Is there any method to preview Excel files on XP besides WebBrowser control? How does the WebBrowser itself preview them?
A:
The WebBrowser itself is a Microsoft IE component and hence with a page that loads an ActiveX under the browser, the ActiveX control interacts with the MS-Office's Excel library via InterOp to display the Excel Spreadsheet on the page...The other option is to obtain a library that can read the Excel in a raw native binary format, that is interpret the binary structure and decipher what it means before showing the data...
Hope this helps, Best regards, Tom.
tommieb75
2010-03-05 16:09:16
A:
This issue is discussed here, and it seems there are several other options (not including 3rd party components).
M.A. Hanin
2010-03-05 16:10:29
Thanks for the link, that solves the issue.
Sphynx
2010-03-05 16:38:57
A:
Older versions of Office have a limited functionality ActiveX control (Office Web Control / OWC) which can display an Excel workbook in the browser. Excel 2007 dropped support for the OWC controls.
Excel 2010 is adding new web controls which can display a spreadsheet in the browser. However, these new controls depend on Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2010.
SpreadsheetGear for .NET is an Excel compatible spreadsheet component for .NET which includes a Windows Forms Control which can read / write / edit / calculate / display / print / etc... Excel workbooks in .NET applications.
SpreadsheetGear can also display images from Excel charts or ranges of cells as demonstrated by the ASP.NET samples here.
You can download a free trial here if you want to try SpreadsheetGear yourself.
Disclaimer: I own SpreadsheetGear LLC
Joe Erickson
2010-03-05 16:17:30
Thanks Joe, I will definitely consider implementing SpreadsheetGear into my project.
Sphynx
2010-03-05 16:42:53