Is drupal able to handle technical data sheets? I already posted a similar question on webapps.stackexchange.com and was redirected here, since I mentioned Drupal. Here is the slightly updated question:



I am a php developer and didn't have the chance to work with a CMS for ages, and I couldn't find any decent solution for my problems throughout my internet searches.

For a new project I am working on, I need to provide an application which can allow a few users to create and handle numerous technical datasheets (around 1-2k). The application should be able to handle a few different kind of sheets, whose structure and contents are known and static: few lines of text, some geographical data, numeric coefficients and pictures. It should also be possible to attach files to one sheet (let's say a .zip, a .doc, or whatever).

Users should be able to:


Create and edit sheets.
Search through them
Export them to various formats (pdf, doc, xls, etc.)


Administrators should be able to:


Create and manage users.
Create new types of datasheet.


One important feature is the non-concurrent editing (i.e. a sheet should be locked if someone is editing it).

At first glance, I was willing to create all that from scratch, with my little hands and a decent php framework. But then I started to think (it happens...), and was wondering if a CMS wouldn't to the trick, since this is what I'm searching for: a (specific) content management system.

I had some little experience with drupal, which allowed to create custom nodes. Wouldn't that answer my problems? A node would then be a specific type of datasheet. The different possible actions of users and administrators (create, update, search, export, etc.) being handled by drupal core functionalities. Am I right?

If so, is there any specific module I should look into? 

Thanks in advance for your help!
According to me you have half answered your question, yes node is what your data holder for the datasheets.
consider nodes as container for your data so to change the way you to present them you can use views module.views module will allow you to present your nodes the way you like also you have option to export your views in different formats.

Here are some modules which can be helpful for exporting your views in different formats


Views PDF
Views data export
Views Excel Export


Update:

For content locking for concurrent content edit
 you can  check Content locking (anti-concurrent editing) contributed module.

Update:

About having different types of datasheets, 


If you are looking are categorizing your nodes/sheets, core shipped taxonomy is there.
If you need to have separate types of sheets in structure, permissions to create/edit/view them, having separate content types will be the solution.