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I’m wondering how he got that deal past IT. Perhaps he claimed that he was licensing the code to them so that they couldn’t see it? I’m not familiar with how

I’m wondering how he got that deal past IT. Perhaps he claimed that he was licensing the code to them so that they couldn’t see it? I’m not familiar with how to deploy Excel macros, could this code be checked into a source repo and then somehow automatically deployed? If not I can see how he can sneak this by IT by saving it was hard to deploy and that’s why I’m giving you a binary and tell all your users to hit this URL to install.

froindt 7y ago
.xlsx ("normal files") and .xlsm (macro-enabled files) are a series of xml files and folders stored as a zip file with their own extension. .xlsb files are binary files, typically about 1/6 the size, and also have support of macros. Unfortunately, regardless of save format, the VBA portion is saved in a binary format. There are some source control systems out there for the embedded VBA code, but I haven't tried any out.
- Ididntdothis 7y ago
  Having a good way for version controlling spreadsheets would go a long way. All the solutions I have seen for this are very clunky.
  - froindt 7y ago
    I agree. Just this morning I messed up and saved over a spreadsheet I didn't mean to...no way to get that 30 minutes of work back. Probably 90% of my day is jumping between spreadsheets and queries building tools and updating reports. Spreadsheets are a "universal language" that most people understand, and allow the technically inclined business user to investigate problems without having to submit a help desk ticket and wait 4-48 hours for an answer.
  - ma2rten 7y ago
    Google Sheets has a version history.