I have a bar coding program which refers to an Excel workbook as an ODBC
database. I'm using Excel's =now() function within the worksheet to
derive date codes. The problem I've run into is that the formulas in
the worksheet are not updated when the bar coding program accesses the
worksheet. I'm thinking that's because the file isn't actualy opened
when accessed by the external program.

1) Am I correct in thinking the external program is not actually
opening the file, but simply reading what was stored in it last?
2) Is there a way to have an external program open, then save, then
close a file when accessing it?
3) Perhaps even better, is there a way to have my Excel sheet update
itself periodically (at least once a month, within the first few hours
of the first day of the month)?
4) Are there other solutions I've not thought of?

I'm working on having the external program derive the date code on its
own. However, that's easier said than done, as it uses a lookup table
(another reason I'm using an Excel sheet as my database) to find the
code relative to the actual month and year. I'd rather have Excel do
all the work, and then have the external program harvest the data from
the Excel sheet.

Thanks in advance,

-Dan


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