roo-immersion 1.0.0

data/History.txt

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+== 1.2.3 2009-01-04
+
+* bugfix
+  * fixed encoding in #cell at exported Google-spreadsheets (.xls)
+
+== 1.2.2 2008-12-14
+
+* 2 enhancements
+  * added celltype :datetime in Excelx
+  * added celltype :datetime in Google
+
+== 1.2.1 2008-11-13
+
+* 1 enhancement
+  * added celltype :datetime in Openoffice and Excel
+
+== 1.2.0 2008-08-24
+* 3 major enhancements
+  * Excelx: improved the detection of cell type and conversion into roo types
+  * All: to_csv: changed boundaries from first_row,1..last_row,last_column to 1,1..last_row,last_column
+  * All: Environment variable "ROO_TMP" indicate where temporary directories will be created (if not set the default is the current working directory)
+* 2 bugfixes
+  * Excel: improved the detection of last_row/last_column (parseexcel-gem bug?)
+  * Excel/Excelx/Openoffice: temporary directories were not removed at opening a file of the wrong type
+== 1.1.0 2008-07-26
+* 2 major enhancements
+  * Excel: speed improvements
+  * Changed the behavior of reading files with the wrong type
+* 3 bugfixes
+  * Google: added normalize in set_value method
+  * Excel: last_row in Excel class did not work properly under some circumstances
+  * all: fixed a bug in #to_xml if there is an empty sheet
+== 1.0.2 2008-07-04
+* 2 bugfixes
+  * Excelx: fixed a bug when there are .xml.rels files in the XLSX archive
+  * Excelx: fixed a bug with celltype recognition (see comment with "2008-07-03")
+== 1.0.1 2008-06-30
+* 1 bugfix
+  * Excel: row/column method Fixnum/Float confusion
+== 1.0.0 2008-05-28
+* 2 major enhancements
+  * support of Excel's new .xlsx file format
+  * method #to_xml for exporting a spreadsheet to an xml representation
+* 1 bugfix
+  * fixed a bug with excel-spreadsheet character conversion under Macintosh Darwin
+== 0.9.4 2008-04-22
+* 1 bugfix
+  * fixed a bug with excel-spreadsheet character conversion under Solaris
+== 0.9.3 2008-03-25
+* 1 bugfix
+  * no more tmp directories if an invalid spreadsheet file was openend
+== 0.9.2 2008-03-24
+* 1 enhancement
+  * new celltype :time
+* 1 bugfix
+  * time values like '23:15' are handled as seconds from midnight
+== 0.9.1 2008-03-23
+* 1 enhancement
+  * additional 'sheet' parameter in Google#set_value
+* 1 bugfix
+  * fixed a bug within Google#set_value. thanks to davecahill <dpcahill@gmail.com> for the patch.
+== 0.9.0 2008-01-24
+* 1 enhancement:
+  * better support of roo spreadsheets in rails views
+== 0.8.5 2008-01-16
+* 1 bugfix
+  * fixed a bug within #to_cvs and explicit call of a sheet
+== 0.8.4 2008-01-01
+* 1 bugfix
+  * fixed 'find_by_condition' for excel sheets (header_line= --> GenericSpredsheet)
+== 0.8.3 2007-12-31
+* 2 bugfixes
+  * another fix for the encoding issue in excel sheet-names
+  * reactived the Excel#find method which has been disappeared in the last restructoring, moved to GenericSpreadsheet
+== 0.8.2 2007-12-28
+* 1 enhancement:
+  * basename() only in method #info
+* 2 bugfixes
+  * changed logging-method to mysql-database in test code with AR, table column 'class' => 'class_name'
+  * reactived the Excel#to_csv method which has been disappeared in the last restructoring
+== 0.8.1 2007-12-22
+* 3 bugfixes
+  * fixed a bug with first/last-row/column in empty sheet
+  * #info prints now '- empty -' if a sheet within a document is empty
+  * tried to fix the iconv conversion problem
+== 0.8.0 2007-12-15
+* 2 enhancements:
+  * Google online spreadsheets were implemented
+  * some methods common to more than one class were factored out to the GenericSpreadsheet (virtual) class
+== 0.7.0 2007-11-23
+* 6 enhancements:
+  * Openoffice/Excel: the most methods can be called with an option 'sheet' 
+    parameter which will be used instead of the default sheet 
+  * Excel: improved the speed of CVS output
+  * Openoffice/Excel: new method #column
+  * Openoffice/Excel: new method #find
+  * Openoffice/Excel: new method #info
+  * better exception if a spreadsheet file does not exist
+== 0.6.1 2007-10-06
+* 2 enhancements:
+  * Openoffice: percentage-values are now treated as numbers (not strings)
+  * Openoffice: refactoring
+* 1 bugfix
+  * Openoffice: repeating date-values in a line are now handled correctly
+== 0.6.0 2007-10-06
+* 1 enhancement:
+  * csv-output to stdout or file
+== 0.5.4 2007-08-27
+* 1 bugfix
+  * Openoffice: fixed a bug with internal representation of a spreadsheet (thanks to Ric Kamicar for the patch)
+== 0.5.3 2007-08-26
+* 2 enhancements:
+  * Openoffice: can now read zip-ed files
+  * Openoffice: can now read files from http://-URL over the net
+== 0.5.2 2007-08-26
+* 1 bugfix
+  * excel: removed debugging output
+== 0.5.1 2007-08-26
+* 4 enhancements:
+  * Openoffice: Exception if an illegal sheet-name is selected
+  * Openoffice/Excel: no need to set a default_sheet if there is only one in 
+    the document
+  * Excel: can now read zip-ed files
+  * Excel: can now read files from http://-URL over the net
+
+== 0.5.0 2007-07-20
+* 3 enhancements:
+  * Excel-objects: the methods default_sheet= and sheets can now handle names instead of numbers
+  * changed the celltype methods to return symbols, not strings anymore (possible values are :formula, :float, :string, :date, :percentage (if you need strings you can convert it with .to_s)
+  * tests can now run on the client machine (not only my machine), if there are not public released files involved these tests are skipped
+
+== 0.4.1 2007-06-27
+* 1 bugfix
+  * there was ONE false require-statement which led to misleading error messageswhen this gem was used
+
+== 0.4.0 2007-06-27
+* 7 enhancements:
+  * robustness: Exception if no default_sheet was set
+  * new method reload() implemented 
+  * about 15 % more method documentation
+  * optimization: huge increase of speed (no need to use fixed borders anymore)
+  * added the method 'formulas' which gives you all formulas in a spreadsheet
+  * added the method 'set' which can set cells to a certain value
+  * added the method 'to_yaml' which can produce output for importing in a (rails) database
+* 4 bugfixes
+  * ..row_as_letter methods were nonsense - removed
+  * @cells_read should be reset if the default_sheet is changed
+  * error in excel-part: strings are now converted to utf-8 (the parsexcel-gem gave me an error with my test data, which could not converted to .to_s using latin1 encoding)
+  * fixed bug when default_sheet is changed
+
+== 0.3.0 2007-06-20
+* 1 enhancement:
+  * Openoffice: formula support
+
+== 0.2.7 2007-06-20
+* 1 bugfix:
+  * Excel: float-numbers were truncated to integer
+
+== 0.2.6 2007-06-19
+* 1 bugfix:
+  * Openoffice: two or more consecutive cells with string content failed 
+
+== 0.2.5 2007-06-17
+
+* 2 enhancements:
+  * Excel: row method implemented
+  * more tests
+* 1 bugfix:
+  * Openoffice: row method fixed
+
+== 0.2.4 2007-06-16
+* 1 bugfix:
+  * ID 11605	Two cols with same value: crash roo (openoffice version only)
+
+== 0.2.3 2007-06-02
+* 3 enhancements:
+  * more robust call att Excel#default_sheet= when called with a name
+  * new method empty?
+  * refactoring
+* 1 bugfix:
+  * bugfix in Excel#celltype
+  * bugfix (running under windows only) in closing the temp file before removing it
+
+== 0.2.2 2007-06-01
+* 1 bugfix:
+  * correct pathname for running with windows
+
+
+== 0.2.2 2007-06-01
+* 1 bugfix:
+  * incorrect dependencies fixed 
+
+== 0.2.0 2007-06-01
+* 1 major enhancement:
+  * support for MS-Excel Spreadsheets
+
+== 0.1.2 2007-05-31
+* 1 major enhancement:
+  * cells with more than one character, like 'AA' can now be handled
+
+== 0.1.1 2007-05-31
+* 1 Bugfix
+  * Bugfix in first/last methods
+
+== 0.1.0 2007-05-31
+
+* 1 major enhancement:
+  * new methods first/last row/column
+  * new method officeversion
+
+== 0.0.3 2007-05-30
+
+* 1 minor enhancement:
+  * new method row()
+
+== 0.0.2 2007-05-30
+
+* 2 major enhancement:
+  * fixed some bugs
+  * more ways to access a cell
+
+== 0.0.1 2007-05-25
+
+* 1 major enhancement:
+  * Initial release

data/README.markdown

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+# README for Roo
+
+Roo is available here and on Rubyforge. You can install the official release with 'gem install roo' or refer to the installation instructions below for the latest development gem. 
+
+Homepage: http://roo.rubyforge.org/
+
+Gemcutter: http://rubygems.org/gems/roo
+
+Note: I'm no longer maintaining this project and I don't think there's a publicly available repository for this code. If you want to contribute please see the roo google group and/or work with Thomas directly. 
+
+## Installation
+
+    # Run the following if you haven't done so before:
+    gem sources -a http://gems.github.com/
+
+    # Install the gem:
+    sudo gem install roo
+
+## Usage:
+
+    require 'rubygems'
+    require 'roo'
+
+    s = Openoffice.new("myspreadsheet.ods")      # creates an Openoffice Spreadsheet instance
+    s = Excel.new("myspreadsheet.xls")           # creates an Excel Spreadsheet instance
+    s = Google.new("myspreadsheetkey_at_google") # creates an Google Spreadsheet instance
+    s = Excelx.new("myspreadsheet.xlsx")         # creates an Excel Spreadsheet instance for Excel .xlsx files
+
+    s.default_sheet = s.sheets.first  # first sheet in the spreadsheet file will be used
+
+    # s.sheet is an array which holds the names of the sheets within
+    # a spreadsheet.
+    # you can also write
+    # s.default_sheet = s.sheets[3] or
+    # s.default_sheet = 'Sheet 3'
+
+    s.cell(1,1)                                 # returns the content of the first row/first cell in the sheet
+    s.cell('A',1)                               # same cell
+    s.cell(1,'A')                               # same cell
+    s.cell(1,'A',s.sheets[0])                   # same cell
+
+    # almost all methods have an optional argument 'sheet'.
+    # If this parameter is omitted, the default_sheet will be used.
+    
+    s.info                                      # prints infos about the spreadsheet file
+
+    s.first_row                                 # the number of the first row
+    s.last_row                                  # the number of the last row
+    s.first_column                              # the number of the first column
+    s.last_column                               # the number of the last column
+
+    # limited font information is available
+
+    s.font(1,1).bold?
+    s.font(1,1).italic?
+    s.font(1,1).underline?
+
+
+see http://roo.rubyforge.org for a more complete tutorial
+

data/examples/roo_soap_client.rb

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+require 'soap/rpc/driver'
+
+  def ferien_fuer_region(proxy, region, year=nil)
+    proxy.first_row.upto(proxy.last_row) { |row|
+      if proxy.cell(row, 2) == region
+        jahr = proxy.cell(row,1).to_i
+        if year == nil || jahr == year
+          bis_datum = proxy.cell(row,5)
+          if DateTime.now > bis_datum
+            print '('
+          end
+          print jahr.to_s+" "
+          print proxy.cell(row,2)+" "
+          print proxy.cell(row,3)+" "
+          print proxy.cell(row,4).to_s+" "
+          print bis_datum.to_s+" "
+          print (proxy.cell(row,6) || '')+" "
+          if DateTime.now > bis_datum
+            print ')'
+          end
+          puts
+        end
+      end 
+    } 
+  end
+
+proxy = SOAP::RPC::Driver.new("http://localhost:12321","spreadsheetserver")
+proxy.add_method('cell','row','col')
+proxy.add_method('officeversion')
+proxy.add_method('last_row')
+proxy.add_method('last_column')
+proxy.add_method('first_row')
+proxy.add_method('first_column')
+proxy.add_method('sheets')
+proxy.add_method('set_default_sheet','s')
+proxy.add_method('ferien_fuer_region', 'region')
+
+sheets = proxy.sheets
+proxy.set_default_sheet(sheets.first)
+
+puts "first row: #{proxy.first_row}"
+puts "first column: #{proxy.first_column}"
+puts "last row: #{proxy.last_row}"
+puts "last column: #{proxy.last_column}"
+puts "cell: #{proxy.cell('C',8)}"
+puts "cell: #{proxy.cell('F',12)}"
+puts "officeversion: #{proxy.officeversion}"
+puts "Berlin:"
+
+ferien_fuer_region(proxy, "Berlin")
+
+
+

data/examples/roo_soap_server.rb

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+require 'rubygems'
+require 'roo'
+require 'soap/rpc/standaloneServer'
+
+NS = "spreadsheetserver" # name of your service = namespace
+class Server2 < SOAP::RPC::StandaloneServer
+
+  def on_init
+    spreadsheet = Openoffice.new("./Ferien-de.ods")
+    add_method(spreadsheet, 'cell', 'row', 'col')
+    add_method(spreadsheet, 'officeversion')
+    add_method(spreadsheet, 'first_row')
+    add_method(spreadsheet, 'last_row')
+    add_method(spreadsheet, 'first_column')
+    add_method(spreadsheet, 'last_column')
+    add_method(spreadsheet, 'sheets')
+    #add_method(spreadsheet, 'default_sheet=', 's')
+    # method with '...=' did not work? alias method 'set_default_sheet' created
+    add_method(spreadsheet, 'set_default_sheet', 's')
+  end
+
+end
+
+PORT = 12321
+puts "serving at port #{PORT}"
+svr = Server2.new('Roo', NS, '0.0.0.0', PORT)
+
+trap('INT') { svr.shutdown }
+svr.start

data/examples/write_me.rb

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+require 'rubygems'
+require 'roo'
+
+#-- create a new spreadsheet within your google-spreadsheets and paste
+#-- the 'key' parameter in the spreadsheet URL 
+MAXTRIES = 1000
+print "what's your name? "
+my_name = gets.chomp
+print "where do you live? "
+my_location = gets.chomp
+print "your message? (if left blank, only your name and location will be inserted) "
+my_message = gets.chomp
+spreadsheet = Google.new('ptu6bbahNZpY0N0RrxQbWdw')
+spreadsheet.default_sheet = 'Sheet1'
+success = false
+MAXTRIES.times do
+  col = rand(10)+1
+  row = rand(10)+1
+  if spreadsheet.empty?(row,col)
+    if my_message.empty?
+      text = Time.now.to_s+" "+"Greetings from #{my_name} (#{my_location})"
+    else
+      text = Time.now.to_s+" "+"#{my_message} from #{my_name} (#{my_location})"
+    end
+    spreadsheet.set_value(row,col,text)
+    puts "message written to row #{row}, column #{col}"
+    success = true
+    break
+  end
+  puts "Row #{row}, column #{col} already occupied, trying again..."
+end
+puts "no empty cell found within #{MAXTRIES} tries" if !success
+

data/lib/roo.rb

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+module Roo
+  class Spreadsheet
+    class << self
+      def open(file)
+        case File.extname(file)
+        when '.xls'
+          Excel.new(file)
+        when '.xlsx'
+          Excelx.new(file)
+        when '.ods'
+          Openoffice.new(file)
+        when '.xml'
+          Excel2003XML.new(file)
+        when ''
+          Google.new(file)
+        else
+          raise ArgumentError, "Don't know how to open file #{file}"
+        end      
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
+
+require 'roo/version'
+# require 'roo/spreadsheetparser' TODO:
+require 'roo/generic_spreadsheet' 
+require 'roo/openoffice'
+require 'roo/excel'
+require 'roo/excelx'
+require 'roo/google'
+require 'roo/excel2003xml'
+require 'roo/roo_rails_helper'

data/lib/roo/excel.rb

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+require 'spreadsheet'
+CHARGUESS = begin
+  require 'charguess'
+  true
+rescue LoadError => e
+  false
+end
+
+# The Spreadsheet library has a bug in handling Excel 
+# base dates so if the file is a 1904 base date then 
+# dates are off by a day. 1900 base dates work fine
+module Spreadsheet
+  module Excel
+    class Row < Spreadsheet::Row
+      def _datetime data # :nodoc:
+        return data if data.is_a?(DateTime)
+        base = @worksheet.date_base
+        date = base + data.to_f
+        hour = (data % 1) * 24
+        min  = (hour % 1) * 60
+        sec  = ((min % 1) * 60).round
+        min = min.floor
+        hour = hour.floor
+        if sec > 59
+          sec = 0
+          min += 1
+        end
+        if min > 59
+          min = 0
+          hour += 1
+        end
+        if hour > 23
+          hour = 0
+          date += 1
+        end
+        if LEAP_ERROR > base
+          date -= 1
+        end
+        DateTime.new(date.year, date.month, date.day, hour, min, sec)
+      end
+      public :_date
+      public :_datetime
+    end
+    # patch for ruby-spreadsheet parsing formulas
+    class Reader
+      def read_formula worksheet, addr, work
+        row, column, xf, rtype, rval, rcheck, opts = work.unpack 'v3CxCx3v2'
+        formula = Formula.new
+        formula.shared = (opts & 0x08) > 0
+        formula.data = work[20..-1]
+        if rcheck != 0xffff || rtype > 3 
+          value, = work.unpack 'x6E'
+          unless value
+            # on architectures where sizeof(double) > 8
+            value, = work.unpack 'x6e'
+          end
+          formula.value = value
+        elsif rtype == 0
+          pos, op, len, work = get_next_chunk
+          if op == :string
+            formula.value = client read_string(work, 2), @workbook.encoding
+          else
+            # This seems to work but I don't know why :). It at least
+            # seems to correct the case we saw but doubtful it's the right fix
+            formula.value = client read_string(work[10..-1], 2), @workbook.encoding
+          end
+        elsif rtype == 1
+          formula.value = rval > 0
+        elsif rtype == 2
+          formula.value = Error.new rval
+        else
+          # leave the Formula value blank
+        end
+        set_cell worksheet, row, column, xf, formula
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
+
+
+# ruby-spreadsheet has a font object so we're extending it 
+# with our own functionality but still providing full access
+# to the user for other font information
+module ExcelFontExtensions
+  def bold?(*args)
+    #From ruby-spreadsheet doc: 100 <= weight <= 1000, bold => 700, normal => 400
+    case weight
+    when 700    
+     true
+    else
+     false
+    end   
+  end
+
+  def italic?
+    italic
+  end
+
+  def underline?
+    underline != :none
+  end
+
+end
+
+# Class for handling Excel-Spreadsheets
+class Excel < GenericSpreadsheet 
+
+  EXCEL_NO_FORMULAS = 'formulas are not supported for excel spreadsheets'
+
+  # Creates a new Excel spreadsheet object.
+  # Parameter packed: :zip - File is a zip-file
+  def initialize(filename, packed = nil, file_warning = :error)
+    super()
+    @file_warning = file_warning
+    @tmpdir = "oo_"+$$.to_s
+    @tmpdir = File.join(ENV['ROO_TMP'], @tmpdir) if ENV['ROO_TMP'] 
+    unless File.exists?(@tmpdir)
+      FileUtils::mkdir(@tmpdir)
+    end
+    filename = open_from_uri(filename) if filename[0,7] == "http://"
+    filename = open_from_stream(filename[7..-1]) if filename[0,7] == "stream:"
+    filename = unzip(filename) if packed and packed == :zip
+    begin
+      file_type_check(filename,'.xls','an Excel')
+      @filename = filename
+      unless File.file?(@filename)
+        raise IOError, "file #{@filename} does not exist"
+      end
+      @workbook = Spreadsheet.open(filename)
+      @default_sheet = self.sheets.first
+    ensure
+      #if ENV["roo_local"] != "thomas-p"
+      FileUtils::rm_r(@tmpdir)
+      #end
+    end
+    @cell = Hash.new
+    @cell_type = Hash.new
+    @formula = Hash.new
+    @first_row = Hash.new
+    @last_row = Hash.new
+    @first_column = Hash.new
+    @last_column = Hash.new
+    @header_line = 1
+    @cells_read = Hash.new
+    @fonts = Hash.new
+  end
+
+  # returns an array of sheet names in the spreadsheet
+  def sheets
+    result = []
+    @workbook.worksheets.each do |worksheet| 
+      result << normalize_string(worksheet.name)
+    end
+    return result
+  end
+
+  # returns the content of a cell. The upper left corner is (1,1) or ('A',1)
+  def cell(row,col,sheet=nil)
+    sheet = @default_sheet unless sheet
+    raise ArgumentError unless sheet
+    read_cells(sheet) unless @cells_read[sheet]
+    raise "should be read" unless @cells_read[sheet]
+    row,col = normalize(row,col)
+    if celltype(row,col,sheet) == :date
+      yyyy,mm,dd = @cell[sheet][[row,col]].split('-')
+      return Date.new(yyyy.to_i,mm.to_i,dd.to_i)
+    end
+    if celltype(row,col,sheet) == :string
+      return platform_specific_iconv(@cell[sheet][[row,col]])
+    else
+      return @cell[sheet][[row,col]]
+    end
+  end
+
+  # returns the type of a cell:
+  # * :float
+  # * :string,
+  # * :date
+  # * :percentage
+  # * :formula
+  # * :time
+  # * :datetime
+  def celltype(row,col,sheet=nil)
+    sheet = @default_sheet unless sheet
+    read_cells(sheet) unless @cells_read[sheet]
+    row,col = normalize(row,col)
+    begin
+      if @formula[sheet][[row,col]]
+        return :formula
+      else
+        @cell_type[sheet][[row,col]]
+      end
+    rescue
+      puts "Error in sheet #{sheet}, row #{row}, col #{col}"
+      raise
+    end
+  end
+
+  # returns NO formula in excel spreadsheets
+  def formula(row,col,sheet=nil)
+    raise EXCEL_NO_FORMULAS
+  end
+
+  # raises an exception because formulas are not supported for excel files
+  def formula?(row,col,sheet=nil)
+    raise EXCEL_NO_FORMULAS
+  end
+
+  # returns NO formulas in excel spreadsheets
+  def formulas(sheet=nil)
+    raise EXCEL_NO_FORMULAS
+  end
+
+  # Given a cell, return the cell's font
+  def font(row, col, sheet=nil)
+    sheet = @default_sheet unless sheet
+    read_cells(sheet) unless @cells_read[sheet]
+    row,col = normalize(row,col)
+    @fonts[sheet][[row,col]]
+  end 
+  
+  # shows the internal representation of all cells
+  # mainly for debugging purposes
+  def to_s(sheet=nil)
+    sheet = @default_sheet unless sheet
+    read_cells(sheet) unless @cells_read[sheet]
+    @cell[sheet].inspect
+  end
+
+  private
+
+  # converts name of a sheet to index (0,1,2,..)
+  def sheet_no(name)
+    return name-1 if name.kind_of?(Fixnum)
+    i = 0
+    @workbook.worksheets.each do |worksheet|
+      return i if name == normalize_string(worksheet.name)
+      i += 1
+    end
+    raise StandardError, "sheet '#{name}' not found"
+  end
+
+  def empty_row?(row)
+    content = false
+    row.compact.each {|elem|
+      if elem != ''
+        content = true
+      end
+    }
+    ! content
+  end
+
+  def empty_column?(col)
+    content = false
+    col.compact.each {|elem|
+      if elem != ''
+        content = true
+      end
+    }
+    ! content
+  end
+  
+  def normalize_string(value)
+    value = every_second_null?(value) ? remove_every_second_null(value) : value
+    if CHARGUESS && encoding = CharGuess::guess(value)
+      Iconv.new('utf-8', encoding)
+    else
+      platform_specific_iconv(value)
+    end
+  end
+  
+  def platform_specific_iconv(value)
+    case RUBY_PLATFORM.downcase
+    when /darwin/
+      result = Iconv.new('utf-8','utf-8').iconv(value)
+    when /solaris/
+      result = Iconv.new('utf-8','utf-8').iconv(value)
+    when /mswin32/
+      result = Iconv.new('utf-8','iso-8859-1').iconv(value)
+    else
+      result = value
+    end # case
+    if every_second_null?(result)
+      result = remove_every_second_null(result)
+    end
+    result
+  end
+
+  def every_second_null?(str)
+    result = true
+    return false if str.length < 2
+    0.upto(str.length/2-1) do |i|
+      c = str[i*2,1]
+      n = str[i*2+1,1]
+      if n != "\000"
+        result = false 
+        break
+      end
+    end
+    result
+  end
+
+  def remove_every_second_null(str)
+    result = ''
+    0.upto(str.length/2-1) do |i|
+      c = str[i*2,1]
+      result += c
+    end
+    result
+  end
+
+  # helper function to set the internal representation of cells
+  def set_cell_values(sheet,row,col,i,v,vt,formula,tr,font)
+    #key = "#{y},#{x+i}"
+    key = [row,col+i]
+    @cell_type[sheet] = {} unless @cell_type[sheet]
+    @cell_type[sheet][key] = vt 
+    @formula[sheet] = {} unless @formula[sheet]
+    @formula[sheet][key] = formula  if formula
+    @cell[sheet]    = {} unless @cell[sheet]
+    @fonts[sheet] = {} unless @fonts[sheet]
+    @fonts[sheet][key] = font
+    
+    case vt # @cell_type[sheet][key]
+    when :float
+      @cell[sheet][key] = (v.to_s.include?('.') ? v.to_f : v.to_i)
+    when :string
+      @cell[sheet][key] = v
+    when :date
+      @cell[sheet][key] = v 
+    when :datetime
+      @cell[sheet][key] = DateTime.new(v.year,v.month,v.day,v.hour,v.min,v.sec)
+    when :percentage
+      @cell[sheet][key] = v.to_f
+    when :time
+      @cell[sheet][key] = v 
+    else
+      @cell[sheet][key] = v
+    end
+  end
+
+  # read all cells in the selected sheet
+  def read_cells(sheet=nil)
+    sheet = @default_sheet unless sheet
+    raise ArgumentError, "Error: sheet '#{sheet||'nil'}' not valid" if @default_sheet == nil and sheet==nil
+    raise RangeError unless self.sheets.include? sheet
+    
+    if @cells_read[sheet]
+      raise "sheet #{sheet} already read"
+    end
+    
+    worksheet = @workbook.worksheet(sheet_no(sheet))
+    row_index=1
+    worksheet.each(0) do |row| 
+      (0..row.size).each do |cell_index|
+        cell = row.at(cell_index)
+        next if cell.nil?  #skip empty cells
+        next if cell.class == Spreadsheet::Formula && cell.value.nil? # skip empty formla cells
+        if date_or_time?(row, cell_index)
+          vt, v = read_cell_date_or_time(row, cell_index)
+        else
+          vt, v = read_cell(row, cell_index)
+        end
+        formula = tr = nil #TODO:???
+        col_index = cell_index + 1
+        font = row.format(cell_index).font
+        font.extend(ExcelFontExtensions)
+        set_cell_values(sheet,row_index,col_index,0,v,vt,formula,tr,font)
+      end #row
+      row_index += 1
+    end # worksheet
+    @cells_read[sheet] = true
+  end
+
+  # Get the contents of a cell, accounting for the
+  # way formula stores the value
+  def read_cell_content(row, idx)
+    cell = row.at(idx)
+    cell = cell.value if cell.class == Spreadsheet::Formula
+    cell
+  end
+    
+  # Test the cell to see if it's a valid date/time. 
+  def date_or_time?(row, idx)
+    format = row.format(idx)
+    if format.date_or_time?
+      cell = read_cell_content(row, idx)
+      true if Float(cell) > 0 rescue false
+    else
+      false
+    end  
+  end
+  private :date_or_time?
+  
+  # Read the date-time cell and convert to, 
+  # the date-time values for Roo
+  def read_cell_date_or_time(row, idx)
+    cell = read_cell_content(row, idx)
+    cell = cell.to_s.to_f
+    if cell < 1.0
+      value_type = :time
+      f = cell*24.0*60.0*60.0
+      secs = f.round
+      h = (secs / 3600.0).floor
+      secs = secs - 3600*h
+      m = (secs / 60.0).floor
+      secs = secs - 60*m
+      s = secs
+      value = h*3600+m*60+s
+    else
+      if row.at(idx).class == Spreadsheet::Formula
+        datetime = row._datetime(cell)
+      else
+        datetime = row.datetime(idx)
+      end    
+      if datetime.hour != 0 or
+         datetime.min != 0 or
+         datetime.sec != 0 
+        value_type = :datetime
+        value = datetime
+      else
+        value_type = :date
+        if row.at(idx).class == Spreadsheet::Formula
+          value = row._date(cell)
+        else
+          value = row.date(idx)
+        end    
+        value = sprintf("%04d-%02d-%02d",value.year,value.month,value.day)
+      end
+    end  
+    return value_type, value
+  end
+  private :read_cell_date_or_time
+  
+  # Read the cell and based on the class, 
+  # return the values for Roo
+  def read_cell(row, idx)
+    cell = read_cell_content(row, idx)
+    case cell
+    when Float, Integer, Fixnum, Bignum 
+      value_type = :float
+      value = cell.to_f
+    when String, TrueClass, FalseClass
+      value_type = :string
+      value = cell.to_s
+    else
+      value_type = cell.class.to_s.downcase.to_sym
+      value = nil
+    end # case
+    return value_type, value
+  end
+  private :read_cell
+  
+  #TODO: testing only
+  #  def inject_null_characters(str)
+  #    if str.class != String
+  #      return str
+  #    end
+  #    new_str=''
+  #    0.upto(str.size-1) do |i|
+  #      new_str += str[i,1]
+  #      new_str += "\000"
+  #    end
+  #    new_str
+  #  end
+  #
+
+end