Somebody will try to read criticism into my question but none was
intended.

I'm just very interested to know what kind of applications for Excel
programming actually exist in the world outside of these groups. I'm
thinking about doing some of this kind of work and am curious to know
what to expect.

Thank you for helping,

Don

Graphical frontend for Interbase database.

Why?

Excel already present on all customers PC's.
Easy development with all the Excel objects available.
Easy to integrate with other Office applications.
Where needed use VB6 ActiveX dll's for code protection, extra features and
some added speed.

RBS


"Don" wrote in message
...

Somebody will try to read criticism into my question but none was
intended.

I'm just very interested to know what kind of applications for Excel
programming actually exist in the world outside of these groups. I'm
thinking about doing some of this kind of work and am curious to know
what to expect.

Thank you for helping,

Don

Lots of good reasons. One of the biggest reasons that I see around here is
that people are dealing with computer systems (accounting, production or
otherwise)which cover off 98% of what they need. As for the last 2% they are
on their own. The problem is this 2% is taking up an exhorbenant amount of
time and resources. This is where Excel programming fits very nicely. It is
easy to get started in (tough to get good at) and solves their problem.

I personally am a financial analyst. The majority of what I do does not
exist as canned information in our computer system. For me programming is an
invaluable tool to efficiently create the ad hoc reports and analysis that I
do.
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Don" wrote:


Somebody will try to read criticism into my question but none was
intended.

I'm just very interested to know what kind of applications for Excel
programming actually exist in the world outside of these groups. I'm
thinking about doing some of this kind of work and am curious to know
what to expect.

Thank you for helping,

Don

Many people use Excel for simple database applications. Usually because
Access is too painful to use.
--
Gary''s Student


"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

Lots of good reasons. One of the biggest reasons that I see around here is
that people are dealing with computer systems (accounting, production or
otherwise)which cover off 98% of what they need. As for the last 2% they are
on their own. The problem is this 2% is taking up an exhorbenant amount of
time and resources. This is where Excel programming fits very nicely. It is
easy to get started in (tough to get good at) and solves their problem.

I personally am a financial analyst. The majority of what I do does not
exist as canned information in our computer system. For me programming is an
invaluable tool to efficiently create the ad hoc reports and analysis that I
do.
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Don" wrote:


Somebody will try to read criticism into my question but none was
intended.

I'm just very interested to know what kind of applications for Excel
programming actually exist in the world outside of these groups. I'm
thinking about doing some of this kind of work and am curious to know
what to expect.

Thank you for helping,

Don

Everything you can possible imagine.

Database applications where Excel is used as the client, with forms, and
maybe reports. Complex analysis spreadsheet, using advanced formula, pivot
tables, charts, etc. Monte Carlo simulations. I even heard of one app that
was using Excel to monitor the safety systems at a nuclear power plant
(shudder!). So whatever you can think of, I bet there is an Excel app out
there somewhere doing it.

--

HTH

Bob Phillips

(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)

"Don" wrote in message
...

Somebody will try to read criticism into my question but none was
intended.

I'm just very interested to know what kind of applications for Excel
programming actually exist in the world outside of these groups. I'm
thinking about doing some of this kind of work and am curious to know
what to expect.

Thank you for helping,

Don

IMO the only thing more painfull that using Access is using Excel as if it
were a database... It is like asking what kind of a screwdriver should you
use to pound in a nail. The answer is... Get a hammer! Can you pound in a
nail with a screwdriver... probably, but why would you want to.

Sorry I just had to get that off my chest. I feel much better now. :-)
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Gary''s Student" wrote:

Many people use Excel for simple database applications. Usually because
Access is too painful to use.
--
Gary''s Student


"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

Lots of good reasons. One of the biggest reasons that I see around here is
that people are dealing with computer systems (accounting, production or
otherwise)which cover off 98% of what they need. As for the last 2% they are
on their own. The problem is this 2% is taking up an exhorbenant amount of
time and resources. This is where Excel programming fits very nicely. It is
easy to get started in (tough to get good at) and solves their problem.

I personally am a financial analyst. The majority of what I do does not
exist as canned information in our computer system. For me programming is an
invaluable tool to efficiently create the ad hoc reports and analysis that I
do.
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Don" wrote:


Somebody will try to read criticism into my question but none was
intended.

I'm just very interested to know what kind of applications for Excel
programming actually exist in the world outside of these groups. I'm
thinking about doing some of this kind of work and am curious to know
what to expect.

Thank you for helping,

Don

Don wrote:
Somebody will try to read criticism into my question but none was
intended.

I'm just very interested to know what kind of applications for Excel
programming actually exist in the world outside of these groups. I'm
thinking about doing some of this kind of work and am curious to know
what to expect.

Thank you for helping,

Don

I use Excel programming for simulation and animation in both math and
computer science instruction. Sounds a bit eccentric perhaps, but a lot
of textbooks in statistics and operations research/management science
already use Excel as a computational tool, so it is a short step from
teaching out of such a text to enhancing your lectures with VBA. Once
you get comfortable with it, you can create some surprisingly slick
animations with the chart object.

-John Coleman

I created an Excel workbook to help myself and other users deal with 22
different data points culled from over 14,000 engineering reports. The
macros cycled through the docs and pulled out the data points to populate
the worksheet. Other macros helped sift and sort for various predetermined
criteria, as well as text search the Excel list and all Word report docs.
That's why I learned programming!

Ed

"Don" wrote in message
...

Somebody will try to read criticism into my question but none was
intended.

I'm just very interested to know what kind of applications for Excel
programming actually exist in the world outside of these groups. I'm
thinking about doing some of this kind of work and am curious to know
what to expect.

Thank you for helping,

Don

Don,

Doing Excel work you are close to the user. It can be frustrating as 'big
systems' events can pull the carpet from under your feet & trying to untangle
spaghetti that other 'developers' have built in the past can be a nightmare
.... however that also suggests that there is some mileage in it as (at least
one strand to) a career.

Regards,

Chris.

--
Chris Marlow
MCSD.NET, Microsoft Office XP Master


"Don" wrote:


Somebody will try to read criticism into my question but none was
intended.

I'm just very interested to know what kind of applications for Excel
programming actually exist in the world outside of these groups. I'm
thinking about doing some of this kind of work and am curious to know
what to expect.

Thank you for helping,

Don

I use excel programming to quickly create cost spreadsheets in a consistant
format that my sales people can work from.
Using macros, I can pull cost line items from various workbooks and place
the item in the proper place in the spreadsheet along with all the cost and
sale price calculations. Much cheaper than investing in a complete
estimating software package. Plus, all of our company pc's are running
excel.

S
"Don" wrote in message
...

Somebody will try to read criticism into my question but none was
intended.

I'm just very interested to know what kind of applications for Excel
programming actually exist in the world outside of these groups. I'm
thinking about doing some of this kind of work and am curious to know
what to expect.

Thank you for helping,

Don

Hi Chris, and all who have taken the time to answer.

I've programmed in all VB versions since 3.0 and ASM, Basic, etc
before that. I'm not really up to speed on .Net though. But, building
installation packages is one of my least favorite things to do. That's
likely not to be a problem for those of you that are creating Excel
applications for your own use but . . .

For those that are creating apps for others, are install packages
often needed or does the normal Office install suffice? How do you
handle the installation of any dll's, Db's, or? Do you do onsite
installs yourself or do you give complete install packaes to your
clients?

Your experience will be helpful to me and will be appreciated

Thank you all again for being willing to help.

Don in Redmond


On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 00:04:30 -0800, Chris Marlow
wrote:

Don,

Doing Excel work you are close to the user. It can be frustrating as 'big
systems' events can pull the carpet from under your feet & trying to untangle
spaghetti that other 'developers' have built in the past can be a nightmare
... however that also suggests that there is some mileage in it as (at least
one strand to) a career.

Regards,

Chris.

Using INNO.
Free as you probably know and works very well.

RBS

"Don" wrote in message
...

Hi Chris, and all who have taken the time to answer.

I've programmed in all VB versions since 3.0 and ASM, Basic, etc
before that. I'm not really up to speed on .Net though. But, building
installation packages is one of my least favorite things to do. That's
likely not to be a problem for those of you that are creating Excel
applications for your own use but . . .

For those that are creating apps for others, are install packages
often needed or does the normal Office install suffice? How do you
handle the installation of any dll's, Db's, or? Do you do onsite
installs yourself or do you give complete install packaes to your
clients?

Your experience will be helpful to me and will be appreciated

Thank you all again for being willing to help.

Don in Redmond


On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 00:04:30 -0800, Chris Marlow
wrote:

Don,

Doing Excel work you are close to the user. It can be frustrating as 'big
systems' events can pull the carpet from under your feet & trying to
untangle
spaghetti that other 'developers' have built in the past can be a
nightmare
... however that also suggests that there is some mileage in it as (at
least
one strand to) a career.

Regards,

Chris.

Don,

..NET makes installation easier. I've only ever worked in house & I'm now
doing mainly Access/Excel work (the big stuff is out sourced/off shored,
c'est la vie).

With my previous employer I was working on the old style SQL Server/COM on
MTS/ASP on IIS/Javascript & DHTML at the client intranet application. Even
with only 2 sql boxes, 2 load balanced application servers the installs where
painful.

..NET world alleviates the 'DLL hell' aspect - the framework handles the
DLLs. You are still looking at scripting to create DBs etc & for instance my
previous employer insisted that TeamSite was used to perform the scripting
for the install.

I'm only now looking at using the .NET stuff with Office (busy looking for a
project to apply it to). I would imagine I'll need install packages of some
description. Should not be complicated though, the only issue I can see is if
I need to plug ActiveX stuff in - otherwise I won't need to touch the
registry.

Regards,

Chris.

--
Chris Marlow
MCSD.NET, Microsoft Office XP Master


"Don" wrote:


Hi Chris, and all who have taken the time to answer.

I've programmed in all VB versions since 3.0 and ASM, Basic, etc
before that. I'm not really up to speed on .Net though. But, building
installation packages is one of my least favorite things to do. That's
likely not to be a problem for those of you that are creating Excel
applications for your own use but . . .

For those that are creating apps for others, are install packages
often needed or does the normal Office install suffice? How do you
handle the installation of any dll's, Db's, or? Do you do onsite
installs yourself or do you give complete install packaes to your
clients?

Your experience will be helpful to me and will be appreciated

Thank you all again for being willing to help.

Don in Redmond


On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 00:04:30 -0800, Chris Marlow
wrote:

Don,

Doing Excel work you are close to the user. It can be frustrating as 'big
systems' events can pull the carpet from under your feet & trying to untangle
spaghetti that other 'developers' have built in the past can be a nightmare
... however that also suggests that there is some mileage in it as (at least
one strand to) a career.

Regards,

Chris.

Ahh, I actually forgot about INNO. I downloaded a copy of it a couple
years ago but I don't remember checking it out.

The last place I worked at we used Wise and I was lucky enough to have
my own dedicated install machine that I could "Ghost" a fresh new copy
of the OS every time I wanted to test a new install package. That was
a great help but installs were still torture.

That company went TU in 2000 and I haven't worked since then. (that's
why I'm thinking about Excel) That's why I haven't taken the time to
get up to speed on the .NET stuff.

Thank you,

Don

On Thu, 23 Feb 2006 07:38:54 -0000, "RB Smissaert"
wrote:

Using INNO.
Free as you probably know and works very well.

RBS

"Don" wrote in message
.. .

Hi Chris, and all who have taken the time to answer.

I've programmed in all VB versions since 3.0 and ASM, Basic, etc
before that. I'm not really up to speed on .Net though. But, building
installation packages is one of my least favorite things to do. That's
likely not to be a problem for those of you that are creating Excel
applications for your own use but . . .

For those that are creating apps for others, are install packages
often needed or does the normal Office install suffice? How do you
handle the installation of any dll's, Db's, or? Do you do onsite
installs yourself or do you give complete install packaes to your
clients?

Your experience will be helpful to me and will be appreciated

Thank you all again for being willing to help.

Don in Redmond


On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 00:04:30 -0800, Chris Marlow
wrote:

Don,

Doing Excel work you are close to the user. It can be frustrating as 'big
systems' events can pull the carpet from under your feet & trying to
untangle
spaghetti that other 'developers' have built in the past can be a
nightmare
... however that also suggests that there is some mileage in it as (at
least
one strand to) a career.

Regards,

Chris.