Can I save delta information from a spreadsheet?

Question

I am going to develop a generic C++/Qt GUI tool for data I/O from the user.

The data will be directed to/from the core application through a file.

However the same task could be performed by a spreadsheet. The only doubt I have is whether spreadsheets can save/load only the data that have changed since the last save/load operation, even in a temporary file.

I would like to know if this is a common feature among spreadsheets (especially the open source ones).

Answer 1

It seems that with spreadsheets (e.g. Excel, LibreOffice Calc, ...) it is not possible to save/load portions of the project, not even in a temporary delta file.

For these tasks, a database is the tool to use.

Answer 2

Do you mean with spreadsheet a software like Excel or or OpenOffice calc? That's a big difference to a customized Qt application. I am sure you can do this with Excel or OpenOffice calc. To decide the way to go it is more important which other requirements you have. Who should use the application and for which purpose? Do you know the neccessary programming languages/frameworks? Which functions should it implement?

Without a LOT more details you will not get a good answer here.