Looking for a tool for spreadsheet manipulation.

[Ted Roche]

On 01/19/2011 12:17 PM, Steven W. Orr wrote:
> I'm getting some good feedback, including letting me know what info I did not
> provide.
>
> The deal is that we are releasing software whose src code is properly tagged
> (or labeled). There are*lots*  of labels. The binaries are constructed and
> released into a common area. Each set of binaries might be composed of src
> rpms, binary rpms, tarballs, iso images, plus other things. Multiple binary
> files can have an integer called a Build Solution and a release version
> number. The collection of all these files go into a unique Staging Area where
> users get the files. There is currently a spreadsheet which contains columns
> of content description, version numbers and Build Solution numbers. Different
> people contribute to different sections of the spreadsheet. There might be a
> linux section, one for winbloze, plus other more specific target platforms.
> Right now, everyone is using Excel from windows to add their entries. I don't
> actually know if using anything else (OOO, gnumeric, etc,) would cause
> unintended ripples to the files.
>
> All the devel work that I deal with is done from linux, but I get there mostly
> (currently) using W7, putty and cygwin X server.
>
> Since I don't know ruby, the suggestion to try a python interface sounds
> attractive.
>
> If someone wanted to send me some python example code (hint hint) I'd really
> love to look it over.
>
> Does this help with any further suggestions?

Thank you for the further clues!

At the risk of invoking Benjamin Disraeli ("when all you have is a 
hammer, everything looks like a nail"), I'd suggest that the problem you 
have is a multi-user database application, and not a spreadsheet. It 
doesn't sound like you are using the spreadsheet for its intended 
purpose of organizing columns, rows and blocks of numbers and performing 
mathematical functions on them, rather you're using the spreadsheet as a 
"table editor."  A spreadsheet is also single-user ("The document is 
current locked by user Bob. If you want to make a copy...") which could 
be a problem.

You don't mention if this spreadsheet goes on to play some important 
role in the build or distribution process directly, or if it is just 
used as a reference document. If the former, you'd need to expand on 
what you do with it. If the latter, I'd suggest a dynamically-generated 
web page could present the results to all in a table, column and row 
format. And a multi-user web application has the advantages of requiring 
(any, platform-neutral) browser to use it, built-in row-level 
locking/contention mechanisms and the ability to add in functionality 
like reporting, auditing, role-based access control, etc., as the need 
arises.

Direct command-line updates into a such a system could be as easy as 
scripting SQL scripts and submitting them to the database.

Needless to say, I've simplified my answer as you simplified your 
question. A high-schooler should be able to whip up a LAMP app to do 
this in an afternoon. For us adults, it might take longer ... ;)

Or you could just throw the spreadsheet into Google Apps, since they 
seem to have worked out the multi-user document sharing aspects pretty 
well. However, I don't know of a command-line interface to that!

-- 
Ted Roche
Ted Roche&  Associates, LLC
http://www.tedroche.com