OfficeWriter

OfficeWriter is a server-side reporting tool that generates Excel spreadsheets and word documents over the Web from various data sources.

Office Writer helps you easily add rich Excel and Word export to your .NET applications, SharePoint sites, and SQL Server Reporting Services reports without automating Office on the server. The OfficeWriter API is a .NET library that allows you to generate, manipulate, and read Excel and Word documents from your own applications.

Key Features:

• Intuitive Object Model: generate, manipulate and read Excel and Word documents with code in your own ASP.NET applications.
• Flexible: Supports OpenXML XLSX and DOCX, as well as legacy XLS and DOC binary formats.
• Scalable: Optimised for server based performance and scalability, without automating office on the server.
• Multiple Desing Options: Fully programmatic, or template-based design.
• Easy Data Import: Import data into Excel and Word with minimal code.
• Custom Document Processing: Enable custom office reporting in SharePoint features and applications.
• List Data Exports: Export list data to stylised excel or word templates.
• List Mail Merge: Merge documents with sharepoint list data.
• Custom Document Processing: Enable custom Office reporting in SharePoint features and applications.
• Full-Fidelity: Use reporting services to export Excel spreadheets and word documents that support all Excel and Word features.
• Fully Utilise Excel Features: OfficeWriter lets you build reports with real Excel charts, pivot tables, formulas and macros.
• Template-Based: Merge data into existing Excel and Word templates with your own corporate look and feel.
• New File Formats Supported: XLSX/XLSM, DOCX/DOCM, as well as legacy XLS and Doc in 2005, 2008, 2008 R2 and 2012.
• Office-Based Report Design: The OfficeWriter Designer is an Office plug-in toolbar that lets you design SSRS reports using Excel and Word as the design tool.
• Easy To Use: Business users can leverage their existing knowledge of Excel and Word to build reports without learning a new report authoring tool.
• WYSIWYG: Because the Excel or Word file is the report definition, rendered output will look exactly the same as the template document.

OfficeWriter – Features

OfficeWriter comprises ExcelWriter and WordWriter and is a cross-platform product for J2EE, ASP and ASP.NET that uses Microsoft Excel and Word to produce fully functional, native Microsoft Office reports for distribution over the Web. It does not require that Microsoft Office be installed on the server and maintains all formatting, styles and advanced features including VBA and macros. OfficeWriter opens existing Microsoft Excel or Word files or templates and updates them using database integration. Build reporting and business applications using a few lines of Java, ASP or ASP.NET code and generate thousands of documents and reports for an unlimited number of users on a daily basis.

New features in version 3.5 include:

New Features for OfficeWriter for Excel

• Leverage powerful R1C1 notations in addition to traditional A1 style*
• Create and modify conditional formatting rules through the API*
• Programmatically add data validation rules to maintain the integrity of your data*
• New data source support for System.Collections objects and Java 1.2 collection interfaces
• New data marker modifier in the Template Object preserves strings in an individual column rather than affecting cells throughout the spreadsheet

New Features for OfficeWriter for Word

• Combine the speedy Template Object with the powerful Application Object for ultimate performance and control*
• Enhanced Table API – add, insert, and delete rows and columns in existing Word tables*
• Merge documents and copy/paste individual elements between files*
• Add watermarks (faded text or image) in the background of a document*
• Search and replace text in Word documents using Regular Expressions*
• New data source support for System.Collections objects and Java 1.2 collection interfaces

New Features for SQL Server Reporting Services

• Full SQL Server Reporting Services 2005 support
• Add real Excel and Word to reports designed in Visual Studio 2005
• Render Excel and Word reports from the same RDL file

Features include:

• ExcelWriter and WordWriter Template objects are 100% .NET compatible
• Generates more than 100,000 reports per hour
• ContentType can be set programatically in ExcelWriter and WordWriter
• Populate template spreadsheets from ADO.NET DataTables and DataReaders in addition to DataSets
• Template-driven development
• Does not require that Microsoft Excel or Word be installed on the server or user’s computer
• Generate tens of thousands of spreadsheets and documents per day from Microsoft Windows, Unix or Linux servers
• Support for advanced Microsoft Excel and Word formatting, styles and advanced features including charts, images, pivot tables, VBA and macros
• Save generated workbooks or documents to disk or stream them to a Web browser
• One-step generation from ADO, ODBC or JDBC data sources
• Lock spreadsheets or make reports and documents fully editable
• Available for Java or Microsoft Windows environments
• Generate native Microsoft Excel reports and Word documents from an existing data source, workbook, document or a Web form to and from any location that has Internet access
• Maintain the same data and formatting in reports and save frequently accessed reports on the server.

OfficeWriter – System Requirements

Java Server:

• Sun Solaris for Sparc 8 or 9 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 (WS, AS, ES)
• BEA WebLogic 7 or 8 or IBM WebSphere 5 application server.

Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, 2003 may be used for development purposes only as an operating system and Apache Tomcat may be used as an application server.

Microsoft Windows Server:

Microsoft Windows 2000, XP or 2003

Client:

• Microsoft Excel 97, 2000 or XP or Microsoft Excel Viewer
• Microsoft Word 97, 2000 or XP or Microsoft Word Viewer
• Netscape 6 or 7, Mozilla 1.4 and above or Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or 6.

Support is provided for:

• BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere and Apache Tomcat application servers
• Linux, Solaris and Microsoft Windows 2000, XP and 2003 platforms
• JDBC ResultSets, Java objects inside applications, Enterprise JavaBeans, existing Microsoft Word, Excel and text files
• Java Virtual Machines: 1.2 and beyond.