Converting MS Excel spreadsheet w formulas to native iOS app for iPhone?

Question

Level 1

8 points

Converting MS Excel spreadsheet w formulas to native iOS app for iPhone?

I have a fully functional formula-based MS Excel template with cells the user can change and then cells that provide calculactions. Also numerous cells are background formulas that are not for the user to see, but are essential because they help perform some of the calculations that feed into the output cells.

I don't care how much extra time it will take to convert the table (preserving all the formulas) to xcode iOS 8.2. My goal is for the functionality of my Excel template (with formulas) to function as a separate native stand-alone app downloadable from the iTunes Store, that once purchased, can be used without any connection to the web at all.

if this is my goal, is it still necessary to convert the excel sheet into a web-based html5 sheet with javascript programming? Or can I just go MS Excel straight to XCode? I am looking at an Excel file rougly 500 kilobytes in size. Formulas are pretty standard for Excel 2010 but maybe not outside Excel

IF statements and IFERROR statements IF(OR(

vlookup formulas

conditionally formatted cells

SUMPRODUCT formulas

INDIRECT

RAND

NOW()

YEAR()

LEN()

LEFT(

RIGHT

ROW()

MAX(

MIN(

iPhone 5s, iOS 8.2, MS Excel 2010 .xlsx

Posted on Mar 19, 2015 4:36 AM

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Answer 1

May 18, 2017 9:49 AM in response to EricS39

Use ConvertExcelRT to convert the workbook file to an ExcelRT file. ExcelRT is a free download for Mac, Window, Linux and mobile platforms. Your workbook file can also be protected and licensed to each computer or device.

See http://www.excelsoftware.com/excelrt

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Answer 2

etresoft

Level 9

56,924 points

Mar 19, 2015 5:45 AM in response to EricS39

There is no built-in method to convert an Excel spreadsheet to an app. You would have to hire a company or service to perform the conversion for you.

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Answer 3

EricS39 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 19, 2015 7:18 AM in response to etresoft

I would like to perform the conversion work myself. As I said, time is not a constraint for me. Several follow up questions:

1) What companies do these conversions?

2) Would you know from experience if these companies can sell software packages they use instead of an all or nothing deal where they assume full custody from start to finish? I want to purchase the tools I need to do this. I want to do the conversion work myself.

3) What are some good source readings for finding programming samples of past Excel programs that were converted into iOS? I would like to purchase these kinds of things so I can replicate the programming logic to fit my own soreadsheet.

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Answer 4

etresoft

Level 9

56,924 points

Mar 19, 2015 10:34 AM in response to EricS39

1) There are lots. There are companies that do custom development work and other companies that have some software solutions for visualizing Excel data on mobile platforms. My knowledge of this is limited to the 30 second Google search I did on the topic.

2) If you want to do the work yourself, then you do have a fair amount of work to do. If you want to create your own app, you will need an Apple Developer account. There are numerous tools that will help you write an app. You don't necessarily have to learn Swift or Objective-C. I suggest that you don't get a developer account until you have something ready to test on a real device. You are right to be wary of developers who want to control everything from start to finish. There are many posts on this forum from people who didn't take that precaution and find that they no longer own their software.

3) I don't know. I suggest forgetting about the "Excel" part for now. Focus on your data specifically. What kind of data is it? Tabular? Charts? Graphs? Define exactly what you want this app to do, without reference to "Excel". Then look for references about how to do that on iOS. I think you will have much better success that way. There is nothing wrong with Excel. It is just that if you search for that, you are going to be stuck in the same kind of Google search I did in step 1). If you want to do this yourself, you'll need to go beyond that. Perhaps focus on the available RAD (Rapid Application Development) tools that exist for iOS.

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Answer 5

EricS39 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 19, 2015 11:35 AM in response to etresoft

This answer was very helpful. Ultimately I would like to slowly abandon this entire thing being a product and a discussion of Excel, that's correct. Produce everything I want to have, from scratch in a programming language that IS compatible with iOS, and then possibilities are endless. That is the long road but rewarding in the end.

In layman's terms, I want there to be boxes. To the left of the boxes, instructions telling user "Enter this here". Some boxes that say "select one of these options"

Depending on what data they enter and what options they select, they will get numerical or word answers, based on what was placed in the boxes. This will be done by calculations that depend on the inputs entered.

also, some of the colors, shapes, and objects on the phone screen, will depend on the inputs. In layman's terms, that is what I'm trying to create...for now. If I get more comfortable with the ability to tap into phone GPS, and other built-in mechanisms via including them into programming, I will modify my first project goal.

For now, I want to start simple. I just want input cells, find how to get calculations of these types

Add, subtract, multiply, divide, exponents, squareroots, sine, cosine, inverse sine, inverse cosine, Random number generator, a formula that measures the time on the device's clock, a formula that looks at a table list and can identify the value matching the one with something else in the column to the left. Lets start with this.

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Answer 6

chakdey

Level 1

4 points

Dec 7, 2016 6:40 PM in response to EricS39

Were you able to get this app going? I'm trying to do something similar, I have no programming skills at all. I setup a excel sheet for data collection, data to be entered daily. The only problem is running excel on iPad is too laggy, it's just not as smooth as I would like it.

If you were able to get what you were doing done, did you do it your self or hire someone?

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