Question: I am developing a tool that is to replace a rather large Excel Workbook and I am trying to minimise the development effort. In order to do so - I am looking for Java Components that do similar things to what excel does.

The primary functionality that I am looking to implement is the following:

1. A table that can be easily exported to Excel
2. Provides the Pivot Table functionality (as in Excel)
3. Provides the general table functionality like - filtering, sorting, copy & paste
4. Is something that has a real professional look and the look & feel can be customised.

Can i use Spring Rich Client to do the same thing.

Is there any plugin or inbuilt support to develop pivot table in groovy/grails

Answer: 
The best way to include one application within another is by using engines. This might help you [Ruby on Rails 3.1 Blog Engines](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6741172/ruby-on-rails-3-1-blog-engines)
Perhaps [Typo](http://fdv.github.com/typo/) would address your needs installed as a Rails Engine.