NOTES ABOUT USING EXCEL WITH VISTA


ABOUT EXCEL SERVICE RELEASE 2:
Apparently, the connection does not work unless you have Excel Service Release 2. Otherwise you get an error message that the LEFT function is missing from Excel. It should be there, and if you have this problem, please update Excel.  If this doesn't work, let me know at bugs@visualstats.org

ABOUT MACROS: 
During the process of using ViSta with Excel, you may be warned that a speadsheet contains a macro, or you may be told that you are being prevented from loading a spreadsheet because it contains a macro. You should not be worried, as the instructions for Excel to work with ViSta are contained in the macro. You may need (or wish) to change your security settings so that the macro can be loaded more easily. When all is right, the macro installs the ViSta menu on Excel's menubar. 

ABOUT RUNNING VISTA FIRST: 
We recommend running ViSta before running Excel because running them in the other order may unsynchronize the startup relationships of the two programs. You can be sure of running ViSta first in two ways:
1) Run ViSta, then use ViSta's OPTIONS->RUN EXCEL menu item to run Excel. 
2) Use the VISEXCEL icon on your desktop on in the start menu. It runs ViSta before Excel.

If you run Excel first, you may not be able to connect with ViSta. The connection will usually work, but ocassionally it will not and one of these error messages may occur: 

     PLEASE TRY LATER: 
     ViSta is already running but is hidden. 
     Excel connects but ViSta remains invisible.

     DATA DID NOT GET THROUGH: 
     Excel finds the wrong instance of ViSta,
     generates the error message, and runs
     the right instance of ViSta.
 
TERMINATING VISTA
When you quit Excel, ViSta may still be running, and it may be hidden so you dont see it. Then, if you try to run Excel again, you may not be able to connect with ViSta. So you should make sure you terminate the ViSta session as well. Look at the task bar. If you see a ViSta icon, click it. Then you should see ViSta and can close it. 
