LiveCode Forums.

Hi,
Are there any, something that can be included, as SQLite is ?

There is a plugin that will integrate with Excel (part of the summer mega bundle, or can be purchased separately).

Or, you can just use tab or comma separated text files (.tsv / .csv) which will open in a spreadsheet app like a spreadsheet.
This is much simpler and cheaper (ie free) compared to using actual Excel files. TSV/CSV files are a good format for external data.

I would try and avoid using CSV however, in preference of TSV (or just define your own delimiters for column/record).

Richard has an excellent write up here: CSV Must Die - choice quote:

Richard Gaskin wrote:When you add up all the programmer- and end-user-hours lost to dealing with the uniquely stupid collection of mish-mashed ad-hoc formats that is CSV, it amounts to nothing less than a crime against humanity.

True story
S.

I haven't tried it but a browser widget that displays a Google Sheets page would probably work.

Only CAsba is asking for a comparable solution to SQLite, implying it’s needed as a data source - not sure I’d use browser widget for this?

CAsba wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 22, 2022 12:28 pm

Are there any, something that can be included, as SQLite is ?

Spreadsheets can be a deep subject .

Do you just need a multicolumn list display, or do you also need formulas, charts, and other common spreadsheet features?

CAsba.

What Richard is implying is "Can you use a table field?". Or even a DataGrid?

Craig

I have had 9 year olds importing tab delimited text documents into table fields, muck around with values, and then re-export as a new tab delimited text file for reimport into a spreadsheet program.

This IS 'the best'.

stam wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 22, 2022 5:54 pm

Only CAsba is asking for a comparable solution to SQLite, implying it’s needed as a data source - not sure I’d use browser widget for this?

I thought the spreadsheet was a different request, but you may be right.

I read it as asking for a "spreadsheet", that is a gadget that looks and works like one, but not excel.

So, CAsba, what do you really want, and to what extent is this going to be "attached" to LC? Both the table field and dataGrid are native to LC

Craig

In response to Craig, I was used to working with VBA and Excel, which made lots of number juggling really easy. I guess with LC I'm going to have to figure out SQlite; it would be really good for me if I could continue with a spreadsheet style interface for such tasks a Customer and Supplier accounts, payment allocations/de-allocations, customer statements of account, which, as I say, were a breeze with VBA, but looking like daunting tasks in SQlite (at least until I get familiar with it).

Not sure I’d necessarily use SQLite for that reason - it’s just a data store, like any other.

I think in LC you make be better off using a data structure like an array, a variable that holds a table as TSV data or some such to make it work (complex queries etc) then store things.

Of course SQL let’s you run complex queries, but you can replicate all of that with simple array operations for example…

Personally I prefer to build the interface first and then figure out how to make things work, as almost anything is possible with LC… a lot of the time I find there are much simpler approaches this way than what I had imagined to start with….

As mentioned you can still use normal excel files if you pay for the plug-in, but that’s probably not the best way to go about things

CAsba.

Are you familiar with either a table field or a dataGrid? They are both essentially "spreadsheets", that is, an Excel-like "array" of tab and return delimited data. They both "look" like Excel.

Craig

CAsba wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 24, 2022 3:27 pm

In response to Craig, I was used to working with VBA and Excel, which made lots of number juggling really easy. I guess with LC I'm going to have to figure out SQlite; it would be really good for me if I could continue with a spreadsheet style interface for such tasks a Customer and Supplier accounts, payment allocations/de-allocations, customer statements of account, which, as I say, were a breeze with VBA, but looking like daunting tasks in SQlite (at least until I get familiar with it).

Data storage and data display are separate concerns.

LiveCode does not require you to use SQLite for storage, and has multiple ways to display columnar data.

As I have pointed out before, there is a lot to be
said for using a tab-delimited text file as a data store.

Richmond.

A tab delimited dataSet is convenient. It has the advantage that data coming to or from, say, Excel, a dataGrid or a table field can be loaded and unloaded directly without changing the "format" of the data.

But I think the OP wants to see and manipulate an actual gadget, as if Excel was a native control in LC.

Craig