Excel report framework

Question

Is there any Excel report framework available? We need to export some of the reports into Excel format. Our application is java application hence anything supporting java would be great. I have tried Apache POI API, however that is not good enough. Any framework based on Windows API would be better.

Answer 1

SQL Server Reporting Services has options to export to Excel.

Answer 2

Try xlsgen, supports Java (but can only run under Windows).

Answer 3

Hi Rejeev. Can you elaborate on what you don't like about Apache POI? I've been using POI for years now and haven't found anything that it couldn't do with a tweak here or there or taking an creative approach. IMHO, it's the best open-source (and free) Excel generation/reporting framework out there.

If you are willing to pay money, then Actuate has probably the best solution. Actuate's e.Spreadsheet Engine and the Excel API, you can read, write, modify and generate entire spreadsheets or parts of spreadsheets. I've used it and their API is richer and simpler then POI. POI, while powerful feels like an API that's grown up over time and has many developers involved in creating functionality and patches.

Answer 4

Why is poi not good enough for you?

An alternative might be jasper reports. I've used this instead of poi a couple of times and the experience was pleasant.

Answer 5

FYI. JasperReports uses POI for Excel-conversion :-)