data Transfer Component for EXCEL ( excel Add-in )

We understand the concern about the change in user interface. However, from a business perspective, it no longer makes sense for IBM to continue to maintain the code base that has Microsoft dependencies. For downloads, you should consider using the ODBC solution previously described. When downloading to an active Excel spreadsheet, the ODBC solution provides a better user experience than either the Excel plugin or ACS. The ODBC connection and query get saved with the spreadsheet itself. So all the user needs to do is open the spreadsheet and select Refresh under the Data tab. Here is a link to the video previously posted that will guide you through setting it up:

Both options are sufficient but having to recreate hundreds of spread sheets is very inefficient and makes this platform appear complicated to work with. Also, I don't think either option is user friendly enough for an average user.

The CAAC has reviewed this requirement and recommends that IBM view this as a high priority requirement that is important to be addressed.

Background: The COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC) members have a broad range of experience in working with small and medium-sized IBM i customers. CAAC has a key role in working with IBM i development to help assess the value and impact of individual RFEs on the broader IBM i community, and has therefore reviewed your RFE.

For more information about CAAC, see www.common.org/caac

For more details about CAAC's role with RFEs, see http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/Blogs/i-Can/May-2017/COMMON-Americas-Advisory-Council-%28CAAC%29-and-RFEs/

Dawn May - CAAC Program Manager

In reference to this RFE's original request, as previously explained, there are two options for interacting with an active Excel spreadsheet:
1. The ACS data transfer feature provides both download and upload support from an active Excel spreadsheet.
2. The ODBC driver from the optional ACS Windows Application Package can be used to download data to an active Excel spreadsheet (just like the ODBC driver in the Access for Windows product).

Anyone that wants to download data with the same functionality as the Access for Windows add-in and finds the new Access Client Solutions support for downloading to an active spreadsheet insufficient, should consider using an ODBC connection as previously described.

If neither of these are sufficient, please be specific as to why.

Have done some testing and the ODBC connection satisfy all our needs, in fact, seems like all our Excel template were using the ODBC connections in the first place and no the Excel plugin, as I thought.

Great. Thanks for the explanation. It sounds like we are using the ODBC connection to download data from the IBMi to Excel. I will do some testing and see if our Excel template actually are using the ODBC connection instead of the Excel add-in, otherwise we have to migrate them.

The previous update on 2017-06-16 sounds a lot like using an ODBC connection to download data from IBM i to Excel. The ODBC driver will still be available in the optional "IBM i Access Client Solutions - Windows Application Package" and is a fine alternative for downloading data from IBM i to an active Excel (.xlsx) spreadsheet. For those not familiar with how to set that up, here is a video which shows how easy it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjvq5h3OTUM

Using an ODBC connection has several advantages:
1. The customized download is saved with the spreadsheet itself and does not require a separately saved .dtf (Access for Windows) or .dtfx (Access Client Solutions) file.
2. A single spreadsheet can have multiple different connections saved to one or more systems.
3. All data can be updated with a single "Refresh All" or a single cell can be updated.
4. The down loaded data can be sorted on a per column after download.
5. It also supports multiple sheets (as does Access Client Solutions).

Anyone that wants to download data with the same functionality as the Access for Windows add-in and finds the new Access Client Solutions support for downloading to an active spreadsheet insufficient, should consider using an ODBC connection as described in the above video. Is there any reason this capability does not satisfy the requirement?

I think i understand the submitter of this RFE, as we facing the same challenge. The Excel Add-in has been one of the most appreciated function of the Client Access family for the end users. The asbence of the Excel Add-in in the ASC have made us to postponed the CA for windows to ASC migration and also the Windows 7 to Windows 10 migration.
Yes, the functionallity to download to the "Active Excel Spreadsheet" is there, but it is not that user friendly for the end users.

I discussed this matter with Tim Rowe at the common europe 2016 convention and if I understood Tim right, one of the reasons was that Microsoft would not allow Excel Add-ins in future releases.
I think I failed to explain to Tim how the excel add-in is used, at least at every company I have worked for. We have 100+ or maybe even 1000+ Excel templates that make use of the Excel Add-in.
The end user open an Excel template and the template already have the right layout and the end user just have to choose "Refresh all" and the right data gets downloaded from the right IBMi. The end user then just saves the Excel with a proper name, usually by just adding dates to the end of the name.

What is the best way to handle this? The closest thing we have made to mimic this is to use .dtfx files and output to the "Active Excel Spreadsheet", but this requires that the end user have right Excel spreadsheet as the currently active spreadsheet and sometimes they have 10-15 Excel Spreadsheet open at the same time.
We tested this for a selected group of end users and realize this confuse them and sometimes they downloads the data to the wrong spreadsheet and mess that one up.

- All the Excel templates needs to be converted to .dtfx files (time consuming)
- After you run an .dtfx file it ask if you want to save it, there is no option to disable the question (or it could be me not finding it))
- We have Excel templates that uses multiple named sheets. How do you handle this?

Is there a better way to accomplish this? The goal is that the end users should not have to change the way they work.

Could an option be added to the .dtfx files so you could specify an Excel (or Calc) spreadsheet template to be opened before the download to the "Active Excel Spreadsheet" starts?

The Data Transfer support for IBM i Access Client Solutions provides the capability to attach to an active spreadsheet to perform both download and upload operations. Rather than launching the GUI for this support from the active spreadsheet (like IBM i Access for Windows), it is now launched from the product's main GUI. From the Data Transfer panel, you can attach to an open spreadsheet by selecting the "Active Excel Spreadsheet" option from the drop down box for "Output device" or "Input device". Once attached to the spreadsheet, the functionally is the same as IBM i Access for Windows. If there is missing functionality with this support, please clarify.