Re: [sprog-users] Re: Sprog::Gear::ReadExcel.pm Code Review

[Grant M. <gr...@mc...>]

On Sat, 2005-06-25 at 12:35 -0400, Marc Slagle wrote:
> Grant McLean wrote:
> >* The file_start and file_end events both send an argument of undef.
> >  It really ought to be the filename.
>
> Next version will do this.

Actually if you switch to not reading from a file then you can leave out
the file_start, file_end stuff altogether - it will be handled
automatically by the ReadFile gear.

> >* I'd also suggest that your gear shouldn't read from a file at all.
> >
> I will update the code to handle input this way.

I've just checked in to CVS a SlurpFile mixin module which handles the
details of file_start/end so all your gear needs to do is:

  use base qw(
    Sprog::Gear::SlurpFile
    Sprog::Gear
  );

  sub file_data {
    my($self, $data, $filename) = @_;

    # do stuff with $data and call $self->msg_out
  }

Expect a release in a day or two.

> I have one question about the XML dialogs.  It my be 
> documented, and if it is tell me to RTFM.  I would like to have the 
> system pop up the dialog box with a pulldown list of the sheets on the 
> excel file if they have not selected one.  

Hmm that's tricky from many angles.

* I haven't implemented drop downs in properties dialogs yet because 
  I haven't needed them (yet).

* You can't do it in a normal properties dialog anyway because the
  ParseExcel gear won't know the filename until run-time.

* When I implement the ReadFiles gear, someone could drag-n-drop
  multiple files onto a machine.

* In theory, you could pop-up a dialog at run-time, but you'd need to
  implement that in a custom gear view class.  None of the existing
  gears use dialogs at run time.

> After this excel 
> module is put to rest I plan on moving into an XSLT gear, since I 
> already have a need for that.

That one is on my list too.  Not that I'd discourage you from taking it
on.

> I'm also considering touching MySQL data 
> input/output gears, since being able to shuffle spreadsheets on my 
> desktop and either read or write records to my database would also make 
> life a lot easier.

Yes, DBI connectivity is a much needed feature.  See my other email for
a workaround you might be able to use now.

Cheers
Grant