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I vaguely understand (on a theoretical level) why the syntax for pivoting in databases is necessarily convoluted, but it does underscore to me how spreadsheets

by danso 8y ago

I vaguely understand (on a theoretical level) why the syntax for pivoting in databases is necessarily convoluted, but it does underscore to me how spreadsheets have a great advantage for everyday data-exploring, at least when it comes to ease of pivoting. (by "everyday", I mean working with datasets small enough to fit within a spreadsheet's limits, and aren't yet important enough to need the reliability/regularity that comes with importing it to a database)

nerdponx 8y ago
The ability to use Excel as a "front-end" for other data sources is underrated. For all its warts, Excel is a great data manipulation and exploration tool.
- BariumBlue 8y ago
  Due to system limitations, I made a stats tracker for my team in AccessDB. Due to the awfulness of access, I made an excel&vba front-end that would push data to and pull data from access. It's been working surprisingly well so far, with no reported issues
  - bhandziuk 8y ago
    I'm curious what you found to be the brickwall for you when using Access?
    - BariumBlue 8y ago
      The existing "solution" was a gigantic excel where people would put it times and names. In Access, when you enter times, you have to use a specific format, (the datetime group specified by the Windows default) rather than just "23:40" or w/e. I've seen a hack where the hour and minutes are separate boxes, but it wasn't pretty. Just this issue was enough to make Access unappealing. Access's interface is a bit unintuitive, and given that most people I worked with weren't particularly technically capable, I preferred to present them with the familiar Excel interface (and a few extra buttons), rather than teach them an application they've never used before. Plus, the existing workflow already used Excel, so I hijacked their workflow and their routine wouldn't be modified much at all (introducing a completely new system would cause a lot of friction and pushback, but one or two extra buttons was fine).
      - bhandziuk 8y ago
        Huh. Next time you can set the date format to "mm/dd/yyyy hh:nn" and you can enter 24 hour times with a date. But I understand wanting to not disrupt an existing workflow too much.

by danso 8y ago

nerdponx 8y ago

The ability to use Excel as a "front-end" for other data sources is underrated. For all its warts, Excel is a great data manipulation and exploration tool.

BariumBlue 8y ago
Due to system limitations, I made a stats tracker for my team in AccessDB. Due to the awfulness of access, I made an excel&vba front-end that would push data to and pull data from access. It's been working surprisingly well so far, with no reported issues
- bhandziuk 8y ago
  I'm curious what you found to be the brickwall for you when using Access?
  - BariumBlue 8y ago
    The existing "solution" was a gigantic excel where people would put it times and names. In Access, when you enter times, you have to use a specific format, (the datetime group specified by the Windows default) rather than just "23:40" or w/e. I've seen a hack where the hour and minutes are separate boxes, but it wasn't pretty. Just this issue was enough to make Access unappealing. Access's interface is a bit unintuitive, and given that most people I worked with weren't particularly technically capable, I preferred to present them with the familiar Excel interface (and a few extra buttons), rather than teach them an application they've never used before. Plus, the existing workflow already used Excel, so I hijacked their workflow and their routine wouldn't be modified much at all (introducing a completely new system would cause a lot of friction and pushback, but one or two extra buttons was fine).
    - bhandziuk 8y ago
      Huh. Next time you can set the date format to "mm/dd/yyyy hh:nn" and you can enter 24 hour times with a date. But I understand wanting to not disrupt an existing workflow too much.