DDE, Documentation and Office Assistant

DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange)

DDE is part of the windows environment that allows two programs to exchange data between each other. This can either be text or graphics. The two programs are in effect “communicating”. The two programs can share information and in effect be linked so that when the information changes in one program it will be updated in the other. An exchange is initiated and a connection is made, the transfer of information is accomplished, and whether through a manual or scheduled time, the link is terminated.

We often have a lower level of data exchange within the Microsoft Office environment as we link a spreadsheet in a word document and other such examples in the Office suite. A higher level of this though would be an external program, such as one written in C, that would open and transmit data to an excel spreadsheet. This is more likely when a specific task is better accomplished in one program than another, and the resulting data is then provided to the secondary program.

Other examples could be bank statements that are downloaded for importing into Quickbooks or stock quotes being downloaded for use in Excel.

Office Assistant

This is one of those office components that I like and don’t like. I don’t usually have it turned on since it can be constantly annoying and always popping up. I do like it though for quick answers to simpler questions in the office suite. I find that if I am unsure of where to find a command or the exact terminology used in the office suite, using the office assistant can find or direct to the area where I will find my answer. I find it good for simple questions and how-to’s.

When I have a more complex question about something, like the formatting of an expression or how to create a more advanced query, I find it much better to go through the Microsoft Office Help and/or the on-line help.

Documenting a Database

Sometimes large database systems are being worked on by several persons. If so, the document report shows a lot of the settings and defaults and other conventions that are being used as standards in the development process of the database.

While it is very long and detailed, it does break the database down into its various components and provides the details about each of these. Graphical representations of the relationships and other connections were helpful to look at as well.

I was also able to trace my variables and queries and reports and see where the data was coming from and how it was being formatted.
Sometimes I may also have trouble with one set of data and when I finally get it all working and formatted just the way that I want it, I can’t remember all of the various settings that I may have used to be able to use the same settings on another table of data. By looking at the document report, all of the settings are listed and the report could be followed to similarly format the other tables of data. There is the format painter in word and excel, but this will have to do in Access.