ) from zope. I am running a Plone intranet site on Zope
2.6.1 with python 2.1 on a Win32 box. The ideal solution would be one that would also work under
Linux as there are plans to move the server to a Linux box soon enough.

I looked at the COMObject product that seemed cool, but it is of no help as it only works on Win32
because it uses the win32com library. Also, the server only has OOo (OpenOffice.org).

I also looked at the new python-UNO bridge for OOo, which is essentially just like COM for MS
Office. It is of no help either. If I understand correctly, OOo needs to be running all the time
(as I have no idea when the script will be called from zope). Also, the server (Win2k) often runs
without anyone being logged on it, which would require OOo to run as a service. This involves too
much overhead to be an acceptable solution. I am not even sure if OOo can run as a service anyway.

I read somewhere that there is a Java library to manipulate xls files. It is called HSSF (Horrible
Spread Sheet Format). You can see it @ http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/hssf/index.html

I also read about PHP being able to do that @
http://devel.akbkhome.com/livedocs/livedoc.php?q=package.fileformats.spreadsheet-excel-writer

But I am looking for a Zope or Python solution.
I looked just about everywhere I can think of: Zope.org/Products/, The Collective, SourceForge,
starship.python.net, python.org (not much help there), Google, etc... but no luck. Did I miss a
product somewhere that is right under my eyes? Or is there really no such product or tool?

Thanks in advance,
Ibrahim

PS: I am also going to post a similar question on comp.lang.python!

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