.NET News

Add Advanced Calculation Capabilities to Your App

March 22, 2024
Document Solutions for Excel API empowers your .NET applications with advanced data analysis through built-in Excel functions.

Document Solutions for Excel, .NET Edition (DsExcel, previously GcExcel) is a high-speed, small-footprint, server-side spreadsheet API that requires no dependencies on Excel. With full .NET support, you can generate, load, modify, and convert spreadsheets in .NET, .NET Framework, .NET Core, Mono, and Xamarin. Apps using the spreadsheet API can be deployed to cloud, Windows, Mac, or Linux. Its powerful calculation engine and breadth of features means you'll never have to compromise design or requirements. The interface-based API is modeled on Microsoft Excel's document object model which means you can import, calculate, query, generate, and export any spreadsheet scenario.

Formulas and functions play an important role in data analysis. Microsoft Excel provides a range of functions that simplify the extraction of key metrics during data analysis. In this pair of blog posts from MESCIUS, Software Engineer Prabhat Sharma demonstrates how to use DsExcel to implement Excel functions and other Excel-like functionalities.

Part 1 of the blog shows you how to drill into sales data and integrate the following functions:

  • LOOKUP and Reference Functions
  • FILTER Function
  • TRANSPOSE Function

Part 2 of the blog digs into monthly budget data to show you how to use:

  • SUBTOTAL
  • CHOOSEROWS/CHOOSECOLS
  • SUMIF/AVERAGEIF
  • PMT/PPMT/IPMT
  • IF combined with AND/OR

Document Solutions for Excel is licensed per developer for either one distribution location or unlimited distribution locations. Licenses are perpetual, and include a one year subscription for all software releases (including hotfixes and major releases) plus Platinum Support. See our Document Solutions for Excel, .NET Edition licensing page for full details.

Learn more about Document Solutions for Excel, .NET Edition.

Manipulate Spreadsheets Programmatically

March 21, 2024
LEADTOOLS v23 adds new Excel API and Excel Web Editor built on award winning Document SDK technology.

LEADTOOLS Document Suite is a comprehensive set of powerful document imaging SDKs designed to facilitate document processing and management tasks within software applications. It offers developers advanced capabilities for tasks such as OCR (Optical Character Recognition), barcode recognition, PDF manipulation, document conversion, annotation, and more. Leveraging this suite, developers can seamlessly integrate sophisticated document functionality into their software solutions, enabling efficient handling of various document formats and improving productivity in document-centric workflows.

The LEADTOOLS Document Suite SDK v23 update ushers in a new era of streamlined document management and enhanced productivity. The integration of the Excel API and Excel Web Editor empowers developers to seamlessly manipulate Microsoft Excel documents directly within their applications, regardless of platform. The Excel API offers programmatic control over Excel files, enabling efficient extraction, modification, and creation, while the Excel Web Editor fosters real-time collaborative editing within web applications. These powerful additions not only streamline document workflows but also equip developers with a comprehensive suite of Excel editing functionalities within the LEADTOOLS Document Suite ecosystem.

To see a full list of what's new in v23, see our release notes.

LEADTOOLS Document Suite SDK is licensed as Development Licenses, for developers to use the SDKs, and Deployment Licenses, for the right to distribute end user solutions. See our LEADTOOLS Document Suite SDK licensing page for full details.

Learn more on our LEADTOOLS Document Suite SDK product page.

Add Data Validation to Your .NET 8 Spreadsheets

March 21, 2024
Develop spreadsheet applications with built-in data validation tools to prevent errors, maintain data quality, and streamline data analysis.

Data validation is a crucial feature for maintaining the integrity of data within a spreadsheet. It restricts the type of data or the values that users can enter into a cell. For example, a cell can be configured to only accept dates or numbers within a certain range. This minimizes input errors and ensures that data adheres to specified parameters, which is particularly important in scenarios where spreadsheets are used for data entry by multiple users or when the data feeds into critical business processes.

Several .NET 8 spreadsheet products offer data validation, including:

  • DevExpress Office File API (Spreadsheet Document API) is a high performance API for managing spreadsheet data in Microsoft Excel documents, supporting .NET 8 and offering data validation functionality.
  • Telerik Spread Processing (part of the Telerik UI product range) is a document processing library that supports .NET 8 and streamlines spreadsheet management, enabling data validation to ensure compliant input.
  • Infragistics WinForms Spreadsheet (part of Infragistics Ultimate UI for Windows Forms) provides data validation features to ensure data accuracy in desktop .NET 8 spreadsheet applications.
  • IronXL by Iron Software is a C# library for working with Excel files, without requiring Microsoft Office or Excel Interop, that supports .NET 8 and offers data validation for controlling data types and values in Excel files.

For an in-depth analysis of features and price, visit our comparison of .NET 8 spreadsheet controls.

Compare .NET 8 Spreadsheet Controls

Make Your Dashboards More Dynamic and Insightful

March 20, 2024
Stimulsoft Dashboards.WIN 2024.2 adds support for parameters in element filters, enabling users to access filter values directly in dashboards.

Stimulsoft Dashboards is a versatile suite of tools for crafting interactive data visualizations for web and desktop applications. It empowers developers to embed intuitive dashboards across various platforms, using platform-specific components or a centralized cloud designer. With rich data analysis elements, extensive customization options, and pre-built templates, Stimulsoft Dashboards helps you transform complex data into clear, actionable insights for any audience.

The Stimulsoft Dashboards.WIN 2024.2 release adds new functionality for working with filters in your dashboards. You can now include parameters when applying filters, allowing those parameters to capture the chosen filter values. This means you can access these filter values directly within report variables or other dashboard elements, creating a more dynamic and interconnected user experience.

To see a full list of what's new in version 2024.2, see our release notes.

Stimulsoft Dashboards.WIN is licensed per developer and is available as a Perpetual license with 1 year support and maintenance. See our Stimulsoft Dashboards.WIN licensing page for full details.

Stimulsoft Dashboards.WIN is available to buy in the following products:

Add a Powerful Report Designer to Your Web App

March 20, 2024
ActiveReports.NET provides an HTML5/JavaScript-based End-User Report Designer that lets users build reports without third party software.

ActiveReports.NET is a .NET reporting tool used by developers to design and integrate reports into their web and desktop applications. It provides a familiar Visual Studio designer for building reports with rich controls like charts and tables. ActiveReports also boasts a flexible API for customization and supports various data sources with export options to common file formats.

In this blog post, MESCIUS Product Marketing Specialist Mason Schaffer dives into the ActiveReports.NET Web Designer. Learn how to equip your web users with the ability to create custom reports on their own, all thanks to a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface. Features include:

  • The Design Pane and Report Controls, which allows users to drag-and-drop various elements into their reports, such as...
    • TextBox/CheckBox
    • Images
    • Table of Contents
    • Charts
  • The Web Designer Interface, allows full interactivity while designing reports, including...
    • Undo/Redo
    • Preview
    • Save/SaveAs
    • Properties
    • Data Sources

Read the complete blog to learn the essentials of the ActiveReports.NET End-User Report Designer and start creating impactful reports more quickly.

ActiveReports.NET is licensed per developer and is available with or without a 12 month support and maintenance subscription. See our ActiveReports.NET licensing page for full details.

For more information, visit our ActiveReports.NET product page.