6 ms·

I wish there was a better way to make spreadsheets use a database as a backend. Most of what people do with a spreadsheet would be better done in a database -

I wish there was a better way to make spreadsheets use a database as a backend. Most of what people do with a spreadsheet would be better done in a database - but a database needs a lot more training to use (if you don't have the training you will make something worse than spreadsheet with your database!)

Cthulhu_ 1y ago
Wasn't Microsoft Access basically that? There's also Google's AppSheet, which may be that too.
- yomismoaqui 1y ago
  Microsoft Access requires more training (tables, foreign keys...) and from experience most of the people using Excel managed to bend it to do what they wanted. The maintainability of the resulting systems was not great, but they did the job and worse is better I guess..
  - IAmBroom 1y ago
    Add in to that: programming VBA for Excel spreadsheets is extremely trivial; programming in VBA for Access is second worst only to programming in Visio, MS Office's awful drawing program.
- sroerick 1y ago
  You know, I used Retool a lot, and it made me think that I'd actually really like a modern Microsoft Access. Kind of an open source Google Forms/ Access where you could deploy front ends very quickly and have it hit a DB
  - breadwinner 1y ago
    Here's a modern Microsoft Access: https://visualdb.com/ https://visualdb.com/ Or try Airtable.
- jasode 1y ago
  >Wasn't Microsoft Access basically that? No because the datagrid in MS Access is too rigid and doesn't have the extensive slice-&-dice features of MS Excel. My first consulting gig was creating customized MS Access applications. Despite that experience, I use MS Excel today because I know that MS Access is too limiting.
  - jfengel 1y ago
    It sounds as if Excel has grown to incorporate most database features. Does it have atomic transactions yet? That's the main thing keeping me using small databases like Access even when a mere spreadsheet would do otherwise.
  - breadwinner 1y ago
    Have you tried Airtable? It works like a spreadsheet but is a database underneath.
  - fsckboy 1y ago
    >>Wasn't Microsoft Access basically that? >No because the datagrid in MS Access is too rigid and doesn't have the extensive slice-&-dice features of MS Excel. i'm not saying it worked or worked well, but i'm pretty sure the point of Access in the office suite was so that you could access Access (get the clever marketing?) data from within Excel and then do all the excel things you were used to. anyone know if that worked or didn't? DDE and all those other projects were always pursuing this as a dream
    - zevon 1y ago
      I think it worked technically and I‘ve seen a few Access-based solutions to problems faced by people/groups without any real access to development resources. However, these solutions pretty much always came from people with rather technical mindsets and I think many of them involved tinkering in the evening and on weekends. So, my assumption would be that the demise of Access was more about UI/UX, complexity, familiarity and the like than it was about functionality.
    - mjrpes 1y ago
breadwinner 1y ago
> I wish there was a better way to make spreadsheets use a database as a backend. Here you go: https://visualdb.com/ https://visualdb.com/
password4321 1y ago
Years ago I used Excel (VBA) as a CRUD interface on a database with minimal validation, it didn't take too long. Pretty sure something fairly similar is built-in these days.

Cthulhu_ 1y ago

Wasn't Microsoft Access basically that? There's also Google's AppSheet, which may be that too.

yomismoaqui 1y ago
Microsoft Access requires more training (tables, foreign keys...) and from experience most of the people using Excel managed to bend it to do what they wanted. The maintainability of the resulting systems was not great, but they did the job and worse is better I guess..
- IAmBroom 1y ago
  Add in to that: programming VBA for Excel spreadsheets is extremely trivial; programming in VBA for Access is second worst only to programming in Visio, MS Office's awful drawing program.
sroerick 1y ago
You know, I used Retool a lot, and it made me think that I'd actually really like a modern Microsoft Access. Kind of an open source Google Forms/ Access where you could deploy front ends very quickly and have it hit a DB
- breadwinner 1y ago
  Here's a modern Microsoft Access: https://visualdb.com/ https://visualdb.com/ Or try Airtable.
jasode 1y ago
>Wasn't Microsoft Access basically that? No because the datagrid in MS Access is too rigid and doesn't have the extensive slice-&-dice features of MS Excel. My first consulting gig was creating customized MS Access applications. Despite that experience, I use MS Excel today because I know that MS Access is too limiting.
- jfengel 1y ago
  It sounds as if Excel has grown to incorporate most database features. Does it have atomic transactions yet? That's the main thing keeping me using small databases like Access even when a mere spreadsheet would do otherwise.
- breadwinner 1y ago
  Have you tried Airtable? It works like a spreadsheet but is a database underneath.
- fsckboy 1y ago
  >>Wasn't Microsoft Access basically that? >No because the datagrid in MS Access is too rigid and doesn't have the extensive slice-&-dice features of MS Excel. i'm not saying it worked or worked well, but i'm pretty sure the point of Access in the office suite was so that you could access Access (get the clever marketing?) data from within Excel and then do all the excel things you were used to. anyone know if that worked or didn't? DDE and all those other projects were always pursuing this as a dream
  - zevon 1y ago
    I think it worked technically and I‘ve seen a few Access-based solutions to problems faced by people/groups without any real access to development resources. However, these solutions pretty much always came from people with rather technical mindsets and I think many of them involved tinkering in the evening and on weekends. So, my assumption would be that the demise of Access was more about UI/UX, complexity, familiarity and the like than it was about functionality.
  - mjrpes 1y ago

breadwinner 1y ago

> I wish there was a better way to make spreadsheets use a database as a backend. Here you go: https://visualdb.com/ https://visualdb.com/

password4321 1y ago

Years ago I used Excel (VBA) as a CRUD interface on a database with minimal validation, it didn't take too long. Pretty sure something fairly similar is built-in these days.