Excel
Services is part of SharePoint Server Enterprise Edition.
A benefit
of this edition is that you can publish an Excel workbook to a Web page and end
users can view workbook contents without the presence of the Excel client.
The
published workbook is effectively a read-only version of the source Excel
workbook. This provides a good way to share information while protecting the
integrity of the data—a published Excel workbook, such as an annual or fiscal
budget, is a centralized, single version accessed by all. Here we will cover
the key features of Excel Services.
The three
main Excel Services components are detailed here:
The Excel
Calculation Services (ECS) component loads the Excel workbook into a Web page,
performs server-side calculations, and refreshes external data.
The Excel
Web Access (EWA) Web Part displays a workbook or interconnecting parts of a
workbook on a Web page or dashboard. It uses DHTML and JavaScript for Web page
interaction, thus avoiding the need to download ActiveX controls to the client.
EWA Web Parts can be configured to filter on specific values. EWA is unlike the
Datasheet view available in SharePoint lists, which is dependent upon ActiveX
controls along with the Excel or Access client. And EWA offers additional
features, such as the ability to create a snapshot of an Excel workbook.
Excel Web
services (EWS) is a Web service API that developers can use to develop custom
or add-on applications for Excel Services. The typical address to access these Web
services is server_site_name/_vti_bin/excelservice.asmx.
