Reading an Excel Sheet.

[Petrus Vorster]

Hi All

I need to be able to read an Excel file as a source for a long list of numbers into a Winfbx application.

It will be just one long column.

Would it be easier to let them save it in CSV?
As far as I understand, the CSV is almost like a normal text file.

Do we read a CSV the same as a normal input file?
Should I use Line Input with a CWSTR or are the variable is a CSV normal strings?

Thanks - Peter

[philbar]

Hi Peter,

Yes! You'll save an enormous amount of trouble if you save spreadsheets as CSV files.

A CSV file is a normal text file with, ahem, Comma-Separated Values. Each row in the spreadsheet is one line in the text file, with the fields separated by commas (optionally by TABs or something else). Text fields are enclosed in quotes, numbers are written as they stand. If the spreadsheet consists of one long column, the CSV will consist of one value per line, all the way down.

As for which kind of string to use, it depends on how the sheet was saved. If it was saved as UTF-16, then it's using wide characters, and CWSTRs are appropriate. If it was saved as UTF-8 or any of 20 or so other code pages, then it's using single-byte characters and regular STRINGs are right. Stick to one or the other.

Phil

[Frank Bruebach]

Hello Peter do you are using an extern library Like libxl.dll  libcl.bi ?
Much Work to adept I think or use a Parser perhaps or write an own little freebasic example how to load a few amount of Data (my Idea I would prefer)... and then Look at more Help Here at the Board ;-) ? If I know more I will Tell you don't have tried working with Excel files

Good Luck, Frank

[Frank Bruebach]

Here is a simple Code example :

Code Select Expand

' use and include the libcl.bi library

#Include "libcl.bi"

' Initialize the library
cl_init()

' Open the Excel file
Dim handle As cl_handle = cl_open("path/to/your/excel/file.xlsx")

' Check if the file is opened successfully
If handle <> 0 Then

  ' Get the first sheet
  Dim sheet As cl_handle = cl_get_sheet(handle, 0)

  ' Get the total number of rows and columns in the sheet
  Dim rows As Integer = cl_get_rows(sheet)
  Dim cols As Integer = cl_get_cols(sheet)

  ' Print the data from the sheet
  For i As Integer = 0 To rows - 1
    For j As Integer = 0 To cols - 1
      Dim value As String = cl_get_cell(sheet, i, j)
      Print Using "#######"; j + 1; " : "; value;
    Next j
    Print
  Next i

  ' Close the sheet and the file
  cl_close_sheet(sheet)
  cl_close(handle)

Else
  Print "Error: Unable to open the file."
End If

' Clean up and uninitialize the library
cl_cleanup()
cl_uninit()

' Pause the program to view the output
Print "Press any key to continue..."
Sleep

 -l libcli.dll

' For example:
fbc your_program.bas -l libcli.dll


[Petrus Vorster]

Great stuff everyone.

That Dll also looks great.
Just so I dont destroy stuff, in WINFBX how do  I do that -l libcli.dll??
I know there is a way with the Dll's but I am not so skilled on them.

-Thanks a million.

Peter