michellerobin22
asked on
Which is the best database format for a spreadsheet with rich text data
Just a general question.
I'm looking to build a database that houses rich text data. The key is that i need to be able to have a datasheet view in which the rich text formatting shows up correctly. It also needs to work with the "Can Grow" property so that the cells can expand in order show as much text as possible.
Currently this is being done in MS Excel for us. We would like it to have the formatting capabilities of Excel but the power of a database engine.
I only have experience with MS Access and it doesn't allow for the Can Grow in datasheet views. It also doesn't allow rich text or any color formatting.
I'm looking to build a database that houses rich text data. The key is that i need to be able to have a datasheet view in which the rich text formatting shows up correctly. It also needs to work with the "Can Grow" property so that the cells can expand in order show as much text as possible.
Currently this is being done in MS Excel for us. We would like it to have the formatting capabilities of Excel but the power of a database engine.
I only have experience with MS Access and it doesn't allow for the Can Grow in datasheet views. It also doesn't allow rich text or any color formatting.
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I agree with most of what has been said. You really need to explain better what you are wanting to accomplish. If you want to replace access with something more robust.. there is SQL Server ans SQL Server Reporting Services. If you are wanting to write a program, the above advice says enough. HTML is fairly easy to come up with and style and can be stored in a database. As said before unless you are going to have tons of users and tons of information, the database is mostly irrelevant. If you expect high volume of users and data, then MySQL or PostGRE or SQL Server can serve.
If this is a website then you can pay a little a month for one of these.
As mentioned there are some really good forums out there if that is what you are looking for. ONe of them is:
phpBB
http://www.phpbb.com/
If this is a website then you can pay a little a month for one of these.
As mentioned there are some really good forums out there if that is what you are looking for. ONe of them is:
phpBB
http://www.phpbb.com/
@harfang is quite correct, while it is possible to store RTF as an IMAGE or BLOB in most databases (and I personally prefer to use SQL server when dealing with Microsoft products), it really is a presentation layer problem...
What is the interface you are using for the users to interact with ? Is it a rich client, a web based application, an executable image ?
And if all the work is being done in Excel in the first instance, why isn't that being shared / distributed ?
What is the interface you are using for the users to interact with ? Is it a rich client, a web based application, an executable image ?
And if all the work is being done in Excel in the first instance, why isn't that being shared / distributed ?
ASKER
This isnt for a website its for internal project management in a sign company (although I'm not against a web interface.) Currently we use shared excel files. Each of the excel files contain all of the signs needed on a project. It contains their copy and special instructions to go with them. There is one excel file per project. Each file contains many line items, each with formatted text. Users update some of the columns as part of procedures. (For example, to say that a line item is complete.) File sharing is one of the main issues. But we are also trying to make it easier to pull up the data needed (such as what is not complete etc.).
Internally, if this is a VB app or something you could put a RichTextbox control and show the text below when the grid item was highlighted. That way they could see the entire document. You could store the .RTF property in Text or Blob field in MySQL or SQL Server. Then when they click an item in the grid, you hit the database, retrieve the text, set RichTextBox1.rtf= whatever is in that field.
This would work.
This would work.
I was away for a few days, sorry about that.
There are several candidate formats to store and manipulate formatted text; that has been covered already. It's difficult to make an intelligent choice among them without much more information about your business, and this perhaps isn't a key issue in the end (many similar solutions would probably work out fine). What worries me is the transfer of existing data from Excel to any other format, as I said before. Should you issue requests for bids on your project, make sure to state that requirement separately.
(°v°)
There are several candidate formats to store and manipulate formatted text; that has been covered already. It's difficult to make an intelligent choice among them without much more information about your business, and this perhaps isn't a key issue in the end (many similar solutions would probably work out fine). What worries me is the transfer of existing data from Excel to any other format, as I said before. Should you issue requests for bids on your project, make sure to state that requirement separately.
(°v°)
ASKER
Thank you all. It became apparent that the question that I asked was the wrong question. Thanks to the Experts above I learned that I was asking the wrong questions. Now I have direction and this was a lesson on its own. Thanks again!
ASKER
It will also depends on which format would give me an excel-like dataview of the rich text. Maybe excel as a front end, linked to a sql server would be what I'm looking for. Hmm.