Live Real Time Sync FeedBack Loop: Excel -> Grasshopper -> Excel -> Grasshopper

Proof of concept of creating a custom grasshopper component suite that provides a real time closed feedback loop for data flow between excel, grasshopper and rhino. That is, a seamless means of providing instantaneous parametric revisions of geometry, and associated data, from real time user changes in the input of a work flow defined upon the grasshopper canvas.

The components accesses records from excel that have a unique key and associated values for their fields. The data is a in free form format; that is the data may be placed on any sheet, or any cell, upon any excel work book. A white board approach.

In this instance we are defining the base world d coordinates, height and radius of a cone. The cone is of a volatile data representation. No persistent data is used.

We stream this data from excel into grasshopper, to create the cone geometry. We then stream the values of the area from grasshopper back in to a new user defined excel work sheet, in a new work book. The user has specified that excel will use color formatting to grade the values of area based on the upper and lower limits of all the cone areas. This is automated by excel and the colors are updated as the user changes the input variables of the cone.

We then stream the data representing the area color output back in to grasshopper to color the cones based on the ARGB values calculated by excel based on the gradient boundary limits of all cone areas.

The feedback loop is such that all data is linked, in real time, with no translation or reading/saving of data files, using back ground threading accessing the API’s of excel/rhino/grasshopper, to form a closed feedback loop between these three applications.

The real time loop is such that a user may modify the input data, in real time in the excel sheet representing the input data. The custom component recognizes the user key strokes and automatically triggers the feedback loop using back ground threading using events and associated triggers of the grasshopper and excel API. This work flow happens in the background and does not disturb, interfere, or clash the grasshopper user as they revise or expand their work flow within grasshopper

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Comment by ben on May 26, 2020 at 11:56pm: Hi there, was this ever finished?

Comment by Viswanath Urala on December 13, 2012 at 1:04am: Is this ready?

Comment by Steve Lewis on September 28, 2011 at 6:14pm: Hey Wil, Im still finalizing teh excel compoennt. So may be in the near future, one problem is that I think the open office API is based on C++/C# and not .NET compatible. So thats a bit of a head ache for me.

http://api.openoffice.org/

GHowl has already implemented an open offce component, so you could try that. I guess they have solved how to use this API on a .NET platform

Comment by Will Krzymowski on September 22, 2011 at 10:36am: Is it possible for you to create a similar component using open office spreadsheet?

Comment by Steve Lewis on September 16, 2011 at 2:23pm: Thanks all. Im trying hard to get it finished in my free time. I dont want to relsease soemthing half baked!!

Comment by Amaury THOMAS on September 16, 2011 at 3:23am: Hello,

Your component is great. i would be very glad if make it available for the community. Thank