xlsxzero

Pure-Rust Excel parser and Markdown converter for RAG systems.

Overview

xlsxzero is a high-performance, memory-efficient Rust crate designed to parse Excel files (XLSX format) and convert them into structured Markdown format. It is optimized for RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) systems that require efficient processing of large Excel files.

Features

• Pure Rust Implementation: No dependencies on C/C++ libraries
• Streaming Architecture: Process large Excel files with minimal memory footprint
• Structured Markdown Output: Convert Excel tables to GitHub Flavored Markdown
• Cell Merging Support: Handle merged cells with multiple strategies
• Date/Time Conversion: Accurate conversion of Excel serial dates
• Formula Support: Extract cached values or formula strings

Installation

Add this to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
xlsxzero = "0.1.0"

Quick Start

Basic Usage

use std::fs::File;
use xlsxzero::ConverterBuilder;

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let input = File::open("example.xlsx")?;
    let output = File::create("output.md")?;
    
    ConverterBuilder::new()
        .build()?
        .convert(input, output)?;
    
    Ok(())
}

Custom Configuration

use std::fs::File;
use xlsxzero::{ConverterBuilder, SheetSelector, MergeStrategy, DateFormat};

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let converter = ConverterBuilder::new()
        .with_sheet_selector(SheetSelector::Index(0))  // First sheet only
        .with_merge_strategy(MergeStrategy::HtmlFallback)  // HTML for merged cells
        .with_date_format(DateFormat::Custom("%Y年%m月%d日".to_string()))  // Japanese format
        .build()?;
    
    let input = File::open("example.xlsx")?;
    let output = File::create("output.md")?;
    converter.convert(input, output)?;
    
    Ok(())
}

Convert to String

use std::fs::File;
use xlsxzero::ConverterBuilder;

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let converter = ConverterBuilder::new().build()?;
    let input = File::open("example.xlsx")?;
    let markdown = converter.convert_to_string(input)?;
    println!("{}", markdown);
    Ok(())
}

Examples

The repository includes several example programs demonstrating different use cases:

• Basic Conversion (examples/basic_conversion.rs): Simple file-to-file conversion
• Custom Configuration (examples/custom_config.rs): Using advanced configuration options
• CLI Tool (examples/cli_tool.rs): Building a command-line tool

Run an example:

cargo run --example basic_conversion -- input.xlsx output.md
cargo run --example custom_config -- input.xlsx output.md
cargo run --example cli_tool -- input.xlsx output.md --sheet-index 0

Status

This project is currently in early development. Phase I features are being implemented.

Documentation

• Requirements
• Architecture
• Interface Design
• Detailed Design
• Test Specification

License

Licensed under either of:

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

at your option.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines and the issue list for development tasks.

API Documentation

Full API documentation is available at docs.rs/xlsxzero (when published) or by running:

cargo doc --open