RE: Getting AS/400 Data to Link Real-Time to Excel

Hi Don

I have no idea whether this is a viable approach or not, but I see in Excel
2007 that the Connection Options section on the Data tab includes a number
of Refresh options. I sometimes use Excel to link to SQL Server for analysis
purposes and use the option to refresh every time I open the spreadsheet,
but there is also a timed refresh available on the connection properties.

I'm assuming that the table data you want is used as some kind of lookup or
background information, if so, the option above may work, but you'd probably
need to set up either an ODBC or OLE DB link.

I'm intrigued as to what was developed in Excel - it's been my experience
that this kind of application scenario almost always leads to a lot of
frustration and aggravation, so once you solve the data challenge there may
be other issues come up; unexplained errors that turn out to be people
tweaking their spreadsheets, or having different date formats, or..... If
the data has to change dynamically like that Excel seems almost intuitively
the wrong tool to use, but no doubt the person who solved it is well versed
in Excel and had no other tooling to call on.

If it was me I'd "adopt" the application as a prototype and be looking to
replace it with something you can maintain and control in a more disciplined
fashion.

Regards
Evan Harris


-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Don Cavaiani
Sent: Thursday, 18 September 2008 5:23 a.m.
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Getting AS/400 Data to Link Real-Time to Excel


Anyone doing this now? Where an updated record on the i5, will be updated
in the spreadsheet, AND deleted i5 records will be deleted from excel, AND
added i5 records will be added to excel?

Don F. Cavaiani
IT Manager
Amerequip Corp.
920-894-7063

"It's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the
credit." Harry S. Truman