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APL Borealis presents...

Excel and APL - "Under the Hood"

November 1st, 2002, 9am to 5pm
CTC Computer Training Centre
4 King Street West, Suite 1520, Toronto

Instructors:
1. Richard Procter - APL Borealis Inc. - APL software development and training specialist
2. Chris Greaves - Chris Greaves Inc. - Excel/VB/Windows software development and training specialist

APL products for the Windows operating system are fully-compliant in terms of inter-application functionality, so seamless links between your APL applications and other typical Windows applications such as Excel are possible.

These techniques offer excellent ways of delivering enhanced productivity for legacy APL systems, and user-friendly ways of implementing new or existing APL systems with common interface and output capabilities.

But implementing this enhanced functionality can be a technical challenge. In this one-day workshop, we will explore the key elements of how we can employ APL and Excel linkage techniques to deliver user interfaces and enhanced background processing in the most effective ways available.

We will examine and develop demonstration systems where the APL interface instantly receives data from and sends data to Excel spreadsheets, and systems where the GUI in Excel/Visual Basic uses APL invisibly for what it does best, complex calculations and numeric array handling features.

Furthermore, we'll look "under the hood" at exactly what is going on between APL and Excel, and gain some insights into how Excel/VB programming and GUI techniques can best be used to deliver performance and functionality.

Proposed Topics
1. Excel and APL - interface features

terminology - OLE, COM, ActiveX, Object Oriented, client/server, etc. - we'll explore these terms and sort out the jargon
today's APL - an overview of key features offered by APL products for inter-application programming
demonstrations - a quick look at some examples from both sides of the mirror: APL as client - APL as server

2. Excel Components

an overview of the Excel spreadsheet object, its properties and methods and the Windows/GUI object-oriented paradigm; the Excel Help facility
APL's view of Excel - what the Excel spreadsheet object and its properties look like from within APL; objects and functionality for driving Excel

3. APL in Command - reading/writing Excel data from the APL environment

environment - the APL programming environment; data-type considerations; array-oriented logic
reading - bringing data from Excel into the APL environment
writing - populating Excel spreadsheets with APL data
tools - typical examples and readily-available utilities for constructing systems

4. Excel and Visual Basic - key components and techniques

Excel/VB - an introduction to Visual Basic within Excel; the Excel/VB user interface and programming environment for code and GUI development
Excel/VB macros - common tools and techniques for creating, running, and debugging macros

5. Advanced Excel Interface Techniques - GUI overview

GUI controls - designing the Excel-driven interface using common GUI controls and techniques
event-driven coding - some GUI controls and how to code their events
tools - avoid wheel-reinvention by employing a wealth of Excel/VB utilities

6. Excel in Command - the APL calculation engine

the APL object - creating the APL.dll; calling APL functions from Excel
APL workspace objects - special-case objects; enclosed arrays; function argument/result passing
communication - error handling and APL to Excel messaging

7. Fine Tuning - polishing the application for performance and functionality

Excel/VB tips and techniques - better programming techniques; array handling, etc.
APL tips and techniques - better programming techniques; array handling, etc.
avoidance techniques - common pitfalls and how to avoid them

Registration

Workshop space is limited, please book early! Please contact us at APL Borealis for details.

Price: Can.$395, plus GST. (or US$245 +tax)
Payment options: cheque, Visa, MasterCard

Or, attend both this and our October 31st Workshop: Dyalog.NET - APL and the Microsoft .NET Framework for $695+tax. (previous day, same location, see www.aplborealis.com for details)

Workshops Registration Form

APL Borealis Inc. · 381 Manor Road East · Toronto · ON · M4S 1S7

Voice: 416-457-7828 · Fax: 416-482-6582 · email: info@aplborealis.com · www.aplborealis.com