How do I programatically interface an Excel spreadsheet?

Question

I have a request for some contract work from an organization that uses Excel as a database and wants to do some work on the Excel data via a real database. (Yeah, I know, ne

Answer 1

We're reading and manipulating Excel-Data via Apache POI, which is not complete in decoding Excel files (namely formula cells are not completely supported) but our customers are quite happy with us.

POI is a Java Library, so if you are a pure Windows shop there may be other more natural options, but as I said, our experience with POI is very good, people are happy.

Additionally: I believe to have heard of Excel ODBC drivers - maybe this is what you want/need? (Sorry, I've never worked with them)