Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
by machines before operators. The grouping scheme could be reversed if presorting data based on
the operator took preference for a particular application. Such would be the case if a certain
individual was suspected of sloppy work, perhaps running the process much less carefully than
their peers.
10.7
SUMMARY OF THE FINAL APPLICATION
The final sample application can be run by selecting from the menu
A
DA->Chapter 1
0
->Sample
A
DA Application. Doing so will bring up the GUI shown in Figure 10.3. When the “Begin Analysis”
button is pressed, the user will be prompted for a file. The user may test the macro by selecting
the sample data file on the CD-ROM
under the directory Chapter10\Samples\ADA_Data.txt. Doing
so will generate the report shown in all figures in this chapter.
This sample is not the end but the beginning for the reader. Throughout the text the reader has
been prepared toward the final eventuality of having the ability to construct applications specific
to a current need. The first three chapters of the text were dedicated toward teaching the reader
two basic principles: (1) how to get data into the Excel environment and (2) how to manipulate
data around within the Excel environment. The next two chapters illustrated how to apply functions
on the data that exist within the Excel environment and how to identify that information that is of
interest to the user within the Excel environment. The reader is then shown how to take the
information that has been identified, extracted, and calculated on, and create a standardized report
within Excel to place this information. Notice that the first six chapters in the text have one common
theme — they all focus on conducting operations
within the Excel environment
.
However, the Excel environment is not the end-all and be-all of the entire universe. The next
three chapters were dedicated toward allowing developers to accomplish two tasks: (1) to extract
information from any type of source (notably databases) and (2) to harness the computational
engines of other tools to supplement Excel's functionality where it is deficient. Chapters 7 and 8
gave the reader the tools to access data contained in any Microsoft Access compatible format as
well as discussing how to go about connecting to any ODBC-compliant data sources such as Oracle.
Chapter 9 explored using DDE, OLE, and COM to allow Excel to control other applications, pass
data to those applications, utilize their computational engines, and return any calculated results to
Excel. Excel is often utilized as a “carrier vehicle” for data, meaning data is delivered to individuals
by means of an Excel spreadsheet, but often, the computational work is done elsewhere, in a
program such as SAS, Mathematica, Matlab, MathCad, Origin, and others. It is regrettable that
Microsoft has not exploited the fact that Excel is so widely utilized in industry as a carrier vehicle.
If the company added more functionality to the product, it is very likely that users would not seek
out these third-party computational products but simply perform their calculations within the carrier
vehicle (Excel itself). Using the examples and the information contained within the text, the user
can construct Automated Data Analysis applications to perform a variety of tasks. The included
sample could be readily modified to accomplish such tasks as extracting information from databases
as well as files, doing custom calculations utilizing third-party programs, autoloading data files,
and autosaving data files using a specific file structures to any storage medium.
