My project in a nutshell, they even did this with the session user object in a web application. A couple dozen columns accessible by name only, shared across the entire subsequent processing flow. The column names were aliased in the query so they didn't necessarily match the actual database names either. Then, to add insult to injury, any exceptions caught in any DML (insert, update, delete) simply put a zero in the rowcount value and calmly return. The caller has no other option but to wonder if no rows were affected or an error occurred. Since it's a server app, all the logs are hidden behind an alligator filled moat of: 1. A VPN account which not only kills your local network access (folder shares, email, printers, etc.), but also a roaming profile which makes it impossible to open an application from the start menu once the VPN connection is up. 2. Constantly expiring UNIX account passwords with limited file access privileges. (DEV environments included)

You need a Java-COM bridge tool which will wrap your Excel COM object in a Java proxy. Many moons ago we used a tool from J-Integra to run a Word mail merge from Java but someone may have produced an open source version which will work: JACOB Disclaimer: We ran the Word merge from command line, not integrated into a Swing app. J-Integra appears to support Swing integrations, but it's a very old page and does the integration through a JBuilder (Jurassic version 3.5!) GUI tool.