RE: Easiest and most functional wayto convert selectedspoolfilesintoExcel

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.