Hi all, I'm trying to weigh my options for generating reports to be displayed on a website.
I currently have an Excel workbook that imports data from a database, based on user input, and creates a report on a worksheet. The report includes a combination of text and charts. The process to create the report includes the use of macros. My goal is to have a user on a website be able to select a date range, etc, and generate this report to be displayed right there on the website in a reasonable amount of time.
So what I would like to happen would go like this:
1) User selects the date range and other criteria on the website (we can do this)
2) These parameters are somehow communicated to Excel on our server (no idea how to do this)
3) The Excel workbook will import the necessary data from our SQL database (done)
4) The workbook will create the report, using formulas and macros (done)
5) The "Report" sheet of the workbook will be exported to the web page as a .pdf, or shown in an Iframe. (we can do this in .pdf)
I've read about cloud options like Excel Web Services, Sharepoint, and Skydrive, but they seem to not allow macros to be used. I have no problems with using a cloud service as long as it retains full functionality.
Is there a way for us to fire up the Excel workbook on our server whenever a request for a report is made, and gather the input data from the user into the workbook? I believe we could handle everything after that if it was possible.
Thanks for your help!
I currently have an Excel workbook that imports data from a database, based on user input, and creates a report on a worksheet. The report includes a combination of text and charts. The process to create the report includes the use of macros. My goal is to have a user on a website be able to select a date range, etc, and generate this report to be displayed right there on the website in a reasonable amount of time.
So what I would like to happen would go like this:
1) User selects the date range and other criteria on the website (we can do this)
2) These parameters are somehow communicated to Excel on our server (no idea how to do this)
3) The Excel workbook will import the necessary data from our SQL database (done)
4) The workbook will create the report, using formulas and macros (done)
5) The "Report" sheet of the workbook will be exported to the web page as a .pdf, or shown in an Iframe. (we can do this in .pdf)
I've read about cloud options like Excel Web Services, Sharepoint, and Skydrive, but they seem to not allow macros to be used. I have no problems with using a cloud service as long as it retains full functionality.
Is there a way for us to fire up the Excel workbook on our server whenever a request for a report is made, and gather the input data from the user into the workbook? I believe we could handle everything after that if it was possible.
Thanks for your help!
