Show HN: Instantly Understand Any Spreadsheet

I had some trouble reading nested IF functions, so I wrote a piece of code which translates them into flowcharts: http://excel2flow.asp2.cz/ (weekend project)

Re: Show HN: Instantly Understand Any Spreadsheet

#5

Post by f292 » Tue, Aug 05, 2014, 8:27 AM UTC

roel_v wrote: post #3

Preliminary bitching while it's downloading: 125mb for an Excel plugin? WTF?

The add-in is currently bundled with all its dependencies so it will install quicker once you have downloaded it. Some of the bulkier files include the Chromium Embedded Framework dlls which we decided to include to get the slick animations.

Re: Show HN: Instantly Understand Any Spreadsheet

#6

Post by sean_the_geek » Tue, Aug 05, 2014, 8:37 AM UTC

IMHO, the concept is novel. Having worked in BI/data analysis fields, I have seen a fair share of large xls files with complex calculations. Can't really try now since blocked at work but will definately give it a shot on home pc.

Re: Show HN: Instantly Understand Any Spreadsheet

#7

Post by f292 » Tue, Aug 05, 2014, 8:38 AM UTC

sean_the_geek wrote: post #6

IMHO, the concept is novel. Having worked in BI/data analysis fields, I have seen a fair share of large xls files with complex calculations. Can't really try now since blocked at work but will definately give it a shot on home pc.

Great would really like to hear what you think. My email is fraser@useslate.com if you have any feedback.

Re: Show HN: Instantly Understand Any Spreadsheet

#8

Post by heymishy » Tue, Aug 05, 2014, 8:58 AM UTC

seems like a really interesting concept, although I do think you might struggle getting that into the enterprise (or even medium/large business space) given the heavy installation. Definitely going to see if it helps with me requirements of trying to unpick complex financial models built from spreadsheets.

Re: Show HN: Instantly Understand Any Spreadsheet

#9

Post by f292 » Tue, Aug 05, 2014, 9:02 AM UTC

heymishy wrote: post #8

seems like a really interesting concept, although I do think you might struggle getting that into the enterprise (or even medium/large business space) given the heavy installation. Definitely going to see if it helps with me requirements of trying to unpick complex financial models built from spreadsheets.

Good point. We have had some issues with corporate security, especially in larger organisations, and are looking at alternatives. Moving to cloud software could be an option, but big financial firms are even less open to that that what we are currently building!

Re: Show HN: Instantly Understand Any Spreadsheet

#10

Post by jglauche » Tue, Aug 05, 2014, 9:09 AM UTC

Looks nice, sadly it's not only for Excel and I'm on Linux, having only LibreOffice or Gnumeric.