FarPoint Spread

FarPoint Spread

Developer(s)	FarPoint Technologies, now GrapeCity
Initial release	1991
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Available in	English, Japanese
Type	Business Intelligence Spreadsheets Reporting
License	GrapeCity EULA
Website

FarPoint Spread from GrapeCity is a suite of Microsoft Excel-compatible spreadsheet components available for .NET, COM, and Microsoft BizTalk Server. Software developers use the components to embed Microsoft Excel-compatible spreadsheet features into their applications, such as importing and exporting Microsoft Excel files, displaying, modifying, analyzing, and visualizing data. Spread components handle spreadsheet data at the cell, row, column, or worksheet level.

History

1991 Spread released as a DLL control as the initial product offering from FarPoint Technologies, Inc.
1990s
- Spread VBX released.^[1]
- Spread ActiveX released.
- These components are now known as Spread COM.
2003 Spread for Windows Forms released as a completely new managed C# version prompted by the launch of Visual Studio .NET.
2003 Spread for Web Forms (now Spread for ASP.NET) released.
2006 Spread for BizTalk released.^[2]
2009 FarPoint Technologies acquired by GrapeCity.^[3]^[4]

Versions

Spread for Windows Forms: 5.0
Spread for Web Forms: 5.0
Spread COM: 8.0
Spread for BizTalk: 3.0

Screeshot of FarPoint Spread for Windows Forms version 5 in Visual Studio 2010.
Screenshot of FarPoint Spread for Web Forms (ASP.NET).
Screeshot of FarPoint Spread COM.

Spread for Windows Forms

FarPoint Spread for Windows Forms is a Microsoft Excel-compatible spreadsheet component for Windows Forms applications developed using Microsoft Visual Studio and the .NET Framework. Developers use it to add grids and spreadsheets to their applications, and to bind them to data sources.^[5] In version 4.0, new cell types were added to display barcodes and fractions, and exports for XML and PDF were added.^[6]^[7]

Spread for ASP.NET

FarPoint Spread for ASP.NET is a Microsoft Excel-compatible spreadsheet component for ASP.NET applications. Developers use it to add grids and spreadsheets to their applications,

Spread for COM

FarPoint Spread 8 COM allows COM and ActiveX applications to incorporate spreadsheet features. In the 1997 book Visual Basic 5 for Windows for Dummies, Wally Wang lists an early version of Spread COM in Chapter 35: The Ten Most Useful Visual Basic Add-On Programs.^[8]

Spread for BizTalk

FarPoint Spread for BizTalk Server allows developers to integrate Microsoft Excel documents into Microsoft BizTalk applications. Spread for BizTalk Server includes two components:

Spreadsheet Pipeline Disassembler - Parses data from Microsoft Excel (XLS and Excel 2007 XML, CSV, TXT) documents into XML data for processing through Microsoft BizTalk Server receive pipelines.
Spreadsheet Pipeline Assembler - Assembles data from Microsoft BizTalk applications into Microsoft Excel (XLS or Excel 2007 XML) or PDF documents for transport through Microsoft BizTalk Server send pipelines.

Developers find it a useful tool for organizations with Microsoft BizTalk Server Enterprise Application Integration.^[9] Prior to this release, BizTalk users wanting to use Excel data had to manually open the files and copy and paste data between the two applications.^[10]

Features

These features are common to all versions.

Predefined cell types, including:
- currency
- date time
- number
- percent
- regular expression
- button
- check box
- combo box
- hyperlink
- image
Formula support, including:
- cross-sheet referencing
- over 300 built-in functions
Import and export:
- import to Microsoft Excel-compatible files
- export to Microsoft Excel-compatible files
- export to HTML files
- export to XML files
Design-time spreadsheet designer
Data-binding with customizable options
Hierarchical data views, with parent rows and child views
Grouping of rows or columns
Sorting by row or column on multiple keys
Cell spanning
Multiple row and column headers
Bound and unbound modes

Version-Specific Features

Spread for Windows Forms

Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
Support for Windows Azure AppFabric
Integrated chart control
Custom cell types
Cell notes
Child controls
Splitter bars
Built-in and custom skins and styles
PDF export
Microsoft Excel 2007 XML Support (Office Open XML, XLSX)
Floating Formula Bar
Range Selection for Formula
Automatic Completion (type ahead)

Spread for ASP.NET

Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
Support for Windows Azure AppFabric
Integrated chart control
AJAX-enabled
Support for Open Document Format (ODF) files
Multiple edits on multiple rows without server round trips
Client-side column and row resizing
Load on demand, which loads data from the server as needed for viewing
Native Microsoft Excel import and export
In-cell editing
Multiple edits on multiple rows without server round trips
Client-side column and row resizing
Multiple sheets
Searching
Filtering
Validations
Cell spans
PDF export

Spread COM

Custom cell types
Cell notes
Virtual mode for data loading
Unicode support
Customizable printing
Text tips
Import and export:
- Microsoft Excel 97
- Excel 2000
- Excel 2007 (requires the .NET Framework)
Enhanced printing
64 bit DLL

Spread for BizTalk

Integration of Microsoft Excel data into Microsoft BizTalk applications
Design-time spreadsheet schema wizard and spreadsheet format designer

Supported document formats

Adobe Portable Document Format PDF (*.pdf)
HTML Web Page (*.html)
Microsoft Excel Workbook (*.xls)
Plain Text (*.txt)
Comma-Separated Values (*.csv)
Open Document Format (Spread for ASP.NET)

References

External links

FarPoint Spread official site