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Excel Interface

The Excel addin Fieldpine GlobalData allows you to insert formulas into an Excel spreadsheet and retrieve information directly from your retail system. With this you can create highly specific custom reports that dynamically recalculate each time you open them.

The Excel addin version #2 is now available for early adopters. This is not complete and has not been fully tested, but you are welcome to use it. The main restriction is you cannot call support with problems with this addin; you may email issues however

Chip() Function

Returns a single value from a selected chip

Syntax =Chip(Chip-Name, Display-Field, Result-Index, Optional Parameters)

Chip-Name

Selects which "chip" (bit that actually understands what you are asking for) to select, such as products, customers, sales, weather.

Display-Field

Specifies the value you want to see displayed. The possible keywords that can be used here depends on the chip selected

Result-Index

If the selection processing from this chip results in multiple possible values, this parameter can be used to select which result you want. All the values are selected and placed in a sorted array. If you want the top most value, pass "1" in this parameter, 2 for the second item, and so on.

If you do not specify a result index, or specify zero as the result index, then the first/only item is displayed, unless there are more than one result values present, in which case an error is returned to Excel. Essentially a value of zero says I'm only expecting one value so return an error if there are multiple results present.

Optional Parameters

A series of selection criteria. See @@. These parameters may be simple values, references to other cells, or even an array values.

Examples

=Chip("products", "description", 0, "pid", 17)

ChipArray() Function

Returns array of values from a selected chip. The output of this function MUST point to an array of cells to store results.

Syntax =Chip(Chip-Name, Display-Field, Optional Parameters)


ChipCache() Function

This function works the same as Chip() routine, except this function is internally marked to let Excel know it can save the output result when needed again, rather than recalculating. This can increase calculation performance, but also may mean that Excel does not reflect changes instantly. You may need to periodically press ctrl-alt-F9 to force a complete recalculation of all formules.