hi..

i have the next question:

i need to read an excel file (xls) using a C program. Is that possible?
how can i do that?

please, any idea
thanks

i am using C on Unix (Sun 5.7)
thanks.

just an FYI: catdoc

vgersh99:

i download the file , but i can´t install it
i copy the file and run INSTALL, but then i don´t know what to do...

pllease any idea
thanks

Unfortunately I personally have never had a need to do this myself - I just saved this url from one forums I frequent.

Bear in mind that the xls file will have number types encoded in a microsoft specific way, which you will need to the detail of. Not to mention a potential endian difference between your hardware platforms which you will also have to take into account.

Do you have control over how the file is saved? If you do, you might be better off requesting the Spreadsheet be saved as a CSV file.

A CSV file would be ASCII, with each column seaparted by a comma and each row on a single line (delimited by a carriage return).

A CSV file would be much easier for you to parse in a C program or scripting language. Although you will have to interpret string representations of numbers into their internal equivalent. e.g. string to integer type, or string to date type.

Don't forget that a text file originating from DOS will have newline and then control-m at the end-of each line. Unix does not require the control-m character, so any text files will have to be pre-processed in UNIX to remove the control-m characters from the end of each line.

Hope this helps

MBB

__________________
Senior Analyst/Programmer

thanks mbb and vgersh99 for your help
i'll try csv method.

thanks