Hi Praseed,

my application uses the google spreadsheet api for importing data. I
have learned the following lessons from it:
1. performance is not great. the api runs over http and is limited to
GAE request timeout (5 to 10) seconds. on some cases a single request
exceed this time and you are required to handle these timeout (retry)
2. API inconsistencies. The API is not that stable. some of the
examples posted on Google simply do not work. it could be very
frustrating.
3. google spreadsheets are nice for low volume data. Handling masses
of data is difficult. copy paste is limited. limited formulas
(comparing to Excel) . very basic scripting support. you should really
play with it and verify that your end user won't get frustrated with
it.
4. accessing the spreadsheet requires authentication. it may be an
overhead for your end users unless you handle it for them.

Having said all of the above I still recommend it as it is free,
doesn't require leaving the google API realm, and will probably mature
over time.
you need to make a deep analysis of your requirement to make sure the
above limitation won't become showstoppers.

Thanx, Lior

On Feb 28, 6:41 pm, praseed <prase...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
>  New here.
>
>  My app requires users to upload spreadsheets. The server has to make
> the data available on a grid (GWT)..the user then makes changes if any
> and press "import".. This is when the data is stored in the data store
> in appropriate entities.
>
> Questions .
>
>  If this is not GAE, i would have stored the uploaded file in the
> filesystem; used Apache POI to parse the file from a GWT-RPC service
> and return it to a GWT grid. Then, upon user selection, commit the
> data to persistence. Are there better (read: easier) ways to do this
> under GAE? Can I make use of the Spreadsheet Data API to do this
> instead? Do I need to store the file at all in that case?
> Is there something in the Google Docs Upload API I should be using?
>
> Since I am already committed to GAE and GWT, I wanted to make things
> as simpler as it can be. If I can avoid other external
> libraries..great.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Cheers
> praseed

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"Google App Engine for Java" group.
To post to this group, send email to google-appengine-j...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 
google-appengine-java+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at 
http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine-java?hl=en.

Reply via email to