To write an Excel macro

In Excel, to write and run a macro containing ODBC calls you execute the following steps. Specific versions of Excel may vary slightly.

1. Load the XLODBC.XLA add-in into Excel.

Make the add-in XLODBC.XLA available to the Excel spreadsheet. To do this, select "Add-Ins..." from the Tool menu, then check the box for "ODBC Add-In." Use the browse function, if necessary, to locate the add-in. If you cannot find it, reinstall Excel, being sure to select ODBC functionality.

2. Type the source code for your macro.

To do this, select "Macro...Module" from the Insert menu, and type your Excel/Visual Basic code. Be sure to enter the macro name in the sub statement. For example:

Sub Macro_Name()
End Sub

Save the macro using the File menu "Save As" command. See the next step for suggested macro names.

3. Execute the Macro.

There are several ways to invoke macros from Excel. The most common is to select "Start" from the Run menu, or push <F5>. But easier still for the end user is to invoke the macros automatically using some standard macro names that are activated by Excel under certain circumstances.

Here is a list of these macros:

AutoExec 	Runs when Excel is activated
AutoNew 	Runs when a new spreadsheet is created
AutoOpen 	Runs when a spreadsheet is opened
AutoClose 	Runs when a spreadsheet is closed
AutoExit 	Runs when Excel is closed

A sample macro written in Excel/Visual Basic is included on your AcuODBC installation disks. It is designed to retrieve a table from Vision and insert it in a new Excel spreadsheet.

This macro assumes that you created a DSN named "Customer" when running the sample program in Chapter 4. If you did not run the sample, create this DSN now, as described in Section 4.4 The Sample Data Source Name.

To run the macro, do the following:

1. Start Excel.

2. Select "Open" from the File menu and open the file labeled "xldemo.xls". It is located in the \acuodbc\macros directory of your hard drive.

3. Follow the directions on the screen.