It is currently March 29th, 2024, 2:39 pm

Using Excel as a Rainmeter Skin

Get help with creating, editing & fixing problems with skins
JP2K
Posts: 16
Joined: August 28th, 2020, 10:56 am

Using Excel as a Rainmeter Skin

Post by JP2K »

I was hoping, to increase my productivity, that i could use Excel as a Rainmeter Skin. Basically using it as a Background and every time i save my excel.xlsx file it would update my background with the same spreadsheet as well. so creating a link between rainmeter and the file. is that possible?

Any help with be really appreciated since i have almost 0 knowledge about rainmeter.. If its possible, how would i go about implementing it?
User avatar
Yincognito
Rainmeter Sage
Posts: 7030
Joined: February 27th, 2015, 2:38 pm
Location: Terra Yincognita

Re: Using Excel as a Rainmeter Skin

Post by Yincognito »

JP2K wrote: August 28th, 2020, 11:02 am I was hoping, to increase my productivity, that i could use Excel as a Rainmeter Skin. Basically using it as a Background and every time i save my excel.xlsx file it would update my background with the same spreadsheet as well. so creating a link between rainmeter and the file. is that possible?

Any help with be really appreciated since i have almost 0 knowledge about rainmeter.. If its possible, how would i go about implementing it?
What do you mean by background? Like a wallpaper, the visual background of your skin, the name of the file in an "edit box" in the skin, the name of the file as a clickable "link" shown in the skin, or what?

Other than that, Rainmeter can't detect when a program saves one of its files, only if that program is running or not mostly, and I'm not sure Excel has command line abilities that can be used to save files and be run from Rainmeter. Maybe an AutoHotkey script could be built for that and executed by Rainmeter, but more details would be needed as to what exactly would you like to happen...
Profiles: Rainmeter ProfileDeviantArt ProfileSuites: MYiniMeterSkins: Earth
mak_kawa
Posts: 908
Joined: December 30th, 2015, 9:47 am

Re: Using Excel as a Rainmeter Skin

Post by mak_kawa »

Hi JP2K

In addition to Yincognito's post...(but maybe not useful)

Generally speaking, It is impossible to create a link between Rainmeter and Excel file as far as I know... unless someone has created some Excel plugin for Rainmeter.

But... as a really indirect way, it would be possible without such plugin. But you know, it's a bit annoying and not smart procedure, like as;
1. When save the Excel data, you also save it as a CSV file using some export macro.
2. Parse the CSV file using WebParser measure.
3. Display parsed data with desired format simulating Excel sheet.

Honestly, I don't want to do such thing. :-) Could you explain why you want to display Excel sheet as a Rainmeter skin?
JP2K
Posts: 16
Joined: August 28th, 2020, 10:56 am

Re: Using Excel as a Rainmeter Skin

Post by JP2K »

I would like to use it as a wallpaper for my second monitor to keep track of tasks i have to get done during the week. so i would schedule all those tasks in excel on the weekend for the next week and then use it as a background. but if i have to quickly edit something i would just like to go back to excel, change it, and then for rainmeter to update the background accordingly. it would make everything so much easier. :)
mak_kawa
Posts: 908
Joined: December 30th, 2015, 9:47 am

Re: Using Excel as a Rainmeter Skin

Post by mak_kawa »

Hi JP2K

So... do you want to try the above method I wrote? If so, I would post about the export macro which is automatically launched when Excel sheet is saved...
JP2K
Posts: 16
Joined: August 28th, 2020, 10:56 am

Re: Using Excel as a Rainmeter Skin

Post by JP2K »

If I would be able to still edit the file after it was exported then yes, it would be much appreciated and a great help! :)
User avatar
Yincognito
Rainmeter Sage
Posts: 7030
Joined: February 27th, 2015, 2:38 pm
Location: Terra Yincognita

Re: Using Excel as a Rainmeter Skin

Post by Yincognito »

mak_kawa wrote: August 28th, 2020, 12:24 pm Hi JP2K

In addition to Yincognito's post...(but maybe not useful)

Generally speaking, It is impossible to create a link between Rainmeter and Excel file as far as I know... unless someone has created some Excel plugin for Rainmeter.

But... as a really indirect way, it would be possible without such plugin. But you know, it's a bit annoying and not smart procedure, like as;
1. When save the Excel data, you also save it as a CSV file using some export macro.
2. Parse the CSV file using WebParser measure.
3. Display parsed data with desired format simulating Excel sheet.

Honestly, I don't want to do such thing. :-) Could you explain why you want to display Excel sheet as a Rainmeter skin?
Good idea. And instead of trying to detect when Excel saves the file (which wouldn't be possible), continuously parse the CSV file every 5 or 10 seconds using WebParser. Yeah, I believe it would work. Good luck in implementing it. :thumbup:
Profiles: Rainmeter ProfileDeviantArt ProfileSuites: MYiniMeterSkins: Earth
User avatar
jsmorley
Developer
Posts: 22628
Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: Using Excel as a Rainmeter Skin

Post by jsmorley »

Yincognito wrote: August 28th, 2020, 1:04 pm Good idea. And instead of trying to detect when Excel saves the file (which wouldn't be possible), continuously parse the CSV file every 5 or 10 seconds using WebParser. Yeah, I believe it would work. Good luck in implementing it. :thumbup:
Might be more efficient to check the modified date on the .cvs file periodically with the FileView plugin, and react to that.
mak_kawa
Posts: 908
Joined: December 30th, 2015, 9:47 am

Re: Using Excel as a Rainmeter Skin

Post by mak_kawa »

Hi JP2K

The export macro saves csv file having the same base name along with Excel file. So, you can of course edit Excel file after export, and when save updated Excel file, CSV file is again exported/updated.
And... the export macro is somewhat complicated if you are not familiar for Excel VBA. Is it OK?

But actually... for my Rainmeter skill, 2. Parse the CSV file using WebParser measure. seems to have some difficulty unless the source data has fixed Rows/Columns... my thought is possibly not enough, sorry. Maybe someone will present better idea... :-)
User avatar
jsmorley
Developer
Posts: 22628
Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: Using Excel as a Rainmeter Skin

Post by jsmorley »

mak_kawa wrote: August 28th, 2020, 1:22 pm Hi JP2K

The export macro saves csv file having the same base name along with Excel file. So, you can of course edit Excel file after export, and when save updated Excel file, CSV file is again exported/updated.
And... the export macro is somewhat complicated if you are not familiar for Excel VBA. Is it OK?

But actually... for my Rainmeter skill, 2. Parse the CSV file using WebParser measure. seems to have some difficulty unless the source data has fixed Rows/Columns... my thought is possibly not enough, sorry. Maybe someone will present better idea... :-)
I would think parsing .csv would be easy enough. You just have to look for "," to delimit the fields.