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QuestionData format for non-computerist editing Pin
trønderen22-Dec-20 10:23
trønderen22-Dec-20 10:23 
AnswerRe: Data format for non-computerist editing Pin
OriginalGriff22-Dec-20 11:05
mveOriginalGriff22-Dec-20 11:05 
GeneralRe: Data format for non-computerist editing Pin
trønderen22-Dec-20 14:26
trønderen22-Dec-20 14:26 
GeneralRe: Data format for non-computerist editing Pin
BillWoodruff22-Dec-20 15:17
professionalBillWoodruff22-Dec-20 15:17 
GeneralRe: Data format for non-computerist editing Pin
trønderen23-Dec-20 8:24
trønderen23-Dec-20 8:24 
GeneralRe: Data format for non-computerist editing Pin
BillWoodruff23-Dec-20 8:42
professionalBillWoodruff23-Dec-20 8:42 
GeneralRe: Data format for non-computerist editing Pin
OriginalGriff22-Dec-20 22:07
mveOriginalGriff22-Dec-20 22:07 
GeneralRe: Data format for non-computerist editing Pin
trønderen23-Dec-20 8:10
trønderen23-Dec-20 8:10 
I really do not want to relate to CSV at all. My friend is both producer and consumer of the data - if he messes up, he messes up for himself. Whichever way he gets data into the tables: He should not have to know about or worry about low level syntax. I want to help him avoiding problems caused by low level syntax errors. An Excel user does not manipulate data at the coding level. If he, for some reason, gets raw data from CSV format, and lets his Excel read it, I wouldn't know (or care). But he would see it immediately if the data are not read correctly, before he puts them into the program that I make for him.

The data are simple numeric tables - not huge, but more than what you can supply interactively at run time. Semantics of each column is well defined. In Excel, he will see that the input tables have the entries that he intends, and in the right places. My program will know that in the .xls file, there are no missing commas, quoting errors or other low level syntax errors. Some input is suitable for curve plotting: A plot would quickly reveal suspect input values such as one digit dropped out or a misplaced decimal point. (He is familiar with Excel, and knows how to generate a plot.)

Using Excel, he handles information at application level, in a way meaningful to him, like a printed table in a technical report. He is an engineer, but not all engineers know programming. If he must learn JSON or XML or even CSV, and have to manipulate his data sets in such formats, I am sure he would be bitching like crazy over the commas and quotes and how difficult it is to verify that the data set is correct before he it into the program. And I am sure that there would still be a lot of errors in the data sets.

Also for the results: He wants my program to present simple on-screen plots, but if he gets output a spreadsheet, he can easily plot other properties, make other statistical analyses etc.

Making my own data entry app - would it really be worth it, when I've got Excel to do the job for me? What could I get from my own data entry app that wouldn't be done much better by Excel? Most certainly as a whole, e.g. with Excel's plot facilities for easily detecting "out-of-line" input values.

I expected reactions of the kind "Excel is fine for non-programming users, but maybe an even better alternative is ...". The almost unison condemnation of .xsl grammar for input (/output) data sets comes as a great surprise to me. I see no alternate proposal that I consider viable: Telling a non-computer guy that to prepare tabular data for an application, learning JSON or XML syntax is significantly better than than typing the table into an Excel sheet, and will cause less errors and/or have other great advantages ... I don't know which arguments to use to make it appear as a better alternative. I am sure that I am not going to give my friend a JSON course to train him for giving input to my program, rather than using an Excel sheet!
GeneralRe: Data format for non-computerist editing Pin
OriginalGriff23-Dec-20 19:44
mveOriginalGriff23-Dec-20 19:44 
GeneralRe: Data format for non-computerist editing Pin
trønderen24-Dec-20 9:44
trønderen24-Dec-20 9:44 
AnswerRe: Data format for non-computerist editing Pin
Gerry Schmitz23-Dec-20 6:46
mveGerry Schmitz23-Dec-20 6:46 
AnswerRe: Data format for non-computerist editing Pin
Mycroft Holmes23-Dec-20 11:14
professionalMycroft Holmes23-Dec-20 11:14 
AnswerRe: Data format for non-computerist editing Pin
jschell29-Dec-20 6:54
jschell29-Dec-20 6:54 
QuestionHow to address SQL CE file path? Pin
Alex Dunlop22-Dec-20 7:46
Alex Dunlop22-Dec-20 7:46 
AnswerRe: How to address SQL CE file path? Pin
OriginalGriff22-Dec-20 8:45
mveOriginalGriff22-Dec-20 8:45 
QuestionWhy does NullReferenceException throw irrelevantly? I already tried - no success. Pin
Jens Eckervogt22-Dec-20 0:18
Jens Eckervogt22-Dec-20 0:18 
AnswerRe: Why does NullReferenceException throw irrelevantly? I already tried - no success. Pin
Richard MacCutchan22-Dec-20 1:06
mveRichard MacCutchan22-Dec-20 1:06 
AnswerRe: Why does NullReferenceException throw irrelevantly? I already tried - no success. Pin
OriginalGriff22-Dec-20 1:12
mveOriginalGriff22-Dec-20 1:12 
AnswerRe: Why does NullReferenceException throw irrelevantly? I already tried - no success. Pin
Gerry Schmitz22-Dec-20 3:33
mveGerry Schmitz22-Dec-20 3:33 
SuggestionSQLLight vs SQL CE Pin
Alex Dunlop20-Dec-20 8:16
Alex Dunlop20-Dec-20 8:16 
GeneralRe: SQLLight vs SQL CE Pin
Gerry Schmitz20-Dec-20 9:19
mveGerry Schmitz20-Dec-20 9:19 
GeneralRe: SQLLight vs SQL CE Pin
Mycroft Holmes20-Dec-20 11:15
professionalMycroft Holmes20-Dec-20 11:15 
QuestionHow to save panel content into PDF Pin
RedPandinus19-Dec-20 17:46
RedPandinus19-Dec-20 17:46 
AnswerRe: How to save panel content into PDF Pin
OriginalGriff19-Dec-20 19:57
mveOriginalGriff19-Dec-20 19:57 
SuggestionRe: How to save panel content into PDF Pin
RedPandinus19-Dec-20 20:30
RedPandinus19-Dec-20 20:30 

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