I have a highly dynamic spreadsheet that I'm generating with Spreadsheet::WriteExcel. However, I need to refer to another table of data that needs to be updated easily by the end user, preferably also in Excel format.

I thought a good solution might involve keeping the static data in a separate file, since Excel has support for referencing data in another file. Unfortunately, Spreadsheet::WriteExcel doesn't support this. The author suggested Spreadsheet::WriteExcelXML, which has this feature.

Unfortunately, it requires at least Excel 2002, which I think may be too high of a requirement. It doesn't help that these XML files don't open on my own Linux desktop in OOo 2 or Gnumeric either. (Or in Mac's Office.X for that matter).

What other Perl-based alternatives do I have, considering I have a lot invested in a Spreadsheet::WriteExcel-based solution already?

Thanks!

Mark Stosberg

In reply to Best practices for linking dynamic Excel data to static Excel data? by markjugg

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