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I'm sorry, I just think this has bad idea written all over it. I don't mean the comment about SEQUEL. I'm sure SEQUEL is a great product. I mean that to push a spooled file to Excel is a completely idiotic thing to do. First of all, you are assuming that the report is always accurate so that when it gets to Excel you will never have to question the data. But what if the report is not accurate? When it gets to Excel the best you can do is rearrange the data from the report, but you cannot go back and get the RIGHT data. Kind of like spraying gold paint over a clod of dirt. (I actually had a more earthy simile there, but I'll let you figure it out yourself.) Second, you are empowering your users to perform what should be a programmer's function and you are giving them authority to disseminate potentially erroneous information. And at the same time, by default, you have implicitly given them the ability to make the claim, "Well, don't fault me for the incorrect data. I just used the report that IS gave me." When in fact, once the data is in Excel, they can do anything they want with it and make it say anything they want (or anything they didn't want but got anyway). And third, go back and read items one and two again and again until you fully understand the danger of this practice. My 2 cents. -----Original Message----- From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of pnelson@xxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 10:37 AM To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion Subject: RE: Easiest and most functional wayto convert selectedspoolfilesintoExcel SEQUEL will let you build scripts, even to the point of converting CL source into scripts. The scripts can also call RPG programs, so you've got reusable code. Spit your massaged data into a work file instead of a printer file, and then present the data to the user in whatever format they desire. I use scripts all the time for complicated stuff. It's been a while since I've needed to write any RPG code for a client who has SEQUEL.
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