Using Javascript to read files

Question

Im building an html form which shows price for traveling from destination1 to destination2

The trouble is, 'price' is stored in an excel file (which can be changed to almost any format) so is there any way to use javascript to find price from destination1 to destination2?

Im afraid i cant post any code upfront (probably because i have no clue where to start)

• Julien Ch.: I'm afraid you will have to convert your Excel to a more usable format first, something like XML
• Quentin: Possible? Yes. But complex and inefficient. Convert your data to a more sensible format first (JSON is a good choice). (I'd also just embed the data on the page, unless there was a lot of it, in which case a server side look up would be better).
• Lee Taylor: You don't say whether this form is to be used on one PC, an intranet, or the Internet. This may have implications on the solution.

Answer 1

Using the new HTML5 File API you can read local files or download the file using an XMLHttpRequest.

I would suggest using the CSV format for reading since it is much easier to parse than Excel files.

• Quentin: The question implies that the Excel file is provided by the site, not the user, so the File API wouldn't be any help.
• Otto Allmendinger: I didn't read it that way. Just going by the question title, the answer is the File API.

Answer 2

I don't know if it's what u need, but u cant use ActiveXObject to read Excel files.

http://www.codeproject.com/Questions/85672/Read-Excel-values-using-Javascript

• Quentin: Internet Explorer only solutions are not generally good solutions.
• Nickon: Ye, I agree, but there are some ActiveXObject-like solutions for other web browsers:) it was just an idea how to do this:)

Answer 3

If you are ok with only modern browser support (html5), you can use the filesystem api...

http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/file/dndfiles/

However, older browsers(as far as I know) do not support reading files.

• Quentin: The question implies that the Excel file is provided by the site, not the user, so the File API wouldn't be any help.

Answer 4

Use Html5 File API and maybe it would be great to have at least CSV

http://www.w3.org/TR/FileAPI/

• Quentin: The question implies that the Excel file is provided by the site, not the user, so the File API wouldn't be any help.
• Vitalii Ivanov: I don't see the problem to create http handler or something to get the file and open it through the FileAPI

Answer 5

As quentin suggested, using a JSON solved my problem

converting csv to JSON was a huge help aswel