Re: HSSFR4 ss_cellName() function.

On Wed, Oct 10, 2018 at 10:50 AM <JRusling@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Thanks Mihael - googled libxlsxwriter looks interesting but i'm already
down the road i'm down :-)
http://blog.rpgnextgen.com/blog/2018/03/21/libxlsxwriter-creating-spreadsheets-natively

I have every confidence in libxlsxwriter because it is written by the
same person who wrote Python's XlsxWriter (which I use) and Perl's
Excel::Writer::XLSX. (The Perl library came first, and the others are
ultimately ported from that.)

The issue with libxlsxwriter is that it's written in C, and not on or
for IBM i. So it needs tweaking to get it into shape for being an ILE
service program. (It would be less work to get it working on PASE, but
that's not as RPG-friendly as ILE.) The good news is Mihael is
enthusiastic about using this library in ILE and is working on it. So
you can just piggyback off of his work (just as many of us have done
with Scott's).

I still recommend the Python library, unless you're already down some
other road (there are now quite a few good roads). The Python version
is arguably the best maintained, and you get 100% of the functionality
offered by the author, whether from QSYS.LIB (via iSeriesPython) or
PASE (via IBM's various Python versions). The C version is the slowest
to get fixes or new features. If you use PASE, the Python version is
the easiest one to install or upgrade. I am not sure if the Perl
version is as easy as the Python one, but the ILE C version is
definitely by far the hardest (because you have to rebuild it
yourself, or wait for Mihael to do it).

The upside of RPG+libxlsxwriter is that it is likely to perform the
fastest. However, the Python+XlsxWriter combination is probably "fast
enough" for most uses and may well be better performing than RPG+POI.

John Y.