OLE Automation using Perl on a Unix box?

I need to set up an automation process on a Unix machine (no windows
machine can be used). This automation needs to do various
manipulations in MS Excel files... for example, insert/delete records,
copy/paste cells etc.

On windows, I would use Win32::OLE. Is there an equivalent library
that works for Perl running on Unix?

Thanks,
Steve

Re: OLE Automation using Perl on a Unix box?

In article <1145402842.558611.204550@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
Steve wrote:

> I need to set up an automation process on a Unix machine (no windows
> machine can be used). This automation needs to do various
> manipulations in MS Excel files... for example, insert/delete records,
> copy/paste cells etc.
>
> On windows, I would use Win32::OLE. Is there an equivalent library
> that works for Perl running on Unix?

I use Spreadsheet::ParseExcel and Spreadsheet::WriteExcel to read and
write Excel spreadsheet files. Be warned: reading is slow. The entire
spreadsheet is read into memory. I have not tried these modules on very
complicated documents (like those with formulas, plots, etc.).

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Re: OLE Automation using Perl on a Unix box?

"Steve" wrote in message
news:1145402842.558611.204550@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com.. .
> I need to set up an automation process on a Unix machine (no windows
> machine can be used). This automation needs to do various
> manipulations in MS Excel files... for example, insert/delete records,
> copy/paste cells etc.
>
> On windows, I would use Win32::OLE. Is there an equivalent library
> that works for Perl running on Unix?
>

There are a number of modules for parsing/writing Excel files. See
http://search.cpan.org/search?query=Excel&mode=dist . I don't know whether
any of them will give you the same degree of control that's offered by
Win32::OLE.

Cheers,
Rob

Re: OLE Automation using Perl on a Unix box?

Steve wrote:
> I need to set up an automation process on a Unix machine (no windows
> machine can be used). This automation needs to do various
> manipulations in MS Excel files... for example, insert/delete records,
> copy/paste cells etc.
>
> On windows, I would use Win32::OLE. Is there an equivalent library
> that works for Perl running on Unix?
>
> Thanks,
> Steve
>

Something to consider beyond the other suggestions already made is, if
you already have a license for Excel, running Excel plus a Win32 build
of Perl under Wine. It's likely to be more trouble than it's worth, but
if all else fails, it might be an option of last resort.

--
Donald King, a.k.a. Chronos Tachyon
http://chronos-tachyon.net/