Reading formula values from Excel in Cadwork Python without Pandas

[mankatmalte-dev]

Hi all,

I’m trying to read formula-evaluated values from an Excel sheet (.xlsx) in the Cadwork Python API. I initially considered using Pandas, but importing it (and NumPy) inside Cadwork seems a bit tricky.

I need to read the calculated content of formulas, which is why saving the sheet as CSV is not ideal.

Has anyone faced a similar issue and found a simple way to read Excel formulas without installing Pandas or other external modules, so it would work reliably for everyone using the plugin?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Brunner246]

Hi @mankatmalte-dev

What cadwork version are you using ?
What error do you get ?

try following:

import cadwork
import element_controller as ec

base_dir = Path(__file__).absolute().parent
dep_dir = base_dir / ".venv" / "Lib" / "site-packages"

for p in {str(base_dir), str(dep_dir)}:
    if os.path.isdir(p) and p not in sys.path:
        sys.path.insert(0, p)

import numpy
import ....
....

[mankatmalte-dev]

Hi @Brunner246,

I tried to use numpy inside a Cadwork plugin following the .venv approach, but it seems to fail when importing the C-extensions.

Test script I ran:
try: import numpy as np uc.print_error(f"Step 4: Numpy imported, version {np.__version__}") except Exception as e: uc.print_error(f"Step 4: Failed to import numpy: {e}")
Got the following error message:

Any idea how to make this work reliably for a Cadwork plugin?
I’m aiming for a solution that doesn’t require complicated environment setups for colleagues.
Thanks!

[Brunner246]

@mankatmalte-dev

Do your site packages have the same Python version as the one in cadwork?
Which cadwork version are you using?
if you just want to read/write excel files => https://openpyxl.readthedocs.io/en/stable/

[mankatmalte-dev]

Yes they do, I am using V2025

[Brunner246]

@mankatmalte-dev

Please share some more information like code snippets etc.

i just ran a test in cadwork v2025 which was successfull.

[project]
name = "cw-numpy"
version = "0.1.0"
requires-python = ">=3.12"
dependencies = [
    "numpy>=2.4.2",
    "pandas>=3.0.0",
]

from pathlib import Path
import sys

def setup_paths():
    root = Path(__file__).resolve().parent
    venv_site = root / ".venv" / "Lib" / "site-packages"

    paths = [root, venv_site]

    for path in paths:
        if not path.exists():
            continue
        path_str = str(path.resolve())
        if path_str not in sys.path:
            print(f"Adding {path_str} to sys.path")
            sys.path.insert(0, path_str)


setup_paths()


def main():
    import numpy as np
    import pandas as pd

    print("NumPy version:", np.__version__)
    print("Pandas version:", pd.__version__)

    print("Hello from numpy!")

    arr = np.array([1, 2, 3, 4])
    print("Array:", arr)
    print("Shape:", arr.shape)
    print("Mean:", np.mean(arr))

    data = {
    "Part": ["A", "B", "C"],
    "Length": [10.5, 12.0, 9.8],
    "Width": [5.2, 6.1, 4.9],
    }

    df = pd.DataFrame(data)
    print(df)



if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

[mankatmalte-dev]

Hi @Brunner246 ,
I finally got it to run. I basically redid everything from zero and then it worked, not quit sure where I did the mistake. Thank you for helping me solve this .
Best Regards