CLIPPER...CLIPWKS
CLIPWKS allows you to create native spreadsheets from Clipper. You can create Lotus 1-2-3, Microsoft Excel, and Quattro Pro spreadsheets using Clipper code. CLIPWKS includes all source code and is written mostly in Clipper with a few small functions in C and ASM (although Clipper code is provided as well). CLIPWKS support Lotus versions 2-4 and Excel version up to and including version 4.0. Excel 5.x and above store the spreadsheets in OLE structured storage container that cannot be reliably accessed from a DOS program.
- Microsoft did provide me code samples in C++ to access structured storage from a DOS product, but as Clipper and DOS programming in general was beginning to fade, I decided not to add that functionality to my product.
- Jeff Jochum's company marketed a product called Calc(DB) at the same time, which allowed a complete spreadsheet to be imbedded within a Clipper application. He created an ad targeting CLIPWKS, "Command your spreadsheets, don't just create them". Sounds like today's Direct-TV ads...
I've been programming since 1981 in a bunch of languages (Clipper, Delphi, ASP, Visual Basic, & Visual C# to name a few) and a number of database platforms (from DBASE files to SQL-server these days)