Hi. I learned of this forum after attending a Skillpath Seminar on advanced Excel techniques. My company sent me to the seminar hoping I would learn to figure out a solution to the following problem (which unfortunately, I did *NOT* learn in the class). I did, learn, however, that I might need to use a different tool.
Here's my problem. My department creates ICC color profiles for dozens of different printers. The number of printers we work on is about 30 per year. We need a way to track the various ICC color profile settings (about 40) that are used on each printer model, then export those settings into an XML file (one for each printer) that are submitted to another group to be bundled with a software application for end-customers. Currently, the number of XML files generated is about 150.
So far, we have simply created a flat-file database in Excel (a single worksheet) to track the various settings for each printer. We then use a VBA script to process each record and create an XML file for it.
However, this solution is very cumbersome. The biggest problems with this are that:
A. The number of fields and width of the fields makes it impossible to see all fields at once.
B. There's no "single record" view.
C. Some of the fields are just numbers, but it's hard to remember what they represent. (We have created printed "cheat sheets" to use as reference guides, but there MUST be a better, more automatic way.)
D. Some of the fields must contain data that depends on the data in another field. (i.e. if field "A" is 0, then field "B" must be either 1 or 2. If field "A" is 1, then field "B" must be either 3 or 4.)
We also would like a way to "populate" the database by reading back in the XML files it generates, and maybe even store an actual ICC profile along with each printer's record.
We don't need to perform any kind of statistical analysis, averaging, summing, etc on the records. If any formulas are used, they are logical functions.
I've been told that Access is overkill for what we need to accomplish, but Excel doesn't seem to be the right tool for this task. There are some other details about what we need to develop, but I can explain those later.
Any advice you experts could offer about my dilemma would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Here's my problem. My department creates ICC color profiles for dozens of different printers. The number of printers we work on is about 30 per year. We need a way to track the various ICC color profile settings (about 40) that are used on each printer model, then export those settings into an XML file (one for each printer) that are submitted to another group to be bundled with a software application for end-customers. Currently, the number of XML files generated is about 150.
So far, we have simply created a flat-file database in Excel (a single worksheet) to track the various settings for each printer. We then use a VBA script to process each record and create an XML file for it.
However, this solution is very cumbersome. The biggest problems with this are that:
A. The number of fields and width of the fields makes it impossible to see all fields at once.
B. There's no "single record" view.
C. Some of the fields are just numbers, but it's hard to remember what they represent. (We have created printed "cheat sheets" to use as reference guides, but there MUST be a better, more automatic way.)
D. Some of the fields must contain data that depends on the data in another field. (i.e. if field "A" is 0, then field "B" must be either 1 or 2. If field "A" is 1, then field "B" must be either 3 or 4.)
We also would like a way to "populate" the database by reading back in the XML files it generates, and maybe even store an actual ICC profile along with each printer's record.
We don't need to perform any kind of statistical analysis, averaging, summing, etc on the records. If any formulas are used, they are logical functions.
I've been told that Access is overkill for what we need to accomplish, but Excel doesn't seem to be the right tool for this task. There are some other details about what we need to develop, but I can explain those later.
Any advice you experts could offer about my dilemma would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
