Re: Iseries file to an Excel spreadsheet

Your memory is correct, Pete.  You can indeed create an area of the
spreadsheet that refreshes itself.  In fact, you can then use that area
as the basis of a VLOOKUP function which would allow you to enter a
value into a cell (say an item number) and then retrieve one or more
fields (such as description, or price) dynamically from that rectangle.

So, Willie, you have a few basic choices here.

1. Dump the data directly to a comma-delimited file.  Also know as a
CSV, Excel recognizes these files and can open them.  However, you don't
get all the cool bells and whistles of a real spreadsheet.

2. Modify or create a real .XLS file.  This takes rather more
programming and a library that understands the Excel format.  Libraries
exist for both Java and RPG (the latter is HSSFR4, one of Scott
Klement's fantastic creations).

3. Add a dynamic database connection to an existing spreadsheet.  This
would refresh every time you open the spreadsheet.

Those are the three main ones.  There's also a fourth one that isn't
used that much but is actually pretty cool:

4. Create a simple HTML table and display it in an HTTP server.  The
user can then right click on it to download it as a spreadsheet.  We do
that for a couple of our data lists; it's easier than finding a unique
spot on the network for the user to open.

Which seems closest to your needs?  How is the spreadsheet going to be
used?

Joe