runcsv

A library allowing you to use an array of strings as runnable code, opening the door for a fully-featured and hackable spreadsheet software. This means that you can use a CSV file as a dynamic spreadsheet. The example runcsv-minimal in my repositories is an example of using a CSV file as input and the output will be the resulting values after running the spreadsheet. A GUI Spreadsheet project is in progress in runcsv-gui.

Structure

The structure of the spreadsheet is divided in 4 layers:

• s: This layer is the source, the user input
• p: This is the result after parsing the cell in the source layer s to generate the runnable python code.
• o: This is the resulting object after evaluating the cell in the p layer using eval
• f: This layer is the resulting string after changing the object in o into a string using the object's __str__ function.

Every step from one layer to another is very straight-forward. Any cell is either:

• A String cell (normal cells), which has no "=" in the beginning of the cell content
  • The parsed (p) layer will contain exactly what the source layer contains
  • The object (o) layer will contain the string python object identical to the p
  • The final (f) layer will also be identical to the o layer.
  • This means that all the cells will be unchanged by the spreadsheet
• A command cell, which has a "=" in the beginning of the cell.
  • The parsed (p) layer will contain the generated python command after replacing the specified references, if given:
    • *{i,j} : This will be replaced by the p layer of the referenced cell i,j
    • {i,j}: This will be replaced by the f layer of the referenced cell i,j
  • The object (o) layer will contain the python object after running the generated python code in the p layer.
  • The final (f) layer will contain the string (__str__) of the object in the o layer

The example driver provided parses the CSV file as source (s) layer and outputs the final (f) layer as a CSV file.

User interface

This was designed as the engine for a spreadsheet software currently in development