In this newsletter, I've published several articles that deal with reading Excel spreadsheets by using a combination of RPG and Java. Recently, Giovanni Perotti of Easy400.net has taken my work and turned it into a utility that makes it easy to convert an Excel spreadsheet to a database file in QTEMP and then subsequently read that file in your programs.

Giovanni's website provides a download where you can get the tool as a save file. You can then upload that save file to your IBM i and restore a library containing all of the source code. You run a REXX script that builds all the needed programs.

Once you've installed the tool, you'll have my service program, XLPARSER4, which you can use in your programs, the same way I discuss in my articles. Furthermore, you'll have Giovanni's command. Here's a screen shot of that command:

                    Convert an Excel spreadsheet (XLSCONVERT)         

 Type choices, press Enter.
                           
 .xls stream file . . . . . . . . XLS                                         
       
 Display the database file  . . . DSPDBF      *NO           *YES, *NO
 Print results  . . . . . . . . . PRINT       *NO           *YES, *NO
 Decimal places . . . . . . . . . DEC         2             0-5
 Date columns . . . . . . . . . . DATECOL     *NONE         Number, *NONE
                + for more values

Giovanni's tool is open source and free of charge. Here are instructions for how to get it:

• Go to Easy400.net.
• Click Downloads (you may have to register with the site).
• Click Excel spreadsheet utilities.
• Follow the instructions on the screen.