suggestions for reading in XLS files

[Tom Whittaker]

I need a high-performance Java API to read data values and data types
from XLS files in a high-performance web application: nothing more. I
want to let my users upload files to my web site, and then I want to
read in XLS files into my database. At some point, I might have
millions of users and dozens of servers running the code.

I'm looking at POI, the Java Excel API, Open XLS, and other open
source and commercial options.

I want something with a simple license agreement that my legal folks
will approve, and that doesn't have any potential legal gotchas... aka
we might own money in the future based on how we use the API and all
of the other unpleasant surprises that sometimes accompany using third
party technology.

For my focused criteria, does anyone have any insight into which Java-
based Excel file reader would be the best choice?

If I pay a one time fee for a commercial product, that might work
provided I have source code.

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

I need a high-performance Java API to read data values and data types
from XLS files in a high-performance web application: nothing more. I
want to let my users upload files to my web site, and then I want to
read in XLS files into my database. At some point, I might have
millions of users and dozens of servers running the code.

I'm looking at POI, the Java Excel API, Open XLS, and other open
source and commercial options.

I want something with a simple license agreement that my legal folks
will approve, and that doesn't have any potential legal gotchas... aka
we might own money in the future based on how we use the API and all
of the other unpleasant surprises that sometimes accompany using third
party technology.

For my focused criteria, does anyone have any insight into which Java-
based Excel file reader would be the best choice?

If I pay a one time fee for a commercial product, that might work
provided I have source code.

I would recommend POI.

The Apache license is acceptable in most contexts.

Arne

 

[Lew]

I would recommend POI.

The Apache license is acceptable in most contexts.

We use POI where I work. It meets the client's standards for OSS, if that
matters. By design, the Apache license is friendly to those who wish to
charge for their work.

I found the POI library to be eminently suitable and quite straightforward for
interaction with Excel-format spreadsheets.

 

[Roedy Green]

I'm looking at POI, the Java Excel API, Open XLS, and other open
source and commercial options.

One simple approach is to save the xls as CSV, then read with any of
the free CSV readers such as http://mindprod.com/products1.html#CSV
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/csv.html

If you want to actually compute the spreadsheet, see Athena Integer.
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

Doubling the size of a team will probably make it produce even more slowly.
The problem is the more team members, the more secrets, the less each team
member understands about how it all fits together and how his changes may
adversely affect others.

 

[vjg]

We use POI where I work.  It meets the client's standards for OSS, if that
matters.  By design, the Apache license is friendly to those who wish to
charge for their work.

I found the POI library to be eminently suitable and quite straightforward for
interaction with Excel-format spreadsheets.

Of course POI has its limitations. I was recently asked to change a
particular spreadsheet to stop using the TRANSPOSE Excel function
because POI (3.7) can't read the data values in a cell populated by
that function. I haven't confirmed whether this is due specifically to
TRANSPOSE or if the issue extends to all array formulas).