Sheetster

Last updated
Extentech Inc.
Sheetster logo.png
Sheetster screenshot.png
Developer(s) Extentech, Inc.
Stable release
Sheetster Version 1.4 / October 27, 2009 (2009-10-27)
Preview release
1.0 / January 27, 2009 (2009-01-27)
Written in Java, JSP and JavaScript
Operating system Cross-platform
Type Spreadsheet
License Professional Edition is commercial / proprietary, Community Edition is Apache v2
Website www.sheetster.com

Sheetster is a GPL Open Source Web Spreadsheet and a Java Application Server created by Extentech Inc. The product was created for the enterprise and small and medium-sized businesses as an Open Source alternative to closed document management systems. [1]

A spreadsheet is an interactive computer application for organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in cells of a table. Each cell may contain either numeric or text data, or the results of formulas that automatically calculate and display a value based on the contents of other cells. A spreadsheet may also refer to one such electronic document.

Java (software platform) set of several computer software products and specifications

Java is a set of computer software and specifications developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems, which was later acquired by the Oracle Corporation, that provides a system for developing application software and deploying it in a cross-platform computing environment. Java is used in a wide variety of computing platforms from embedded devices and mobile phones to enterprise servers and supercomputers. Java applets, which are less common than standalone Java applications, were commonly run in secure, sandboxed environments to provide many features of native applications through being embedded in HTML pages. It's still possible to run Java in web browsers after most of them having dropped support for Java's VM.

A document management system (DMS) is a system used to track, manage and store documents and reduce paper. Most are capable of keeping a record of the various versions created and modified by different users. The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management systems. It is often viewed as a component of enterprise content management (ECM) systems and related to digital asset management, document imaging, workflow systems and records management systems.

Contents

History

Built by Extentech Inc, a developer of Java spreadsheet and development tools, Sheetster BETA was made available to the public on June 8, 2007.

Features

Sheetster runs on the ExtenXLS Java (programming language) Spreadsheet SDK and includes: [3]

ExtenXLS is a Java Excel Reporting Toolkit developed by Extentech. It is a Reporting API that allows for the reading in, modifying and creation of spreadsheet-based reports from Java applications.

Java (programming language) object-oriented programming language

Java is a general-purpose computer-programming language that is concurrent, class-based, object-oriented, and specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is intended to let application developers "write once, run anywhere" (WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need for recompilation. Java applications are typically compiled to bytecode that can run on any Java virtual machine (JVM) regardless of computer architecture. As of 2016, Java is one of the most popular programming languages in use, particularly for client-server web applications, with a reported 9 million developers. Java was originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its original features from SmallTalk, with a syntax similar to C and C++, but it has fewer low-level facilities than either of them.

A software development kit is typically a set of software development tools that allows the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar development platform. To enrich applications with advanced functionalities, advertisements, push notifications, and more, most app developers implement specific software development kits. Some SDKs are critical for developing a platform-specific app. For example, the development of an Android app on Java platform requires a Java Development Kit, for iOS apps the iOS SDK, and for Universal Windows Platform the .NET Framework SDK. There are also SDKs that are installed in apps to provide analytics and data about application activity; prominent creators of these types of SDKs include Google, InMobi, and Facebook.

Sheetster Web Spreadsheet ExtenXLS Java Spreadsheet SDK Cellbinder Automation API Spreadsheet Automation Server
Source Included/GPL Customizable Java Swing GUI REST API JSON/XML/HTML/CSV/XLS output Object-Relational Mapper and Query Builder
Document chat Named ranges Secure content management system Embeddable live data charts
Macros, forms, and gadgets for web 2.0 database applications Excel 2007 compatibility Data Mapping API Collaboration, versioning, and access control [4]

The Sheetster administration console allows for the design of relational data objects using a visual query designer and object-relational mapper. The RESTful API accepts data from a variety of sources, and outputs data-mapped spreadsheet objects in a variety of formats including JSON, XML, and as Excel-compatible XLS. Sheetster can be automated with macros and automatic data entry forms created from Excel cell ranges. Data Objects can be mapped to spreadsheet templates and output in a variety of formats: [5]

XSLT is a language for transforming XML documents into other XML documents, or other formats such as HTML for web pages, plain text or XSL Formatting Objects, which may subsequently be converted to other formats, such as PDF, PostScript and PNG. XSLT 1.0 is widely supported in modern web browsers.

Usage

A Sheetster Spreadsheet Sheester screenshot megacomm.jpeg
A Sheetster Spreadsheet

Most common usages of sheetster:

Storage

Sheetster can be stored in any database or file system of choice, such as:

Sheetster Server Defined Sheetster defined.png
Sheetster Server Defined

Integration

Integration is achieved through the RESTful API which allows for publishing of data-mapped spreadsheet cells as web services. Sheetster provides integrated support for:

  1. Advanced server-based spreadsheet automation and functionality
  2. Alfresco ECM
  3. A REST API with JSON/XML/HTML/CSV/ and XLS output
  4. Sheetster Web Spreadsheet (source included)
  5. Built-in secure content management system
  6. ExtenXLS Java Spreadsheet SDK
  7. Customizable Java Swing administration GUI with Object-Relational Mapper and Query Builder

Integration guide

Sheetster is available for download at Extentech.com and Sourceforge.

Notes

  1. Shrivastava, Anshu (October 15, 2009). "Extentech and Alfresco Intro Integrated Open Source Web Spreadsheet Solution". TMCnet. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
  2. "Sheetster Features" . Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  3. "Sheetster Web Spreadsheet" . Retrieved 2009-10-27.
  4. Java News Desk (April 4, 2007). "Extentech Announces Release of Sheetster". Sys-Con. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
  5. Mitra, Sramana (March 9, 2009). "Ventana Research in Deal Radar 2009: Extentech Article Deal Radar 2009: Extentech". Ventana Research. Retrieved 2009-10-27.

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References