Re:Why are the Microsoft Office file formats so complicated?...
by mistermann on Sunday September 11, 2016 @12:27AM
(#12472012)
Can't you just write it as a Windows service then and use some sort of an asynchronous queue (like a file folder)?
Re:Why are the Microsoft Office file formats so complicated?...
by rbag on Sunday September 11, 2016 @12:55AM
(#12472060)
Worked with this kind of tech for a few years... And trash it to go with Aspose components.
It's slow, and really hard to debug when it's not working (not only pdf output but merge fields).
Re:Why are the Microsoft Office file formats so complicated?...
by teh_klev on Sunday September 11, 2016 @02:07PM
(#12474692)
Aspose is a complete no brainer, yet so many clients complain about the extra cost. Somehow they don't see the hours of their own time debugging this stuff as invariably costing far more.
Re:Why are the Microsoft Office file formats so complicated?...
by intrasight on Sunday September 11, 2016 @12:27PM
(#12474104)
Close. You don't even need a Windows service. Just us a serialized queue using MSMQ. Write the queue listener in Javascript and register with COM+. Excel automation on the server is easy if you do it right, and impossible if you do it wrong.
Re:Why are the Microsoft Office file formats so complicated?...
by teh_klev on Sunday September 11, 2016 @02:17PM
(#12474747)
Most of the devs I've encountered over the years who want to use Excel server side have never heard of queuing.
> Just us a serialized queue using MSMQ. Write the queue listener in Javascript and register with COM+.
Sure, but now you have MSMQ and COM+ to deal with...and debugging/fixing when it breaks (under load), or isn't secured properly.
The smart folks shell out for a copy of Aspose Cells and get the job finished on time.
Re:Why are the Microsoft Office file formats so complicated?...
by intrasight on Sunday September 11, 2016 @10:03PM
(#12476757)
Subsequent to my MSMQ approach, I did a project with Aspose. It's a pretty good toolkit, and I would recommend it over the MSMQ/COM+ complexity - Unless you absolutely have to automate Office, which is sometimes true.
On more recent projects in last ~12 months, I have used OpenXML.
Re:Why are the Microsoft Office file formats so complicated?...
by ourmandave on Sunday September 11, 2016 @01:14AM
(#12472092)
I use Java RMI to connect AIX to W2K3 running a service that uses Jacob COM to call Excel. It reads a CSV file off a Samba share on the AIX box and saves back an XLS.
The lock file is on the AIX side because Win files aren't atomic.
It's a bit Rube Goldberg-ish and has low traffic, but it's rock solid.
Re:Why are the Microsoft Office file formats so complicated?...
by taspeotis on Sunday September 11, 2016 @02:02AM
(#12472194)
That seems ... unnecessary. CSV and XLS parsing are built into Windows.
https://www.connectionstrings.com/microsoft-jet-ole-db-4-0/s...
https://www.connectionstrings.com/microsoft-text-odbc-driver...
The problem for web apps (for example written in Classic ASP or ASP.NET) is that each request can create its own instance of Excel, and if the request that did this didn't complete and cleanly close down Excel then you end up with loads of orphaned Excel instances lurking in the background. When this happens eventually the web server runs out of memory.
Excel is definitely not intended for this type of use. Some people get lucky because they know what they're doing, 99% of the rest should just stay away.