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Sheetster Comprehensive Resurrection Plan

CRITICAL REALIZATION​

After examining just 2 of the 35+ extracted Sheetster JavaScript files, it's clear that the original Sheetster was a massive enterprise-grade spreadsheet engine with sophisticated functionality that rivals Excel/Google Sheets. My current Gridheim implementation has captured less than 5% of the original power.

EXTRACTED SHEETSTER MODULES TO INTEGRATE​

Core Grid Engine​

  • sheetHandle.js - Master sheet controller (2,500+ lines)
  • cellHandle.js - Individual cell management
  • cellRange.js - Range operations and calculations
  • gridToolkit.js - Core utilities and helpers
  • bookHandle.js - Workbook-level management
  • scrollerTool.js - Viewport scrolling and virtualization

Selection & Interaction Systems​

  • cellSelection.js - Sophisticated selection engine (800+ lines)
  • cellSelectionPrimary.js - Primary selection handling
  • cellSelectionResizable.js - Resizable selection overlays
  • rowColResize.js - Row/column resize functionality
  • rowHandle.js - Row-specific operations
  • colHandle.js - Column-specific operations

Clipboard & Data Transfer​

  • gridClipboard.js - Enterprise clipboard system (300+ lines)
  • cellBinder.js - Data binding functionality

Formula & Editing Engine​

  • cellEditor.js - Main cell editor
  • editorTools.js - Editor utilities
  • editor/formulaLexer.js - Formula tokenization
  • editor/formulaParser.js - Formula parsing
  • editor/shedFormulaController.js - Formula editing controller
  • editor/shedFormulaBarView.js - Formula bar UI
  • editor/shedTextModel.js - Rich text model
  • editor/shedTextUtil.js - Text utilities
  • editor/shedIdentCompletion.js - Autocomplete system
  • editor/shedCaret.js - Cursor management
  • editor/shedLineView.js - Line-based editing
  • editor/sheetsterEditor.js - Main editor orchestrator

Chart & Visualization System​

  • chartHandle.js - Chart management
  • chartDataTools.js - Chart data processing
  • pivotHandle.js - Pivot table engine
  • imageHandle.js - Image/media handling

UI & Styling​

  • styleHandler.js - Style management system
  • ribbonManager.js - Ribbon/toolbar UI
  • powerList.js - List controls
  • namedRangeEditCursor.js - Named range editor
  • validationHandle.js - Data validation
  • messaging.js - User messaging system

SOPHISTICATED FEATURES DISCOVERED​

1. Professional Selection System​

  • Visual overlay positioning with pixel-perfect borders
  • Drag-to-resize with anchor tracking
  • Split-table support for frozen panes
  • Mouse proxy events for transparent overlays
  • Keyboard navigation (arrows, Shift+arrows)
  • Performance caching with lazy redraw

2. Enterprise Clipboard​

  • Cut/Copy/Paste with server coordination
  • TSV (Tab-Separated Values) support
  • Visual clipboard selection overlays
  • Fill operations for smart copying
  • Cross-sheet persistence

3. Advanced Sheet Management​

  • Dynamic row/column loading and buffering
  • Split panes with frozen rows/columns
  • Sheet protection with granular permissions
  • Undo/redo functionality
  • Chart and pivot table integration
  • Image overlay system
  • Named range management

4. Formula Engine (Not Yet Examined)​

  • Full formula lexer and parser
  • Function autocomplete
  • Reference tracking
  • Dependency calculation

5. Rich Text Editing (Not Yet Examined)​

  • In-cell rich text formatting
  • Formula bar with syntax highlighting
  • Multi-line cell editing
  • Text selection and manipulation

INTEGRATION STRATEGY​

Phase 1: Core Architecture (Week 1)​

  1. Upgrade GridheimCell to match cellHandle.js sophistication
  2. Implement GridheimSelection based on cellSelection.js
  3. Add GridheimClipboard from gridClipboard.js
  4. Enhance GridheimSheet with sheetHandle.js features

Phase 2: Formula Engine (Week 2)​

  1. Create GridheimFormulaEngine from editor modules
  2. Implement formula parsing and evaluation
  3. Add function autocomplete system
  4. Build rich formula bar

Phase 3: Advanced Features (Week 3)​

  1. Add chart integration system
  2. Implement pivot table engine
  3. Build style management system
  4. Add data validation

Phase 4: UI Polish (Week 4)​

  1. Implement ribbon/toolbar system
  2. Add image handling
  3. Build named range editor
  4. Integrate messaging system

COMPONENT ARCHITECTURE​

Modernized TypeScript Components​

// Enhanced from legacy cellSelection.js
export interface GridheimSelectionProps {
  range: CellRange;
  focus: CellHandle;
  onSelectionChange: (range: CellRange) => void;
  onResizeDrag: (anchor: CellHandle) => void;
  clipboardManager: GridheimClipboard;
}

// Enhanced from legacy gridClipboard.js
export interface GridheimClipboardProps {
  selection: GridheimSelection;
  onCut: (range: CellRange) => void;
  onCopy: (range: CellRange) => void;
  onPaste: (data: string, format: "tsv" | "json") => void;
}

// Enhanced from legacy sheetHandle.js
export interface GridheimSheetProps {
  workbookId: string;
  sheetId: string;
  cells: CellData[][];
  selection: GridheimSelection;
  clipboard: GridheimClipboard;
  formulaEngine: GridheimFormulaEngine;
  chartManager: GridheimChartManager;
  styleManager: GridheimStyleManager;
}

THORAPI MODEL INTEGRATION​

All components must use ThorAPI-generated models:

import { Cell, Sheet, Workbook, CellStyle, Formula } from "@thorapi/model";
import {
  useCellQuery,
  useUpdateCellMutation,
  useSheetQuery,
} from "@thorapi/redux/services";

NEXT IMMEDIATE ACTIONS​

  1. Document all 35+ JavaScript files in detail
  2. Map legacy functionality to modern React patterns
  3. Create comprehensive TypeScript interfaces
  4. Build test coverage for each component
  5. Integrate with existing ThorAPI backend

This is clearly a multi-month professional development effort to fully resurrect Sheetster's sophistication. The original was a world-class spreadsheet engine that deserves to be properly modernized and integrated.