Darren's answers were quite good.
I'd quibble with the distinction between "software" and "tool"; I
think of libraries as software, and the better ones *do* come with
"manuals" (for how to use them in your program, as opposed to how to
operate them from a user interface). For that matter, I think of
programming language compilers and interpreters as software as well.
Anyway, if you are not under time pressure to learn about this stuff
(and possibly even if you are), you may want to give serious
consideration to learning a bit of Python and using XlsxWriter
instead.
Also, regardless of what languages or libraries you eventually wind up
using, I strongly recommend against generating .xls files anymore. It
is well past the time to abandon that file format. Everyone should
just be generating .xlsx. So, if we are talking about POI, I would
stay away from HSSF and strictly go with XSSF or SXSSF. However, just
as a matter of history and inertia, many people will use the *term*
"HSSF" to include all of those three.
Even if you don't know Java, I think it's worth checking out the quick
guide, and possibly the how-to, to get a feel for what you can do:
https://poi.apache.org/components/spreadsheet/quick-guide.html
https://poi.apache.org/components/spreadsheet/how-to.html
Similarly, even if you don't know any Python, it is probably worth a
look at XlsxWriter's documentation:
https://xlsxwriter.readthedocs.io/
John Y.
midrange.com
