Replacing spreadsheets by Python and the browser

[markolopa]

Hello,

Could you please recommend me a Python tool that could help me to get
rid of the messy information and scripts I have in spreadsheets?

Spreadsheets are great for having simple things done quickly. But as
the needs grow their limitations can be quite frustrating. I would
like to use the browser to edit information that for the moment I
store in spreadsheets.

I believe that the perfect tool for me would be that a combination a
table editing tool and a tree navigation tool. I would like to
navigate in a tree, expanding and collapsing nodes. The leaf nodes
would then be tables with some editable columns.

A good table editing tool (without the tree navigation) would already
be very helpful.

Examples of information I would store in such a tree/table system
(which are now in spreasheets):
- My dvd, avi collection: The tree would be the directory tree of the
file system where I store my movies. For each directory containing the
avis or the dvds there would be a table with one movie by row and
several editable columns: the file name, the genre, the year, whether
I have seen it or not, comments, etc.
.. The same thing for mp3.
- My family budget. The tree would be the account tree, the rows in
the table would be the deposits and withdrwals. This is actually my
most important need. I don't find gnucash flexible enough for my
needs. Beancount (http://furius.ca/beancount/) has a great html
output, but I would like to use the browser also for input.

I am very comfortable with Python, but I don't know much about web
framewords and javascript interfaces. I am ready to learn anything
that could help me to do the desired tasks quickly, without having to
code a web application from scratch. Is javascript the way to go? In
this case is there a Python lib can I use on the server side? Could a
tool like django be helpful? Pyjamas? Both a single machine or a
client-server architecture are fine for me.

Thanks a lot in advance for all suggestion,
Marko

 

[rusi]

Hello,

Could you please recommend me a Python tool that could help me to get
rid of the messy information and scripts I have in spreadsheets?

Spreadsheets are great for having simple things done quickly. But as
the needs grow their limitations can be quite frustrating. I would
like to use the browser to edit information that for the moment I
store in spreadsheets.

I believe that the perfect tool for me would be that a combination a
table editing tool and a tree navigation tool. I would like to
navigate in a tree, expanding and collapsing nodes. The leaf nodes
would then be tables with some editable columns.

A good table editing tool (without the tree navigation) would already
be very helpful.

Examples of information I would store in such a tree/table system
(which are now in spreasheets):
- My dvd, avi collection: The tree would be the directory tree of the
file system where I store my movies. For each directory containing the
avis or the dvds there would be a table with one movie by row and
several editable columns: the file name, the genre, the year, whether
I have seen it or not, comments, etc.
. The same thing for mp3.
- My family budget. The tree would be the account tree, the rows in
the table would be the deposits and withdrwals. This is actually my
most important need. I don't find gnucash flexible enough for my
needs.  Beancount (http://furius.ca/beancount/) has a great html
output, but I would like to use the browser also for input.

I am very comfortable with Python, but I don't know much about web
framewords and javascript interfaces. I am ready to learn anything
that could help me to do the desired tasks quickly, without having to
code a web application from scratch. Is javascript the way to go? In
this case is there a Python lib can I use on the server side? Could a
tool like django be helpful? Pyjamas? Both a single machine or a
client-server architecture are fine for me.

Thanks a lot in advance for all suggestion,
Marko

May not be what you are asking for but you may want to look at
orgmode:

http://orgmode.org/

 

[Andrea Crotti]

Hello,

Could you please recommend me a Python tool that could help me to get
rid of the messy information and scripts I have in spreadsheets?

Spreadsheets are great for having simple things done quickly. But as
the needs grow their limitations can be quite frustrating. I would
like to use the browser to edit information that for the moment I
store in spreadsheets.

I believe that the perfect tool for me would be that a combination a
table editing tool and a tree navigation tool. I would like to
navigate in a tree, expanding and collapsing nodes. The leaf nodes
would then be tables with some editable columns.

A good table editing tool (without the tree navigation) would already
be very helpful.

Examples of information I would store in such a tree/table system
(which are now in spreasheets):
- My dvd, avi collection: The tree would be the directory tree of the
file system where I store my movies. For each directory containing the
avis or the dvds there would be a table with one movie by row and
several editable columns: the file name, the genre, the year, whether
I have seen it or not, comments, etc.
. The same thing for mp3.
- My family budget. The tree would be the account tree, the rows in
the table would be the deposits and withdrwals. This is actually my
most important need. I don't find gnucash flexible enough for my
needs. Beancount (http://furius.ca/beancount/) has a great html
output, but I would like to use the browser also for input.

I am very comfortable with Python, but I don't know much about web
framewords and javascript interfaces. I am ready to learn anything
that could help me to do the desired tasks quickly, without having to
code a web application from scratch. Is javascript the way to go? In
this case is there a Python lib can I use on the server side? Could a
tool like django be helpful? Pyjamas? Both a single machine or a
client-server architecture are fine for me.

Thanks a lot in advance for all suggestion,
Marko

Well my answer is not really python-related, but one tool that really
changed my life is orgmode
http://orgmode.org/

It does almost everything you ask and a 1000 other things.
If you want to go with a python project, in general you should probably
need a lot of javascript
to have something which is nice and easy to use, and yes something like
django would work.

 

[rantingrick]

Examples of information I would store in such a tree/table system
(which are now in spreasheets):
- My dvd, avi collection: The tree would be the directory tree of the
file system where I store my movies. For each directory containing the
avis or the dvds there would be a table with one movie by row and
several editable columns: the file name, the genre, the year, whether
I have seen it or not, comments, etc.
. The same thing for mp3.
- My family budget. The tree would be the account tree, the rows in
the table would be the deposits and withdrwals. This is actually my
most important need. I don't find gnucash flexible enough for my
needs.  Beancount (http://furius.ca/beancount/) has a great html
output, but I would like to use the browser also for input.

Is there any reason why you could not use the advanced widgets in
WxPython? You never said whether this MUST BE a web application. If
GUI is okay then check out wxListCtrl and wxTreeCtrl. All you need to
do is write a little control code and voila.

http://www.wxpython.org/onlinedocs.php

 

[Dennis Lee Bieber]

Spreadsheets are great for having simple things done quickly. But as
the needs grow their limitations can be quite frustrating. I would

My first step would be to convert the messy spreadsheets into a
normalized relational database. Since you're asking for a Python
solution, SQLite3 might be recommended.

Granted, I'll grab a spreadsheet for short lists (basically --
single table information), but ever since the days of Multiplan on a
TRS-80 Model III/4 my thoughts have been that spreadsheets were
optimized for complex chained calculations deriving from a small subset
of user input items (I used to have the entire first edition Traveller
RPG starship design rules encoded into Multiplan wherein the user
selected the main options [shape, displacement, desired drives, weapons,
etc.] and the spreadsheet validated that the options are viable [a
Jump-6 drive won't fit on a typical scout], and determine crew and cost)

like to use the browser to edit information that for the moment I
store in spreadsheets.

Python-based web-framework... Maybe Django

I believe that the perfect tool for me would be that a combination a
table editing tool and a tree navigation tool. I would like to
navigate in a tree, expanding and collapsing nodes. The leaf nodes
would then be tables with some editable columns.

The base Django "admin" pages grant basic low-level access to
tables; structuring the data if tables are linked may require coding
Django application modules.

- My dvd, avi collection: The tree would be the directory tree of the
file system where I store my movies. For each directory containing the
avis or the dvds there would be a table with one movie by row and
several editable columns: the file name, the genre, the year, whether
I have seen it or not, comments, etc.
. The same thing for mp3.

Relational database...

- My family budget. The tree would be the account tree, the rows in
the table would be the deposits and withdrwals. This is actually my

If for more than one account, another relational database (I suspect
you're maintaining a separate table for each account; the relational
approach would have one table for the account specifics (bank name,
address, account number, type of account, with a simple integer primary
key); transaction table with internal integer key, foreign key
identifying which account, transaction ID (check #), type of transaction
(deposit, withdrawal), name of other party, amount, memo... Possibly a
code for "split" (I'm basing this on Quicken) in which you itemize the
subparts of a transaction...

this case is there a Python lib can I use on the server side? Could a
tool like django be helpful? Pyjamas? Both a single machine or a
client-server architecture are fine for me.

Django's "development server" might be sufficient for a single
machine single-user mode.

 

[python]

Check out ResolverOne
http://www.resolversystems.com

Malcolm