Huge Spreadsheet Input

[CDARS]

Dear all,

I am working on a re-development project. The objective is to replace
an old "system", which make use of local MS Excel, with a new
web-based application.

Platform: SQL2K, Windows Server 2K3, ASP.NET

My users are damn familiar with MS Excel. They can work fine with huge
spreadsheet (tens of column and hundreds of row). In our prototype
they don't feel comfortable of our .NET DataGrid control since:

1) They have to scroll left to activate a row
2) A post-back is necessary on row activation
3) There is no freeze-pane and there is lots of scrolling

Now I wonder should the following work:
1) Browser opens an Office web component (active X control) or local
excel instance (we have the license required).
2) The excel instance opens a XML file, retrieve from SQL server,
which includes column / row headers.
3) Users save their input at client side in XML and send to SQL for
data insert / update.

** Would it work?
** Any recommendation?
** Would it be difficult to implement?

Big thanks.

 

[Don Grover]

Why not have excel go and get data directly and do away with web based if
they dont like it.
You could always do management in asp web based side.

Don