Excel on intranet, updateable

[GlennUK]

Hi all,

I've just received a message from a user who wants to put an Excel sheet on their intranet, that can be updateable by anyone in the company ( it's a booking calendar apparently ). The user wants to use an Excel sheet 'cos it's pretty, and easy to change.

Unfortunately, I have no experience of Excel as a web data input tool. I've done a search of the fora ( forums ), and couldn't find anything relevant.

So, how do they do this?


Cheers, Glenn.

"A girl walks into a bar and asks the barman for a double entendre ... so he gives her one.

 

[gizmo1973]

Do you not have a shared server you can put it on instead of intanet?
Much easier as I have done this for over 1000 users as a holiday booking system.

Regards, Phil

"If in doubt, hit it with an end user!

 

[y2k1981]

The short answer is you can't (to the best of my knowledge). When you open something from a http server, it downloads to your local pc, so if you make changes to it, they won't be reflected on the copy on the server becasue it's a different copy. The only way you could do this is for users to download the file, make their changes and then re-upload it it - but obviously this opens up a whole new can of worms!!

I think what you really need is a proper system like that uses a databse my SQL Server of MySQL and pages written in ASP or PHP or something.

Sorry this isn't the answer you were looking for

 

[GlennUK]

They have a shared server, have done stuff for them before, but this time they want it on their intranet.



Cheers, Glenn.

"A girl walks into a bar and asks the barman for a double entendre ... so he gives her one.

 

[gizmo1973]

Sorry then, at a loss.
Not sure if I agree with y2k1981 on this as I have seen excel on Intranet before with updateable info, just don't know how.
Maybe it was link that opened an xls?
Sure someone on here will have the answer.

Regards, Phil

"If in doubt, hit it with an end user!

 

[y2k1981]

you could be right gizmo - althought I don't know how it would work. Maybe if you post in one of the web design forums you'll have more luck, seing that it's more a question to do with your http server rather than excel itself.

 

[y2k1981]

I just tried this now on our intranet and when I tried to save the doc, it prompted me for a save as instead - so I really don't think it's possible for the reasons I said in my original post. At least not without some customization of apache or IIS (which ever one you're using). Even if you could, you'd have problems with data corruption because of multiple users updating it at the same time. That's why a db would be much better for something like this.

 

[gizmo1973]

Gotta say I agree, even if you were posting xls to the Intranet you would have to do some sort of file sharing to get round the multi update.
A shared server and workbook is a lot more stable for this kind of thing and you obvioulsy have no technical issues with doing it as you ay in your previous post.
It's be just a case of convincing your end user (which can be a nightmare I know)
However, have been having some complete disaters with my shared books recently and am considering switching to Access

Regards, Phil

"If in doubt, hit it with an end user!

 

[GlennUK]

Thanks gizmo1973 and y2k1981 for your comments.

Will let you know if the user modifies their request.


Cheers, Glenn.

"A girl walks into a bar and asks the barman for a double entendre ... so he gives her one.

 

[xlbo]

Depends on the intranet application used. We are using M$ Sharepoint and it prompts the user automatically if they want to keep or discard changes when they are made to an online excel workbook....

Rgds, Geoff

Never test the depth of water with both feet

Help us to help you by reading FAQ222-2244 before you ask a question

 

[gizmo1973]

Thats what I've seen before, it all comes back to me know.
Still don't know how to do it though!

Regards, Phil

"If in doubt, hit it with an end user!

 

[GlennUK]

Thanks Geoff ( xlbo ), that's useful, and in fact have just been told that they are looking at Sharepoint.



Cheers, Glenn.

"A girl walks into a bar and asks the barman for a double entendre ... so he gives her one.

 

[xlbo]

It ain't great but it ain't too bad either.
Standard process is that users upload and then publish documents to the intranet - they are actually saved on a seperate intranet server. Hence, when someone opens a file via the intranet, it is actually the one saved to the server.
I would imagine there would be permissions issues if someone who did not have permissions to upload files in a specific area tried to change a file though - you may end up giving access to upload documents to all users - just so that they can amend on-line...

Rgds, Geoff

Never test the depth of water with both feet

Help us to help you by reading FAQ222-2244 before you ask a question