Quickstart: Your First NExS App

This tutorial walks you through creating a simple tip calculator and publishing it as a web app.

Prerequisites

• Microsoft Excel is required to create NExS apps, but not to view or interact with them. Other spreadsheet editors that support the Office Open XML format, such as Google Sheets, may work as well.
• A NExS account at platform.nexs.com. If you don’t have one, contact us to request a free trial account.

Publishing an app so others can use it, or embedding it on a site, requires a NExS subscription. You can build and preview apps without one.

Step 1: Create Your Spreadsheet

Open Excel and create a simple tip calculator:

Format the cells:

• B3: Currency format
• B4: Percentage format
• B6, B7: Currency format

Step 2: Add the NExS.app Worksheet

Create a new worksheet and name it NExS.app. The name is not case-sensitive (nexs.app works too), but spelling and punctuation matter.

Add this configuration:

This tells NExS:

• Line 1: Name the app “Tip Calculator”
• Line 2: Show cells A1:B7 from Sheet1 as the view
• Line 3: Allow users to edit cells B3 (bill amount) and B4 (tip percentage)

Step 3: Save and Upload

1. Save your file as .xlsx format (File → Save As → Excel Workbook)
2. Log in to platform.nexs.com
3. On the app console, click Create New
4. Click Choose File and select your .xlsx file
5. Click Next: Upload and Configure

NExS processes your spreadsheet and creates your app.

Step 4: Preview Your App

Click Preview your App to open a fully working preview in a new tab. Try it:

1. Change the bill amount from $50 to $75
2. Watch the tip and total recalculate automatically
3. Try different tip percentages

Your formulas are running on NExS servers—users never see them.

If something needs changing, edit your spreadsheet and upload it again.

Step 5: Deploy Your App

1. Close the preview tab and click Continue (labeled Save and Continue on some screens) to go to the app management screen
2. Click Deploy Now to make your app live

Deploying requires a NExS subscription (see Prerequisites).

Step 6: Get Your Embed Code

On the app management screen:

1. Click Show next to App Sharing Options
2. Copy the Script Embed Code (recommended):

<script class="nexs"
  src="https://static.nexs.com/js/nexs_embed.js"
  data-nexs-app-url="https://platform.nexs.com/app/YOUR-APP-ID">
</script>

3. Paste this into any HTML page, WordPress post, or website builder

Step 7: Embed on Your Website

Add the embed code to your web page:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <title>My Tip Calculator</title>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Restaurant Tip Calculator</h1>
  <p>Calculate the perfect tip for your meal:</p>

  <script class="nexs"
    src="https://static.nexs.com/js/nexs_embed.js"
    data-nexs-app-url="https://platform.nexs.com/app/YOUR-APP-ID">
  </script>
</body>
</html>

That’s it! Your spreadsheet is now a live web application.

What’s Next?

Now that you’ve built your first app, explore more features:

• Embedding Basics — Customize your embed with the Declarative API
• Views and Layouts — Create multi-view apps
• Charts — Add visual data displays
• Buttons — Add interactivity with clickable actions

Troubleshooting

App won’t upload?

• Ensure your file is .xlsx format (not .xls or .xlsm)
• Check that the worksheet is named NExS.app (case doesn’t matter, but spelling and punctuation do)

Formulas showing as text?

• Make sure formulas start with =
• Verify the source cells are within your view range

Cells not editable?

• Confirm the cell addresses in your editable list are correct
• Cell addresses are relative to the worksheet, not the view