GridSpace.Workbench 0.3.0-alpha.1

<p align="center"><img src="src/GridSpace.App/Assets/Icons/icon.svg" width="76" alt="GridSpace" /></p> <h1 align="center">GridSpace</h1> <p align="center">A local-first spreadsheet workbench.<br/>Uno Platform · SkiaSharp · C# · Desktop and WebAssembly</p> <p align="center"><a href="https://github.com/wieslawsoltes/GridSpace/actions/workflows/build.yml"><img src="https://github.com/wieslawsoltes/GridSpace/actions/workflows/build.yml/badge.svg" alt="Build and browser validation" /></a> <a href="https://github.com/wieslawsoltes/GridSpace/actions/workflows/desktop.yml"><img src="https://github.com/wieslawsoltes/GridSpace/actions/workflows/desktop.yml/badge.svg" alt="Desktop builds" /></a> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-green" alt="MIT" /></p> <p align="center"><a href="https://wieslawsoltes.github.io/GridSpace/">Open browser app</a> · <a href="docs/architecture.md">Architecture</a> · <a href="docs/compatibility.md">Compatibility</a> · <a href="docs/parity-data-tools.md">Data tools</a> · <a href="docs/development.md">Development</a></p>

New in 0.3

Dynamic arrays now spill through the real worksheet: SEQUENCE, FILTER, SORT, SORTBY, UNIQUE, TRANSPOSE, TAKE, DROP, HSTACK, VSTACK, CHOOSECOLS, CHOOSEROWS, array constants, broadcasting, LET, and A1# references. Spilled followers are protected and display their anchor formula. Supported dynamic arrays export standard XLSX metadata and calculated caches.

Cell-oriented commands retain deltas instead of whole-workbook JSON snapshots; scalar recalculation invalidates dependent cells, and view-only updates reuse geometry and selection summaries. See array behavior and measured performance for reproducible results and limits.

The project

GridSpace combines an Excel-style ribbon, formula bar, worksheet tabs and green selection language with a real C# workbook engine. The worksheet is drawn by SkiaSharp through Uno's SKCanvasElement, not by an HTML table or a separate JavaScript spreadsheet. Desktop and browser hosts share the model, calculations, transactions and controls.

0.2.0-alpha.1 adds conditional formatting, compound column filters, stable multi-level sorting and transactional row/column deletion. These additions include reusable editors, live rendering, native persistence, supported XLSX interchange and regression tests. See the data-tool guide for examples and boundaries.

This remains a functional alpha, not a complete or pixel-identical Microsoft Excel replacement. Keep original workbooks and read the compatibility matrix before round-tripping XLSX files.

What works

The sample has Revenue, Assumptions and Read me worksheets. Change Revenue!D6 or an assumption to recalculate the model. Select D6:D17 and choose Data → Data Bars to explore live conditional rendering. Click a table's filter-header button to open the filter editor.

Run it

The repository pins .NET SDK 10.0.401 and Uno SDK 6.7.30 in global.json. Managed and native SkiaSharp versions must stay aligned; the renderer uses the Uno-compatible 3.119.2 line.

git clone https://github.com/wieslawsoltes/GridSpace.git
cd GridSpace
python3 scripts/fetch-assets.py

dotnet run --project src/GridSpace.App -f net10.0-desktop \
  -p:GridSpaceDesktopOnly=true

The asset command fetches content-pinned, OFL-licensed Carlito faces from Google Fonts. Every payload is verified against its expected Git blob hash, whether retrieved through the raw endpoint or the blob API fallback. It never copies Microsoft or host-system fonts. Uno and the spreadsheet renderer receive the same font data; logical workbook font names remain in the document.

For the browser:

dotnet workload install wasm-tools --skip-manifest-update
dotnet publish src/GridSpace.App -f net10.0-browserwasm -c Release \
  -o artifacts/publish -p:WasmShellWebAppBasePath=/GridSpace/
python3 scripts/collect-site.py artifacts/publish artifacts/site
python3 scripts/serve-site.py --directory artifacts/site --port 4173
# Open http://127.0.0.1:4173/GridSpace/

Python and Node.js are development/test tools only. The deployed application requires no application backend or database server. Browser recovery is local to its origin and profile, not a cloud backup.

Download

Every release ships a self-contained, single-file desktop app — no .NET install needed:

Extract and run GridSpace (GridSpace.exe on Windows). Builds are not code-signed yet: on macOS clear the quarantine flag with xattr -d com.apple.quarantine GridSpace; on Windows choose More info → Run anyway in SmartScreen. Verify downloads against SHA256SUMS.txt.

The libraries below are published to NuGet.org, e.g. dotnet add package GridSpace.Core --prerelease.

Reusable libraries

Each library is independently packable. App is the platform composition root.

CI generates eight .nupkg and eight .snupkg packages. Version tags publish them to NuGet.org with Trusted Publishing (OIDC, no stored API key).

Use the engines without a UI

using GridSpace.Core;
using GridSpace.Editing;
using GridSpace.Formulas;

var session = new SpreadsheetSession(new Workbook { Title = "Example" });
session.SetInput("21", new CellAddress(0, 0));
session.SetInput("=A1*2", new CellAddress(0, 1));
Console.WriteLine(session.Calculation.Evaluate(session.Sheet, "B1")); // 42

session.SetConditionalFormat(new ConditionalFormatRule
{
    Range = "A1:B1",
    Kind = ConditionalFormatKind.CellValue,
    Comparison = CellComparison.GreaterThan,
    Operand = "30",
    Style = new DifferentialStyle { Background = "#C6EFCE", Bold = true }
});
var rules = new ConditionalFormattingEngine(session.Calculation);
var address = new CellAddress(0, 1);
var displayed = rules.Evaluate(session.Sheet, address,
    session.Calculation.Evaluate(session.Sheet, address));
Console.WriteLine(displayed.Style.Background); // #C6EFCE

session.InsertRows(0, 2); // References and modeled metadata follow the insertion.
session.Undo();

Embed the Uno control

using GridSpace.Controls;
using GridSpace.Editing;

var session = new SpreadsheetSession(SampleWorkbook.Create());
var grid = new SpreadsheetGrid { Session = session };
window.Content = grid;
window.Closed += (_, _) => grid.Dispose();

A host can use its own command routing, compose the individual data-tool editors, render on another Skia surface, or host SpreadsheetWorkbench(session, storage) with its own IWorkbookStorage. Web hosts should register available font bytes with grid.Renderer.Fonts as the application does. A mutable session has one owning thread; use snapshots for background processing.

Validation and delivery

dotnet test tests/GridSpace.Tests -c Release
npm ci
npx playwright install chromium
# Start the local server above, then:
npm run test:browser

Tests cover formulas, reference rewriting, rollback/history, native/XLSX interchange, conditional/filter/sort engines, structural metadata, sparse/frozen geometry and actual raster pixels. Independent Open XML SDK schema validation supplements the reader/writer round-trip tests; that dependency is test-only.

Browser acceptance uses physical keyboard and pointer events. A ?test=1 read-only snapshot provides model state and current control bounds, not mutation hooks. Tests exercise both the original editing flows and the new rule editor/manager, filter popup, custom-sort editor and structural deletion; screenshots and traces are retained in CI artifacts.

Build tests and publishes the actual Uno WebAssembly application, packs libraries, then deploys a successful main-branch build to Pages. The artifact's build-info.json commit is verified, and the browser suite runs again against the public URL. Desktop builds the shared native host on Linux, Windows and macOS. Release runs for v* tags or a supplied manual version. It reruns tests and browser acceptance, publishes self-contained single-file desktop executables for Windows, macOS and Linux (x64 and arm64), and creates versioned source/browser archives, packages with symbols and checksums. Tags attach all assets to a GitHub release/prerelease and publish the packages to NuGet.org with Trusted Publishing from the protected nuget environment. Manual runs are dry runs: they build and upload every asset as workflow artifacts but publish nothing.

Important boundaries

VBA, PivotTables, Power Query, external-data refresh, multiplayer editing, Excel add-ins, complete array/LAMBDA semantics, lossless arbitrary OOXML preservation, full print/page layout and complete virtualized-cell accessibility remain unimplemented. The custom workbench still uses Uno input/dialog primitives. Conditional-format clipboard propagation, arbitrary cell-shift deletion and advanced filter/chart variants also remain outside this increment.

The alpha bounds expensive work: 100,000 cells per bulk edit, conditional range or sort; 100,000 filter data rows; 200,000 stored cells per imported sheet; 256 sheets; and 32 MB native/file import. See compatibility for exact subset behavior and limitations.

License

GridSpace source is MIT licensed. Dependencies and fetched font assets retain their own licenses; see third-party notices. GridSpace is independent of Microsoft. No Microsoft logo, proprietary font or extracted Excel asset is included.