How do I Create Excel Software Systems?
Excel provides powerful spreadsheet functionality for financial applications and to store small databases. It is a very versatile application and it can be used to present data in numerous ways with the addition of charts, graphs and images to support the information.
Occasionally it becomes necessary to link data in Excel to other applications or related applications such as Microsoft Access. In addition to providing formulas for the standard spreadsheet functions, Excel includes Visual Basic (VBA) as a macro and programming language. This is supplemented with the ability to generate graphical user interfaces for users to interact with the application.
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Instructions
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Technical Skills Required
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Learn basic Excel functions. There are two ways to write software using Excel. One is to use the inbuilt functions and the other way is to use Visual Basic macro programming, provided with Excel. To create any kind of application in Excel, a basic understanding of the inbuilt functions is required.
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Adopt advanced programming techniques with VBA macros. To create advanced Excel software, it is necessary to understand macro programming. This is the language used in spreadsheets to provide programming capability not available via inbuilt functions alone.
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Link and embed data to other types of applications. Excel provides the ability to link data from a spreadsheet directly to other software, such as a Microsoft Access database. This will provide the capability to build sophisticated applications, using Excel, Access and other applications.
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Tips & Warnings
This tutorial does not cover the technicalities of Excel functions, VBA programming or data embedding and linking. It merely serves to indicate the skills needed and what can be achieved in terms of building Excel applications. The tutorial is intended to prompt further investigation and reading into the subject.
However, basic applications can be built using inbuilt functions alone, and linking and embedding can be used to add more sophistication to the system.
Resources
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