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Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet applications have been the sonic screwdriver of business computation and data collection for decades. In recent years, spreadsheet web services have become popular with cloud-based services that offer better collaboration, require no installation, and some are even free to use. However, both desktop and third-party cloud-based services are difficult to integrate well with web applications. Being a Vaadin UI component, Vaadin Spreadsheet allows complete integration with Vaadin applications and further with the overall system. The ability to work on Excel spreadsheets allows desktop interoperability and integration with document management.

By eliminating the dependency on third-party cloud-based services, Vaadin Spreadsheet also gives control over the privacy of documents. Growing security concerns over cloud-based information storage have increased privacy requirements, with lowering trust in global third-party providers. Vaadin applications can run on private application servers, and also in a cloud if necessary, allowing you to prioritize between privacy and local and global availability.

spreadsheet demo
Demo for Vaadin Spreadsheet

Vaadin Spreadsheet is a UI component that you use much like any other component. It has full size by default, to use all the available space in the containing layout. You can directly modify the cell data in the active worksheet by entering textual and numerical values, as well as using Excel formulas for spreadsheet calculations.

Spreadsheet sheet = new Spreadsheet();
sheet.setWidth("400px"); // Full size by default
sheet.setHeight("250px");

// Put customary greeting in a cell
sheet.createCell(0, 0, "Hello, world");

// Have some numerical data
sheet.createCell(1, 0, 6);
sheet.createCell(1, 1, 7);

// Perform a spreadsheet calculation
sheet.createCell(1, 2, ""); // Set a dummy value
sheet.getCell(1, 2).setCellFormula("A2*B2");

// Resize a column to fit the cell data
sheet.autofitColumn(0);

layout.addComponent(sheet);
layout.setSizeFull(); // Typically

The result is shown in Simple Spreadsheet.

spreadsheet basic
Simple Spreadsheet

Cell values and formulas can be set, read, and styled through the server-side API, so you can easily implement custom editing features through menus or toolbars.

Full integration with a Vaadin application is reached through the server-side access to the spreadsheet data as well as visual styling. Changes in cell values can be handled in the Vaadin application and you can use almost any Vaadin components within a spreadsheet. Field components can be bound to cell data.

Vaadin Spreadsheet uses Apache POI to work on Microsoft Excel documents. You can access the Apache POI data model to perform low-level tasks, although you should note that if you make modifications to the data model, you have the responsibility to notify the spreadsheet to update itself.

Features

The basic features of Vaadin Spreadsheet are as follows:

  • Support for touch devices

  • Excel XLSX files, limited support for XLS files

  • Support for Excel formulas

  • Excel-like editing with keyboard support

  • Lazy loading of cell data from server to browser in large spreadsheets

  • Protected cells and sheets

The following features support integration with Vaadin Framework and add-ons:

  • Handle changes in cell data

  • Vaadin components in spreadsheet cells

  • Support for Vaadin declarative format

  • Vaadin TestBench element API for UI testing

Spreadsheet Demo

The Vaadin Spreadsheet Demo showcases the most important Spreadsheet features. You can try it out at http://demo.vaadin.com/spreadsheet.

See "Importing the Demo" for instructions for importing the project in Eclipse.

The source code is available and browseable at Github.

Requirements

  • Vaadin 7.4 or later

  • Same browser requirements as Vaadin Framework, except Internet Explorer 9 or later is required

Limitations

Vaadin Spreadsheet 2.0 has the following limitations:

  • No provided toolbars, menus, or other controls for formatting cells

  • Limited support for the older XSL format

  • Limitations of Apache POI

  • Using a table as a named range in formulas is not supported. As a workaround, you can manually convert tables to ranges. Open the spreadsheet in Excel, right-click on the table, select the Convert to Range action, and save the spreadsheet.

  • The SUBTOTAL formula is limited to aggregate functions that do not ignore hidden values (function codes from 1 to 7, as well as 9), because they are not implemented in Apache POI

  • Strict OOXML format is not supported by Apache POI

Licensing

Vaadin Spreadsheet is a commercial product licensed under the CVAL license ( Commercial Vaadin Add-On License). Development licenses need to be purchased for each developer working with Vaadin Spreadsheet, regardless of whether the resulting applications using it are deployed publicly or privately in an intranet.

A Vaadin Pro Tools subscription includes a subscription license for Vaadin Spreadsheet. Perpetual licenses can be purchased from the Vaadin Spreadsheet product page, where you can also find the licensing details. For evaluation purposes, a free trial key allows using Vaadin Spreadsheet for a 14-day evaluation period.