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Welcome to XlBlocks

XlBlocks is a powerful Excel add-in designed to extend the capabilities of Excel for data analysts, power users, and professionals in financial and business fields, and beyond. Inspired by years of experience on financial trading desks, XlBlocks introduces advanced data structures and tools to make Excel a more robust platform for handling large datasets. In addition, these components can be used to make Excel spreadsheets interactive and dynamic.

Why XlBlocks?

Excel is a versatile tool, but it has limitations when working with large datasets or building interactive, complex spreadsheets. XlBlocks addresses these challenges by introducing:

  • Advanced Data Structures: Work with tables, lists, and dictionaries without needing to lay out data directly in the worksheet.
  • Seamless Integration: Use these structures in tandem with Excel's native features and VBA to build interactive spreadsheets.
  • Performance: Built in .NET, XlBlocks is compiled and optimized for speed, making it ideal for handling large datasets efficiently.
  • Familiarity: The functionality will feel intuitive to those with experience in finance or similar fields.

Key Features

  • Tables: Perform advanced operations like filtering, sorting, joining, and aggregating on tabular data.
  • Lists: Manage ordered collections of items with support for operations like adding, removing, and accessing elements.
  • Dictionaries: Use key-value stores with support for various key types (numbers, strings, dates) and nested XlBlocks objects.
  • String Functions: Leverage basic regex capabilities for pattern matching and text manipulation.
  • Interoperability: Combine and manipulate data across tables, lists, and dictionaries seamlessly.

Use Cases

  • Data Analysis: Handle and manipulate large datasets without cluttering your worksheet.
  • Interactive Spreadsheets: Build dynamic, interactive spreadsheets by combining XlBlocks components with VBA.
  • Custom Solutions: Create tailored solutions for finance, trading, and other data-intensive fields.

Future Development

XlBlocks is under active development, with exciting features planned for future releases:

  • Time Series Objects: Native support for time series data and analytics.
  • Event Scheduling: Helpers for scheduling events and timers.
  • Enhanced Performance: Continued optimization to ensure the add-in remains fast and efficient.

Open Source and Free

XlBlocks is distributed under the MIT license, making it free to use and modify. Whether you're a professional building complex spreadsheets or a hobbyist exploring Excel's potential, XlBlocks is here to empower your workflows.

Get Started

Ready to dive in? Check out the installation guide to get started, or explore the documentation to learn more about the available features.

XlBlocks is your toolkit for building powerful, interactive, and efficient Excel spreadsheets—no additional programming languages required.