XL2Form

            Written By: Chip Beaulieu
                  Version: 1.0
              Date: August 10, 1999

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Description:
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This Excel program will let you convert an Excel spreadsheet
to an equivalent HTML page. So what is the difference between
this program and the standard Save As HTML option? This program
will maintain your equations and create an on-line form which
works like your spreadsheet. You can type values in cells and
the sheet will recalculate just like Excel.

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Background:
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I am an engineer who uses Microsoft Excel a great deal for 
engineering type of calculations. Many of the spreadsheets
I created were for product related calculations which were
of value to other product engineers. I wanted to publish
these on our website, but didn't want to put it out as an
Excel document because we are a world-wide corporation and
not everyone was guarenteed to have the same version of
Excel.

I also considered purchasing the product which would convert
the Excel file to a Java application. That product actually
produces a spreadsheet which looks truer to the original
Excel file, but alas I would have to purchase and maintain
licenses and make sure everyone had Java, etc....

Another driving force was the issue of custom functions.
Many of my Excel spreadsheets contain custom functions which
I wanted to keep with the web solution. (Before you get
too excited, this program does nothing to convert VBA 
functions to Javascript). If I used the Java based product
I would loose the ability to further enhance the web page.

I finally decided that a Javascript based solution is what
I needed. I looked and didn't find one, so I started creating
one myself. As I worked on the project in my spare time, I 
realized that Office 2000 would allow publishing directly to
the web. I almost stopped, but (correct my if I am wrong) it
turns out you will need IE 5.0 to view them and we use
Netscape mostly and many of my colleagues still use NS 3.0.

The Javascript option gives me the most flexibility because I
can continue to enhance the Javascript as I need to.

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How To Use It:
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I thought about creating this program as an Excel Add-In, but
it is probably too big. Besides, I could not get it to work as
an add-in.

To use it, you will need to open the sheet you want to convert
and this XL2Form.xls sheet. When you have them both open,
you can select Tools>Macros>Run and select the macro:

XL2FORM.XLS!AppMain.Xl2Form

This will start the wizard which will step you through the 
process of creating the HTML file. You can then open the
page in any Javascript capable browser and test it.

I ended up creating a toolbar button which accessed the program.

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Limitations:
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Excel has over 300 functions. Many of which I do not use as
an Engineer. Of these 300, I have only converted about 100
functions to Javascript functions. You can unhide the XL2Form
spreadsheet to see a list of functions which have been
converted and any specific limitations of those functions.

This program will not convert images or do graphs. Sorry.

This program is intended to converted sheets without errors and
sheets which are totally independent of other sheets or 
workbooks. I.E., it will not work on sheets that have cells
that reference cells from other sheets or workbooks.

Spreadsheets with hundreds of recalculations will be very slow.
If you have large summations which are used in several places,
this will also be slow. Note: Netscape Navigator's Javascript
engine is much much faster than IE's. Maybe an order of magnitude
faster for some calculations. I've never seen the computer
press benchmark this, but it is sometimes a limiting factor for
IE.

I almost never use R1C1 style sheets. Therefore this program
really doesn't work with those type of sheets. I reviewed
100's of sheets from our LAN and didn't find any that used
R1C1. I know people do, and for those who do, sorry!

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Pointers On Setting Up Your Excel Sheet Before Conversion:
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The program handles Merged Cells very well. This is probably
the single most important thing you can do to insure a nice
looking HTML page. If you have titles in your spreadsheet,
you need to used merged cells. The best way to get a feel of
what the final HTML page will look like is to AutoFit all your
columns.

The program supports your colors, special fonts (like symbol),
and special charactors so use these as you need them. It also
supports word wrapping and alignment, so these are possible as
well.

It does not support customer borders because HTML can't do this.

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Copyright Notice:
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Copyright 1999, Chip Beaulieu.

This program is freeware and you are free to distribute it to
others as long as no fee is charged in any way (excluding ISP
fees for connect time).

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Additional Thoughts:
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Currently, I have password protected the program. I am considering
opening the whole thing up if I get enough feedback from folks
who might be interested in adding additional functions or making
improvements to the overall program.

Please send feedback, bug reports, enhancement requests, etc. to:

chipbeaulieu@hotmail.com