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 OfficeWriter Home > Customers Home > officewriter-347.aspx |
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SoftArtisans
OfficeWriter, which combines ExcelWriter and WordWriter, offers pure
.NET reporting that generates real Excel and Word reports from your ASP.NET
application, without any dependency on Microsoft Office. OfficeWriter
works without dependency on the Microsoft Excel and Word objects, which
are not required on the server. His avoids the performance
penalties and instability otherwise associated with instantiating multiple
copies of Excel and Word objects on a web server. OfficeWriter safely
generates thousands of Excel workbooks and Word documents for an unlimited
number of concurrent users each day.
ExcelWriter
is not a visual end-user tool like Microsoft Excel. It is not an ActiveX
control that exists on the client. Rather, it generates native Excel files
via server-side code.
With OfficeWriter, creating Excel spreadsheets and Word documents has
never been so easy. With as little as 12 lines of code, an Excel spreadsheet
can be populated with records from a database table (assuming that the
template for the Excel spreadsheet has been designed and stored on the
server). |
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| What
do ExcelWriter and WordWriter have to Offer? |
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| In
a nutshell, ExcelWriter supports all advanced Excel features such as formulas,
charts, pivot tables, VBA, macros, multiple sheets, image insertion, named
ranges, page layouts, and more. With WordWriter you can create documents
based on a template or create a new document. Also, WordWriter preserves
all native Word formatting and styles, and advanced features from Word 97-2003
documents with expanding tables, bulleted lists, and numbered lists. OfficeWriter
is the only reporting software that delivers fully-functional Excel and
Word output, so your users won't have to sacrifice their macros, pivot tables,
and dynamic charts every time they request new data. |
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| What
is a Template? |
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| One
of the common terms used in the OfficeWriter product is the keyword, "template".
An OfficeWriter template is an .xls file that contains data markers or a
.doc file that contains merge fields. A data marker or merge field specifies
a database column, variable, or array to insert in the spreadsheet or document
containing the marker or field. OfficeWriter templates are created in Microsoft
Office and bound to data sources in code. When you run the code, OfficeWriter
populates the template with values from one or more data sources. Look at
the following example. |
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Figure
1: An Excel Template
In the above
example, three data columns have been marked in columns A, B, and C, respectively.
This will tell the ExcelWriter to populate the Author Id value in Column
A, the Author Firstname in Column B, and the Author Last Name in column
C. |
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| Creating an Excel File Based on a Template |
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Using the ExcelWriter, it just
takes the following lines of code, in VB.NET, to create an Excel file
based on a template.
Dim oExcelTemplate As New ExcelTemplate
Dim myRdr As SqlDataReader
Dim ConnStr As String = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings("ConnectionString")
Dim myConnection As SqlConnection = New SqlConnection(ConnStr)
Dim myCommand As SqlCommand = New SqlCommand("sp_authors_sel", myConnection)
Dim myAdapter As New SqlDataAdapter(myCommand)
Dim AuthDt As New DataTable
myAdapter.Fill(AuthDt)
oExcelTemplate.Open("c:\inetpub\wwwroot\writer\Excel\auth_template.xls")
oExcelTemplate.SetDataSource(AuthDt, "authors")
oExcelTemplate.Process()
oExcelTemplate.Save("c:\inetpub\wwwroot\writer\Excel\auth_output.xls") \
It took me
around 15 minutes to write the above code. This included creating the
stored procedure, sp_authors_sel, which simply dumps all rows from the
author table under the pubs database in SQL Server 2000, and creating
the template file shown in Figure 1.
All we are
doing here is executing a stored procedure and creating a new Excel file
based on the template, auth_template.xls. The file path in the above example
can also be a virtual path rather than a physical path. Instead of saving
the new file in the server, you could also stream the output as an HTTP
response to the client machine. |
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| Creating
a Word File Based on a Template |
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A
Word document can be created with the help of following VB.NET code:
Dim
NamesArr As String() = {"Name", "Company", "DateTime"}
' Form an array containg the values to be inserted
Dim ValuesArr As Object() = {recipName, recipCompany, System.DateTime.Now}
' Create an instance of WordTemplate
Dim wt As WordTemplate = New WordTemplate
' Open the template document
Dim templatePath As String = Page.MapPath("templates/BasicTemplate.doc")
wt.Open(templatePath)
' Set the main data source with the Name and Value arrays
wt.SetDataSource(ValuesArr, NamesArr)
' Populate the template to pull in the new values
wt.Process()
'
Save the document by streaming it
wt.Save(Page.Response, "BasicWordTemplate.doc", False) |
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| OfficeWriter
Editions |
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OfficeWriter
is available in two different editions, built to produce real Excel spreadsheets
and Word documents, for both standard and enterprise reporting applications.
With OfficeWriter
Standard Edition, the following tasks can be achieved. |
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Open
and populate existing reports |
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Update
charts and formulas |
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Security
with macros |
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Reporting
Services designed and rendered |
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| The
Standard Edition always needs a template file to work with. So, you cannot
create an Excel file without having a template file. If you want to create
a new Excel file based on the output of a database table, then you need
to have a template file with corresponding markers. OfficeWriter Standard
edition is for high-volume Office applications that do not require runtime
control of intricate Excel and Word features. |
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| Enterprise
Editionsupports all the features of Standard Edition, and the following: |
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Create
new reports programmatically |
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Modify
file formats and styles |
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Read
data from Excel files |
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Construct
charts and formulas |
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One
of the richest features available in Enterprise Edition is its HotCell
Technology. HotCell Technology and OfficeWriter Assistant provide a live
connect back to a server-side data source directly from an Excel spreadsheet
or Word document. It uses VBA code embedded in the spreadsheet or document
on the client to communicate with code running on a remote Web server.
In the case of OfficeWriter for Excel, the VBA code detects when changes
have been made to worksheet cells. The value of each modified cell is
then submitted to the server to update the data source. HotCell Technology
is supported only in the Enterprise edition.
The above-mentioned
features are only a few of the complete features supported by the Standard
and Enterprise Editions. |
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| Report
Design Made Simple |
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Reporting Services reports can
now be designed by end users directly in Microsoft Excel and Word, avoiding
report design tools, like Visual Studio .NET, that are unfamiliar to business
users. After creating your reports with the OfficeWriter Designer--a freely-distributed
client side toolbar--there is no need to switch from Microsoft Office
to a browser to generate reports. The OfficeWriter Designer generates
true Reporting Services reports (RDL files) but, unlike Reporting Services'
Excel output, all Excel features are preserved by OfficeWriter.
Without OfficeWriter,
Reporting Services cannot deliver reports in Microsoft Word format. Documents
rendered by OfficeWriter preserve all of the Word features contained in
the user's existing Word template.
SQL Server
Reporting Services integration is packaged with OfficeWriter Enterprise
Edition. OfficeWriter Standard Edition includes limited Reporting Services
integration functionality. There are no per-user costs with OfficeWriter.
It is licensed per server CPU. |
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| Developer Editions |
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OfficeWriterEE
Developer offers the same functionality as OfficeWriter Enterprise Edition,
but is limited to only a single report created at one time, which is typical
of the development environment. Other restrictions may apply. (Pricing
is $299 per development server/workstation.)
OfficeWriterSE
Developer offers the same functionality as OfficeWriterSE, but is limited
to only a single report created at one time. Other restrictions may apply.
(Pricing is $99 per development server/workstation.) |
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| Evaluation
Editions |
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OfficeWriterFREE
edition provides similar functionality to OfficeWriterSE, but is limited
to 500 rows per worksheet (Excel) and 1 row per data source (Word). Every
workbook and document contains a worksheet or document page with a SoftArtisans
OfficeWriter advertisement
OfficeWriter
Enterprise Edition Evaluation is the expiring evaluation of the full server
edition of OfficeWriter Enterprise Edition. Contact SoftArtisans to receive
the full evaluation of OfficeWriter Enterprise Edition. |
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| Licensing,
Pricing, and Discounts |
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| Both
the Enterprise Edition and the Standard Edition require one license for
each CPU on the servers where OfficeWriter is deployed. As of writing the
review, the pricing for the Standard Edition was US $1495 per server CPU.
Pricing figures for OfficeWriter Enterprise Edition are not published. I
encourage evaluators and potential customers to contact SoftArtisans Sales
Department for a customized price quote based on their server configuration
and needs. If you tell the SoftArtisans sales department that you are buying
OfficeWriter after reading this review, you will get an amazing 20% off
the published price. Based on the above price, if you buy the Standard Edition
OfficeWriter, you will save around $300. To get detailed pricing information
for the Enterprise Edition, please contact SoftArtisans using any one of
the following ways. |
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| Conclusion |
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| The feature that I liked most about the OfficeWriter is that we do not need the Microsoft Office product to be installed on the server. The very reason that we can create Excel spreadsheets and Word documents on the fly without having Microsoft Office components adds more importance to the OfficeWriter product. Also, the licensing and pricing model is very competitive. OfficeWriter is a good product for an Intranet application that relies on Excel spreadsheets and Word documents. The HotCell Technology is an unbeatable feature which has a great advantage in pulling the latest data from the server and updating the data back to the server without actually transferring any files back and forth.
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