[OT] [m$ excel & ie] Upload downloaded excel document to struts app when users saves changes to it

[Andrew Hill <an...@gridnode.com>]

In IE, when a user downloads an excel file , IE will open up excel embedded
inside the browser window with the downloaded file loaded up.

The user can edit this file (good), but clicking save will save it back to
somewhere in the temporary internet files directory (bad). I need to get the
changed file back to my struts app (good luck).

Currently we expect the user to 'save as' the file to somewhere they can
actually find it again and then upload the file manually (with an <input
type="file"... on another page).

This however is highly counterintuitive (not to mention a nuisance) to your
average user - especially when theres a whopping great save button they can
click just like they would if they were editing one of their own files
(which of course they technically are since its just a file in IE's temp
folder).

I have been commanded to find a way to make the process seamless and
natural - such that clicking save will upload (or transmit somehow) the
spreadsheet back to the server.

Alas, my skills these days lie mostly with the purity of Java and the
cleanliness of non-proprietary standards. Is there anyone out there who has
micro$oft blood on their hands and can give me a clue...

(This one only needs to work in IE - Mozillarites will have to stick with
the way we are doing it now I guess)


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RE: [OT] [m$ excel & ie] Upload downloaded excel document to struts app when users saves changes to it

[Andrew Hill <an...@gridnode.com>]

Main problem I can see with this is that we dont know whats in the excel
file (its the customers file not ours) and it could be 'big & complex' and
it needs to be preserved as an excel file. :-(

I guess what I really need is for when the file is saved to have VBA that
will grab the saved file from wherever they saved it and POST it as
multipart form data to the appropriate action URL. Is this a possibility?
Mind you, this VBA would need to operate outside the excel (as an IE
script???) as its probably not practical for us to poke it into the file
before the user downloads (and would probably lead to all sorts of problems
if we did as the user may well also want to save the file locally and upload
again later manually)

-----Original Message-----
From: news [mailto:news@main.gmane.org]On Behalf Of Vic Cekvenich
Sent: Tuesday, 15 April 2003 19:55
To: struts-user@jakarta.apache.org
Subject: Re: [OT] [m$ excel & ie] Upload downloaded excel document to
struts app when users saves changes to it


I actualy had to do that, I pondered the problem, and the client liked
the implementation.

- Write a working CRUD Struts app that has the data entry fields/forms
like your Excel, and approximates what the client wants.
- Struts is MVC, so now you have working beans, cool! Install Axis and
expose the beans via SOAP.
- In Excel, using VBA call local PocketSOAP to talk to you beans. Each
cell is a getter/setter (to an working iterator bean).
- On save, just say via VBA/SOAP: formBean.getUpdate().

Client now has UI via a browser, and via Excel, and can save/retrieve
(a loan app in my case) anywere there is IP.

POI does not give you full Excel API, besides ... Java does not work
good as an Application (it works great as server).

hth,
.V


Andrew Hill wrote:
> In IE, when a user downloads an excel file , IE will open up excel
embedded
> inside the browser window with the downloaded file loaded up.
>
> The user can edit this file (good), but clicking save will save it back to
> somewhere in the temporary internet files directory (bad). I need to get
the
> changed file back to my struts app (good luck).
>
> Currently we expect the user to 'save as' the file to somewhere they can
> actually find it again and then upload the file manually (with an <input
> type="file"... on another page).
>
> This however is highly counterintuitive (not to mention a nuisance) to
your
> average user - especially when theres a whopping great save button they
can
> click just like they would if they were editing one of their own files
> (which of course they technically are since its just a file in IE's temp
> folder).
>
> I have been commanded to find a way to make the process seamless and
> natural - such that clicking save will upload (or transmit somehow) the
> spreadsheet back to the server.
>
> Alas, my skills these days lie mostly with the purity of Java and the
> cleanliness of non-proprietary standards. Is there anyone out there who
has
> micro$oft blood on their hands and can give me a clue...
>
> (This one only needs to work in IE - Mozillarites will have to stick with
> the way we are doing it now I guess)



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Re: [OT] [m$ excel & ie] Upload downloaded excel document to struts app when users saves changes to it

[Vic Cekvenich <vc...@basebeans.com>]

I actualy had to do that, I pondered the problem, and the client liked 
the implementation.

- Write a working CRUD Struts app that has the data entry fields/forms 
like your Excel, and approximates what the client wants.
- Struts is MVC, so now you have working beans, cool! Install Axis and 
expose the beans via SOAP.
- In Excel, using VBA call local PocketSOAP to talk to you beans. Each 
cell is a getter/setter (to an working iterator bean).
- On save, just say via VBA/SOAP: formBean.getUpdate().

Client now has UI via a browser, and via Excel, and can save/retrieve 
(a loan app in my case) anywere there is IP.

POI does not give you full Excel API, besides ... Java does not work 
good as an Application (it works great as server).

hth,
.V


Andrew Hill wrote:
> In IE, when a user downloads an excel file , IE will open up excel embedded
> inside the browser window with the downloaded file loaded up.
> 
> The user can edit this file (good), but clicking save will save it back to
> somewhere in the temporary internet files directory (bad). I need to get the
> changed file back to my struts app (good luck).
> 
> Currently we expect the user to 'save as' the file to somewhere they can
> actually find it again and then upload the file manually (with an <input
> type="file"... on another page).
> 
> This however is highly counterintuitive (not to mention a nuisance) to your
> average user - especially when theres a whopping great save button they can
> click just like they would if they were editing one of their own files
> (which of course they technically are since its just a file in IE's temp
> folder).
> 
> I have been commanded to find a way to make the process seamless and
> natural - such that clicking save will upload (or transmit somehow) the
> spreadsheet back to the server.
> 
> Alas, my skills these days lie mostly with the purity of Java and the
> cleanliness of non-proprietary standards. Is there anyone out there who has
> micro$oft blood on their hands and can give me a clue...
> 
> (This one only needs to work in IE - Mozillarites will have to stick with
> the way we are doing it now I guess)



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Re: [OT] [m$ excel & ie] Upload downloaded excel document to struts app when users saves changes to it

[un...@prometeo.it]

Be warned: this could be overkill and would require installation of some dlls 
on the client too, but it should be possibile to create your own activex object 
that acted as a wrapper around an Excel OLE component and provides a sort of 
http save button.
Something like an excel shhet with only a save button.

Good luck,
Umberto

Quoting Andrew Hill <an...@gridnode.com>:

> In IE, when a user downloads an excel file , IE will open up excel embedded
> inside the browser window with the downloaded file loaded up.
> 
> The user can edit this file (good), but clicking save will save it back to
> somewhere in the temporary internet files directory (bad). I need to get the
> changed file back to my struts app (good luck).
> 
> Currently we expect the user to 'save as' the file to somewhere they can
> actually find it again and then upload the file manually (with an <input
> type="file"... on another page).
> 
> This however is highly counterintuitive (not to mention a nuisance) to your
> average user - especially when theres a whopping great save button they can
> click just like they would if they were editing one of their own files
> (which of course they technically are since its just a file in IE's temp
> folder).
> 
> I have been commanded to find a way to make the process seamless and
> natural - such that clicking save will upload (or transmit somehow) the
> spreadsheet back to the server.
> 
> Alas, my skills these days lie mostly with the purity of Java and the
> cleanliness of non-proprietary standards. Is there anyone out there who has
> micro$oft blood on their hands and can give me a clue...
> 
> (This one only needs to work in IE - Mozillarites will have to stick with
> the way we are doing it now I guess)
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: struts-user-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: struts-user-help@jakarta.apache.org
> 
> 




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Re: [OT] [m$ excel & ie] Upload downloaded excel document to struts app when users saves changes to it

[Jason Lea <ja...@kumachan.net.nz>]

Is it possible for you to utilize WebDAV in this situation?

AFAIK, Excel supports WebDAV.  The user could open and save to the web 
site.  I don't use Excel so I can't test this, sorry.  I do use WebDAV 
with Tomcat for maintaining my simple Intranet (just simple pages of 
notes etc on how the software development setup instructions) using 
Mozilla's Composer and it works perfectly!

If you need to trigger some sort of action when a file is opened/saved 
you could modify the WebDAV servlet or possibly wrap a Filter around the 
servlet.

-- 
Jason Lea


Andrew Hill wrote:
> In IE, when a user downloads an excel file , IE will open up excel embedded
> inside the browser window with the downloaded file loaded up.
> 
> The user can edit this file (good), but clicking save will save it back to
> somewhere in the temporary internet files directory (bad). I need to get the
> changed file back to my struts app (good luck).
> 
> Currently we expect the user to 'save as' the file to somewhere they can
> actually find it again and then upload the file manually (with an <input
> type="file"... on another page).
> 
> This however is highly counterintuitive (not to mention a nuisance) to your
> average user - especially when theres a whopping great save button they can
> click just like they would if they were editing one of their own files
> (which of course they technically are since its just a file in IE's temp
> folder).
> 
> I have been commanded to find a way to make the process seamless and
> natural - such that clicking save will upload (or transmit somehow) the
> spreadsheet back to the server.
> 
> Alas, my skills these days lie mostly with the purity of Java and the
> cleanliness of non-proprietary standards. Is there anyone out there who has
> micro$oft blood on their hands and can give me a clue...
> 
> (This one only needs to work in IE - Mozillarites will have to stick with
> the way we are doing it now I guess)
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: struts-user-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: struts-user-help@jakarta.apache.org
> 
> 


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RE: [OT] [m$ excel & ie] Upload downloaded excel document to struts app when users saves changes to it

[Andrew Hill <an...@gridnode.com>]

Well it might be possible - but that would mean the struts app would have to
write this script into the file before the user downloads it. Maybe that can
be done with POI - but what to write?

What I really need however is something that doesnt stuff round with the
internals of the excel file in question - perhaps some kind of vb OLE script
that runs in IE - but Ive no idea where to start finding the info. Had a
look at some docs online at microsoft.com but they are not much help. Im
probably looking in the wrong place :-(

-----Original Message-----
From: Göran Damberg [mailto:goeran@home.se]
Sent: Tuesday, 15 April 2003 15:36
To: Struts Users Mailing List; andrew.david.hill@gridnode.com
Subject: SV: [OT] [m$ excel & ie] Upload downloaded excel document to
struts app when users saves changes to it


Hi

This is sort of a wild guess, but I think that you can override the save
function with a VB-script in the excel file.

/Göran

> -----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
> Från: Andrew Hill [mailto:andrew.david.hill@gridnode.com]
> Skickat: den 15 april 2003 07:16
> Till: Struts
> Ämne: [OT] [m$ excel & ie] Upload downloaded excel document to struts
> app when users saves changes to it
>
>
> In IE, when a user downloads an excel file , IE will open up
> excel embedded
> inside the browser window with the downloaded file loaded up.
>
> The user can edit this file (good), but clicking save will save it back to
> somewhere in the temporary internet files directory (bad). I need
> to get the
> changed file back to my struts app (good luck).
>
> Currently we expect the user to 'save as' the file to somewhere they can
> actually find it again and then upload the file manually (with an <input
> type="file"... on another page).
>
> This however is highly counterintuitive (not to mention a
> nuisance) to your
> average user - especially when theres a whopping great save
> button they can
> click just like they would if they were editing one of their own files
> (which of course they technically are since its just a file in IE's temp
> folder).
>
> I have been commanded to find a way to make the process seamless and
> natural - such that clicking save will upload (or transmit somehow) the
> spreadsheet back to the server.
>
> Alas, my skills these days lie mostly with the purity of Java and the
> cleanliness of non-proprietary standards. Is there anyone out
> there who has
> micro$oft blood on their hands and can give me a clue...
>
> (This one only needs to work in IE - Mozillarites will have to stick with
> the way we are doing it now I guess)
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: struts-user-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: struts-user-help@jakarta.apache.org
>
>


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SV: [OT] [m$ excel & ie] Upload downloaded excel document to struts app when users saves changes to it

[Göran Damberg <go...@home.se>]

Hi

This is sort of a wild guess, but I think that you can override the save
function with a VB-script in the excel file.

/Göran

> -----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
> Från: Andrew Hill [mailto:andrew.david.hill@gridnode.com]
> Skickat: den 15 april 2003 07:16
> Till: Struts
> Ämne: [OT] [m$ excel & ie] Upload downloaded excel document to struts
> app when users saves changes to it
>
>
> In IE, when a user downloads an excel file , IE will open up
> excel embedded
> inside the browser window with the downloaded file loaded up.
>
> The user can edit this file (good), but clicking save will save it back to
> somewhere in the temporary internet files directory (bad). I need
> to get the
> changed file back to my struts app (good luck).
>
> Currently we expect the user to 'save as' the file to somewhere they can
> actually find it again and then upload the file manually (with an <input
> type="file"... on another page).
>
> This however is highly counterintuitive (not to mention a
> nuisance) to your
> average user - especially when theres a whopping great save
> button they can
> click just like they would if they were editing one of their own files
> (which of course they technically are since its just a file in IE's temp
> folder).
>
> I have been commanded to find a way to make the process seamless and
> natural - such that clicking save will upload (or transmit somehow) the
> spreadsheet back to the server.
>
> Alas, my skills these days lie mostly with the purity of Java and the
> cleanliness of non-proprietary standards. Is there anyone out
> there who has
> micro$oft blood on their hands and can give me a clue...
>
> (This one only needs to work in IE - Mozillarites will have to stick with
> the way we are doing it now I guess)
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: struts-user-unsubscribe@jakarta.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: struts-user-help@jakarta.apache.org
>
>


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