Re: XLS woes

[Jeff Kowalczyk <..hidden..>]

Chris Travers <chris.travers@...> writes:
> I have found that I am unable to open the XLS documents generated by
> LedgerSMB.  I have endeavored to fix this in the current framework to
> no avail.  I think the best course of action is to drop XLS as a
> supported format and look for a replacement that Excel users can use.

XLS is (slowly) becoming less important as XLSX becomes more prominent. Since
the  file formats are completely different (XLSX is XML plus resources,
zipped), the libraries to generate XLSX are typically new implementations,
and the reliability  might well be better.

While I prefer to offer Excel users CSV with no formatting, there is business 
value in being able to prepare an Excel Template with headers, formulas, logos, 
etc. into which dynamic data can be inserted. This is capability particularly 
would useful when developing output customization for LedgerSMB, I would think. 

If XLSX templates are in scope for the parts of LedgerSMB that previously 
supported XLS, then I'd suggest a transition to supporting only the newer
format if possible.

Thanks,
Jeff