Add Excel output to your own 4GL reports

If you are a Pronto site that has a licence to use the Pronto 4GL, you can now easily add the ability to create Excel reports to your programs. I have extracted the Excel routines from my 'GHOSTWRITER' 4GL report writer software and packaged them up into a convenient include file and a component library file.

The include file provides a suite of simple macros that can be used to perform all the processing necessary to easily create Excel output files. This includes macros for opening and naming output files, creating worksheets, setting column headings and formats, inserting data into cells, closing the Excel file and emailing the file.

By providing individual macros for the various Excel functions, as a programmer you have full control over the layout and contents of the Excel spreadsheet. For example, you can control the sheet titles and column headings, create multiple worksheets within the file, and add additional processing information if you wish.

Just like the Excel files created using my new 'SQL/Output' software, the Excel output files that are created using the macros in the include file are in ‘XML Spreadsheet 2003’ format. This is a native Excel format that is supported by Excel 2003 or later versions.

The macros provide you with the ability to directly create the Excel output files from programs that are run in batch mode. If a program is being run interactively, and the Pronto output file directory is mapped to a PC directory, the user will be asked whether they want to open the file immediately using Excel.

My website has more information about the Excel include file and component library, including a summary of the provided macros and a document showing how to convert a normal 4GL report to create an Excel output file.