A potential client has a web application that runs in Windows Server that we’re looking to containerize. We ran into a problem when we discovered that part of the application does its reporting by using Excel’s COM interface to create some sophisticated spreadsheets; graphs and charts, etc.
I’m pretty sure that this is going to be impossible within a container, since the COM interface starts a real instance of Excel, and Excel isn’t going to like the absence of graphics capabilities for its GUI.
I’m wondering if I’m correct. Has anyone tried this? Is there any way to run an MS Office application in headless mode?
I know that the app could be rewritten to do this via OOXML, but I’d like to see if we can avoid that effort.
Hi Alex, just wanted to make sure you are not left without your answer after 6 months…
Yes, you can containerise excel, you would require a licence but you can take a snapshot from the fs to create your container. I seem to have promised to do this when in my interview with my current employer…
However, its easier just to use excel on a vm connected to your application network. I say this as you would need a vm with windows running a container service to run your excel container regardless.