Hi Weiers,
ADVICE
As you have discovered, creating a complex spreadsheet application can
be complex and error prone. Most people don't realize that they are
developing software when they are using formulas in a spreadsheet, but
they are. One of the most important decisions in any software
development project is choosing the right tools for the job. The wrong
tools can make a good outcome unlikely.
The first step in developing a new project is requirements. If your
project is easy then the requirements will be easy to write down. So
write them down. You might be surprised at how much this will help you
clarify what you are trying to do. Once you have written down the
requirements, ask yourself this question about each one; "If the system
didn't have this feature would the project still be worth doing?" If the
answer is yes then leave that feature for later. Implement only the
absolute bare essential features first and get something that works sooner.
MY OPINION
Unless you can reduce the problem to a single sheet, I don't think it's
the right tool for the job. I have done a few multi-sheet spreadsheets
that interact and they were hard to get working and harder to keep working.
Now some specific questions about what you are doing
QUESTIONS
1. Why do you need three sheets? Why not just add columns to the first
sheet? If you limit yourself to one sheet then you won't have to worry
about having to update the same values in multiple sheets. (This is
where some development experience can help. You're running into issues
that have been around for a long time and have been solved in many
different ways. Each solution has advantages and disadvantages.)
2. Have you considered a simple manual system? It's quite amazing what
you can do with a graphite text editor; paper, pencil and eraser.
Computers don't always make things easier.
I have created literally dozens of systems just like this using Lotus
Notes. Mostly this is because I have used Notes on a daily basis for the
last eight years, developed large and complex systems with it and I know
that it is ideal for small projects like this as well. The closes open
source systems to Notes is Zope or Plone (which is built on Plone). I
haven't used either one so I can't swear to it, but what I've read makes
them look like good candidates. The setup and learning curve would be
steep, however.
I hope this is helpful. Most of it is just my opinion after about 25
years of software development. YMMV
Peace, Love, Laughter,
Rob:-]
Weiers Coetser wrote:
Hi
Please send me in the right direction if my question is off topic. I
am new to spread-sheets in general and need some advice:
I am in the process of setting up a rather sizeable spreadsheet (that
should probably become a fully fledged database) to manage the
information I have for students who live in my dormitory. (I am the
dormitory dean).
The First Sheet contains all the names of the students, contact
details, parents information, medical insurance information, postal
addresses etc. It has over 40 columns.
The second Sheet contains the names of these students and their room
placements.
The third sheet contains the anmes of the students and some
citizenship records.
At the moment I am just copying the Names and Surnames from Sheet one
and Pasting them into sheet 2 and 3.
The problem is that if a new student comes I have to update all three
sheets by hand. If one name is spelled incorrectly, I have to
physically go and spell all three differently.
Is there a way that I can link the three sheets so that when I add a
new student or when I update information for a student, all the
relevant columns in the other sheets are updated?
I thank you for giving me some advice. (Probably I should learn how to
work MySQL and programme PHP to create queries... but I am not a
developer and it will take months to learn to do that.)
Thanks
Weiers
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