Automate your PDF factsheets with xlwings Reports
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The document discusses the development and challenges of xlwings, particularly in the realm of reporting, highlighting the need for sustainable funding and user-friendly solutions. It presents xlwings reports as a way to generate both Excel and PDF reports with ease, allowing users to separate code and design without dependency on complex setups. The document also provides information on pricing, demos, and resources for getting started with xlwings.
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What’s wrong with xlwings (OSS)?
for address in ['A1', 'B2', 'C3']:
mysheet[address].value = 'xlwings'
for address in ['A1', 'B2', 'C3']:
mysheet[address].value = 'xlwings'
'A3', 'B4', 'C5'
Code AND
template changes
Requires loops](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/xlwingsreports-210812182413/85/Automate-your-PDF-factsheets-with-xlwings-Reports-8-320.jpg)
Automate your PDF factsheets with xlwings Reports
- 1. PDF factsheets with xlwings Reports Felix Zumstein August 12, 2021
- 2. Agenda 1. Introduction 2. What’s wrong with reporting? 3. Demos: xlwings Reports 2
- 4. 4 xlwings • I released the first version of xlwings in 2014 • After working on it for 6 years as an open- source project, I realized two things: – Putting in the required amount of work for $0 is unsustainable – Most users are using xlwings for some sort of reporting • Consequence: Either make it abandonware or find a way to fund the project
- 5. 5 I wrote a Book (March 2021) I. Introduction to Python II. Introduction to pandas III. Reading and Writing Excel Files without Excel IV.Programming the Excel Application with xlwings See: https://www.xlwings.org/book
- 6. 2. What’s wrong with reporting?
- 7. 7 What’s wrong with the others? • Pure code solutions (e.g., ReportLab) – Developer dependency / requires lots of code / slow development • HTML/CSS-based solutions (e.g., Plotly Dash) – Code and design can be separated, but requires frontend knowledge • BI tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, etc.) – For interactive dashboards, not PDF reports / lack of connectors • Connecting Excel with Word/PowerPoint – Error prone / usually requires more than one template • Desktop publishing (e.g., Adobe InDesign) – Can’t be automated the way we want
- 8. 8 What’s wrong with xlwings (OSS)? for address in ['A1', 'B2', 'C3']: mysheet[address].value = 'xlwings' for address in ['A1', 'B2', 'C3']: mysheet[address].value = 'xlwings' 'A3', 'B4', 'C5' Code AND template changes Requires loops
- 9. 9 xlwings Reports: Placeholders create_report( 'template.xlsx', 'report.xlsx', name='xlwings' ) No code changes No loops
- 10. 3. xlwings Reports: Demos
- 11. 11 Separation of Code and Design Pre-processing (e.g., database query) Post-processing (e.g., upload to web server) holdings, asofdate,… Reports (xlsx & PDF) Template (xlsx) Variables/ Placeholders
- 12. 12 Demo 1: Placeholders & Filters • Placeholders {{ holdings }} • Filters, e.g., biggest 5 positions: {{ holdings | sortdesc(4) | head(5) }}
- 13. 13 Demo 2: Full reporting pipeline • Pre-processing – Read data from various sources incl. text, Word and CSV files – Clean/manipulate the data with pandas • Report Generation – xlsx and PDF • Post-processing – uploading it to the xlwings.org webpage via AWS S3 90 lines of code (!): https://github.com/xlwings/xlwings-factsheet-demo
- 14. 14 Ways to run the reporting pipeline • Excel workbook (used by the demo) • Jupyter notebook • Python script / CLI (e.g., for scheduler) • Locally installed GUI • Web-based UI
- 15. 15 Summary: xlwings Reports • Separation of concerns: code vs. design • Template: one, and only one • Layout: multi-column • Text: formatting via Markdown • Tables: dynamically formatted with powerful filters • Charts: via Excel or Python (Matplotlib, Plotly) • PDF: “Print” on PDF in corporate layout
- 16. 16 Pricing • From USD 82.50/month, your whole company can run on xlwings Reports • Developer license: only users who write Python code need a paid license • Tools can be used forever even if plan is cancelled (but no support/upgrades) • https://www.xlwings.org/pricing
- 17. 17 How to get started • Get a trial license from: https://www.xlwings.org/trial • Read the docs: https://docs.xlwings.org/en/stable/reports.html • Book a meeting with me: https://calendly.com/felix-zumstein/xlwings