# Ruby plugin for spreadsheet?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-plugin-for-spreadsheet/72606>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [February 24, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-plugin-for-spreadsheet/72606 "2006-02-24T02:15:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![grantspeelman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/da6949/32.png) [@grantspeelman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/grantspeelman)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-plugin-for-spreadsheet/72606/1 "2006-02-24T02:15:55Z")

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I know this may sound insane… but is there anything like a ruby plugin  
for spreadsheets? Sadly, I guess I’d prefer Excel, but I use OpenOffice  
alot too. basically, there is always text manipulation of fields I need  
to  
do. Its a royal pain in most spreadsheet software. I usually end up  
exporting my data out to a csv, running some Ruby scripts on it, and  
then  
importing it back. Trying to reduce the work here. Since… exporting it  
out, running ruby scripts on it, then importing it back in is still  
easier  
for me.

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**Author:** ![grantspeelman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/da6949/32.png) [@grantspeelman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/grantspeelman)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-plugin-for-spreadsheet/72606/2 "2006-02-24T02:40:04Z")

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On Feb 23, 2006, at 8:13 PM, Grant S. wrote:

> exporting it  
> out, running ruby scripts on it, then importing it back in is still  
> easier  
> for me.

[http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/parseexcel/](http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/parseexcel/)

Alternatively consider Win32OLE. The upside to ParseExcel is that you  
don’t need Excel to use it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![grantspeelman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/da6949/32.png) [@grantspeelman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/grantspeelman)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-plugin-for-spreadsheet/72606/3 "2006-02-24T02:49:15Z")

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I actually did a project a couple of years ago which used the Win32 OLE  
library for Ruby – check out the ActiveScriptRuby distribution  
([http://arton.hp.infoseek.co.jp/](http://arton.hp.infoseek.co.jp/)).

Instead of doing a Ruby “plugin” for Excel, I used Ruby to automate  
Excel operations: open a workbook, select a worksheet, create a new  
sheet, copy some data into it, etc.

-Lennon

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![grantspeelman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/da6949/32.png) [@grantspeelman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/grantspeelman)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 7:16am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-plugin-for-spreadsheet/72606/4 "2006-02-24T07:16:05Z")

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On 2006-02-23 20:10:06 -0500, Grant S.  
[removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) said:

> I know this may sound insane… but is there anything like a ruby  
> plugin for spreadsheets? Sadly, I guess I’d prefer Excel, but I use  
> OpenOffice alot too. basically, there is always text manipulation of  
> fields I need to do. Its a royal pain in most spreadsheet software. I  
> usually end up exporting my data out to a csv, running some Ruby  
> scripts on it, and then importing it back. Trying to reduce the work  
> here. Since… exporting it out, running ruby scripts on it, then  
> importing it back in is still easier for me.

Check this thread out \>\>  
[http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse\_thread/thread/15326c311fafc888/8ae49e950ee8c49d?q=Excel+spreadsheet&rnum=2#8ae49e950ee8c49d](http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_thread/thread/15326c311fafc888/8ae49e950ee8c49d?q=Excel+spreadsheet&rnum=2#8ae49e950ee8c49d)

It

might be of use.

James