# Ruby and Excel and colour question **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [October 5, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-excel-and-colour-question/176723 "2009-10-05T14:08:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Axel_E)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-excel-and-colour-question/176723/1 "2009-10-05T14:08:17Z")
Dear all, I need to be able to write a file in Excel format, where the fields have different background colours based on some condition which is evaluated based on the entries at runtime. I tried to look at the spreadsheet gem, but couldn’t figure out how to do it. I’d much prefer if you could point me to a solution that is platform-independent (Excel files can be opened from OpenOffice etc.) and/or would work together with JRuby. Thank you very much ! Best regards, Axel ---
**Author:** ![Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Axel_E)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-excel-and-colour-question/176723/2 "2009-10-05T22:13:05Z")
On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 7:07 AM, Axel E. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Dear all, > > I need to be able to write a file in Excel format, where the > fields have different background colours based on > some condition which is evaluated based on the entries > at runtime. > I tried to look at the spreadsheet gem, but couldn’t figure out how to do it. I’d much prefer if you could point me to a solution that > is platform-independent (Excel files can be opened > from OpenOffice etc.) and/or would work together with JRuby. OpenOffice has some Java API support for accessing and manipulating files. I have not tried it, but I know there are examples of doing it from Java. JRuby should be able to access those Java classes just fine. -Tom ---
**Author:** ![Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Axel_E)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-excel-and-colour-question/176723/3 "2009-10-07T02:30:55Z")
On Oct 5, 8:07 am, Axel E. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Dear all, > > I need to be able to write a file in Excel format, where the > fields have different background colours based on > some condition which is evaluated based on the entries > at runtime. > I tried to look at the spreadsheet gem, but couldn’t figure out how to do it. I’d much prefer if you could point me to a solution that > is platform-independent (Excel files can be opened > from OpenOffice etc.) and/or would work together with JRuby. The most popular platform-independent Excel creation library is POI ([http://poi.apache.org](http://poi.apache.org)). It’s a java library so you should be able to use it from JRuby. You should be able to put in the formulas that change the background color based on runtime content. - Mark. ---
**Author:** ![Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Axel_E)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-excel-and-colour-question/176723/4 "2009-10-09T02:37:09Z")
Gilbo wrote: > > > > have a look at surpass - it might be enough for what you want > (not sure about JRuby support though) > > [http://surpass.rubyforge.org/](http://surpass.rubyforge.org/) > > HTH > > Mike Wow! Surpass looks amazing! I was thinking of using jruby to invoke the java package OpenXLS to satisfy a similar requirement, but if this works it will be much easier. Steve ---
**Author:** ![Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Axel_E)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-excel-and-colour-question/176723/5 "2009-10-09T01:15:47Z")
On Oct 5, 1:07 pm, Axel E. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Thank you very much ! > > Best regards, > > ## Axel > > Jetzt kostenlos herunterladen: Internet Explorer 8 und Mozilla Firefox 3.5 - > sicherer, schneller und einfacher! [Aktuelle Nachrichten aus Politik, Wirtschaft & Panorama | GMX](http://portal.gmx.net/de/go/atbrowser) Axel, have a look at surpass - it might be enough for what you want (not sure about JRuby support though) [http://surpass.rubyforge.org/](http://surpass.rubyforge.org/) HTH Mike