QueryStorm
Dev tools
excel add-in ide
SHOW HN2023
670points
179comments
#26of 3,109 in 2023
Top 1%of 2023 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
36 positive, 19 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 7 critical, out of 65 comments about the project. Thread score +0.47.
Idea: 18 for, 1 againstExecution: 4 for, 2 againstDocs: 0 for, 2 againstPricing: 2 for, 0 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Brings C# and LINQ to Excel, a big improvement over VBA
From 3 comments
Very cool. Should be a part of Excel tbh. LINQ is much better suited for data munging than JavaScript.
HeckFeck on HNNow I can use excel. I always sucked doing stuff in excell formulas. With this now I can just linq and spit the info I need.
major505 on HNThis is incredible. I work in industrial automation and I often have to manage / make edits to "point assignment charts" which are essentially Excel Workbooks with 100+…
813919 on HN
Impressive engineering by a single developer
From 3 comments
This is such an impressive feat of engineering. Excellent job. I have no doubt this will be a hit. It wouldn't surprise me if MSFT just decided to make you an offer for it.
replwoacause on HNUnfortunately, no. Excel for Mac doesn't support either of the two technologies QueryStorm uses to talk to Excel (namely VSTO and ExcelDNA). Might be possible to build something…
anakic on HNThis is incredible. I work in industrial automation and I often have to manage / make edits to "point assignment charts" which are essentially Excel Workbooks with 100+…
813919 on HN
Objections
Windows only, no Excel for Mac support
From 2 comments
Unfortunately, no. Excel for Mac doesn't support either of the two technologies QueryStorm uses to talk to Excel (namely VSTO and ExcelDNA). Might be possible to build something…
anakic on HNIt works on Excel 2013 onwards but only on Windows. Both x86 and x64 are supported. Mac isn't supported I'm afraid.
anakic on HN
Version control of workbook code is awkward
From 1 comment
Thanks! You can version control the code you write with QueryStorm, to an extent. There are basically two kinds of apps you can build with this: extension apps (where you build…
anakic on HN
Documentation is thin for the API
From 2 comments
Looks great, but I ran into an issue I'm hoping you can help with. I copy/pasted the very first example from the blog and it doesn't compile. I also have been unable to find the…
charlieflowers on HNThanks for trying it and replying back here. It looks like I was using a pre-release version of QueryStorm while I was writing the blog post. I just released that version so if…
anakic on HN
Requests
Support for Excel on Mac
From 1 comment
Would this work with Excel for the Mac as well or is primarily a Windows thing? Somehow, while good, I feel like Excel for Mac just isn't as good as Excel for Windows.
chinupbuttercup on HN
Statistics and forecasting libraries
From 2 comments
Spectacular. Stats PhD here, I've needed this for years for practical projects in different data science roles. I'd love to talk to you about adding statistics/forecasting…
waldrews on HNWould love to! There's a library called Math.NET that I wanted to look into, but never got around to it (plus, I forgot 99% of the math I learned in college so wouldn't know how…
anakic on HN
Python support instead of VBA
From 1 comment
Really cool. I could see MS jumping on this because of their strong association with C#. That said, I think the ideal replacement for VB & VBA in most contexts is python. The…
mcdonje on HN
Questions
Does it work with Excel on Mac
From 1 comment
Would this work with Excel for the Mac as well or is primarily a Windows thing? Somehow, while good, I feel like Excel for Mac just isn't as good as Excel for Windows.
chinupbuttercup on HN
Does it use ExcelDNA
From 1 comment
Does this use https://excel-dna.net/ behind the scenes?
keithalewis on HN
How to version control code inside workbooks
From 1 comment
Looks awesome. One fundamental issue I always faced with Excel calculations of any kind (formulas or vba) is the lack of ability to source control cleanly (binary format plus…
nycdotnet on HN
Alternatives named
VSTA, an earlier Microsoft Office scripting environment
From 1 comment
Microsoft actually built that already, then they decided to kill it. It was called VSTA (not to be confused with VSTO). It shipped with one of the apps of Office 2007.
cm2187 on HN
Office Scripts and Office.js add-ins
From 2 comments
Good work, but this is depressing: "VBA is a bit (a lot) behind the times and Microsoft isn’t planning on upgrading it. Instead, they’re offering a sandboxed JavaScript…
gadders on HNThis is really cool. For context, We have a tool that compiles complex Excel files into highly optimized WebAssembly.. which is great for dealing with those 2M formula files that…
PeterRoschke on HN
Airtable, NocoDB and Baserow
From 1 comment
This is absolutely awesome. The combination of a spreadsheet, database and data scripting runtime would be extremely powerful. This is where Airtable, nocodb and baserow are…
samsquire on HN