[Rd] xlsReadWrite Pro and embedding objects and files in Excel worksheets

[Gabor Grothendieck]

Its not entirely clear to me what it is that you are looking
for.  Maybe you want to create an Excel spreadsheet with a hyperlink
to a web page?  This R code will do that.  It requires a Windows machine that
has Excel running on it.


library(RDCOMClient)
xl <- COMCreate("Excel.Application")
xl[["Visible"]] <- TRUE
wkbk <- xl$Workbooks()$Add()

sh <- xl$ActiveSheet()

B2R <- sh$Range("B3")
B2R[["Formula"]] <- '=HYPERLINK("http://www.r-project.org")'

wkbk$SaveAs("\\test-url.xls")
xl$Quit()




On 2/8/07, Mark W Kimpel <mwkimpel at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hans-Peter and other R developers,
>
> How are you? Have you made any progess with embedding Url's in Excel?
>
> Well, I have been busy thinking of more things for you to do;)
>
> My colleagues in the lab are not R literate, and some are barely
> computer literate, so I give them everything in Excel workbooks. I have
> gradually evolved a system such that these workbooks have become
> compendia of my data, output, and methods. That, in fact, is why I
> bought the Pro version of xlsReadWritePro. I have been saving graphics
> as PDF files, then inserting them as object in Excel sheets.
>
> What I would like to be able to do is to embed objects (files) in sheets
> of a workbook directly from within R. I would also like to be able to
> save my current R workspace as an object embedded in a sheet so that in
> the future, if packages change, I could go back and recreate the
> analysis. I do not need to be able to manuipulate files that R has not
> created, like a PDF file from another user. I would, however, like to be
> able to save my graphics as PDF files inside a worksheet, even if it
> meant creating a  temp file or something.
>
> Before people begin talking about how MySQL or some other database could
> handle all that archiving, let me say that that is not what my
> colleagues want. They want a nice Excel file that they can take home on
> there laptops. One thing I like about worksheets is that they themselves
> can contain many embedded files, so it keeps our virtual desks neater
> and less confusing.
>
> Hans, if you could do this, it would be of tremendous benefit to me and
> hopefully a lot of people. R developers tend to think that all
> scientists are running Linux on 64-bit computers, but most biomedical
> researches still store date in Excel files. This won't solve everybody's
> needs, but it could be a start.
>
> Well, let me know what you think. I am cc'ing R-devel to see if any of
> those guys have ideas as well.
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
>
>
>
> --
> Mark W. Kimpel MD
> Neuroinformatics
> Department of Psychiatry
> Indiana University School of Medicine
>
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