Re: Oracle access via EXCEL

In article <38kfgo$dbo_at_tbird1.pad.otc.com.au>, ballarin_at_nms.otc.com.au (David Ballarin) wrote:

> Can anyone help me with this problem.
>
> I use Excel a lot to generate nice reports with data from my Oracle database.
> I'm running Oracle on a Sun platform. I spool the data from Oracle into a file
> in a CSV format and then FTP the file to the PC. I find this cumbersome and
> time consuming.
> I heard about a program called DAL that runs on a Unix Oracle
> system that enables me to execute SQL commands within Excel.

You heard correctly. Pacer develops DAL servers for UNIX platforms (including Sun) which support several databases including Oracle. From within Excel you can access the Oracle database and execute queries without having to know or write SQL, and the data is returned directly to your spreadsheet.  

> Can anyone advise if this is true and if so where can I get a copy ?

I can get you additional information and/or an evaluation copy of the software. If you have additional questions on DAL, you can reach me at pmerge_at_pacersoft.com.

> Is there any other program around to do a similar thing ?

Yes there are several other middleware solutions available. Some use ODBC and some you can access directly. Most you can access both ways. These include HyperStar from VMark/Constellation, EDA/SQL from Informantion Builders, and SequeLink from Techgnosis. All of these work quite well.

-- 
Paul R. Mergener
Pacer Software
pmerge_at_pacersoft.com